The 1934 West Coast Longshoremen’s Strike Mural

Subject: History
Pages: 2
Words: 306
Reading time:
< 1 min

The section of the mural portraying the impending strike, shows the growing common dissatisfaction developing into a confrontation between the longshoremen and the shipping companies on the West Coast. The mural reflects heavy working conditions in addition to the antilabor environment of that time and represents the workers’ collective mood. The moving nature of the mural proves the intensive pulsebeat of the longshoremen and shows their motivation. During the strike, the docks were shut thoroughly. Cruelty and determination, which were seen from both sides of the strike, became the hallmarks of the revolt. While quite a few of the most influential personalities in San Francisco were thinking of the strike’s finale as a victory for the companies, many of the strike partakers and frontrunners did not share their opinion. Unprompted strikes over complaints and work conditions broke out as protestors got back to their jobs, with longshoremen backing up their anxieties.

Employers accepted many of these encounters, exposing workers to even more sureness in requesting that companies lighten the intolerably weighty loads. All of the workers, including the longshoremen, seamen, and others who were partaking in the General Strike were gaining knowledge and learning significant lessons about the strong points of systematized labor. It is obvious that these employees have seen things differently, and that was the deciding factor. They changed their world for the better and returned to work victorious, changing the employment statutes for the benefit. The outcomes of the General Strike prove the critical nature of those working in San Francisco and hint at the decisiveness adopted by the sailors. The struggle of being underpaid and overused became the pivotal point for the strike that became a vivid example of how the collective strength of people, who want to change the world around them, does wonders.