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Author, Poet, and Worker: The World of Carlos Bulosan

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  • “I Want the Wide American Earth:” The Cold War Attacks against the Cannery Workers and Bulosan

    The late 1940s and early 1950s were an era of increasing Cold War tensions towards the Soviet Union in the United States. The label of “communist” was used to discredit and discipline an array of progressive organizations including New Deal supporters, labor unionists, civil rights advocates, and other members of the Left and liberal political causes. Government agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Immigration Service worked together to surveil, investigate, and intimidate organizations they suspected of communist influence.

    Carlos Bulosan was under surveillance by the U.S. government during this period. The government also made several attempts to destroy the cannery workers’ union, Local 37, due to the union's success in organizing workers, raising workers' wages, and its militant brand of civil rights unionism.

    Between 1949 and 1953, the U.S. Immigration Service investigated Local 37, accusing its members of communist party membership. It sought to deport five of its officers: Ernesto Mangaoang, Chris Mensalvas, Ponce Torres, Joe Prudencio, and Casomiro Bueno Absilor. The union ultimately won the deportation cases, but the fight consumed much of its time and resources, leaving it in a weakened state.

    It was in this context that Carlos Bulosan came to Seattle to edit the union’s 1952 Yearbook (Case 7), eventually becoming the union’s Publicity Director. Bulosan aided efforts to defend the embattled Local 37 officers, writing the poem “I Want the Wide American Earth” and selling signed and numbered copies to benefit the defense fund.

    Bulosan would write in the Phillippines Mail in 1950:

    "... The deportation proceedings against the five members of Local 7, FTA, should be halted by all those who want to live in freedom and see an America where the individual is not in constant fear of his life and security. It should be stopped before our constitutional rights are destroyed by an ever expanding machinery of our government, now bent on spying [into] the deepest recesses of our private lives ....”

    The Philippines Mail, March 31, 1950, 1, "An Open Letter to the Filipino People."
  • "I Want The Wide American Earth" ["Nais ko ang Malawak na Lupang Amerika:"] Mga Salakay Laban sa mga Trabahador ng Kanariya at Kay Bulosan Noong Cold War

    Noong katapusang dekada ng 1940 at simula ng dekadang 1950, tumataas ang kaigtingang Cold War sa Estados Unidos laban sa Unyong Sobyet. Ang paggamit ng salitang “komunista” ay upang ilagay sa alinlagan ang mga samahang reporma, katulad ng mga maka-New Deal, mga maka-unyon, mga maka-karapatang pangmamamayan, at mga iba pang kasapi ng maka-kaliwa at mga isyung pampulitikang liberal. Nagka-isa ang mga ahensiya ng pamahalaan kabilang na ang FBI, ang CIA at ang Immigration Service upang tumanod, magsiyasat, at takutin ang mga samahang na, di umano, suspetsa nilang may inpluwensiya ng mga komunista.

    Sinusubabayan si Carlos Bulosan ng pamahalaan ng U.S. sa mga panahong ito. Sinabukang wasakin ng goberyno ang unyon ng mga trabahador ng kanariya, Local 37, dahil sa kanilang tagumpay sa pagkikipagisa sa mga trabahador, sa pagtaas ng kanilang mga sahod, at sa kanilang mapagdigmang uri ng pagkikipag-maka-unyon na maka-karapatang pangmamamayan.

    Mula noong 1949 hanggang 1953, nagsiyasat ang U.S. Immigration Service ng Local 37. Ang mga kasapi ng Local 37 ay isinumbong ng U.S. Immigration Service na naging miyembro ang mga ito ng Lapiang Komunista. Ibig nila ideporta ang limang opisyal: sina Ernesto Mangaoang, Chris Mensalvas, Ponce Torres, Joe Prudencio, at si Casomiro Bueno Absilor. Nanalo ang unyon ng mga kasong pagpapadeporta, nguni't mas mahina ang unyon sa katapusan ng kasong ito, dahil sa paglaban nito ay naubos ang karamihan sa kanilang mga mapagkukunan.

    Sa contekstong ito ang pagdating sa Seattle ni Carlos Bulosan para ayusin ang 1952 Yearbook ng unyon. Sa wakas, siya ay naging Direktor ng Pahayag ng unyon. Tinulungan ni Bulosan ang pagsisikap para ipagsanggalang ang mga kasangkot na opisyal ng Local 37. Dahil dito sinulat niya ang tula, "I Want the Wide American Earth," ["Nais ko ng Malawak na Lupang Amerika,"] at ibinenta niya ang mga ipinirmang kopyang ito para sa pondong pagtanggol.

    Noong 1950, sa Philippines Mail, sinulat ni Bulosan:

    "... The deportation proceedings against the five members of Local 7, FTA, should be halted by all those who want to live in freedom and see an America where the individual is not in constant fear of his life and security. It should be stopped before our constitutional rights are destroyed by an ever expanding machinery of our government, now bent on spying [into] the deepest recesses of our private lives ...."

    ["…Ang palakad ng pagdedeporta laban sa limang miyembro ng Local 7, FTA, ay kinakailangang itigil ng lahat ng mga ibig mabuhay sa kalayaan at ang ibig makakita ng Amerika kung saan hindi matakot ang indibiduwal para sa kaniyang buhay at katiwasayan. Kinakailangan itong mahinto, bago masira ng lumalaking makinarya ng ating pamahalaan, ang ating karapatang may kaugnayan sa saligang-batas. Ang makinaryang ito na ibig magmasid sa kailalim-laliman ng ating pribadong buhay."]

    The Philippines Mail, March 31, 1950, 1, "An Open Letter to the Filipino People."

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