“Move On”

In 1912 the city council in San Diego banned public speaking in the town center where orators of every stripe had gathered for years to voice their cause. This IWW cartoon shows that since the gag law was only limited to the town center, it became necessary for the council to supplement it with an additional law – a “move-on” ordinance which gave police the arbitrary authority to break up any public gathering anywhere in the city. Not only did this give the police the power to silence the labor agitation, but it also, as this cartoon points out, gave them the power to dissolve picket lines.

Illustration by A. Prince from the IWW publication the Industrial Worker on May 9, 1912.

View the IWW exhibit for more information.