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Legendary Longshore Leader Harry Bridges Live in Your Living Room
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More people should know about Harry Bridges, the legendary and fiery San Francisco labor leader who founded the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and set the standard for dock workers’ rights. And now they can, with the recently released DVD “From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Dock.” The film—available at The Union Shop Online™—features a performance of Ian Ruskin’s one-man play of the same name, directed by Academy Award-winning director and cinematographer Haskell Wexler.
Developed by Ruskin and the Harry Bridges Project, the play and film tell the story of Bridges who, according to the project’s biography of the union founder, was
an extraordinary labor leader and social visionary whose life and work encompassed all of the important issues and events of his day, including immigration, depression-era policies, red-scares, McCarthyism, the cold-war and labor issues. His story provides a springboard into understanding these times and realizing their significance today, as we face parallel issues of globalization, the growing gap between rich and poor, increasing governmental surveillance and the war on terror.
Bridges probably is best known for the 1930s fight where he led Bay-area dockworkers in ousting a company union—one that controlled who got work, who didn’t, what workers were paid and what meager benefits, if any, they received for their backbreaking work and dangerous work in cargo holds and on the docks. With the founding of the ILWU, workers won a six-hour day, control of the hiring hall and better pay.
Ruskin has toured the play, which features Bridges’ own words from his rallying speeches of the 1930s and his testimony at his trials along with the words of his contemporaries, in union halls, schools, churches and other venues, including a November performance at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington,
The film was shot before a packed house of 1,000 longshore workers in San Pedro,
Our hope is that this page will be a place for people to debate…… (Harry Bridges believed in the power of debate) Go ahead, join the debate.
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2 Comments
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Harry Bridges was one of the greatest labor leaders this country ever saw, and we could sure use more of what Harry Bridges brought to the labor movement in our own pratice of labor-centered politics. Cubed.
Harry was one of the primary authors of the ILWU’s “Ten Guiding Principles”. The Principles are a must-read for all who proudly call themselves members of the working class.
The “Big Strike” in San Francisco was not a product of adventurous pot-stirring. Instead, it was a movement that grew out of need. Longshoremen, seamen, teamsters, and workers of every stripe were routinely subjected to unsafe working conditions, lousy pay, no benefits, and favoritism and discrimination. Harry was elected to head the strike committee. He brought a solid working class ideology to the fray: “An Injury To One Is An Injury To All”.
An excerpt from one of the Principles gives us a glimpse into the differences between then and now…
“In brief, it is the membership of the union which is the best judge of its own welfare; not the officers, not the employers, not the politicians and the fair weather friends of labor. Above all, this approach is based on the conviction that given the truth and an opportunity to determine their own course of action, the rank and file in 99 cases out of 100 will take the right path in their own interests and in the interests of all the people.”
That is called having faith in the membership. It does not imply that relying on on-the-take Members of Congress to bail us out was, is or will ever be our salvation. Unfortunately, too many in labor have bought into that cushy dodge. What has it gotten us? 47 million people lacking health care and millions more struggling to keep what medical insurance they have. Jobs being stolen. Workers robbed of their pensions. Attacks on public education. Courts packed with judges stooging for corporate America. A massive shift of wealth from our pockets into the bank accounts of the filthy rich. And it has gotten us a lousy, illegal war.
Congress – as a body – exhibits utter disdain for those of us who make up “blue collar America”. Congress does not believe workers will do anything more than complain and lament. Congress does not believe labor officials will lead their ranks-and-file into a social movement rooted in justice.
One thing Congress could not cope with is a labor movement that demanded justice for all. Congress could not do anything about massive work stoppages by working men and women wanting nothing more than fairness. Congress would have to enact laws that served all who toil in our land. Remember, the right to strike was not a gift from politicians. That right was won on the streets by working men and women who possessed the courage to demand what was their due. That’s what it will take to win justice today!
If we continue doing what we’ve been doing, we’ll continue to get what we’ve been getting…screwed!
Or, we can get off our butts and instead embrace and live the working class credo: “An Injury To One Is An Injury To All”.