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Salt of the Earth (1954)
In director Herbert J. Biberman's and writer Michael
Wilson's independently-made, political and social commentary historical
drama about American working people - the only theatrical-length
film ever openly made in the US by a group of blacklisted film-makers:
- the film was based upon a real-life zinc miners
strike in Grant County, NM of Mexican workers in 1951 against
the Empire Zinc Company
- one of the title cards explained:
"our scene is NEW MEXICO, LAND OF THE FREE AMERICANS WHO INSPIRED
THIS FILM. HOME OF THE BRAVE AMERICANS WHO PLAYED MOST OF ITS ROLES";
in the film, "Delaware Zinc" was the company, located in "Zinc
Town, New Mexico"
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the story was personalized by taking the feminist view of the film's
narrator and heroine, Esperanza Quintero (Rosaura Revueltas),
living with her oppressed miner husband Ramon Quintero (Juan
Chacón); they were a typical impoverished Mexican-American
family with two young children, living in a run-down shack (without
utilities) owned by the mining company (Delaware Zinc)
- the expressive opening narration (voice-over) of
35 year old Esperanza: "How shall I begin my story that has no beginning? In these arroyos,
my great grandfather raised cattle before the Anglos ever came. Our
roots go deep in this place, deeper than the pines, deeper than the
mine shafts. This is my village. When I was a child, it was called
San Marcos. The Anglos changed the name to Zinc Town. Zinc Town, New
Mexico, U.S.A. This is our home. The house is not ours. But the flowers,
the flowers are ours. My name is Esperanza, Esperanza Quintero. I am
a miner's wife. Eighteen years my husband has given to that mine, living
half his life with dynamite and darkness. The land where the mine now
stands - that was owned by my husband's own grandfather. Now it belongs
to the company. Who can say when it began, my story? I do not know.
But this day I remember as the beginning of an end. It was my Saint's
Day. I was thirty-five years old. A day of celebration. And I was seven
months gone with my third child. And on that day, I remember I had
a wish, a thought so sinful, a thought so evil that I prayed to the
Virgin to forgive me for it. I wished, I wished that my child would
never be born. No. Not into this world"
- in an early scene, her husband
Ramon experienced a nearly-tragic dynamite explosion at a time
when there were multiple accidents in the mine; the miners were
concerned about the lack of safety codes, bad equipment (faulty
fuses), and poor wages and working conditions (working singly rather
than in pairs); they insisted on equality with other "Anglo"
miners
- with other
miners in the union, Ramon complained to the company's white representative
Chief Foreman Barton (David Wolfe), who only threatened to replace
him with "an American"; there was obvious racial discrimination
and prejudice at the mine, even in the housing - the homes of the
Anglo miners had hot running water, but not those of the non-Anglos
- after another accident, Ramon and the other union
members confronted the Superintendent Alexander
(David Sarvis) and argued for better working
conditions - he only feigned concern: ("I'm
as sorry about it as you are. Savvy? Accidents are costly to everyone
-- and to the company most of all. And now, I see
no reason to treat the occasion like a paid holiday. Suppose we
all get back to work"), but the miners' union threatened to stop
their work and initiate a strike signaled by turning off the mining
equipment (the primary rock crusher); during the stand-off (and
walk-off), everyone glanced to the hillside where the women (and
their children) held a sign in solidarity: "WE WANT SANITATION,
NOT DISCRIMINATION"; the wives also were also quietly organizing
for their own demands, including equal housing with sanitation
Mine Superintendent Alexander (David Sarvis)
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Stand-Off Between Management and Workers
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The Struggle of the Mexican-American Women for Sanitation
in their Homes
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- during a union meeting's speech to organize a strike
(with a vote of 93 to 5 to strike) for equality that evening, Esperanza's
voice-over commented on the strategy of management that would be
counter-acted by the workers: "The bosses would try to split the
Anglo and Mexican-American workers and offer rewards to one man
if he would sell out his brother" - the only answer to that was
the "solidarity" of the working men; one woman Consuelo Ruiz (Angela
Sanchez) also advocated "equality in plumbing too" and proposed
a ladies' auxiliary to support the men, but the union responded
by tabling the discussion
- there was a series of sequences of the "David
and Goliath" months-long
struggle of the striking miners (and their picketing wives in support)
to overturn the oppressive system and its owners, provide safer
working conditions, equal pay for equal work, better sanitation
(hot running water, plumbing) and health care; miners (on strike)
marched in a counter-clockwise circular direction outside the mine,
with picket signs, however, management often fought back by hiring
out-of-town strikebreakers (or "scab" workers) but they
had little impact, as Esperanza noted: "..they usually lost
their nerve when they saw the size of the picket line"
- a shiny Cadillac drove up to the marching picketers,
holding Supt. Alexander and the mining company's NY representative
Hartwell (Mervin Williams) who were momentarily blocked; Alexander
informed the outsider about how to demeaningly treat his workers:
"Well, they're like children in many ways. Sometimes you have to
humor them, sometimes you have to spank them -- and sometimes you
have to take their food away"; he also mentioned how Ramon was
one of the troublemakers: "He's quite a character. Claims his
grandfather once owned the land where the mine is now"
- in one instance, two "scabs" were detected on the
outskirts of the mine and after a dramatic chase sequence, Ramon
confronted one of the men whom he knew - a desperate Mexican-American
named Sebastian Prieto (Victor Torres) - and called him "You Judas
... blood-sucker"; Ramon was handcuffed, arrested by two bigoted
policemen, beaten in the back of a squad car, and jailed for a
month - charged with assault and resisting arrest, and meanwhile
Esperanza gave birth to their third child; the baby Juanito was
baptized the day Ramon got out of jail
- after his release from jail, the miners celebrated
in Ramon's home with a poker game amongst some of the miners (with
the women segregated into the kitchen); the distrustful Ramon was criticized
by Sal Ruiz (Joe T. Morales) for his distrust of the Anglos: ("You
lump them all together -- Anglo workers and Anglo bosses"); Ramon
exemplified his feelings by confronting Anglo union leader Frank
Barnes (Clinton Jenkins) for being ignorant about Mexican culture;
Barnes admitted he had a problem ("I've got a lot to learn"), but
also mentioned how Ramon hurt the movement with his paternalistic
view of women: ("If the women are shut off from life in the union
... We can't think of them just as housewives -- but as partners.
And we have to treat them as such")
- with his newborn child in Esperanza's arms in the
kitchen, Ramon vowed to her that they must win the strike:
"We're going to win this strike....Because if we lose, we lose
more than a strike. We lose the union. And the men know it. And
if we win, we win more than a few demands. We win something
bigger. Hope. Hope for our kids"
- the strike was extended for many months when the
company refused to negotiate,
forcing some mining families to leave the area; there were dwindling
supplies of rationed food (a sign at the company store
read: "NO CREDIT TO STRIKERS") and funds; Esperanza's
voice-over described the desperate situation: ("They tried to turn
the Anglo miners against us. They said that all
the Mexicans ought to be sent back where they came from....And
the seventh month came. We couldn't buy food at the company store.
By now, the strike fund was nearly gone. A few families couldn't
take it any longer -- and where
they went, we do not know...")
- Esperanza explained how a new strategy had to be
devised; fortunately for the strikers, aid in the form of letters
and contributions began to pour in from everywhere to support them:
"And so it was decided by the union that hardship cases should
seek work in other mines. And this was done. Strikers who found
jobs divided their pay with the union, so the rest of us might
eat. Ramon was not a hardship case. Only three children to feed.
Even so, the mine owners might have starved us out were it not
for the help we got from our International in Denver, and from
other locals. And we who thought no one outside our county
knew of our troubles, or cared if they did know -- found we were
wrong. Letters came from our own people of the Southwest,
from far away -- Butte, Chicago, Birmingham, New York -- messages
of solidarity and the crumpled dollar bills of working men. We
women were helping. And not just as cooks and coffee makers. A
few of the men made jokes about it, but the work had to be done
-- so they let us stay. No one knew how great a change it was,
until the day of the crisis"
- a crisis arose when the Sheriff brought a Taft-Hartley
Act injunction (supportive of the mine owners) against
the unionized male miners to end their strike: (Esperanza's voice-over:
"The Sheriff was smiling -- so we knew he brought bad news. The
company had got a court injunction ordering the strikers to stop
picketing. A Taft-Hartley injunction, they called it. It meant
heavy fines and jail sentences for the strikers if they disobeyed.
A decision had to be made at once -- whether to obey the order,
or not"); in the Union Hall, Frank Barnes described the dilemma
of choice for the miners: "If we obey the
court, the strike will be lost. The scabs will move in as
soon as our picket line is gone. If we defy the court, our pickets
will be arrested, and the strike will be lost anyway. So there
it is brothers. The bosses have us coming and going"
- in response, Ramon stood up and pledged to resist:
"If we give up now, if we obey this rotten Taft-Hartley,
we are fools and cowards. There
is only one way: Fight 'em! Fight 'em off!" - however, other
miners were skeptical and feared arrest; after quarreling amongst
themselves, Teresa Vidal (Henrietta Williams) suggested another
creative approach - the wives could picket for the men to bypass
the injunction: "Brother Chairman, if you read the court injunction
carefully, you will see that it only prohibits striking miners
from picketing. (A pause) We women are not striking miners. We
will take over your picket line -- Don't laugh. We have a solution.
You have none....If women take your places on the picket line,
the strike will not be broken, and no scabs will take your jobs"
- after some intense debate and just before a vote
was to be taken, Esperanza rose to advocate that the woman vote
on the motion: "But you men are voting on something the women are
to do, or not to do. So I think it's only fair that the women be
allowed to vote -- especially if they have to do the job"; in order
to allow the women to vote, the official union meeting was adjourned
and a community mass meeting was called to order; a vote was taken
and although it was a close vote (103 in favor, 85 opposed), the motion carried to
allow the women to picket for the men
- a picket line was formed (with wives of the
miners and many others), although Esperanza was - at first - denied
participation by her husband Ramon and she complained: ("It's not
fair. I should be there with them. After all, I'm the one who
got the women the vote"); the women stood fast when the Sheriff
and his deputies attempted to disperse them, and successfully
fought back (with her shoe, Esperanza helped by whacking the wrist
of a deputy holding a gun); the ladies reformed the
picket line while singing 'The Union Is Our Leader'
- encouraged by her newfound power, Esperanza
joined the picketers (with her baby child)
for many weeks: (voice-over:
"And so I came back the next day -- and every day for the next
month"); the police authorities began to harass the women again,
as she explained: "For a while the Sheriff's men left us alone.
But then it started again. They cursed us, insulted us, called
us foul names. It started again" - they even used tear gas,
but Esperanza claimed that they remained strong: "But they couldn't
break our line. They couldn't break it"
- in retaliation against the resistance, the Sheriff
(with pressure from Alexander, Hartwell and the company) was given
orders to arrest the determined Esperanza
(and other leading female ring-leaders); he shouted threats: "Go
home or go to jail...Get off the picket line or get arrested,"
and then began a series of arrests; Esperanza refused to be separated
from her baby and children and was hauled off in the back of a
pick-up to the local jail; the group loudly protested their imprisonment
in a crowded cell without beds and demanded food (and the proper
milk "formula" for Esperanza's baby -- "WE WANT THE FORMULA!");
they also refused to be coerced into signing a pledge to NOT return
to the picket line; Ramon visited the jail and took his three children
home - he would serve as their housekeeper while his wife was jailed
for a few days; he realized her point-of-view about how difficult
it was to keep house without hot running water: ("It should have
been a union demand from the beginning")
- after Esperanza's release from jail four days
later, she told Ramon that they wouldn't be arrested again: ("The
Sheriff had enough of us. We drove him crazy!"); in
the middle of the night, Esperanza and Ramon (who had spent most
of her first night home in the beer parlor) had a
domestic argument - the prideful patriarchal Ramon felt that she
was neglecting her maternal role - and not staying in her place
- after becoming so involved in the strike activities; she told
him that she thought he was disrespecting her: ("Have you learned
nothing from this strike? Why are you afraid to have me at your
side? Do you still think you can have dignity only if I have none?...Do
you feel better having someone lower than you?"); and then she
passionately lectured him about her demands for equality: "Whose
neck shall I stand on to make me feel superior, and what will I
have out of it? I don't want anything lower than I am. I am low
enough already. I want to rise and to push everything up with me
as I go...And if you can't understand this you're a fool -- because
you can't win this strike without me! You can't win anything without
me!"; he was tempted to slap her but she restrained him by confronting
him defiantly and powerfully without flinching: "That would be
the old way. Never try it on me again -- never"
- the
authorities had one final, back-breaking tactic in "the lull before
the storm" - sensed by Esperanza; they issued eviction orders
to remove all of the striking families from their company-owned
homes, beginning with the Quintero family; the officers led by
the Sheriff carelessly moved out and dumped all of their belongings
on the ground in front of the home
Eviction at the Company-Owned Quintero Home - Removal
of Items
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Resisting the Eviction
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The House Surrounded by Supporters of the Quinteros
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- although tempted to use his gun, Ramon whispered
instead to Esperanza to urge everyone gathered around the house
to defy and resist the eviction order peacefully - with solidarity
and dignity: "This means they have given up trying to break the
picket line. Now we can all fight together -- all of us"; with
support from all of the other gathered union members, miners
and striking families, they vastly outnumbered the police (seen
in a slow panning shot); they picked up the strewn-around possessions
and returned them to the inside of the house through a side entrance; they
were able to successfully protest the unjust eviction by their
adversaries and save the home from eviction
- realizing that they
were outfoxed and defeated again as they watched from afar in the
Cadillac, Hartwell muttered to Alexander: "I think maybe we'd better
settle this thing for the present"
- in the conclusion, the Delaware Zinc Company
admitted defeat and began negotiations with the union of mine workers to settle the strike
- outside the home in the yard, Esperanza delivered
another voice-over: "We did not know then that we had won the
strike. But our hearts were full"; Ramon
thanked all of his "sisters and brothers" for
their victory - and then publically praised Esperanza for her strong
and defiant "dignity" against the autocratic bosses; he admitted
her approach had worked: ("Esperanza. Thank you for your dignity.
You were right. Together we can push everything up with us as we
go"); they ultimately won the strike and found "hope" for their
children (the "salt of the earth") as he had wished earlier
- the film ended with her final voice-over: "Then I knew we had won something they
could never take away -- something I could leave to my children
-- and they, the salt of the earth, would inherit it"
- the ending credits were individual pictures of the
"professional cast" with their actor/actress names
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Esperanza Quintero (Rosaura Revueltas)
Esperanza's Miner Husband Ramon Quintero
Devout Catholic Esperanza Praying to Virgin Mary in Her Home's Shrine:
"I wished that my child would never be born"
After a Blast, Ramon and Other Miners Angrily Complained
to Chief Foreman Barton About Working Conditions
The Poor Quintero Family
On a Hillside, Women in Solidarity with Their Miner Husbands
Strike-Protest Sign of Mex-Am. Miners' Union
Mine Workers Marching on the Strike-Picket Line
for Many Months
Mine Representatives: Hartwell (l) and Alexander (r) in
Shiny Cadillac
Ramon Hand-Cuffed and Beaten by Police in the Back Seat
of Cop Car
Barnes (left) with Ramon (right)
Company Store Sign: "NO CREDIT TO STRIKERS"
Letters of Support for the Striking Miners
Frank's Distressing Announcement to the Union after the Issuance of a
Taft-Hartley Injunction: "The bosses have us coming and going"
Teresa Vidal's Proposal: "We will take over your
picket line!"
The Audience's Stunned Silence After a Vote to Allow Women
to Picket
The All-Female Picket Line
The Jailed Female Picketers With Children - Protesting Conditions
Esperanza in Jail
Late Night Argument Between Ramon and Esperanza
Hartwell: "I think maybe we'd better settle this thing"
Ramon's Thanks to "Sisters and Brothers"
Praise for Esperanza from Ramon
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