San Francisco's General Strike of 1934

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1. San Francisco Working Waterfront, early 1900s

In the 1930s, longshoremen looking for work along San Francisco’s waterfront had to endure a daily “shape-up,” competing with their peers for a chance to earn a wage. Once on the job, a “speed-up” might mean immediate firing and therefore lost wages, and safety rules were largely ignored. Employers expected their men to be thankful to have a job at all during the Great Depression, and any dissent was repaid by Blacklisting the worker, barring any chances of employment along the waterfront with any shipping company. Legislation passed in 1933 recognized the rights of workers to unionize, which sparked a boom in organization, strikes and union membership. In San Francisco, this effort was led by Harry Bridges, an Australian sailor and longshoreman who worked to found the Pacific Coast branch of the ILA, the International Longshoreman’s Association. Ongoing disputes between labor and employers finally culminated in the The Big Strike of 1934.

2. Beginnings of the Big Strike, 1934

In Spring of 1934, the longshoremen entered into negotiations with their employers to advocate for two key improvements. First, they called for a worker-controlled hiring hall, instead of the ad hoc labor pool required to apply daily at the “shape-up.” Second, they requested a coastwide contract for all west coast ports, so the companies could not simply relocate if they refused to hear worker demands. Alongside this effort, organizers were working to create a single unified industry-wide union for all maritime trades, inclusive of race, nationality, or immigrant status, instead of the craft unions that dominated at the time, and siloed workers by their role. After months of talks proved fruitless, the longshoremen finally began their strike on May 9th.

3. Battle to Reopen the Port: July 3, 1934

By July of 1934, the longshoremen, seamen and teamsters had shut down ports along the west coast for nearly two months. There had been several rounds of negotiations in the preceding month, between employer representation by the Industrial Association of San Francisco (the IA), and visiting ILA East Coast union leadership led by Joseph P. Ryan from New York, mediated by Assistant Secretary of Labor Edward F. McGrady. But locally elected rank-and-file leaders were excluded from these meetings, and any tentative agreements reached in session were voted down when presented to the membership. Frustrated by their losses, the IA decided to try to forcibly reopen the port with the assistance of law enforcement and replacement workers. The result was violent. On July 3rd, police and scab workers attempted to open Pier 38 just after noon. Picketers and police battled for four hours with clubs, bricks, riot guns and tear gas, fighting to claim territory from Rincon Hill down to the Embarcadero. Violence hospitalized dozens but was only a preview of the bloodshed to come.

4. Bloody Thursday, July 5, 1934

Brawls between police and picketers began on cue at 8 a.m. on July 5th. Skirmishes occurred the length of the Embarcadero, from Mission Bay to the Ferry Plaza. Rincon Hill was a gathering site for strikers who then careened down the hill towards strikebreakers and police with clubs and bricks, screaming fiercely. But the afternoon’s action centered around ILA headquarters, closer to Market Street. Both sides ceased fighting for the lunch hour at noon, an “orderly and systematic chaos,” but promptly at 1 p.m., police surprised the longshoremen dining in their hall by filling it with tear gas (Quinn 112). As dozens came streaming out, police clubbed and shot the men, killing two. Over the course of the day, more than 100 people were admitted to local hospitals with wounds; countless others went home with lesser injuries, thus escaping arrest. Headlines declared the streets of San Francisco had run red with blood that day, and strikers thereafter named the day “Bloody Thursday” (Quinn 111-117).

5. Funeral for the Slain, July 9, 1934

San Francisco was shaken by the events of “Bloody Thursday.” Regular citizens had witnessed firsthand the brutality enacted by law enforcement against the striking union men. The solemn and dignified funeral procession for Howard Sperry and Nicholas Bordoise down Market Street the following Monday solidified public sentiment in favor of the laborers’ cause and a general strike. Federal mediators made last minute attempts at a settlement, but employers would not budge on key union demands and refused to acknowledge the solidarity of the union movement. Local unions voted for walk outs in response, building to the official start of the city-wide general strike on July 16th.

6. San Francisco General Strike & its Aftermath, July 16-19, 1934

When the general strike was called, two factors ultimately undermined the driving energy of the longshoremen and seamen. First, local newspapers inundated the public with accusations that the general strike was in fact a ploy by communists to take over San Francisco. Gangs of citizens took it upon themselves, with the help of police, to loot and burn any communist leaning organizations and beat up anyone they found inside. Second, the city-wide Strike Strategy Committee excluded the longshoremen from leadership positions, so the solidarity they had built for months was suddenly undone by more conservative labor traditionalists, as they called to end the general strike only three days after it officially started. But in the end, the longshoremen at least partially gained almost all of the items they had demanded from the outset: improved wages, some authority in hiring practices, and shorter, less arduous work shifts. The Big Strike also set the stage for the establishment of the ILWU, a union still going strong today.

This Tour is a Digital Story Map.

San Francisco's General Strike of 1934

Created by Leigh Riley on November 10th 2020, 5:40:04 pm.

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This digital story map illustrates the 1934 general strike the shut down shipping activities along San Francisco’s waterfront for 83 days over the summer of 1934. The strike saw longshoremen united with seamen and teamsters to collectively demand fair hiring practices and improved working conditions. Police brutalized picketers which led much of the population of the city to stand in solidarity with the maritime workers in a four day general strike.

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San Francisco's General Strike of 1934

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