Trona, Bloody Trona by Paul Henry Abram
Trona, Bloody Trona – A Synopsis © 2013 By Paul Henry Abram This is the story of a young radical lawyer in L.A. and his literary non-fiction tale of a labor strike which takes place in 1970 in Trona, CA, the Gateway to Death Valley. When 750 workers walked out on Kerr-McGee – a world-wide…
Trona, Bloody Trona – A Synopsis © 2013 By Paul Henry Abram This is the story of a young radical lawyer in L.A. and his literary non-fiction tale of a labor strike which takes place in 1970 in Trona, CA, the Gateway to Death Valley. When 750 workers walked out on Kerr-McGee – a world-wide conglomerate that controls a little bit of everything and all of Trona, having paid its workers in company script until 1957 – they never dreamt they had bargained for being shot down by Wackenhut security police, or run down by both teamsters and scabs as they walked their legally sanctioned picket lines. They never foresaw their homes being invaded by force during the “Reign of Terror” – a night that saw Wackenhuts, sheriffs and FBI kick in doors, drag folks from their homes and cart off 54 persons to maximum security prison. I was later Shanghaied myself and taken in shackles to the District Attorney, 140 miles away, all of which strengthened both my resolve and that of the union members. At UCLA law school I was invited to speak under a banner prepared by students that read “Trona, Bloody Trona”. The event led to hundreds of students coming to Trona from all over CA – they did research that enabled them to picket the plant on environmental and anti-war grounds. NBC newsman Mike Gavin did a news segment titled “Revolution in Microcosm” which the strike truly was. Everything taking place in the “real world” was taking place in Trona. Students brought the women’s movement, the anti-war movement, environmentalism and bodies to town to re-enforce pickets and changed beliefs as to a worker-student alliance against the tyranny of capitalism. {{SPOILER ALERT – READ NO MORE – SPOILER ALERT!!}} In the end, after a long and brutal struggle which the strikers were actually winning on every level, they were sold out by ILWU President, Harry Bridges, who had bigger fish to fry. “We have not been beaten, we’ve been betrayed” one striker shouted in Bridges’ face, and the revolution ended after four and one-half bitter months. I truly believe you will find this work to be on a level with Salt of the Earth and Grapes of Wrath.
” Corporations are People my Friends”
Five Star Review on Amazon By David L. Stevens
I was born in Trona. I grew up in Trona. I didn’t go through this strike but my parents and brothers did. I knew many of the people mentioned in the book and went to school with them or their older siblings. I have maintained a web site about Trona for 20 years. If you have connections to Trona I would recommend this book. If you enjoy a good story I would recommend this book. If you were a hippie or your parents were hippies in the 70s I would recommend this book. If you are a delusional far right wing Repubiconed this book may be a little difficult for you to read. I sent this book to sons and to my brothers. My fear is that this book, even after 40 years, will open old wounds. I know it is going to take me a while to begin thinking of Trona the same way again. Don’t get me wrong. Once I started reading I couldn’t put this book down.
About the Author
About the Author Paul joined the Air Force after Loyola High School and was sent to Monterey Army Language School to learn Russian. He was stationed on the island of Crete, Greece as a spy for the National Security Agency (NSA). He later covered the Cuban Missile Crisis as a spy for NSA. In 1963 he was honorably discharged from the Air Force, attended USC Law School and graduated in 1967. From 1967 until 2004 Paul practiced law all over CA & OR. He handled everything from pot busts to several death penalty defenses – he never had a client go to death row. As Director of Litigation for Inland Counties Legal Services from 1977 to 1980, Paul was named National Director of the Migrant Farmworker Program by the National Legal Services Corp. in Washington, D.C. He successfully handled numerous multi-million dollar lawsuits which gained decent housing for farmworkers. Paul practiced law and photography for 37 years – he retired from law in 2004. He has continued on with photography, writing and fly-fishing, though not necessarily in that order. He and his wife, Marcia, and their friends, Joey Cocker and Chili Dog, live near Bass Lake, CA. In 2012 he published his first book – “Love Poems with an Attitude”. It can be sampled and purchased at www.PaulNRuthsBookstore.com or at Amazon.com. This is his first novel-length nonfiction work which covers a labor union strike he handled in the middle of the Mojave Desert in 1970 – it was called labor’s bloodiest struggle since the Embarcadero Strike of 1934, and traces the decline of the labor movement since 1970. One news-anchor that covered the strike in person dubbed it a “Revolution in Microcosm”, and compared what was happening in Trona to “Grapes of Wrath” and “Salt of the Earth”. Come along as Paul travels through all that was the 1960’s and seventies and share his deeply ingrained love of labor and the unions that protect us all. You will also learn some never-before released secrets of the NSA!