[Marxism] Clinton Jencks is dead [ genuine hero on many fronts]

["Hunter Gray" <hunterbadbear@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

NOTE BY HUNTER BEAR: 12/15/05

I have just heard from the daughter of Clinton Jencks.  The leaves fall, but
this is hard to hear.

Clinton Jencks, a major figure in Western radical labor for a generation,
and then an always much appreciated professor in California, has just died
at San Diego.  A decorated World War II hero, and long-time International
Rep. for the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers [formerly
the Western Federation of Miners] for  more than a decade following World
War II, he did much of his gifted organizing work in Southwestern New
Mexico.  Many have seen him and his late spouse [Virginia] as Frank and Ruth
Barnes in the great labor/civil rights/women's rights film, SALT OF THE
EARTH [1953-54.]  This film, designated several years ago by the Library of
Congress as one of the most significant ever made in this country. is based
on the famous Empire Zinc strike which lasted from October 1950 to February
1952, a struggle in which Clint played a major role as The Organizer. Named
as a "Communist" by the infamous Fink, Harvey Matusow, Clint was charged by
the Federal government with "perjury" vis-a-vis the infamous "Non-Communist
affidavits" mandated by the venomously anti-labor Taft Hartley Act.
Convicted in a hysterical Federal trial at El Paso, he was sentenced to a
long prison term.  Free on appeal, he and his multitude of supporters fought
resolutely through the Federal courts, Matusow eventually recanted and, in
that context, wrote his fascinating confessional, FALSE WITNESS; and in
1957, in Jencks v U.S., the USSC exonerated Clint and ruled that the FBI
henceforth must provide the defendant with written and oral informers'
reports.  Clinton Jencks went on to secure the appropriate graduate degrees
in economics and taught for many rich and productive years at San Diego
State University.

His monument is a great many of us over decades -- for whom he was a major
inspiration as we came of age as radical labor activists. It is higher than
the Rockies above his native Colorado Springs.

See this for information on the life and times of Clinton and the much
embattled Maurice Travis, also of Mine-Mill.
http://www.hunterbear.org/travis.htm  On the witch-hunting attacks against
both men and Mine-Mill as a whole, see
http://www.hunterbear.org/repression.htm

Hunter Gray [Hunter Bear]

>From Clinton Jencks' daughter to Hunter Gray: 12/15/05

I just got a call from his wife. I am Clint's
daughter. He died last night. They found him dead on
the floor next to the bed this morning, "he hit his
head on the bed." He should never have been left
alone, he was terribly frail. He might not have made
it many weeks more, but I hoped to see him in January
(I live in Michigan).
     His body will be cremated tomorrow, Friday, and
the service will be held Saturday in San Diego. . .
    I'm sorry to say good-bye to our brave Colorado
boy.
    I thought you would want to know. I'm glad I found
your website.
                         Linda Jencks O'Connell  [Note by HG: daughter of
Clinton and the late Virginia Jencks.]


HUNTER GRAY  [HUNTER BEAR/JOHN R SALTER JR]   Mi'kmaq /St. Francis
Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk
www.hunterbear.org
Protected by Na´shdo´i´ba´i´
 and Ohkwari'

As a boy, I shot my huge Coming of Age Bear -- deep in the vast Sycamore
Canyon wilderness area in Northern Arizona.  At that point, I then became a
man. The fiery spirit of the Bear and its abundantly
fine qualities -- intelligence, courage, stamina, instinct -- are with me
always and have served me very well and faithfully on my swift and rocky
River of No Return.  I plan to do much more in my life -- much more
indeed -- before the eventual trip into the Fog and Deep Canyon, up over the
High Mountains, and Far Beyond to the Shining Sun in the Turquoise Sky that
glows forever down on the Headwaters of Life. And when that Journey finally
comes the great Bear will accompany me.








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