~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Labor World of February 26th, 1916, published a letter from "Porto Rico trade union[ists]" which described the deaths of striking workers during January of 1916 and stated that the workers were affiliated with the American Federation of Labor.

The Cigar Makers Journal of May 1916 published a letter from the Executive council of the Free Federation of Workingmen of Porto Rico, signed by Rafael Alonso, General Secretary, and Santiago Iglesias, President. The deaths of these workers were described:

The Almighty Dollar Is Crushing Humble Labor.

More than 20,000 agricultural workers went to strike in January, 1916, for better conditions, wages and eight hours. Police and local magistrates favoring "sugar trust."

In Juana Diaz, police without excuse fired against strikers and citizens killing one, two more died in hospital, wounded four women, two boys and ten men.

In Rio Grande, police fired, clubbed and cut strikers.

In Lolza, police fired and clubbed strikers, killing one like a dog and wounding several more.

In Areclbo, police fired and clubbed strikers, killing one and wounding many of them and also several arrests have been made. Also peaceful parades of defenseless women have been brutally disbanded by shots.

In Bayamon, police fired to the Assembly hall of the American Federation of Labor, breaking charters of Unions with bullets. Clubs and bullets are used freely to frighten poor laborers in the country. Parades are destroyed and hundreds of arrests have been made to justify local official barbarism.

Sadly, despite much searching, I have not been able to discover the names of these labor martyrs. Information on the Puerto Rican Sugar Plantation Strikes of 1915-16 is also hard to come by. More research is needed. Searches should include both spellings: Puerto Rico and Porto Rico. Contemporary sources will use the latter spelling. For now, we honor these labor martyrs as Unknown Workers.

Excerpt from Subject People and Colonial Discourses by Kelvin A. Santiago-Valles:

The first strike wave of these war years [WWI, 1914-1918] occurred during 1915-1916, affecting mostly the sugar plantations. Eighteen thousand laborers paralyzed twenty-four of the thirty-nine most important plantations for three months in 1915 and the following year forty thousand laborers did the same for approximately six months. This is roughly equivalent to ten percent of the officially active labor force, there being approximately 400,000 persons gainfully occupied in the whole Island at this time. During these two years, large numbers of laborers in the tobacco factories and in the docks also went on strike, among others.

Although the 1915-1916 strikes in the sugar plantations resulted in noticeable pay raises for the laborers of the entire sugar sector..., they were obtained at a very high social cost. The ensuing physical confrontations between the strikers and police were exceptionally bloody.

SOURCES

Hellraisers Journal: Porto Rican Laborers Beaten, Shot, Jailed. "Territory Run by Feudal Lords."
-by JayRaye
http://caucus99percent.com/content/hellraisers-journal-porto-rican-labor...

Subject People and Colonial Discourses:
Economic Transformation and Social Disorder in Puerto Rico,
1898-1947
-by Kelvin A. Santiago-Valles
SUNY Press, Jan 11, 1994
(Also source for image of book cover.)
https://books.google.com/books?id=cf9dsdYz9bcC
https://books.google.com/books?id=cf9dsdYz9bcC&pg=PA113&dq=first+strike+...

IMAGE
American Federation of Labor Button
http://www.laborsolidarity.info/index-2.html

See also:

Commission on industrial relations: final report and testimony United States.
Commission on Industrial Relations
-ed by Francis Patrick Walsh, Basil Maxwell Manly
D.C. Gov. Print. Office, 1916
https://books.google.com/books?id=PeweAQAAMAAJ
Labor Conditions in Porto Rico, 11,027-11,224
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=PeweAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcove...
Search with: "Free Federation of Workingmen of Porto Rico"
https://books.google.com/books?id=PeweAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Free+Federation+of+W...

American Federationist
(Washington, District of Columbia)
-September 1916
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=ZaZHAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcove...
"Free Federation of Workingmen of Porto Rico"
-by Rafael Alonso, General Secretary
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=ZaZHAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcove...
-December 1916
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=ZaZHAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcove...
"Progress in Porto Rico"
-by Santiago Iglesias
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=ZaZHAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcove...

````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````