User:RCamp98/Citrus Strike of 1936

The Citrus Strike of 1936 was a strike in southern California among citrus workers for better working conditions that took place within various cities within Orange County, such as Fullerton and Anaheim from June 10 to July 25. There were multiple factors that led the citrus workers to strike including their paid wages, working conditions, living conditions, and overall social dynamics. The strike itself was significant for ending the myth of "contented Mexican labor." It was one of the most violently suppressed strikes of the early 20th century in the United States. The sheriff who suppressed the largely Mexican 3,000 citrus pickers was himself a citrus rancher who issued a "shoot to kill" order on the strikers. The aftermath of the strike effort led to 400 workers being arrested in total, while others were ordered to either face jail time or deportation to Mexico. It has also been referred to as the Citrus War and the Citrus Riots.

Lead
The Citrus Strike of 1936 was a strike in southern California among citrus workers for better working conditions that took place within various cities within Orange County, such as Fullerton and Anaheim from June 10 to July 25. Citrus plants were the states biggest export in the 1930's and a important contributor to the economy. There were multiple factors that led the citrus workers to strike including their paid wages, working conditions, living conditions, and overall social dynamics. The strike itself was significant for ending the myth of "contented Mexican labor." It was one of the most violently suppressed strikes of the early 20th century in the United States. The sheriff who suppressed the largely Mexican 3,000 citrus pickers was himself a citrus rancher who issued a "shoot to kill" order on the strikers. The aftermath of the strike effort led to 400 workers being arrested in total, while others were ordered to either face jail time or deportation to Mexico. It has also been referred to as the Citrus War and the Citrus Riots.

Conditions that led to the strike
The living conditions for Mexican workers were characterized by small, often substandard structures made of materials like wood, adobe, or hollow brick. One of these settlements, known as "Tiajuanita," in Fullerton was constructed using materials like scraps of sheet iron, discarded fence posts, and sign-boards. The living conditions in Tiajuanita were challenging, with only one water faucet and a few makeshift bathrooms serving the entire settlement. Housing segregation was part of the broader discriminatory practices and unequal treatment faced by Mexican laborers in the region.

Camps featured segregated schooling built with the goal of Americanizing the citrus pickers children while focusing on vocational skills that translate to the orange groves and assimilation into American culture illustrate the desire to eradicate Mexican culture.

Citrus workers additionally faced forced repatriation or deportation as tensions grew between races.

Grower Response

The citrus growers responded with fliers and support from conservative newspapers. Orange County's newspapers downplayed the strike, claiming that labor conditions were already amicable and that the demands were made by labor agitators and not valid.

Inexperienced high school and college boys were also enlisted to replace the Naranjeros (Citrus pickers). The growers' association released statements praising the replacement workers and their ability to do just as good as the citrus pickers

Orange County Sheriff Logan Jackson deputized orchard guards, equipping them with weapons, and the authority to make arrests. By the end of the strike over 250 arrests were made. Outside of arrests the authorities turned to federal immigration authorities, tear gas, and physical attacks citrus farmers and their supporters. At the height of the labor strikes, Sheriff Jackson formally issued a "shoot to kill" order claiming this was a battle between the entire county and communist citrus pickers.

The Confederación de Uniones de Campesinos y Obreros Mexicanos (CUCOM)

The Condederacion de Uniones de Camesinos y Obreros Mexicanos (CUCOM) was an organization consisting of various Mexican farmers. The first strike organized by CUCOM took place in 1933 under the leadership of William Velarde. CUCOM led strikes in Orange County and in March 1935, presented demands to orange growers, including higher wages, free transportation, abolition of a bonus system, and the right to form a union.

Strikes

Prior to the strikes, wages had dropped from 4$ a day to 3$ while an orange picker could be publicly identified by "his single drooping shoulder, deeply scarred from the strap of the bag he was required to fill with fifty pounds of oranges while perched on a precarious ladder." Men worked as pickers while women worked in packing houses. Another event preluding the strikes was the growers persuasion of the Board of Supervisors. With this, the Board of Supervisors elected to outlaw any form of picketing or protest in Orange County.

The end of the strikes would only see minimal wage increases with no recognition of the union or ability to effectively negotiate with the Orange County growers.

Aftermath

Carey McWilliams referenced the strikes in a chapter of his nationally released book Factories in the Field (1939), stating that "No one who has visited a rural county in California under these circumstances will deny the reality of the terror that exists. It is no exaggeration to describe this state of affairs as fascism in practice."