Collection: Books and Periodicals > Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins

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Title: Volume 047-2 - October 1993 Collection Type: Books and Periodicals Collection Name: Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins # of Pages: 12 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

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Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

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jam however. It should also be said that the national Mine, Mill, and Smelter Worker’s Union was purged from the C.I.O. in . the so-called “Red Scare” of the 1950s. At no time, however, was the C.1.0. itself ever Communist-dominated. While there is no evidence beyond stated opinions that some organizers or members of Local #283 were radicals, still many Grass Valley and Nevada City residents believed that they were. The axiom “like parent, like child,” established a perception of Mine, Mill as, to quote a Nevada City paper, the “C.I.0. Communists.” Besides having a reputation for radicalism in membership and origins, the C.I.O. was perceived as being disruptive in the methods it employed in organizing. It used tactics such as strikes, picket lines, physical intimidation of “scabs,” and at times destruction of property. The C.I.O. in the 1930s also used some new tactics in its organizational drives in the major production industries. These included the sit-down strike, publishing news-letters using mimeograph machines, letter-writing campaigns, and the organization of union members’ wives and families in activities directly supporting strike activities. The organizers of Local #283 tried most of these tactics except for the sit-down strike. For example, women and their children joined the picket lines (leading to criticism from Kinyon), and solicited food and clothing from local sources when need arose. On at least two occasions the C.I.O. local was accused of direct violence against non-C.I.O. mine and mill workers in the Grass Valley and Nevada City district. Otherwise violent tactics were rarely used. Although townspeople commonly expressed their concern over dangerous C.L.O. “Beef Squads,” no such groups of thugs seem to have materialized. Mine, Mill organizers in Local #283 primarily used nonviolent methods in their membership drive. Easily their most effective organizational device was “educational.” The C.I.O. published The Miners Voice, a mimeographed newspaper produced in the Nevada City office. The ability to cheaply reproduce printed information, and the expectation that the union would be protected in its right to distribute such material, was crucial to the success of the local C.I.O. This “newspaper” under various titles was widely distributed, particularly at the entrances to mine properties where union organization was going on. Predictably, this practice sometimes led to confrontations with mine officials. One such incident is described in a light-hearted, but sarcastic, manner in the January 14, 1938 issue of The Miners Voice. Attempting to pass out its paper at the entrance of the Empire Mine, an organizing committee was confronted by the mine superintendent, Fred Nobs. The paper subsequently reported: “Taking three steps at a time the Great Nobs, Emperor of the Empire, came shouting down the stairs from his office to welcome us. He came forward on a hop like a Mexican jumping bean afflicted with the heebie-jeebies. The Emperor appeared to have lost his poise completely[.] He was even drooling a bit. “We had never dreamed we would make so staggering an impression on the Emperor.... So bidding goodby to the committee, His majesty slithered back to his palace to curl up on his throne where he might read The Miners Voice undisturbed.” The Miners Voice continued to be published until vigilante action closed the union’s office in April of 1938. Mimeograph machines were destroyed in this attack. While it was still being published, the varied themes and content of the paper reflected the daily and long-term issues that the local addressed in its efforts to keep in touch with its members or possible recruits. The paper also described benefits to the community that arise from the new union’s national ties. Overall, the paper represented an important part of the attempt to establish the C.I.0. in Nevada County. It also should be added that the paper was resented by the Mine Workers Protective League, mine owners, and Edmund Kinyon because it presented an independent and unwanted viewpoint. The call for a strike at the Murchie Mine in 1938 was the act of resistance by the C.I.O. local which ultimately goaded local residents into vigilante action. The strike and the dogged attempts by the C.LO. to keep their picket line intact substantiated fears about the negative influence of the new union, This strike began on January 15, 1938 as a response to the firing of seventeen C.I.O. miners by Murchie Mine manager Robert Hendricks. Although Hendricks cited economic reasons for his action, the Mine, Mill local claimed its members were fired for their union recruiting activities. This tactic of firing Mine, Mill workers before their numbers reached a majority in the work force was adopted after the Banner Lava Cap success of the C.I.O. It was an effective way of preventing the new union from using the election machinery process guaranteed by the National Labor Relations Board. In response to these firings, the C.I.O. local voted for a strike. Although this action, the legality of which was to be disputed by local mine owners, was not what the local preferred, three truckloads of C.I.O. miners from the Banner Lava Cap Mine established a picket line at the entrance of the Murchie Mine on January 15. An estimated 150 Murchie miners who had signed C.I.O. pledges refused to cross the picket line. As a result, mine manager Hendricks reduced operations at the mine to a maintenance level. Within two days Hendricks was able to recruit about 130 miners who were willing to work. At this point Nevada County Sheriff Carl Tobiassen ordered the C.1.0. pickets, including some of the miners’ wives and children, to observe an “open road” policy and not block access to the mine by Hendrick’s recruits. Tobiassen also received help from conServative Republican California Governor Frank Merriam in the form of highway patrolmen to enforce the open road dictum. 15