The Making of a Labor Radical: Harry Bridges, 1901-1934

Abstract

For two generations of Americans, from mid-1930s to late 1970s, Harry Bridges was leading voice of left within organized labor. When Pacific Coast longshoremen went on strike in 1934 and were quickly joined by other maritime workers, Bridges held office only as a member of executive committee of San Francisco local of International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and as chairman of its strike committee. He nonetheless emerged as a key leader-perhaps even key leader-in coast-wide maritime strikes, and he was soon elected to presidency of San Francisco longshore local and then to presidency of Pacific Coast District of ILA. With split between AFL and CIO, Bridges led Pacific Coast District into Congress of Industrial Organizations as International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU). He became its first president and also western regional director for CIO. In mid-1937, Time magazine put him on its cover and called him the most conspicuous maritime labor leader in U.S. today.