March 4, 1933: Communist Party’s Unemployed Councils Rally
March 4 1933, the Communist Party’s Unemployed Councils organized 10,000 workers to mass on San Francisco’s Civic Center to demand relief from new president Franklin D. Roosevelt, who took office that day. Decrying FDR’s “starvation program”, they demanded unemployment insurance as well as new trials for Tom Mooney (a labor …
March 3, 1912: 112 years ago, March 3 1912, Oakland police brutally cracked down on two [...]
112 years ago, March 3 1912, Oakland police brutally cracked down on two Industrial Workers of the World “free speech” rallies, arresting eight demonstrators and hospitalizing three. Police then stormed a solidarity meeting held by the Socialist Party, beating at least 20 people IWW members had been engaged in a …
February 26, 1992: 32 years ago, Feb 26 1992, over a thousand protesters disrupted a [...]
32 years ago, Feb 26 1992, over a thousand protesters disrupted a fundraiser for President George H.W. Bush in San Francisco, decrying the Bush administration’s inaction regarding the AIDS epidemic. Organized by ACT UP, the action called for a universal healthcare system The demonstration also called for an end to …
February 25, 1977: 47 years ago, February 25 1977, unknown gunmen fired shots into Bread [...]
47 years ago, February 25 1977, unknown gunmen fired shots into Bread & Roses Bookshop, a Communist Party-affiliated bookstore in San Jose. B&R management believed the attack was retaliation for the store’s role as a center for refugees fleeing the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile
February 22, 1974: 50 years ago, February 22 1974, rioting broke out in East Oakland at a [...]
50 years ago, February 22 1974, rioting broke out in East Oakland at a food giveaway organized by media magnate Randolph Hearst’s People In Need, a charitable organization he had created to satisfy a demand by the Symbionese Liberation Army, who had kidnapped his daughter Patty The SLA, a highly …