Ethnic Mexicans and the Left In
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DREAMING UNDER A PERFECT SUN: ETHNIC MEXICANS AND THE LEFT IN GREATER SAN DIEGO, 1900-1950 A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Alberto Milian May 2018 © 2018 Alberto Milian DREAMING UNDER A PERFECT SUN: ETHNIC MEXICANS AND THE LEFT IN GREATER SAN DIEGO, 1900-1950 Alberto Milian, Ph.D. Cornell University 2018 This study examines the role ethnic Mexicans played in the sociopolitical development of Greater San Diego during the first half of the 20th century: a region along the U.S.-Mexico international border encompassing San Diego County and the agribusiness empire to the east known as the Imperial Valley. Many ethnic Mexican workers (persons of Mexican heritage regardless of their nationality or U.S. citizenship status) embraced leftist politics and worked with radical unionists of all races to critique and contest the powerful business interests that were determined to transform the region into a financially lucrative community primarily for the white upper and middle classes. Workers’ hard-fought battles to create a more egalitarian and socially inclusive society had consequences for Greater San Diego that reverberate to this day. The relentless pursuit of profit by wealthy business interests like real estate and transportation magnate John D. Spreckels and his fellow boosters – a group consisting of local politicians, shopkeepers, sheriffs, and others aspiring of upward mobility – created a narrowly- defined, hyper-patriotic community that impacted the material lives of workers, especially non- whites and non-citizens whose labor and civil rights were most vulnerable. Anti-leftist measures adopted by boosters and business interests, from the restrictive free speech ordinances and “move on” laws to the vigilante terror and deportations, transformed Greater San Diego into a staunchly anti-labor region as early as 1911. In labeling the ideologies espoused and practiced by groups such as the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM), the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America (UCAPAWA) as subversive and “un-American,” boosters and business interests eroded support for the worker cause and helped stunt multiracial and multi-ethnic working-class solidarity in the borderlands. Although initially sympathetic, white workers affiliated with the more conservative American Federation of Labor came to vehemently denounce leftist politics in order to safeguard the higher pay and other rights and privileges afforded to them by their race. That laborers continued to reject working class segmentation and to endure ostracism is significant. Leftist workers and organizations, particularly those informed by a radical tradition and living memory of past workers’ movements, believed the means to the working classes’ freedom and full inclusion into American society was not through sectarianism, but rather through unity. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Alberto J. Milian is a Ph.D. Candidate in History at Cornell University. He holds a B.A. in History from the University of California, Irvine (2007), an M.A. in History from the University of San Diego (2010), and an M.A. in History from Cornell University (2014). iii Dedicated to my querida madre, Bertha Alicia iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation is the product of a collective effort of family, friends, and colleagues. There are several graduate students at Cornell University to thank for pushing this journey forward. From day one in Ithaca, Chris Tang, Jackie Reynoso, David Israelachvili, Ryan Edwards, and Mark Deets indulged my idiosyncrasies and lent their support. (Chris, thanks for figuratively slapping me around in the Wegman’s frozen food aisle that first semester. It helped.) They were later joined by Fritz Bartell, Brian Rutledge, Max McComb, Tim Sorg, Joe Giacomelli, Sujin Lee, Kyle Harvey, and Josh Savala, who not only shared many laughs, beers, and terrible pizza slices with me, but also provided vital feedback on my half-baked ideas and work. Outside of the field of history, my friends and colleagues of the Latina/o Graduate Student Coalition encouraged and joked every step of the way. The spaces we created, particularly in the dead of the never-ending winter, were the warmest. Amanda Cheney managed to consistently bring a smile to my face even when graduate school weighed heaviest. Faculty at Cornell University have furthered my intellectual development and ultimately served to make me a better thinker and person. Michael Jones-Correa (now at the University of Pennsylvania) and Margaret Washington allowed me to make repeated mistakes as I explored the topics of immigration and race in the United States. I am deeply indebted to Verónica Martínez- Matsuda, who not only allowed me to work with her in several professional capacities, but also read and critiqued parts of my dissertation. If I come anywhere near to who she is as a scholar and person, I will count myself lucky. I am already fortunate for having Ray Craib, Derek Chang, and María Cristina García as members of my dissertation committee. Simply put, Ray’s wealth of knowledge and energy is humbling. This project may not have happened if not for his anarchism course. Derek, like Ray, consistently reminded me of the power in telling the stories v of those relegated to the margins. Although stretched every which way, he made the time to talk about the joys and sorrows of history and life. In one of my first weeks at Cornell, a more advanced graduate student told me that María Cristina would be one of my toughest critics and most ardent champions. They were right. María Cristina has been a fantastic advisor and, truly, an even better friend. Cornell’s programs in American Studies and Latina/o Studies provided financial assistance, as did the History Department. Barb Donnell, the department’s graduate coordinator, is a superstar for not only getting me out of various predicaments, but for ensuring the program functions. Archival staffs merit praise as well. I would like to especially thank Robert Ray and the crew at San Diego State University’s Special Collections and Archives for providing insight and words of encouragement. The folks at the California State Archives, California Library, and the University of California, San Diego did much of the same, in addition to cutting me a few breaks. My family deserves acclaim for their sacrifices and acts of love through the years. Natalie has continued to fill the sassy younger sister role beautifully, offering steady supplies of support and viciously funny shade. Even though I do not text or call as often as I should, my mom’s seemingly unconditional love endures, and for that I am grateful. My daughter Leila has allowed me to slip into my “world of words” on many occasions, sacrificing animal drawing time and rounds of “Go Fish” in the process. My wife and partner Jocelyn has sustained me. Besides quietly placing bowls of crackers and oranges on my desk when all my focus was on my computer screen, Jocelyn has offered reassurances, constructive criticism, and trust. She believed when I could not. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Biographical Sketch iii Dedication iv Acknowledgments v List of Figures viii Introduction 1 Chapter 1 27 Dreams of an Army: Revolution and the Making of Anti-Leftist San Diego Chapter 2 84 Barbarous San Diego: The Free Speech Fight of 1912 and Its Aftermath Chapter 3 136 Empire’s Promises: Agribusiness and the Imperial Valley, 1900-1934 Chapter 4 211 (Un-)American Activities on the Waterfront: Cannery Workers, “Communists,” and Anti- Communists, 1930s-1950 Conclusion 270 Every Little Dollar Bibliography 282 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 0.1 San Diego & Arizona Railway route map, undated 5 Figure 1.1 Mexican Revolution 65 Figure 1.2 General Mosby on his way to surrender 80 Figure 2.1 Woman standing on soapbox in IWW demonstration, San Diego, 1912 104 Figure 2.2 Police and water vs. IWWs, San Diego 118 Figure 3.1 Imperial Valley land promotion 155 Figure 3.2 Migratory Mexican field worker’s home on the edge of a frozen pea field 176 Figure 4.1 Women canning tuna at Cohn-Hopkins Company, 1931 233 Figure 4.2 First Sleepy Lagoon Committee meeting, 1942 255 viii Introduction To live as one wishes to live is, in San Diego, simply a matter of selection. - San Diego California Club, 1919 On a cloudy mid-May day, Odilón Luna and a large parade of ethnoracially diverse men, women, and children walked through the streets of Los Angeles, following a grey hearse that carried the lifeless body of Joseph Mikolasek. A member of the anarcho-syndicalist Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) who had been protesting for the protection of free speech, Mikolasek was shot to death days earlier by two San Diego, California police officers. Since San Diego city officials believed that even in death Mikosalek’s body had the potential to cause trouble, they denied his burial in the city, forcing his fellow workers and allies to transport the corpse northward. In Los Angeles, leftists staged a parade with the hearse and then gathered at the IWW hall to listen to a handful of speeches. After anarchist Emma Goldman offered a few words of remembrance, Luna spoke on behalf of the Partido Liberal Mexicano, a revolutionary party with a large following throughout the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands. Delivered in Spanish, Luna said of Mikolasek: “This is our brother, for though he was not of our race, he was a worker, of our class, and sweated for the benefit of our common enemy: the bourgeoisie.” Indeed, radical leftist workers as far away as Chile considered San Diego another location where business interests and the state had “fallen… on the unarmed worker as the wolf on the lamb.”1 1 Ricardo Flores Magón, “Joseph Mikolasek,” Regeneración, 18 May 1912; William C.