On the 1st of September 1946, production in 33 of 34 Hawaiian sugar plantations came to a halt after 26,000 sugar plantation workers went on strike. The 1946 Sugar Strike lasted 76 days and united workers from various ethnic backgrounds such as Japanese, Filipinos, Native Hawaiians, Koreans, and Chinese. Accompanying these 26,000 workers, who were organized under the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU), were the families and residents of Hawaii. In total, 76,000 people went on strike against the sugar monopolies in Hawaii.
The strike came after failed strikes and labor organization failures, such as the Japanese Strikes in 1909 and 1920 and the failed labor struggles of the Filipino workers in 1920, 1924, and 1937. These failures shared a common denominator: they were all organized on ethnic lines.
For decades, Hawaiian plantation owners exploited ethnic differences between workers to prevent any efforts at successful organization. The bosses created a stratified wage system by race, segregated the worker housing, and most egregiously tried to divide the workers by ethnicity by hiring scab workers of other ethnicities that were not part of the strike.
Throughout the strike, the workers, regardless of race or nationality, maintained unity on democratic lines and everyone played a role in the mutual aid process to procure vital supplies for the duration of the strike. After 79 days of unified struggle, the workers, organized by ILWU, secured their demands of better housing, better pay, shorter work weeks, pensions, and more.
The 1946 Sugar Strike not only was a successful strike for the workers, but it also changed the Hawaiian islands forever, from a quasi-feudal society run by the “Big Five” monopolies to a democratic society. This strike showed that the primarily Asian workers are stronger when they put aside ethnic differences and unite for shared interests. This lesson should serve as an example to workers of all races, ethnicities, genders, religions, etc. that the only way to strike a blow at corporate oppression is through unity.
Originally Published by the American Asian Friendship Congress.
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