The Marine Workers Industrial Union (MWIU) was a short-lived union (1930-1935), initiated by the

Communist Party of the USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

(CPUSA).

History

In 1927, CPUSA member George Mink traveled to the USSR, attended the fourth congress of the

Profintern The Red International of Labor Unions (russian: Красный интернационал профсоюзов, translit=Krasnyi internatsional profsoyuzov, RILU), commonly known as the Profintern, was an international body established by the Comm ...

, and returned to the US as the Profintern's representative of a Transport Workers International Committee for Propaganda and Agitation (TWICP&A) to organize maritime workers in the US. Working with

William Z. Foster William Zebulon Foster (February 25, 1881 – September 1, 1961) was a Political radicalism, radical American labor organizer and Communism, Communist politician, whose career included serving as General Secretary of the Communist Party US ...

Trade Union Educational League The Trade Union Educational League (TUEL) was established by William Z. Foster in 1920 (through 1928) as a means of uniting radicals within various trade unions for a common plan of action. The group was subsidized by the Communist International ...

(TUEL), he established a Marine Workers Progressive League (MWPL) by 1928. During the CPUSA's factional in-fighting 1928-1929 between followers of James P. Cannon,

Jay Lovestone Jay Lovestone (15 December 1897 – 7 March 1990) was an American activist. He was at various times a member of the Socialist Party of America, a leader of the Communist Party USA, leader of a small oppositionist party, an anti-Communist and Centr ...

, and Foster, Mink laid low. When

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

appointed Foster as head of the CPUSA in 1929, Mink continued his efforts with marine workers. On April 26–27, 1930, a Marine Workers' League of New York (itself organized in 1928 by the

Trade Union Unity League The Trade Union Unity League (TUUL) was an industrial union umbrella organization under the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) between 1929 and 1935. The group was an American affiliate of the Red International of Labor Unions. The for ...

or "TUUL") called a convention that created the Marine Workers' Industrial Union of the USA. This national convention followed coastal conventions held during 1928–1930. The convention adopted a constitution, openly supported the USSR, and elected three delegates to attend the fifth world congress of the Red International of Labor Unions or "

" (itself an arm of the

Communist International The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by a ...

or "Comintern"). The MWIU openly affiliated with TUUL. According to another source, MWIU decided against TUUL and decided instead to affiliate with the Profintern's Red International of Transport Workers via an International Seamen and Harbors Workers Union (ISH), based in Hamburg, Germany. During the

1934 West Coast waterfront strike The 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike (also known as the 1934 West Coast Longshoremen's Strike, as well as a number of variations on these names) lasted 83 days, and began on May 9, 1934 when longshoremen in every US West Coast port walked out ...

, the

International Seamen's Union The International Seamen's Union (ISU) was an American maritime trade union which operated from 1892 until 1937. In its last few years, the union effectively split into the National Maritime Union and Seafarer's International Union. The early yea ...

and the Marine Transport Workers (MTW) of the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines genera ...

(IWW) joined the strike, but the "Communist-dominated MWIU undercut the strike" by

scabbing A casting defect is an undesired irregularity in a casting (metalworking), metal casting process. Some defects can be tolerated while others can be repaired, otherwise they must be eliminated. They are broken down into five main categories: ''gas ...

. In 1935, Roy Hudson, a ranking MWIU official, dissolved the union (then, with 14,000 members) without a vote, and the

of America succeeded to it.

Slogan

"Full economic, social and political equality for whites, Negroes and Asiatics!"

Offices

MWIU's headquarters was at 410 Broad Street, New York City. It had US offices in Buffalo, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans, Houson, San Pedro, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Seattle. It had overseas offices in London, Newcastle, Bordeaux, Copenhagen, Antwerp, Hamburg, Bremen, Leningrad, Archangel, Vladivostok

Members

* Roy Hudson, national MWIU secretary * Al Lannon, MWIU organizer * Joe Curran, future president of the

National Maritime Union The National Maritime Union (NMU) was an American labor union founded in May 1937. It affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in July 1937. After a failed merger with a different maritime group in 1988, the union merged w ...

(NMU) * Harry Hynes, MWIU organizer who disagreed with

Samuel Adams Darcy Samuel Adams Darcy (born Samuel Dardeck , as known as "Sam Darcy," 1905 – November 8, 2005) was an American political activist who was a prominent Communist leader in both New York and California. While active in the organization of New York Ci ...

* Hayes Jones, later editor of the ''Lake'', newsletter of the NMU * George Mink, MWIU member *

Ferdinand Smith Ferdinand Smith (5 May 1893 – 14 August 1961) was a Jamaican-born Communist labor activist. A prominent activist in the United States and the West Indies, Smith co-founded the National Maritime Union with Joseph Curran and M. Hedley Stone. By 194 ...

, MWIU member

Publications

* ''Marine Workers Voice'' (inherited from the Marine Workers' League TUUL)

Legacy

In 1963, Nelson Bruce helped found the Marine Workers Historical Association, which included records of the MWIU. In 1980, George Morris (American writer) described his recollections of the MWIU during the 1934 strike in his oral history. Union 51 of the

today bears almost the same name: Marine Workers Industrial Union 51.

References

External links

* * * {{cite book , first = Vernon L. , last = Pedersen , title = The Communist Party on the American Waterfront: Revolution, Reform, and the Quest for Power , publisher = Rowman & Littlefield , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ikcJHQAACAAJ , pages = 232 , date = 20 December 2019 , access-date = 15 June 2021
Guide to the Bruce Nelson Research Files on Maritime Workers TAM 585

Oral History
George Morris (1980) Part 1
Oral History
George Morris (1980) Part 2
Oral History
George Morris (1980) Part 3
Oral History
George Morris (1980) Part 4 Trade unions established in 1930 Trade unions disestablished in 1935 Maritime history of the United States Seafarers' trade unions Trade Union Unity League