The San Francisco General Strike The General Strike in San
Francisco which has brought normal business activities in the city ahnost to a standstill is a revelation of the strides that labour has made in organizing itself in the depression period. It arose, as such movements are likely to do, out of a dispute affecting one or two unions only. The longshoremen of San Francisco claim the right to control the lists of names of men who are to be taken on in the " hiring halls " ; the steamship companies claim to control them themselves. Questions of wages and hours also enter into the dispute and it is a major demand of the longshoremen that an settlement must include all maritime workers. The strike-leaders, believing that the General Strike in-Britalin failed because it inflicted sufferings on the whole com- munity, are bent on minimizing these sufferings. They are attempting by their own organization to preserve order and to ensure the delivery of essential supplies— functions which in England devolved upon Government aided by voluntary effort. The old issue between the open and closed shop is indirectly involved, and a settle- ment will not be easy.
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