On site of the Durst Hop Ranch in Northern California a plaque stands today commemorating “the second major dispute in the U.S.A. initiated by the IWW labor movement”. The fact that this dispute took place 3,000 from the industrial centers in the northeast at once is a comment on the power of the Industrial Workers of the World and the squalid conditions — if anything, even worse than the ones in the factories — the agricultural workers faced. The twelve-hour workday began at 4 a.m., as many of the workers made their way from their sleeping places — either tents or open-air — to the field. The most they could hope to make was $1.90, with the dollar usually kept as a bonus given out to workers who finished the entire harvest season.

On this day, August 3, in 1913, on a blistering hot day, IWW representative Richard “Blackie” Ford’s speech of unionization was interrupted by a police raid and a 30-second riot that ended with four people dad and scores of arrests.

Before the Sheriff’s deputies had a chance to grab Ford, the crowd surged forward — either to protect Ford or keep him from falling from the stage. The next thing that happened was a deputy firing a warning shot from his gun into the air. Suddenly more shots rang out, as a young worker clubbed one of the deputies and got his gun. The confusion was brief, but damaging: four people lay dead. Ford was unarmed and counseled peace, but was arrested later as the one of the main initiators of the riot anyway. The IWW considered the event a step forward in the struggle for fair labor.