Building and striking the Alaska Railroad.

‘Building a Union At 40° Below’ by Frank Hanson from The International Socialist Review. Vol. 17 No. 5. November, 1916.

AS you all know, Uncle Sammy has started an experimental railroad in Alaska. In fact 18 months has gone by since actual construction started. At the main camp, or headquarters, which is at Anchorage, the work opened up in in May, 1915, in charge of Lieut. F. Mears. Thousands of workers came in here with the intention of making a living, but they were badly disappointed. It was pretty near impossible to get a job of any kind and if you did happen to get a day’s work it was only at $3.00 per day and eight hours, or 372 cents per hour. Work one day and lay off four was a common thing here. Nor could you buy any grub from the commissary for Uncle’s hard, cold dollars. You had to have a commissary book and before you could obtain one of them you would have to have at least two days’ work to your credit.

No construction work was done by day labor. The officials adopted a system of station work. That is, they let a piece of work on contract to a gang of men and these men had to do two men’s work each in order to be able to make common wages. These gangs had to put up their own camps, too, and in many cases it was only for a couple of months’ use.

Anyone familiar with camp life knows that it does not pay a small gang of men to put up a camp for a short period like that, but as they were working for Uncle Sam–why then it was all right! Prices were low, too, so it looked like cheap labor was wanted. Nearly every American was hollering about how the foreigners were cutting down the American standard of living, but it looks to me like it was the U.S. government that was doing it. Remember, you Americans, that all the aliens that come to this land are not all dead-heads. Many of them have fought for the right of every man to live long before they ever landed on American soil, and let me tell you that these are fighting for the same standard as you, if not a better one.

The season was a very short one, too, so at freeze-up there was not much more to do. At that time there was about 1,400 men in Anchorage, most of them with not enough money to buy grub for the winter. And there was no work in sight for several months. Nearly everything was shut down. A few men were working here and there, but I don’t think that the whole force out- side of the foremen and the office force was 150 strong. The biggest gang was the steel gang in charge of “Hurry-up Jones.” The steel gang was a little better than 50 strong and they lived in four box cars 91⁄2 feet by 40 feet. One of these cars was used as kitchen, one as office and the other two as sleeping quarters. It was just like sardines in a box and the sanitary conditions were very poor. The eatings could have been a whole lot better, too, but what do the workers expect for a dollar a day when there is no profit on it. Some days it was a little cold up here–35 degrees below zero–and these poor devils had to handle rails and ties in that kind of weather for 37 1⁄2 cents per hour.

These are the things that led to the first walkout and the forming of the Alaska Labor Union.

On the 7th of February the steel gang demanded 50 cents per hour or there would be no steel laid. They did not receive any answer to that, but the engine coupled on to the boarding cars and hauled them into town.

That same night there was a mass meeting in town of the workers. Some one that was looking for a pie-card had sounded a call to try to organize the workers into the A.F. of L. The carpenters had already sent for a charter and, of course, they wanted the support of the rank and file as they realized that they themselves were helpless. The hall was crowded to capacity and about 500 men were turned away, so enthusiasm for organizing was good. After much discussion it was decided to form an independent industrial union for Alaska and to try to get them all under one banner.

It was voted to support the steel gang in their struggle and delegates were sent out along the road. Four hundred joined that first night and the next five days the number increased to 1,200 members. Not so bad when you take into consideration that every nationality was represented.

A committee was sent down to Mr. Mears and presented to him the following demands: Common labor 50 cents per hour; mechanics, 75 cents per hour; cooks, from $90 to $125 per month and board; flunkies from $60 to $75 per month; teamsters, $90 per month and board. Mears said he had no authority to settle any labor disputes which may arise, but that he would communicate with Secretary of the Interior, F.K. Lane in Washington, D.C., but that it would take two weeks to get an answer from the outside as the cable was broke.

Things moved along in shipshape manner in those two weeks. A lot was secured and a hall 48×100 feet in the clearing started. Hundreds of men donated their labor. Logs were cut and hauled in and fifteen days after the first log was cut the walls were up 12 feet. Two more weeks saw the completion of the hall, and today this hall stands as a monument in Alaska as to what labor can do.

Will have to mention here that the Alaska Engineering Commission had been trying to get men to go out, but they were not very successful. One day they got a few to go out under false pretense. When the men found out that they were going to lay steel they refused to work. The foreman, “Hurry-up Jones,” threw some of the bedding off the car. One of the men spoke to said slave-driver about transportation back to town. Mr. “Hurry-up” drew a big gun and said, “Now we will talk about transportation.” Of course, the fellow-worker had to foot it back to town, which was twenty-two miles distant.

On the 19th day after we put in the demands Mr. Mears came and delivered part of the Secretary’s answer. A conciliation committee of three was going to leave for Anchorage in the first part of March and said committee was going to settle the trouble, and set a scale of wage satisfactory to all. At the next meeting it was then decided to go back to work under the old scale and wait and see what the future would bring. On the 26th of March the committee arrived. The worthy gentlemen were: J.A. Moffett, Hyvel Davies and B. M. Squires.

The investigation went very slow. Day went by after day, week after week, but no results. When three weeks had gone by in that manner it was decided at a meeting to call a general strike on the whole line to go into effect on the 22nd of April at noon. Everybody responded nobly when the call to strike was sounded, so by the 24th, at noon, everything was tied up once more. Of course, there was a few A.F. of L. members working–and did they receive a royal reception coming from work in the evening? Even the dogs would not associate with these skunks. On the 4th day after the strike broke out, Mears laid them all off. That’s what they get for being traitors to their class. On the 27th of April the union received an answer from the conciliation committee. The offer was 405% cents per hour for common labor; 70 cents for mechanics; pile-drivermen, 60 cents; drillers underground, 60 cents; cooks from $90 to 125 per month and board; flunkies and other help around the kitchen, from $60 to $80 per month and board; teamsters, $85 per month and board.

It took these gentlemen one month to find out that the common laborer could live on a 25-cent-per-day raise, while the mechanic needed $1.60 per day. I wonder if that fat Moffett could get along himself on that wage in this country?

That offer was not considered at all at the meeting of the A.L.U. held that afternoon. It was a solid vote for the continuation of the strike, and that vote showed that these men or the majority of them know the first commandment of labor, which is Solidarity. The committee now had to go to hard work again and draw up a new scale. This time it took them two days to raise the scale for common labor to 45 cents per hour. At the meeting that same afternoon it was decided to go back to work on the first of May and to accept the wages that were offered.

Many may think that we have not accomplished much, but if we consider that this was the first time that common labor has struck against dear old Uncle Sammy, why then I think that the workers gained a big victory!

Working conditions have improved a whole lot, but some of these slave-drivers need a lesson in handling men. The grub and accommodations are very poor in some of the camps and this is not the model job which it ought to be.

On Labor Day the union had a holiday. Nearly everybody was in from the work and took part in the parade.

After the parade there was all kinds of sports and games and by next spring we will be ready to take another tumble with the old fellow.

The International Socialist Review (ISR) was published monthly in Chicago from 1900 until 1918 by Charles H. Kerr and critically loyal to the Socialist Party of America. It is one of the essential publications in U.S. left history. During the editorship of A.M. Simons it was largely theoretical and moderate. In 1908, Charles H. Kerr took over as editor with strong influence from Mary E Marcy. The magazine became the foremost proponent of the SP’s left wing growing to tens of thousands of subscribers. It remained revolutionary in outlook and anti-militarist during World War One. It liberally used photographs and images, with news, theory, arts and organizing in its pages. It articles, reports and essays are an invaluable record of the U.S. class struggle and the development of Marxism in the decades before the Soviet experience. It was closed down in government repression in 1918.

PDF of issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/isr/v17n05-nov-1916-ISR-riaz-ocr.pdf