Working Class Heroes - Anita and Lorenzo Torres

The whole history of the American continent is full of heroic figures that resisted racism, colonialism and exploitation. Those who struggled during the McCarthy era are among the most brave and valiant of all time. In the face of segregation, violence, red baiting and political repression, many stood up for what was right against all odds...

The whole history of the American continent is full of heroic figures that resisted racism, colonialism and exploitation. Those who struggled during the McCarthy era are among the most brave and valiant of all time. In the face of segregation, violence, red baiting and political repression, many stood up for what was right against all odds.

Anita and Lorenzo Torres are two examples of unyielding heroism in the struggle for the working class and people’s rights during that era. Their roles in the Empire Zinc strike of 1950 and in the making of the great working-class film Salt of the Earth was merely the beginning of their lifelong commitment to justice. They see their membership in the Communist Party, USA, which they joined in the course of the strike, as a symbol of their commitment to working class unity and justice. They went on to found the Salt of the Earth labor College in Arizona to pass on the legacy of our rich labor history to the next generation of working class heroes.

As newlyweds in rural post-war New Mexico, the Torres’ found themselves in the midst of a giant labor struggle over racial oppression, work conditions and pay. “The conditions were harsh. Zinc mining is underground mining,� recalls Lorenzo. “The miners were Mexican Americans. The staff had been bringing in relatives to work—many of them were relatives from south of the border. We came back from World War II with the idea of democracy in our heads, and we found the same discrimination. We rebelled against it. We used the union to break the discrimination that had existed all along.�

The main issues of the strike were in fact about racial justice. Lorenzo and Anita say that before the strike everything in the small town of Bayard, New Mexico, “even the pay lines were segregated, one for the Anglos, the other for the Mexicanos. Housing was segregated. The movie theaters were segregated, with Mexicanos on one side and Anglos on the other. We couldn’t sit together. The swimming pool was segregated. There was one day a week that the Mexicanos could go swimming, and then they would drain the pool and refill it. The Mexicanos were fed up. The Anglos were in the skilled jobs. The underground was for the Mexicanos or African Americans—the dirtiest, the roughest jobs.�

Once the strike began, the striking miners were quickly barred from the picket lines by court order. That’s when the striker’s wives, mothers and sisters took up the fight and walked the picket lines themselves. “There was no other way it could be done,� says Anita. “…They couldn’t picket anymore, and if there was no picket line, the strike would be lost. There was a lot of discussion within the union. Someone said the women were not the ones on strike, so they could take over the picketing. Either you give up the strike or bring the women in. Some of the miners said, why can’t the women take over? Some thought it was the only way, but others were opposed…. In those times, women stayed home. Very few women were out working. The husbands went out to work. Women stayed home with the kids.�
The women proved to be brave and staunch fighters and many of them were thrown into jail and threatened. Anita was pregnant at the time, but was not free from company intimidation. “They came after me at the union hall,� she recalls. “The policeman came to the door of the union hall and demanded, ‘Is Anita Torres here? I heard she is here.’ I said, ‘No, she is not here. I don’t know her.’ He went away. That’s how I escaped going to jail.� The strike was victorious because of the unity of all the workers and their families across racial and gender lines.

Salt of the Earth is a classic movie of the American working class and was recently honored along with 99 other films to be archived in the Library of Congress for posterity. The intersection of race, class and gender oppression became the guiding theme of the film Salt of the Earth based on the events of the Empire Zinc strike. The film was produced and directed by victims of the Hollywood blacklist against communists and progressives and was shot on location in Bayard with the actual strikers and their families playing most of the roles in the film. Anita and Lorenzo Torres both acted in the film along with their children.

Salt of the Earth is also the only American film to be blacklisted in the US. Even before the film began shooting, one industry publication declared the film was communist propaganda made with "direct orders from the Kremlin." The film was barred from using Hollywood studios, equipment or actors, and even once the film was printed, projectionists refused to show the film in most cities throughout the country. Leading actress Rosaura Revueltas who plays protagonist Esperanza in the film was also deported back to Mexico during the filming.

Despite the attack on the film, Salt of the Earth remains a popular and much-loved movie that demonstrates the courage of working people like Anita and Lorenzo Torres. In recent years, various celebrations of the fiftieth anniversary of the film have honored Anita and Lorenzo for their role in making history. Last Spring, Anita and Lorenzo were honored by the National Committee of the Communist Party, USA for their lifetime partnership in he fight for socialism and working people’s rights. The couple has spoken at numerous campuses and conferences about the role and legacy of the film. “I spoke to students at Northridge College in California about the film.� Says Lorenzo. “One student said to me, ‘You’ve been in the movement a long time. Others get in for couple of years and get burned out. What keeps you going after all these years?’ I told him I belonged to a Party, the Communist Party USA. That keeps me going.�

"Salt of the Earth" Movie Poster