ABSTRACT
United States (US) involvement in the conflict decisively altered the character of the US maritime industry. Even with passage of the Seaman’s Act, the Sailors’ Union of the Pacific (S.U.P.) had found itself on a battle course, fighting for full enforcement of the law. It was quickly apparent that the continuing struggle would require even greater vigilance and sacrifice on the part of the seafaring workers. Back on the Pacific Coast, militant unionists, and radicals in the labor movement, faced a new problem in the form of legislation against “criminal syndicalism.” Respect for the special windship crafts of the traditional seaman had been a cardinal principle for Andrew Furuseth and his colleagues in S.U.P. leadership. Shipowners in the United States were backed up by the threat of weapons, in the hands not only of strikebreakers and police, but also of soldiers, as in Russia.
