Red Harbor

Description

Radical Workers and Community Struggle in the Pacific Northwest

By Aaron Goings
University of Washington Press

In the early decades of the twentieth century, Grays Harbor was the Lumber Capital of the World. While thousands of lumber and maritime workers fought for higher wages and decent conditions, employers unified to protect their interests, often through violent and corrupt means. They spied on unionists, expelled them from their own towns, vilified them in the press, and physically assaulted labor activists. But with deep roots in their communities, radical workers continued to meet in their halls and immigrant neighborhoods—and to influence the wider labor movement well into the 1930s.

Aaron Goings resurrects the forgotten history of lumber workers in a bastion of labor radicalism, examining the conflict as workers faced down an alliance of employers, police, and violent anti-radicals, including the Ku Klux Klan. But he goes beyond these clashes to illuminate the vital roles of families, immigrants, and working-class women in the labor movement, revealing how people fought not only for labor rights but also for the good of their communities. The Industrial Workers of the World in particular adopted views and tactics from socialist Finnish immigrants while authoring programs responsive to local needs and supported by the people—radical and otherwise.

Vivid and revealing, Red Harbor shines a light on lumber workers and the pursuit of justice in the Pacific Northwest.

“Red Harbor is yet another essential work of labor history from an author who has dedicated his writing career to excavating and uplifting lesser-known worker struggles in the Northwest. This time, Goings takes us back to what was once known as the Lumber Capital of the World and gives us an illuminating glimpse into the worker organizing, radical politics, immigrant solidarity, and deep community care that animated Grays Harbor—with (and usually without) the bosses’ blessing.”—Kim Kelly, author of Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor

“Aaron Goings critically analyzes Grays Harbor, his hometown, the world’s leading lumber port in the early twentieth century. He doesn’t shy away from the town’s long history of violence perpetrated against labor unionists, ethnic minorities, and political radicals. With Red Harbor added to his already impressive bookshelf, Goings establishes himself as the Pacific Northwest’s foremost labor historian.”—Peter Cole, author of Wobblies on the Waterfront: Interracial Unionism in Progressive-Era Philadelphia