Pat Chambers (born John Ernest Williams; 13 September 1901 – 8 May 1990) was an influential labor organizer and Communist Party member in the 1930s in California.
[3] Chambers had a philosophical interest in anarchism, and during the Sacco and Vanzetti trial encountered some of the “old Wobblies” who steered him towards union activities.
He was arrested in Los Angeles in September 1930 for “participating in a Communist unemployed demonstration in the public street one block from the plaza.
[1] By February 1933, he was actively organizing lettuce pickers under the auspices of the CAWIU, and William Hynes, acting captain of the Los Angeles police department wrote to the Imperial County district attorney to warn about Chambers’ presence, calling him a “well-known communist agitator...going under the assumed name of John Williams.
"[7] In the late summer of 1933, workers at the Tagus Ranch near Tulare, California were receiving 15 cents an hour to pick peaches, with “wages paid in scrip rather than legal currency.
They also demanded an end to the requirement that they buy “at a company store that charged prices 25 to 30 percent higher than those outside the ranch.
In the Corcoran area of Kings County, growers went to employer-owned labor camps and gave families five minutes to decide to either resume working or face eviction.
Growers drove up brandishing rifles, shotguns, and other weapons and headed for the gathering, while Chambers, fearing violence, ordered workers to disperse.
The workers ran towards a union building at Chambers’ suggestion, but growers fired at them, killing two Mexican strikers and wounding eight others.
The killings prompted protests, but local valley authorities issued 600 permits allowing growers to carry concealed weapons.
"[13] A fact-finding committee appointed by California Governor James Rolph convened in Visalia to hear testimony from the strikers about the violence initiated by the farmers.
Chambers’ trial took place in Visalia and the evidence was so weak that “even with a jury decidedly hostile to the defendant, a conviction could not be obtained.
Chambers spent the time between the trials touring the San Joaquin valley and speaking to mass meetings organized by union locals.
[5] On July 20, district attorney Neil McAllister along with Sacramento police chief William Hallanan raided the state headquarters of the CAWIU and arrested twenty-four suspected radicals on charges of vagrancy.