May 9, 1934 - West Coast longshoremen walked off their jobs, with the action eventually culminating in a four-day general strike in San Francisco. The ranks of the workers held firm, despite police violence and attempts by national union leadership to cave into employer demands. The strikers responded by electing new leaders. Prominent among the new faces was San Francisco longshoreman Harry Bridges, who later became president of the International Longshoremen and Warehousemen’s Union and for decades was a militant voice for the movement.

Read more about the strike at http://www.shapingsf.org/ezine/labor/genstrike/index.html