March 12, 1912: 112 years ago, March 11 1912, Richmond Chief of Police James P. Arnold [...]
112 years ago, March 11 1912, Richmond Chief of Police James P. Arnold ordered all members of the Industrial Workers of the World, who had been agitating for free speech across the Bay Area, to leave town or be “jailed and [kept] in jail” In the early 1910s, the IWW …
August 5, 1912: Oakland Mayor and Commissioners Survive Wobbly Recall
August 5 1912, Oakland Mayor Frank Mott and commissioners William Baccus & Frederick Turner survived a recall election. The Socialist Party had filed the recall petition in response to police violence against socialists and members of the IWW. In early 1912, the IWW had been engaged in “free speech fights” …
March 25, 1914: 110 years ago, March 25 1914, Indian revolutionary Lala Hardayal was [...]
110 years ago, March 25 1914, Indian revolutionary Lala Hardayal was arrested in San Francisco for violating the Anarchist Exclusion Act of 1903. He fled to Switzerland after posting bail Hardayal came to California in 1911. After serving as secretary of the local IWW branch, Dayal founded an anarchist organization …
November 4, 1915: 107 years ago, Nov 4 1915, San Francisco anarchist Samuel Cohen was [...]
107 years ago, Nov 4 1915, San Francisco anarchist Samuel Cohen was sentenced to 30 days in jail for advocating free speech in Jefferson Square. After “expounding his theories” in court, the judge told him: “Preach your doctrines at the county jail”
January 15, 1916: 108 years ago, January 15 1916, Alexander Berkman published the first [...]
108 years ago, January 15 1916, Alexander Berkman published the first issue of San Francisco anarchist magazine The Blast! A highly influential organ of the revolutionary left, the magazine was shut down by the state in 1917 for advocating resistance to the draft