YEAR: 1934Minneapolis, San Francisco General Strike
The deepest depths of the Great Depression saw the working class facing brutal depravity at the hands of the capitalist system – and also some of the most militant resistance to that system in its history. In Minneapolis, the Teamsters led truckers and warehouse workers in a series of strikes that escalated into serious confrontation with police. After a citywide shutdown, the employers were forced to recognize the union.
In San Francisco, longshoremen initiated a strike after police killed two workers. The action snowballed into a four-day general strike as workers in other sectors walked off the job in solidarity with the longshoreman. In both cases, the role of communist organizing in the unions and solidarity movements was critical.
