Review of the 1954 movie Salt of the Earth
by Caoimhghin Ó Croidheáin / May 6th, 2021
Poster promoting the theatrical premiere of the 1954 American film Salt of the Earth at a (now demolished) theater on 86th Street in Manhattan. Mexican actress Rosaura Revueltas, who played the leading role, is shown.
Born in controversy but then ignored in its youth, the film
Salt of the Earth has matured beautifully into a classic film in the neorealist style. Set in Zinc Town, New Mexico, a mining community with a majority of Mexican-Americans, strike for working conditions equal to those of the white, or “Anglo” miners. The town and the mine is run by Delaware Zinc Inc. who refuse to negotiate with the workers and the strike goes on for months. The story focuses on Ramon Quintero (Juan Chacón) and his wife Esperanza Quintero (Rosaura Revueltas) who is pregnant with their third child. Ramon is arrested by police and beaten in prison at the same time his wife gives birth to their new b
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Anita Torrez, Southwestern labor leader and Communist activist, dies at 94 February 4, 2021 9:22 AM CDT By Joe Bernick
Anita Torrez in 2014 in front of a mural commemorating the Empire Zinc strike. | Scott Marshall / People s World
The American working class suffered a great loss on Jan. 31 with the passing of Anita Torrez. Torrez, who celebrated her 94th birthday last fall, spent almost her entire adult life in the struggles for economic justice and against racist and sexist discrimination.
Anita Torrez sits smiling in her sunlit Tucson living room. | Al Neal / PW
People’s World has learned of the passing of Anita Torrez. A fuller story is on the way from her comrades in Arizona but for now we reprint the following article in her memory.
This article won a first place award in the Best Profile Story category at the 2020 Labor Media Awards, presented by the International Labor Communications Association.
It’s a lonely two-lane stretch of Arizona desert highway from Phoenix to Tucson. To your left and to your right greenish-brown desert brush, solitary cacti, and tan, rocky valleys and hilltops seem to dance before your eyes. A mirage.