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Today in Labor History August 3, 1913: Four died in the so-called "Wheatland riots" when police fired into a crowd of California farmworkers trying to organize with the IWW. The dead included the district attorney and sheriff, as well as two farm workers. The governor called in the national guard to restore order. Those arrested were subjected to starvation and beatings. Some were threatened with death if they didn’t confess to murder. The courts convicted two labor leaders of murder, Blackie Ford and Herman Suhr, for encouraging workers to organize and causing them to “riot.” One of the convicted men was not even present at the massacre.

Despite the convictions, membership in the IWW continued to soar, making it far more successful than its predecessor, the Knights of Labor. The riots also led the governor, Hiram Johnson, to investigate the underlying causes of the riot. This led to new legislation for regular inspections of the state’s agricultural labor camps, where conditions were deplorable. There was seldom clean water available and workers routinely contracted dysentery, malaria and typhoid fever.