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MHC150: The Peopling of New York

Jason Brown
Professor Judith Friedlander
5/21/2014
Salt of the Earth and the Mexican Political Film in the 20
th
Century REVISION
Since the early days of films with narratives and plots, political propaganda
has been a part of the medium. The idea of the film making a political statement
began with Sergei Eisensteins propaganda films of Soviet Russia, but soon spread to
the rising government of Nazi Germany, and even to the United States, with films
such as Reefer Madness being used to sway audiences into a certain opinion. Until
the mid-20
th
century, however, film executives and governments dominated the
political theme, as film production had historically been very expensive. However, as
it became cheaper and easier, films soon became a tool for those looking for social
change and reform. This idea can be found in the 1954 Mexican-American film Salt
of the Earth, which was written and produced by Americans, but was centered
around the plight of Mexican immigrant miners in New Mexico. Calling itself The
Only US Blacklisted Film, Salt of the Earth was written, directed, and produced by
three blacklisted communist filmmakers of the McCarthy Era. It tells the story of
actual workers in New Mexico, who rise up and strike against an oppressive mining
company. Rejected at the time of the film industry for being an indignant,
opinionated film that defied the American status quo, Salt of the Earth combined
ideas of socialism, feminism, and racial equality to create an early example of films
in the United States to advocate for Latino rights.
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Before evaluating Salt of the Earth, its important to understand the
circumstances of the Mexican-American worker in the mid-20
th
century and the
events that inspired the film. Like the Chinese, Irish, and Italian immigrant groups
before them, the average Mexican worker lived in a perpetual state of poverty and
financial instability. They often settled on bordering states, in places such as New
Mexico, Southern California, Arizona and Southwest Texas. In the 1940s, the United
States Congress started the Bracero Program, a temporary arrangement allowing
Mexican workers into the country to fill vacancies left by drafted soldiers in World
War II. The program ran for 22 years, ending in 1964, during which time more than
4 million Mexican workers came to the bordering states of America, dramatically
influencing the culture and changing the demographic.
1
For the most part, these
immigrants did agricultural labor, replacing American farm workers drafted into the
army. Others found work within the urban community, opening shops, restaurants,
and other service-industry businesses.
2
This was rare, however. Most of the people
involved in this program wound up doing manual labor.
Since it was produced and released in the years 1953 to 1954, Salt of the
Earth appeared in cinemas during the times of the Bracero Program. Set in New
Mexico, it documented the true events of the Empire Zinc Company Strike. In 1951,
Mexican-American miners ran into conflict with their employer. As James J. Lorence
describes in his book Palomino: Clinton Jencks and the Mexican-American Unionism

1
Massey, Douglas S. Understanding Mexican Migration to the United States. American
Journal of Sociology 92, no. 6 (May 1987): 13721403.
2
Hispanic Americans: Migrant Workers and Braceros (1930s-1964), 2014.
http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/calcultures/ethnic_groups/subto
pic3b.html
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in the American Southwest, although they walked side by side with American miners,
Mexican men were often "paid less than their Anglo counterparts subjected to far
more dangerous situations on the job, and [were] allowed far fewer amenities in
their company-provided housing.
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They often faced health risks as well, laboring
under unsafe conditions with very minimal provisions for safety. However, being
members of the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, most of the
miners had the means to collectively bargain and advocate for change, which they
wound up doing. Starting in late 1950, the male workers began to picket, and
successfully halted production for eight months. By June of 1951, the company had
exhausted their means of appeasing the workers, and finally felt the need to reopen
the mine by force. Strikebreakers soon came to the area to confront the picketers
and police arrested 12 people, including the movements leader Clinton Jencks.
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No
violence had ensued yet, however, and a stalemate remained, with the strikers
wondering what the company had planned next.
The next move by the company left the miners with an unconventional
method of protest. A series of injunctions barred the male workers from the picket
line from October 1950 until January 1952 women held the line while men
assumed traditional domestic and child-rearing responsibilities... Although the
women were harassed and arrested by local law enforcement, they refused to

3
Lorence, James J. Palomino: Clinton Jencks and Mexican-American Unionism in the American
Southwest. University of Illinois Press, 2013. Page 30
4
Baker, Ellen R. On Strike and On Film: Mexican American Families and Blacklisted
Filmmakers in Cold War America. UNC Press Books, 2007. Page 46
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budge.
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In the face of a restraining order that prevented all employees of the mine
to protest, the wives and children of the unionized miners wound up having to
protest themselves, periodically coming into physical conflict with strike breakers.
Finally, in 1954, " the union won modest wage increases, seniority protection for
strikers, important fringe benefits, a uniform contract renewal agreement, and an
end to the discriminatory Mexican wage scale. Their dramatic victory was a
landmark in the Chicano struggle for social, economic, and Political equality in the
Southwest."
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In the brutally capitalistic, paranoid environment of1950s America, the story
of triumph and resolve amongst members of the working class predictably had a
difficult time becoming widely known and publicized, which is where the film came
in. In 1953, filmmakers Herbert Biberman, Paul Jarrico, and Michael Wilson found
the story of the Empire Zinc Company Strike while it was still going on. They
resolved to document the event as it was progressing through a traditional plot and
narrative. However, they had been blacklisted in the industry due to their open ties
to communism, a punishment of the times stemming from hearings in Joseph
McCarthys House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). As James J. Lorence
put it, this House of Representatives committee held hearings in 1947 on the
alleged influence of Communists in the motion picture industry. The hearings were
followed by the Motion Picture Producers Associations Waldorf Statement, which
declared the industrys intention to deny employment to anyone who advocated the

5
Ruiz, Vicki L., and Virginia Snchez Korrol. Latinas in the United States, Set: A Historical
Encyclopedia. Indiana University Press, 2006.
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Lorence, James J. Mining Salt of the Earth. Page 31
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overthrow of the government by force which referred specifically to
Communistsbut in practiced included left-liberals of all shades.
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As the Motion
Picture Producer Association was extremely powerful and influential at this time, a
blacklisting from them carried much weight, rendering those punished by it
unemployed and unemployable. Biberman, registered Communist Party member
and director of the film actually wound up serving six months in prison for contempt
of Congress, and was officially blacklisted until the 1960s.
Despite all the threats, Biberman and his team managed to travel to New
Mexico with sufficient funds to produce the film. They wound up modeling many
parts of the story after the actual union and strike, from the progression of events to
the casting of actual town residents as characters. Salt of the Earths story is about
the strikers as a whole, but focuses on a fictional couple named Ramn and
Esperanza and their experiences with the initial oppression, struggle for change, and
eventual resolve along with Ramns coworkers and community. Influences of
feminism in the story can be found in throughout the story, starting with its rising
action. In a highly dramatized union hall meeting where members discuss the
sheriffs injunction, Esperanza and other women of the town defy both American
and Mexican male-dominated culture, offering their services as picketers and
eventually assuming a role of power. These themes continue with Ramns initial
hesitance to listen to Esparanza, the unions initial hesitance to allow the women to
strike, and the initial nonchalance (and eventual fear) of the police in response to
the women. In several scenes of the film we see the women playing formidable,

7
ibid. Page 30
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assertive roles without fear of violence, and see the men take on traditional female
roles, washing clothes and supporting the family. In the end, much like the true
story, we see workers being arrested and facing other obstacles, but eventually
achieve their goal and resist both the mine, employers, and local government.
The themes of gender equality in Salt of the Earth were ahead of their time in
both American and Latino culture. As Mexican family culture has been historically
known for being very patriarchal, the films writer, Michael Wilson included many
instances of conflict between the men and women of the story. From when the union
first agreed to allow the women to picket to the relationship conflict between
Ramn and Esperanza, Salt of the Earth broke down the strict gender roles of Latino
society just as much as it promoted collective worker action. Although the film was
mainly about Ramn and Esperanza, and Ramn played a dynamic, nuanced
character, the story was largely told through the lens of Esperanza. This placed an
importance on a female characters development, which was something not often
seen in films of the 1950s.
The themes of racial equality were also noted, as the fictional union of the
story featured both American and Mexican people working together as a team.
Spanish and English were used interchangeably throughout the film, and the
intelligence and significance of the Mexican characters were not discounted in ways
that many films often do to groups of 3
rd
-world people, particularly in the 1950s.
The differences in gender roles between Americans and Mexicans were also noted,
with Ramn even saying at one point Those Anglo dames stirred you up to make
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fools of yourselves.
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Ramns assertion points to the idea that Mexican culture was
even more patriarchal than that of America, and that the two countries cultures
both had things to learn from each other.
Salt of the Earth touched on all of these important issues well before its time,
but its message and story werent able to be released until the end of McCarthyism.
Even during its production, the film met opposition and backlash: During the
course of production in New Mexico in 1953, the trade press denounced it as a
subversive plot, anti-Communist vigilantes fired rifle shots at the set and the film's
leading lady was deported to Mexico
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After careful investigation into each of the
films crew members, government officials arrested and deported Rosaura
Revueltas on breaking laws of immigration, requiring the film to be completed in
Mexico and smuggled back into the United States.
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House Representative Donald L.
Jackson, member of the HUAC, considered the film deliberately designed to inflame
racial hatreds and to depict the United States as the enemy of all colored peoples.
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Current distributions of Salt of the Earth market the movie as being the only
blacklisted film in the US, a claim that may not be too far away from the truth. As
the three leaders of the production were known blacklisted Communists, unionized

8
Biberman, Herbert J. Salt of the Earth. Drama, History, 1954.
9
Hockstader, Lee. Salt of the Earth Is Back from the Blacklist. Los Angeles Times,
March 4, 2003.
http://articles.latimes.com/2003/mar/04/entertainment/et-hock4.
10
Weinberg, Carl R. Salt of the Earth: Labor, Film, and the Cold War. The OAH
Magazine of History, October 2010.
http://magazine.oah.org/issues/244/salt.html
11
Red Movie in Making, 83rd Cong., 1st sess., Congressional Record 99 (February 24,
1953): H 1372.
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theaters refused to screen the film, with thirteen out of 13,000 theaters showing the
film.
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In recent years, as political films of all opinions and viewpoints have become
not only accepted, but also encouraged in the industry, which in turn has led to
revivals and recognition of Salt of the Earth. As Lee Hockstader notes in Salt of the
Earth is back from the blacklist, The story of its suppression inspired a cult
following of leftists, feminists, Latinos, historians and film buffs. They rediscovered
it in the 60s and resurrected it gradually in film schools, union halls and womens
centers.
13
As the more brutal practices of blacklisting subsided, the film was able to
spread its influence to various theaters, scholarly journals, and even inspired a labor
college to assume the name of the film. At Salt of the Earth Labor College, the faculty
has used the film as a part of its courses on the rights of the laborer. More recently,
filmmaker Moctesuma Esparaza, producer of films The Milagro Beanfield War and
Gods and Generals intends on creating a remake of the film set in modern New
Mexico with director David Riker.
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Other films featuring the politics of Mexicans and Mexican-American
relations share similarities with Salt of the Earth. In 1952 Hollywood produced Viva
Zapata! which was not nearly as controversial, but still provocative. It featured
Marlon Brando, as the historical figure of the Mexican Revolution Emiliano Zapata.
The film portrayed Zapatas rise from peasantry to participate in the upheavals that

12
Ibid 10.
13
Ibid 9.
14
Harris, Dana. Riker Preps Salt of the Earth Remake. Variety. Accessed May 12,
2014. http://variety.com/2003/film/news/riker-preps-salt-of-the-earth-remake-
1117881668/.

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overthrew the dictatorship of Porfrio Diaz, only to find that his new government
was no less venal than the former. This reflects the political environment of Mexico,
even at the time that the film was created.
In recent times, many Mexican filmmakers have used film to make political
comments on the current state of Mexican-American immigration. Robert
Rodriguez 2010 film Machete appeared to be a slapstick action comedy, but pointed
to many of the issues Mexican immigrants have in America today. It follows a former
Mexican Federales travels in the American Southwest, as he attempts to stop a
corrupt Texan state senator from killing and deporting hundreds of illegal
immigrants. It satirizes the outlandish behavior of American conservatives, day
laborer employers, and Mexican drug cartel owners throughout the story, with
many jokes having blatant political overtones.
Director Luis Estrada took on the Mexican government of recent times itself
with 2010 film El Infierno, a dark comedy about a deported illegal immigrants
descent into a drug cartel surrounded by extreme, over-the-top violence. In On eve
of Mexicos bicentennial, film El Infierno is a blunt political provocation, Daniel
Hernandez suggests that the release of El Infierno is bluntly provocative. One
scene depicts the towns main capo in friendly photographs with former Mexican
President Vicente Fox another scene in the office of a corrupt federal investigator
takes a direct swipe at President Felipe Calderon, whose framed portrait hangs on a
wall while the investigator makes a direct call to a drug lord.
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As the country

15
On Eve of Mexicos Bicentennial, Film El Infierno Is a Blunt Political
Provocation. LA Times Blogs - La Plaza, September 13, 2010.
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remains in a state of instability, many contemporary political Mexican films openly
point to that as a form of protest.
Although Salt of the Earth was relatively low-budget, independently
produced, and had the tendency to appear disorganized, its story was one of
triumph and resolve that presented itself without being clich. Its themes of racial
and gender equality were far ahead of its time in the 1950s, and can be hard to find
even in films today. Shot mainly in the United States by Americans, it wasnt a
Mexican film itself, but featured many themes of protest found in Mexican films
before and after its production. As Mexican immigrant workers of the mid-20
th

century were largely ignored and unseen in the mainstream media, its use of film as
a tool for reform set the stage for many films like it to follow.


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2010/09/bicentennial-film-hell-
mexico.html.

11
Baker, Ellen R. On Strike and on Film: Mexican American Families and Blacklisted Filmmakers in
Cold War America. UNC Press Books, 2007. Print.
Biberman, Herbert J. Salt of the Earth. N. p., 1954. Film.
Harris, Dana. Riker Preps Salt of the Earth Remake. Variety. Web. 12 May 2014.
Hockstader, Lee. Salt of the Earth Is Back from the Blacklist. Los Angeles Times 4 Mar. 2003. LA
Times. Web. 6 May 2014.
Lorence, James J. Palomino: Clinton Jencks and Mexican-American Unionism in the American
Southwest. University of Illinois Press, 2013. Print.
Massey, Douglas S. Understandnig Mexican Migration to the United States. American Journal of
Sociology 92.6 (1987): 13721403. Print.
Mexican Cinema. N. p., 28 Oct. 2003. Print.
On Eve of Mexicos Bicentennial, Film El Infierno Is a Blunt Political Provocation. LA Times
Blogs - La Plaza 13 Sept. 2010. Web. 12 May 2014.
Ruiz, Vicki L., and Virginia Snchez Korrol. Latinas in the United States, Set: A Historical
Encyclopedia. Indiana University Press, 2006. Print.