Rene George Morency, vice-president of his local union, was murdered by a boss’ son during a warehouse strike in Stockton, California on April 27, 1935.

‘Union Truck Head Killed’ from Socialist Call. Vol. 1 No. 8. May 11, 1935.

STOCKTON, Cal. R.G. Morency, vice-president of the Weighers, Warehousemen and Cereal Workers Union, was killed in cold blood by Charles Grey, son of the proprietor of a notorious scab trucking firm, as Morency stepped, unarmed, from the curb to speak to Grey, who was passing in a car.

The union, which is affiliated with the Longshoremen’s International, went on strike two weeks ago. A special anti-picketing ordinance was rushed through the city council to handicap the strike, and fifty armed deputies were assigned to strike meetings to “protect” the bosses.

Socialist headquarters are being used as publicity center for the strikers.

‘5,000 Observe Hero’s Funeral’ by Marjorie Kipp from Socialist Call. Vol. 1 No. 9. May 18, 1935.

STOCKTON, Cal. May Day was observed here in a grim manner with a mass funeral for Ray G. Morency, striking warehouse worker, who was slain by the son of the head of a notorious anti-union trucking firm.

Five thousand people were in the funeral procession which moved silently through the center of the city and thousands more lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the coffin.

In addition to the union groups, a, strong representation from the Stockton Local of the Socialist Party marched at the invitation from the Central Labor Council.

For two weeks the Weighers, Warehousemen and Cereal Workers Union, a branch of the International Longshoremen’s Association, had been conducting a strike for recognition of the union, preferential hiring, and higher wages. The Merchants, Manufacturers and Employers’ Association, for twenty years successful in suppressing labor organization, replied with terror and intimidation, which culminated in the murder of the vice-president of the union.

Organized labor has taken on new life here and has resolved to make Stockton as strong a union town as it was before the war.

Socialist Call began as a weekly newspaper in New York in early 1935 by supporters of the Socialist Party’s Militant Faction Samuel DeWitt, Herbert Zam, Max Delson, Amicus Most, and Haim Kantorovitch, with others to rival the Old Guard’s ‘New Leader’. The Call Education Institute was also inaugurated as a rival to the right’s Rand School. In 1937, the Call as the Militant voice would fall victim to Party turmoil, becoming a paper of the Socialist Party leading bodies as it moved to Chicago in 1938, to Milwaukee in 1939, where it was renamed “The Call” and back to New York in 1940 where it eventually resumed the “Socialist Call” name and was published until 1954.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/socialist-call/v1n08-may-11-1935.pdf

PDF of issue 2: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/socialist-call/v1n09-may-18-1935.pdf