Shelvy Daffron was an I.LA. strike leader during the West Coast waterfront struggles of 1934 when, 90 years ago, he was murdered in a confrontation with scabs and police at the Point Wells dock north of Seattle.

‘Shippers Murder I.L.A. Strike Leader!’ from Voice of Action (Seattle). Vol. 2 No. 14. July 6, 1934.

Relief Board Thug Held for Murder of Daffron–DEMAND DEATH PENALTY FOR KILLER OF DAFFRON

SEATTLE. With the murder by company thugs of Shelby S. Daffron, striking longshoreman the Seattle strike took on a new aspect of terror.

Daffron was fatally shot in the back by armed thugs at the Standard Oil Co. Dock in a clash between pickets and company guards.

W.C. Douglas, known for his brutal attacks on workers at relief stations throughout the city is being held on an open charge pending further investigation. Douglas is one of the state police, who until recently, has been assigned to the Welfare Board.

He is the thug who appeared against the Rainier Valley workers at their trial, after slugging them with a black-jack in the relief office.

Workers will also remember Douglas in the slugging of Brockway during the soup line strike.

Funeral Today

Funeral services for Daffron will be held Friday, at 11 p.m. at the Seattle Eagles Aerie Hall. The murder of Shelby Daffron by shipowners’ police and gunmen was an attempt to smash the strike, said the Communist Party in a statement issued today. The statement continues:

“Daffron was killed on the picket line before the Point Wells plant of the Standard Oil Company. He was a striking longshoreman, a member of the strike committee, a delegate to the Seattle Central Labor Council. It was he who spoke for general strike on the council floor but three days before his death.

“Against Daffron, against all waterfront strikers, lined up the entire force of capitalism: the shippers, the Chamber of Commerce, the “Citizens” Emergency Committee and the exploiters’ hirelings: scabs, gunmen, police and deputy sheriffs.

“The gun that in cold blood shot down Daffron roared the speech of the oppressors of labor “to hell with the right to strike and picket”.

Fascist Act

“Daffron’s death becomes part of the onward march of Fascism in America; part of the rule of blood and terror which aims to destroy unions, enslaves and degrades labor, crushes down the standard of life.

“Daffron’s killers are the same gang that murdered Dick Parker, 20 year-old San Pedro ILA picket; 3 Toledo strikers; 2 Galveston stevedores; 5 Alabama coal miners: and Bob Ruff of Roslyn, fighting member of the Western Miners Union.

“The same crew, swathed in judge’s robes, have just again upheld lynch verdicts against the innocent Scottsboro boys, Alabama Negroes condemned to electrocution.

“Brother of his killers are the insane Nazis who prepare torture and death for Ernst Thaelmann, leader of the German working class.

“From their clutches the workers have but barely seized Theodore Jordan, Klammath Falls Negro worker framed by the Southern Pacific Railway and sentenced to hang.

“In every throat rises the answer to Daffron’s murder, “Death penalty for the killer! No armed forces on the waterfront!” A roar that will drum upon the ears of those generals in the Fascist army, President Roosevelt, Governor Martin, Mayor Smith and force them to act.

General Strike Next Step

“Daffron’s death is an attack upon every worker and every farmer. The step to take in response is clear! GENERAL STRIKE!

“By general strike can we avenge the murder. By general strike can we force victory to the longshoremen’s and seamens demands for union recognition, control of hiring, increased pay, shorter hours; halt the advance of Fascism; raise the immediate demands of all workers; advance the cause of labor.

“Daffron was a militant striker. He fought for the general strike. But the betrayers of the AFL, headed by Green, fight the general strike. And misleaders in the ranks of the longshoremen, Taggert, Morton, Bennett, Erickson, EVEN FIGHT ANY MOVE FOR A MASS FUNERAL OR MEMORIAL MEETING TO CARRY ON THE STRUGGLE IN WHICH DAFFRON PARTICI PATED, AND OPPOSE A UNITED FRONT.

“The District Committee of the Communist Party is calling on each of its sections in the Northwest to call protest meetings condemning the murder of Daffron as part of the campaign to engulf Roosevelt, Martin, Smith with demands to withdraw police and deputies, furnish full compensation to the family of Daffron, and deal out the death penalty to the killer.”

The Voice of Action emerged in 1933 from a split in Seattle’s Socialist-dominated Unemployed Citizens League and their newspaper, The Vanguard, which had banned Communist supporters from their pages. The Hunger Marches had led many into the movement and the Communist-led UCL through the Washington State Committee of Action, the National Lumber Workers’ Union, the Fishermen and Cannery Workers’ Industrial Union began publishing in March, 1933. Lowell Alvin Wakefield and Alan were editors of the paper which lasted until the inauguration of the Popular Front in 1936 and the Voice was folded into The Washington Commonwealth. During its run, the Voice documented the Depression in the Pacific Northwest and covered the defining struggles of West Coast labor during the waterfront strikes, including 1934’s General Strike.

PDF of issue: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88085733/1934-07-06/ed-1/seq-1/