This year marks the 60th anniversary of the 1946 Oakland General strike. To commemorate, a presentation of the '46 Oakland strike will be presented by Gifford Hartman--along with Chris Carlsson's description and analysis of the 1934 San Francisco General Strike. These descriptions and analyses will be followed by a discussion. Details

The December 1946 Oakland General Strike was sparked into action when streetcar drivers refused to cross a police cordon herding scab trucks to unload goods at a two department stores. Spontaneously, the strike spread and eventually involved nearly 130,000 workers, from 142 AFL unions, and it shut down all public transit and nearly all commerce in the East Bay. Block committees were organized, bars were allowed to stay open on the condition that they only sold beer and turned their jukeboxes out onto the street, and the streets were packed with strikers dancing and singing. Some called it a “work holiday.”
Read More | People's History | LaborNet | Oakland Museum

On July 5, 1934 police attacked striking longshore workers on the San Francisco waterfront. Nick Bordoise and Howard Sperry were killed and 109 people were wounded, in what came to be known as the Battle of Rincon Hill. San Francisco labor countered with a general strike lasting four days.
Read More | ILWU History | Wikipedia | San Francisco and the General Strike | SF Museum: 1 | 2 | Bay Guardian: Striking Back