Militant labor leader Harry R. Bridges led a long and bitter strike of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) in San Francisco in 1934. The ILA demanded improved wages and working conditions, coastwide bargaining rights, and the establishment of union-controlled hiring halls. The strike began in early May and continued through the summer.

(DETAIL)- "Down with Police Brutality!…Mass Meeting! This Friday June 1 at 8:00 P.M." 1934. California Historical Society, North Baker Research Library, Broadside collection.

Employers and local officials denounced Bridges as a dangerous radical. The Chief of Police declared: "This strike is just a dress rehearsal by the Communists toward world revolution." On the morning of "bloody Thursday," July 5, 1934, a thousand police officers attempted to clear pickets from the waterfront so that strikebreakers could do the work of the striking dockworkers. In the ensuing riot, sixty-four people were injured and two strikers were killed. The governor sent in the National Guard to prevent further violence.

The ILA responded by calling for a general strike, asking members of other unions to go on strike in support of the dockworkers. Virtually every union in San Francisco and Alameda counties joined in the strike which began on July 16 and continued for four days. The general strike alienated public opinion, but also demonstrated the strength of united labor. The original waterfront strike was resolved when federal arbitrators granted the ILA most of its demands.

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