The decline of the mahogany trade, the Great Depression and the 1931 hurricane created terrible living conditions for the working class in British Honduras around 1934-35. With 1,800 registered unemployed in the country, an organization called the Unemployed Brigade demonstrated for more work and better pay. After meeting with colonial Governor Harold Baxter Kittermaster, the governor offered 80 more jobs and a feeding program of "rice lab" (a porridge of sugar and boiled rice) and bread cooked in the washing pots. Many leaders of the Unemployed Brigade gave up hope and resigned. Soberanis called them cowards. He said he would continue fighting for the cause and was not afraid to die. In his most famous quote, he said, "I'd rather be a dead hero than a living coward." With his colleagues, he formed the Labor and Unemployed Association (LUA) which organized many boycotts, demonstrations and pickets against large merchants such as the B.E.C. (Belize Estate and Produce Company), John Harley and Co., Hofius and Hilderbrant, Melhado and Sons, and Brodies. The LUA held large demonstrations at the Battlefield Park, directly in front of the courthouse. At the meetings Soberanis campaigned for work for the unemployed and spoke against the Government. He also traveled to Dangriga and Corozal Town to encourage support for the cause of higher wages outside Belize City.