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 engaged in a number of “free speech fights,” openly flouting local laws against radical speech in Oakland and San Francisco. Their rallies were frequently attacked by police and were demonized in the press https://t.co/mkYGy5rJkL

Outraged by police harassment of IWW free speech rallies, the Socialist Party spearheaded an effort to recall Oakland mayor Frank Mott later that year, culminating in an unsuccessful recall election https://t.co/CfBT4kGaw6

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