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

As the general strike commenced on July 16th, “an almost carnival spirit was apparent in working-class neighborhoods…Labor wore its new-found power with calm dignity” (Quin 148). Essential services, such as power, hospitals, newspapers, and milk delivery operated without interruptions. By contrast, National Guardsmen extended martial law into the city to include the area several blocks adjacent to the waterfront & piers. “An atmosphere of panic prevailed in the business districts,” an attitude which had been fed by red-baiting and fear-mongering headlines in local papers (Quin 148). Loyal citizens were urged to take up arms against this supposed radical takeover of honest labor, and to rout the Reds from the city. A mob of vigilantes coordinated with law enforcement to answer that call.  

The second day of the strike, the National Guard cordoned off two blocks of Jackson Street, a stretch that included the Marine Workers International Union headquarters, a union with open communist members. The squads of “citizens”, likely comprised of strikebreakers and plain-clothed police, looted and destroyed offices, and cruelly attacked anyone inside. When the gang of marauding crusaders had long gone, a brigade of policemen followed in their wake to “restore peace” and subsequently arrested eighty-five members who had been left stunned by the chaos in the MWIU hall. Next, these groups moved to repeat a similar, albeit less destructive process at the ILA soup kitchen, now Levi Plaza across from Pier 23, and longtime place of respite for the hungry. But this cycle of terror was repeated at numerous locations across the region. The Mission Workers Neighborhood House, the trade paper Western Worker, the Finnish workers’ hall, the Workers’ Center in Oakland and many others were ransacked and burned, and bodies beaten over the course of the general strike (Johnson 100, Nelson 147-148).

Harry Bridges, leader of the ILA rank-and-file, had been denied leadership in the city-wide Strike Strategy Committee (SSC), and those appointees were eager to conclude the strike as swiftly as possible in the face of accusations of communist takeovers from the city bureaucrats and industry leaders. On day two of the strike, the SCC resolved that dining and transportation services should be restored, so when restaurants and street cars started operating again, it appeared to many that the strike was already over. Ironically, by unifying the city’s unions in a general strike, the longshoremen lost control of their principle apparatus in their battle for workplace-democracy. As more and more concessions were made with city leaders to bring unions back on the job, the general strike faded and was officially ended by the SSC on July 19th. The powerful Teamsters Union officially returned to work on July 21st, and soon the longshoremen and seamen found themselves alone in their efforts once again (Johnson 101).

After 83 days, thousands of arrests, six deaths and hundreds of injuries, the Big Strike had come to its conclusion (Nelson 150). Longshoremen finally agreed to arbitration separately from the seamen’s union, feeling they had no alternative options, and returned to the piers on July 31st. Union membership returned to its craft roots, where each role in the industry was separate unto itself, but new practices of racial integration remained intact. The longshoremen won a contract for the entire West Coast region that included wage increases, shorter shifts, safer working conditions, and a compromise gain of joint employer and union run hiring halls. The dispatcher would be a union man however, which would ensure strike participants would not be Blacklisted. Ad hoc labor would be hired on a fair, rotating basis, instead of at the discretion of abusive gang bosses. The Big Strike was key to establishing the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union, and the ILWU is still strong and active today. Unsurprisingly, Harry Bridges was elected to be their president many times over for years to come (Johnson 101-102).

Johnson, Victoria. How Many Machine Guns Does It Take to Cook One Meal? : The Seattle and San Francisco General Strikes. University of Washington Press, 2008.

Nelson, Bruce. Workers on the Waterfront: Seamen, Longshoremen, and Unionism in the 1930s. University of Illinois Press, 1988.

Quin, Mike. The Big Strike. International Publishers, 1949.