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CSB visited ships — sometimes precipitating on board strikes if they were denied
access by the officers -- to inform the crewmen of the bureau, to explain its
functioning, and to solicit their support. The demand that shipowners hire only
through the CBS became a routine point on the lists of demands made by crews
striking their ships in Baltimore's harbor. Patrols of seamen were set up to "enforce
the shipping regulations and any one caught violating them is treated as a scab or
scabherder, and takes the consequences of his actions. "
Throughout the process of constructing the CBS, a process of rank-and-file
direct democracy developed. While Harry Alexander, as the chair of the United
Front Committee, was hardly a disinterested observer, his account of the
functioning of the weekly mass meetings, even if somewhat idealized, indicates
something of the democratic ethos of CBS:
At the meetings held every week proposals were made by seamen. Some
were good, others were bad. The discussion on the floor took the proposals
apart to see what they were made of. The bad ones were thrown out and the
good ones put into effect. Those who had grievances were not afraid to
bring them up, because they knew that they were dealing with seamen like
themselves and that they would get a square deal. Just to point out some of
the grievances, one seaman who had three strikes against him (that is, he
refused three jobs and was placed at the bottom of the list) told the seamen
that if he had taken the third job he would have gotten in trouble on the
ship, as the mate did not like him personally. The seamen put him back on
the top of th: list knowing that they might get in the same fix some day.
In a short time, virtually all hiring of seamen in Baltimore was channeled
through the CSB, and virtually all seamen, MWIU members, ISU members, and
non-union seamen alike, shipped out through the bureau. The MWIU claimed that
85 seamen shipped out through the CSB during the first week of its existence; the
Baltimore Sun noted that, in late February, 76 seamen were hired through the
bureau in one week. Furthermore, the MWIU contended that in six weeks 1,300
seamen registered with the MWIU (partly reflecting the fact that seamen were
attracted to Baltimore to hire on because of the bureau) and that in the three
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