April 30, 1919: 105 years ago, April 30 1919, California governor William Stephens signed [...]
105 years ago, April 30 1919, California governor William Stephens signed the Criminal Syndicalism Act into law, along with acts criminalizing the “teaching of sabotage” and the displaying of red flags or “symbols of anarchy.” The acts were explicitly targeted at the IWW The Criminal Syndicalism Act soon became one …
November 9, 1919: 102 years ago, Nov 9 1919, Socialist Party members from San Francisco, San [...]
102 years ago, Nov 9 1919, Socialist Party members from San Francisco, San Jose, Fresno, and beyond met in Oakland to form the California chapter of the Communist Labor Party. The Bay Area’s first Leninist group, the CLP was immediately the target of brutal government suppression The CLP had been …
April 29, 1923: IWW Mutiny Against KKK
April 29 1923, sailors affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World mutinied and abandoned the Steamer Hartwood in San Francisco harbor. The action was part of a failed IWW-led maritime strike in San Pedro that saw collaboration between LA police and the KKK.
June 22, 1923: Wobbly William Flanagan Triggers San Quentin Strike
June 22 1923, William Flanagan, a member of the Industrial Workers of the World incarcerated at San Quentin, refused to work in the prison’s jute mill. Flanagan was put in solitary confinement, triggering a prison strike of 25 IWW-affiliated prisoners. Flanagan and the other striking Wobblies were serving sentences for …
May 17, 1927: 96 years ago, May 16 1927, the Supreme Court upheld the Criminal [...]
96 years ago, May 16 1927, the Supreme Court upheld the Criminal Syndicalism Act conviction of suffragist & cofounder of the Communist Labor Party’s Oakland chapter Charlotte Anita Whitney. While she received a pardon, the ruling legitimized California’s assault on radical speech Whitney was just one of a number of …