Minute Man Coin, 1934 ILA Strike Portland, Or - Citizen's Emergency League Coin

Description

Very RARE. Medal minted by the Citizen's Emergency League, based out of Portland, Oregon, 1934. The League was believed to be a vigilante group started by the Portland Chamber of Commerce, to break through picket lines caused by the 1934 maritime strike, International Longshoremen's Association (ILA).
According to historian Michael Munk, "CEL members wore the service disks, inscribed 'CEL- for Law and Order' on one side and 'Minute Men, Lexington, Mass., 1776- Portland, Ore., 1934' on the other....they were stamped with the member's number and together with red, white, and blue armbands bearing the letters C-E-L - were 'to be worn by members in case of being called out as law enforcement officers.”
The context of the CEL is that many Portland police officers had relatives that were longshoremen and it was believed that police were coddling longshoremen and passing on intelligence. The Chamber and employers hired WWI veterans to beat up longshoremen during the strike, housing them on terminal 4.
Oral tradition claims that longshoremen would beat the strikebreakers aka “CEL”, in retaliation for their attacks on strikes and take their coins as mementos.