Harry Bridges, Labor Day, 1939, The ILWU Story: Six Decades of Militant Unionism, International Longshore and Warehouse Union, 1997.

In Harry Bridges, an Australian-born waterfront worker, the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union possessed one of the most courageous and innovative leaders the American labor movement has produced. Bridges first came into leadership during the historic 1934 general strike, and he and the ILWU rank-and-file went on to help build the new industrial unionism as part of the CIO . During his years of outstanding leadership, the government and the waterfront employers made three unsuccessful attempts to have him deported as “subversive.”

Until his retirement in 1977, Bridges enjoyed the unparalleled support of the longshoremen, and it was under his leadership that the union expanded its “jurisdiction” to include longshore and cannery workers in Hawaii, where it continues to play a decisive role in labor relations.

Here he is shown in the foreground, leading the ILWU contingent marching down San Francisco’s Market Street during the 1939 Labor Day Parade.

See this image in the Images from the Waterfront exhibit.