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(Chris Conybeare)
Well there clearly were antagonisms

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between the workforce and management.

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(Edward Beechert)
Oh, absolutely.

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But what about the point that Ed raised?

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That at 1909, things developed
to a different level, and there was a more

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systematic kind of organization.

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I know that you deal with the 1909 strike
quite a bit.

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What was your view there?

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You do have the evolution
of collective resistance.

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Ed is quite right, that before 1900,
strikes tended to be limited

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to one plantation and they also tended
to be spontaneous.

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And they also tended to be reactions
against Luna physical abuse,

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rather than wages, okay.

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After 1900, when you have the abolition
of contract labor, wages now become a

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subject of negotiation.

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So the strikes which takes place
after 1900 are wage related,

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they're economic in orientation.

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The 1909 strike, I think, represented
another step in this evolution,

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where you had an island-wide strike.

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Plantations on the island
of Oʻahu were on strike.

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And you had about seven to eight thousand
workers collectively struggling

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against plantation management.

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But still it represented blood unionism.
It represented Japanese nationalism.

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In other words, those who went on strike
in 1909 were Japanese.

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And this is how-
the planters then broke the strike.

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By employing and bringing in scabs
representing different nationalities.

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In 1920 you have another movement
in this evolution where Japanese

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and Filipino workers went out
on strike and cooperated with each other

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to an extent not seen before.

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And it was in 1920 that the leadership
began to conceptualize the idea

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of one big interracial union.

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In fact, one of the leaders
of the 1920 strike said

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that this big interracial union
would come within ten years

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and it would be led by American born
and American born leadership.

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And I think the 1920 strike that opened
the way for the I.L.W.U. and for the 1946

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strike, which successfully gave workers
collective bargaining

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and also higher wages.

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(Chris Conybeare)
Before we get to that,

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and I think that's very interesting,
we want to talk about that.

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Franklin, we earlier talked about the fact
that it wasn't just collective work action

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that were forms of protest.

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In fact, there was some mention
of plays being performed that the workers

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used to express what was happening.

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Maybe you could share
a little bit about what you know

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about some of those kinds of activities.

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'Cause I think it's very interesting
and it adds a dimension

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to the people involved.

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Well I think the Japanese-

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in the 1909 strike,
which was a Japanese strike,

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and with a few other people involved,
but primarily Japanese.