Timber Worker

The Timber Worker began publication in 1935 as a strike bulletin; no copies of the first year of publication are available in the University of Washington’s collection. By 1936, the paper, which generally ran 12 pages but occasionally shot up to 20 or more, had become a weekly, published by the Timber Worker Publishing Company of Aberdeen, WA. Ray Nouska served as the paper’s first editor, managing editor, and business manager. Missing editions of the paper make it difficult to pinpoint exactly when Nouska ended his tenure, but, by 1938, Nat Honig had become editor, and Bert Dietz, previously one of the few reporters with a byline, became business manager. Later in that same year, the editorial position had been taken over by Louis R. Huber. By 1940, Kenneth L. Pettus became editor and remained in that position until at least 1942. The paper relied upon the Federated Press, the left wing, union-affiliated press service, for stories, beginning very late in 1936. Circulation figures for the publication are unknown for the first couple of years of its existence, but, by 1938, the paper reached 24,356 readers, a number that rose by 1940 to 37,800. Official figures are again unavailable for 1941 or 1942.

In a time of left-leaning union building, in an industry with a radical edge, The Timber Worker showed little evidence of socialist or communist sentiments in its editorial stance. In fact, its politics were unquestionably Democratic and unabashedly pro-Roosevelt. In an article calling for donations to help pay for Roosevelt’s reelection in 1936, the paper emphasized the need for labor to support financially Roosevelt’s bid for reelection, for the president could not turn to big business in light of his pro-labor stances. Roosevelt, in the paper’s view, had "done more for labor in one term than all of the other men" who had served as president. (October 23, 1936) Upon Roosevelt’s reelection, the editors proclaimed, "fear has been banished from the nation. Forces that have for long retarded progress and submerged liberties have been brushed aside to make way for changes in our political, economic, and social system that can no longer be denied." (November 6, 1936)

Throughout its publication, The Timber Worker strongly stressed the need for workers to support pro-labor candidates and legislation. It saw this strategy as "the only permanent means by which Organized Labor can maintain some semblance of economic security and at the same time guarantee the continued prosperity of the businessmen and farmers of the state." (October 16, 1936) A number of articles and editorials from the paper’s early days urged workers to use their votes to guarantee pro-labor politics. In fact, the paper exhorted its readers to vote no matter their politics, although the direction of that vote was not in much doubt: "It is the worker’s privilege to vote for whomsoever he wishes. . . . Labor is stronger this year than ever before in the history of organized labor. A big labor vote will be proof of that fact." (October 9, 1936)

International issues found their ways into the pages of The Timber Worker. Early on, the paper criticized the growing power of Hitler and Mussolini. In a regularly appearing column of short, general commentary on national and international issues, John Paine played on Hitler’s statement that the German people could not afford the luxury of democracy and questioned if Hitler himself was a luxury the Germans could afford. As the Spanish Civil War marched into headlines across the nation and the world, The Timber Worker allied itself with the anti-fascist forces, proclaiming in an editorial that "Hitler and Mussolini, having squandered the substance of their people for materials of war, now ride the air and seas provoking incidents which may embroil all the nations of Europe . . they epitomize the basest and most destructive forces of humanity." (June 4, 1937) A year later, the editors urged U.S. housewives to boycott Japanese silk, for its sale supported the oppression of the Chinese people in the war against Japan. (January 1, 1938)

As the threat of direct U.S. involvement in the war became more real, however, the paper was overwhelmingly anti-war in its sentiments.  Time and again, articles stressed the need for America to stay out of the war. In a July 1940 article, International President Harold J. Pritchett was quoted as saying, "Each day the danger of America's involvement in the European war becomes more imminent, yet we all know the American people do not want war." (July 13, 1940) However anti-war the paper might have been, though, it did push to ensure that no labor law violators would receive defense contracts, stating in the November 16th, 1940 issue that "[t]he labor press is almost unanimously agreed that defense contracts should be withheld from violators of federal labor laws."

Later, as war became a reality, however, the paper stressed labor’s important role in assisting the war effort. Labor was called upon as an instrumental device in winning the war. Headlines in support of the war appeared frequently: "Unlimited Production Now—FDR," "Essence of Our Struggle is Freedom," "People’s Sacrifice to End Hitlerism," "Berlin World’s Main ‘Slave Market,’" and "We Must Build A Better World." Titles such as these described the shifting sentiment toward the war effort among the woodworkers.

The Timber Worker focused on local union issues or politics. Column fillers encouraged readers to "insist on the union label" or "buy only union products." The paper, especially at its start, reminded its readership of union meetings and union business, even if that business had nothing to do with the woodworkers. Alaska fishermen, pulpcutters, and longshoremen found themselves represented among the articles and announcements of the paper’s early days. The short articles of the first years of publication often focused on the labor troubles and issues of the Pacific Northwest. In these same years, information about life in the Northwest lumber towns can be gleaned from advertisements for local businesses, especially taverns and restaurants, and from events such as dances and other socials. Oftentimes local unions sponsored these events. Only later, when the style and publication address of the paper changed, did national labor news take a starring role. Growing aspects of the paper during the late 1930s and early 1940s were rising numbers of stories describing the triumph of African Americans and women and a growing section entitled "Rank and File Opinions." The vigor of union organizing and idealism in the Northwest can, in part, be measured by the glut of union news finding its way into the pages of the woodworkers’ paper.

Of course, all of this news was not positive. Strikes, lockouts, and pleas for money to support the victims of the two appeared regularly. The continuing struggle of workers with the local McCleary Timber Company took a lot of ink, with the paper following the recurring demands, negotiations, pickets, and injunctions. Similarly, The Timber Worker followed the strike by journalists against the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Hearst Corporation; its attitude towards Hearst and the company’s actions in another labor dispute in Chicago was apparent later in an article headlined, "Hearst Thugs Face Prosecution in Chicago." (January 15, 1939)

A major Northwest labor event—the Centralia Massacre—took center stage in a series of articles that attempted to raise awareness and money for Ray Becker, the last Industrial Workers of the World prisoner remaining of those convicted in the trials that followed the 1919 massacre. Education of the public was a secondary goal, for the paper knew it was proselytizing to the faithful; it assumed the readers’ knowledge of the massacre itself and went on to relate what had happened since the trials, with the goal of securing Becker’s release.

The paper stayed true to its motto of "promoting working class solidarity" by consistently making jabs at the owning class. An early editorial criticized the actions of Mrs. Edwin Selvin and "other Seattle club women" who had gone to Olympia to lobby the governor to bring pressure to bear on striking Post-Intelligencer workers instead of demanding an investigation of the strike by a grand jury. The class division is obvious in the paper’s characterization of these women as "high-minded socialites" who "have torn themselves away from their bridge tables. (October 16, 1936) A week later, Selvin again came in for criticism in a recurring column entitled "Comment," when she was elected chair of the statewide Women of Washington. Again, the paper made no apology for its characterization of Selvin and her supporters as "a group of thrill seeking bridge devotees" headed to Olympia. (October 23, 1936, p. 6)

Class-consciousness also appeared in later issues, which ran a recurring cartoon called "The Upper Crust" that skewered the owning class by depicting an upper-echelon couple, living in opulence, facing problems with the workers, be they servants or employees of the couple’s unnamed industry. Needless to say, the depiction characterized the couple as arrogant and greedy buffoons.

A short time later, in an article entitled "Bosses Seek Federation Downfall," reporter Bruce Dietz reprinted and analyzed a letter sent to all major timber companies by the West Coast Lumberman’s Association. The letter warned employers about the newly formed Federation of of Woodworkers and its radical agenda of revolution. Dietz characterized the letter as "the source of a red-baiting campaign to wreck the entire Federation." (October 23, 1936) This red baiting made an occasional appearance later as well as labor found itself split over the direction in which it should head.

copyright (c) 2001 by Gerardine Carroll & Michael Moe