FDR, New Deals, and the Limits of Power 21318 th when ranchers organized a caravan of 30 cars to invade a union meeting
in Pixley, then opened fire and killed three men and wounded many others.
Finally, the federal government sent in troops to stop the violence, and 80
percent of farmers received a raise to 75 cents per hundred pounds. The farm
owners were not required to recognize a union and many of the workers were
migrants from Mexico, and there were mass deportations of those who had
struck. Worse for the migrant workers, laws like the Wagner Act and Social
Security exempted agricultural workers, so they could not even get the full
benefits of their labor.
Not far away, in Los Angeles, garment workers, mostly Mexican women,
struck as well. The garment industry was doing well, valued at $3 million,
but it hired immigrants, about 75 percent of the work force, to keep wages
low. By the fall of 1933, they demanded union recognition, a 35 hour work
week, minimum wages, the elimination of home-work [completing jobs at
home when not done at the sweatshops], and safer working conditions. The
employers refused. On October 12th, the women went on strike, with over
3000 picketing, and stayed out for 26 days. Many of the women tried to
physically stop scabs from entering the workplaces and the Los Angeles Police
Department arrested 50 strikers for unlawful picketing and assault. While
they claimed they were protecting the workers, in truth the police depart-
ment’s “Red Squad”—a special unit in all major cities created to investigate
and harass unions and other militant groups—was protecting the interests of
the sweatshop owners. Finally, in early November, the strikers went back to
work, with a minimum wage, a 35 hour week, and recognition of a union with
over 2600 members.
In Wisconsin, milk farmers were in a state of rebellion for most of the year.
Milk prices had fallen seriously due to the depression so milk farmers began
to withhold production in a series of strikes in February, May, and then
October-November of that year. They set up roadblocks to stop milk deliver-
ies, 5000 marched on the capital at Madison and were met by tear gas and
mass arrests, and they then dumped 34,000 pounds of milk in Racine, where
Guardsmen shot 2 teenagers and killed one. In response, some farmers tainted
over 25,000 pounds of milk with kerosene. By fall, the third wave, the strikes
were more violent. Farmers bombed 7 creameries and dynamited 8 cheese
factories, destroying tons of milk and other dairy products. By the time the
strikes subsided—and the AAA subsidies kicked in—farmers had lost about