The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-12-21
$50 Workers Strike to
End Prison Discipline in
Federal Transient Camp

10 UOWn,
At the meeting, the Special Duty
squad formulated the demand of
Cash for all special duty men" This
was to be an opening wedge for the
demand Cash for all campers" How
ever, not to neglect the rank and
file, the demand of stoves in the
barracks" was also made. Officers of
the union, which was to be called the
Transient Workers Union, were cleo
ted and then all the Special Duty
men, so in number, marched down to
the office.
Richardson fatty denied that any
camps in Arizona were being paid
cash, and implored the men to dis
band and in the future to send one
man to speak for them In cases of
this sort. The Special Duty men then
went back to their barracks as previ-
ously agreed upon and secretly de-
cided to send delegation to Nogales,
the nearest camp, IS miles away, to
investigate whether or not they were
paid. They got a pass to use the
camp car, and bought their own gas
olene. They talked with campers
there, and learned that some were
being paid. They returned about
am. and reported their findings.
Richardson, tipped off, was waiting
for them, and "broke" them.
An organizational meeting of the
entire camp was called, and 225 of
the $50 campers joined the union and
promised to support its policy. A
committee was sent to Richardson
with the six aforementioned demands
and he agreed to all Of them, except
the first, asking us to give him one
weeks time to investigate. The camp
doctor, q government secret service
stool pigeon, who pretended to be
for the union, even urging several
recslcitrants to join, instigated Rich
ardson to call armed guards and
throw out the most militant union
men.
Armed Guards Drive Out Workers
That night, 20 armed guards came
down and the officers of the union
were called into the office and told
to leave the camp immediately. When
they refused, they we're given until
the next morning. Although they
had apparently brought the guards
down to remove the officers of the
union from the camp, the author
tiles, thought better of it when they
looked through the windows and saw
the entire body Of young workers in
the camp modified in front of the
/ r,fFfr1 Inf.y=y,af,ae,1 +r, l1%a Ya1f,r
resentatives. Through pre-arranged
plan, they had been quickly gathered,
many of them from bed, and there
| they stood, a grim, silent, mass Of
aroused young workers, ready to show
their solidarity, at all costs. The next
morning, SO Of them, the special duty
squad almost to a man, left the camp.
By false propaganda, during the
night, the main body of campers were
| turned against us, and only 10 of the
200 rank and filers left. The guards
intirnidated a good many more from
leaving.
Almost all of the demands were
granted after the strikers left. Mean
| while most Of those who stayed be-
hind kept the camp in a constant
turmoil, and five days after we left,
the guards were still holding 24-hour
watches. To most Of the young work
ers, 1t was their first lesson in the
value of organization. The strike
attracted considerable blicity
throughout the West and Southwest.
To the bosses, it showed that the
young workers are determined to re-
sist the savage onslaught on their
standard Of living and the attempt
to force them into the coming irnper-
ialiSt slaughter,