Report of Elwyn J. Eagen on the Hawaiian Islands.

Abstract

Elwyn J. Eagen provides a U.S. congressional hearing report about Hawaiʻi's industrial set up during the Territory period. The "Big 5" oligarchy exerted total corporate control over the islands' land, government, and judicial systems to manage and suppress the laboring classes. Plantation conditions were defined by the manipulation of racial divisions and a "pre-requisite system" for housing and medical services that often increased worker debt despite low earnings and free housing. Filipino labor organizers such as Pablo Manlapit, Antonio Fagel, and Epifanio Taok faced systemic repression, including surveillance, beatings, and exile, to prevent the formation of the Filipino Labor Union. These exploitative conditions and the high cost of food eventually triggered major strikes across the islands. Driven by these struggles, workers began to question the oligarchy's control and flock toward organizations like the Hilo Longshoremen's Association to secure collective bargaining rights.