74th Anniversary Of The Oakland General Strike & Lessons For Today With Gifford Hartman

Eight hundred mostly women clerical workers went on strike at Kahn's department store in Oakland. Transit workers in ATU 192 and tens of thousands of other workers joined them.

Black members of ILWU Local 6 fought for housing and against segregation in Oakland and the Bay Area during the 1940s.

Oakland police guarded the scabs during the Oakland general strike.

Workers celebrated in the streets of Oakland during the last general strike in 1946. The general strike brought mass solidarity but top union officials were afraid that it would be joined by the CIO which would have completely shutdown Oakland and brought a total victory. They announced a settlement without any rank and file vote and sent workers back to work while the striking clerical workers were still out on strike without a contract. According to Gifford Hartman the strike was betrayed and workers were unable to get a contract because of the secret deal made with the bosses.

There were mass rallies during the Oakland general strike and the strike could have been won had it not been sold out.

Oakland which was run by Republicans in 1946 and they tried to crush the strike not by a massive police attack but by a secret deal with the top union leadership. They were successful in their efforts.