Steward's Corner: Remember the Past, and Use It
It’s important to commemorate the great union struggles, not just because it’s our heritage but because there are lessons to be learned for the battles to come. Whether it’s through a national union or an ad-hoc group, unionists can bring home lessons of the 1930s for today.
In San Francisco in 1934, heavily armed police and company thugs attacked striking maritime workers on the waterfront. The massive funeral procession that followed won public support and inspired workers—including Teamsters members who overruled their president to support a general strike that lasted several days, and spread fear among civic leaders, business owners, and politicians.
The National Labor Relations Act was signed by Franklin Roosevelt exactly one year after “Bloody Thursday.”
That same year, the Minneapolis Teamsters strike made that city a union town, spurred organizing throughout the Midwest, and set the Teamsters on the road to becoming a major international union.
It was a democratically organized strike, with a Committee of 100 who helped guide strike leaders, innovative tactics such as cruising pickets and a daily strike newspaper—the first time either was ever used—a women’s auxiliary¸ a well-organized headquarters that fed the strikers, and large demonstrations and mass picketing that involved not only truckers but supporters from other industries.
For those who live in areas where the battles are not so well-remembered, seek out significant labor events by talking to local historians.
West Coast Longshore Workers Remember ‘Bloody Thursday’
by Craig Merrilees, Editor, The Dispatcher
Because the International Longshore and Warehouse Union invests resources in a variety of projects to keep labor history alive, many ILWU members understand the struggles and sacrifices that built their union.
Longshore workers have memorialized July 5, Bloody Thursday, as an official holiday in their contract. Each longshore local organizes events each year ranging from picnics to full-blown mobilizations. “At our local, there’s much more interest and energy spent around Bloody Thursday than Labor Day,” says Harold Ugles, international executive board member from Local 19 in Seattle.
‘At our local, there’s much more interest and energy spent around Bloody Thursday than Labor Day.’
Members and leaders around the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, for example, spent nearly a year preparing for a march and rally that drew hundreds this year, to dedicate a new memorial to honor both the fallen strikers of 1934 and those who have died since while working on the waterfront.
Local 13 member Mike Piazza led a team of volunteers who published a 22-page booklet full of historical photos gathered from local archives and the union headquarters in San Francisco, which maintains a library and archive.
The importance of preserving and sharing the lessons from 1934 for future generations was understood by veterans of the big strike as they were heading toward retirement in 1953. At the union’s convention that year, these lessons—codified as the “Ten Guiding Principles of the ILWU”—were adopted by the delegates.
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The principles continue to be reviewed at every educational event and cited on the floor during convention debates and other union meetings. They begin with paragraphs that make it clear who should be running the union: “…it is the membership of the union which is the best judge of its own welfare; not the officers, not the employers, not the politicians and the fair weather friends of labor.” Other principles cover the need for unity, opposition to racism, organizing, solidarity at home and around the world, and more.
The ILWU has a travelling history exhibit that explains the critical early struggles by longshore workers, using dramatic photos displayed on panels covering 700 square feet. The exhibit travels up and down the West Coast, and is currently in California’s Capitol.
The union’s monthly newspaper, The Dispatcher, carries articles about ILWU history as well as a series of contemporary interviews conducted by labor historian Harvey Schwartz.
In 2009, the union helped Schwartz publish Solidarity Stories, a collection of ILWU oral histories. “I didn’t feel constrained or have my work censored on sensitive issues,” Schwartz notes.
The lessons of the past are also at the heart of the union’s leadership development programs. These programs bring in more than 100 local officers and rank and filers, and the curriculum is structured to show how the union’s origins in militant, progressive, democratic traditions tie directly to meeting the challenges of today. Besides print and multimedia materials, the program includes pensioners who recount pivotal crossroads in the union’s past.
The ILWU struggles with the same challenges that face all unions today. The hope is that these lessons of history will allow rank-and-file members to make better choices.
Minneapolis Commemorates Landmark Teamsters Strike
by Gillian Furst, Teamsters Local 1145, retired
A group of activists drew 300 people to a picnic this summer to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the 1934 Teamsters strike. For those of us in Minnesota, the strike continues to be a landmark event.
Besides our free picnic, there was also a huge rock concert the night before sponsored by an activist youth group, and all sorts of seminars and walking and bus tours throughout the year sponsored by the public library, the Minneapolis Labor Review, and other groups.
We began holding monthly meetings eight months ahead to discuss the themes we wanted to emphasize and other important matters, like the budget, music, and publicity.
Emphasizing the need to revive the spirit of the 1934 strike, one of our featured speakers was Armando Robles, a leader of the Republic Windows and Doors sitdown in Chicago last December.
We had children’s games, free food, and a big historical display, and the event vibrated with excitement and solidarity. “The 1934 Teamsters strike reminds us all of what can be accomplished when workers use their power,” said Linda Leighton, an SEIU member and granddaughter of Vincent Ray Dunne, one of the 1934 strike leaders.
To underwrite the cost of the event, we did early fundraising using a variety of activist lists to phonebank. Some went back to their locals for donations. Food and Commercial Workers Local 789 contributed much of the food and several Postal Workers locals made big donations.
We printed attractive flyers, promoted the picnic in local labor papers and websites, and put up a website ourselves. At the core of our efforts was a rank-and-file committee that met regularly and democratically. We didn’t forget to have folks sign in, and got a good mailing list. More about the 1934 strike.