Citrus Strike of 1936

Orange fruit pickers, Santa Ana, Orange County, California, c. 1900 (California Historical Society collection at USC Libraries, CHS-154)

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 citrus workers being arrested in total, while others were forced to either face jail time or possible deportation back to Mexico. It has also been referred to as the Citrus War and the Citrus Riots.

Citrus picker living conditions

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.

The strikes

Prior to the strike, wages dropped from $4 a day to $3 for extremely back breaking labor. Orange pickers could be 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. The growers persuaded the Orange County Board of Supervisors to outlaw any form of picketing or protest in Orange County.

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.

On June 11, 2,500 men and women workers left the orange groves of The Pressel Orchard, where the strike began. Local media attempted to downplay the strike, portraying it initially as a farce. By early July, law enforcement was stopping anyone who "looked Mexican" and was near the orange groves. In some cases, strikers were severely beaten, with their injuries being disregarded in court as "sympathy propaganda." Strikers were intentionally characterized as "communists" who were engaging in a "little Mexican revolution" to stoke fears in the Orange County population.

Women in the labor community organized the Cuerpo Auxiliar de Mujeres (the Union Women’s Auxiliary) as an organization to prevent growers from hiring scabs. The strike ended on July 25 with workers gaining a "20-cent-an-hour wage for a nine-hour day plus three cents for each box picked over 30" despite the growers refusing to recognize the union's right to collective bargaining.

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.

Associated Farmers organized groups of vigilantes to attack those striking, who used physical violence while law enforcement simply observed.

Aftermath

In 1939, a congressional investigation found that the growers had illegally blacklisted people and used violent tactics to crush the strike. However, no charges were filed.

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."

The strike has been noted as largely forgotten, such as in a 1971 dissertation on the subject and in a 1975 article for the Los Angeles Times, which referred to it as "one of the least-chronicled incidents in the history of the citrus belt." According to Gustavo Arellano, the event continues to be left out of historical chronicles of Orange County history.

The strike has been credited with ending the myth of Mexican laborers being content with poor working conditions at the time, which was a myth heavily promoted by the Anglo agricultural industry, as well as for inspiring a conservative hostility against labor organization in Orange County and elsewhere.

See also

• Cantaloupe strike of 1928
• California agricultural strikes of 1933