Erik Loomis

Yeah, absolutely. And so... In some ways, the Oakland strike is a little bit like the Seattle strike, you know, coming out of a union movement that was not actually that radical, right? And by 1946, understand that the union movement is now split into two groups.

Yeah, absolutely. And so... In some ways, the Oakland strike is a little bit like the Seattle strike, you know, coming out of a union movement that was not actually that radical, right? And by 1946, understand that the union movement is now split into two groups.

There's the American Federation of Labor, which represents the older forms of unions that tend to begin to be more politically conservative. And then the CIO, the Congress of Industrial Organizations, that includes the auto workers and steel workers and the rubber workers and a lot of communist-led unions, and had really embraced that radicalism and mass organizing.

There's the American Federation of Labor, which represents the older forms of unions that tend to begin to be more politically conservative. And then the CIO, the Congress of Industrial Organizations, that includes the auto workers and steel workers and the rubber workers and a lot of communist-led unions, and had really embraced that radicalism and mass organizing.

But ironically, the Oakland general strike, like in Seattle, came out of these fairly conservative AFL unions. And this was very much about what did almost everybody have in common in 1946. they had not spent any money in 20 years, right? You had the Great Depression, you had World War II, and of course, nobody's making any money during the Depression.

But ironically, the Oakland general strike, like in Seattle, came out of these fairly conservative AFL unions. And this was very much about what did almost everybody have in common in 1946. they had not spent any money in 20 years, right? You had the Great Depression, you had World War II, and of course, nobody's making any money during the Depression.

And in the war, people are making money, but they can't spend the money because there's nothing to spend it on. And by 1946, you have a lot of pent-up demand, and these people want pay raises. They want big-time pay raises to get the pay they deserve for the work they've done to win the war. And not surprisingly, the business class doesn't want to do that.

And in the war, people are making money, but they can't spend the money because there's nothing to spend it on. And by 1946, you have a lot of pent-up demand, and these people want pay raises. They want big-time pay raises to get the pay they deserve for the work they've done to win the war. And not surprisingly, the business class doesn't want to do that.

And so this is a situation where it starts among women, actually, department store workers. And they shut down the city for three days until, lo and behold, the Teamsters, led by a corrupt leader named Dave Beck, pulls their union out. And that was in some ways kind of devastating because at that moment, the CIO unions were about to join the strike.

And so this is a situation where it starts among women, actually, department store workers. And they shut down the city for three days until, lo and behold, the Teamsters, led by a corrupt leader named Dave Beck, pulls their union out. And that was in some ways kind of devastating because at that moment, the CIO unions were about to join the strike.

But it's another one of these situations where they shut the place down for three days, and it's like a giant party in the street. The bars can't sell alcohol, but they put their jukeboxes out on the street. People are literally dancing in the street. And it's this kind of joyful moment of workers expressing this power. Yeah.

But it's another one of these situations where they shut the place down for three days, and it's like a giant party in the street. The bars can't sell alcohol, but they put their jukeboxes out on the street. People are literally dancing in the street. And it's this kind of joyful moment of workers expressing this power. Yeah.

they don't necessarily win the strike or some of the political aims, but, but these kinds of things do lead to the massive pay raises and benefit raises that workers in post-war America got that turned American working class into being barely able to feed themselves to being able to buy a home and a new car and maybe send their kids to college and the kinds of hallmarks of, I think what's become called the middle class, but it's still large parts is a working class that,

they don't necessarily win the strike or some of the political aims, but, but these kinds of things do lead to the massive pay raises and benefit raises that workers in post-war America got that turned American working class into being barely able to feed themselves to being able to buy a home and a new car and maybe send their kids to college and the kinds of hallmarks of, I think what's become called the middle class, but it's still large parts is a working class that,

that is a more prosperous working class. And so like the strike is not in itself necessarily successful, but it lays the groundwork for employers over the next 25 years to giving really gargantuan pay and benefit raises to the American working class that significantly improved the lives of American workers. And I think that's also an important point that's worth making is that

that is a more prosperous working class. And so like the strike is not in itself necessarily successful, but it lays the groundwork for employers over the next 25 years to giving really gargantuan pay and benefit raises to the American working class that significantly improved the lives of American workers. And I think that's also an important point that's worth making is that

Well, for a lot of people, it's a kind of a radical, you know, being involved in the labor movement is a kind of a radical thing with the idea of socialist aims and whatever. And that's cool. I mean, I support a lot of that, too. But having grown up pretty poor, having more money in the bank is a revolutionary act.

Well, for a lot of people, it's a kind of a radical, you know, being involved in the labor movement is a kind of a radical thing with the idea of socialist aims and whatever. And that's cool. I mean, I support a lot of that, too. But having grown up pretty poor, having more money in the bank is a revolutionary act.

Yeah, that's right. I mean, just from the work perspective, we know absolutely that there's nothing inherently better about a factory job than working at McDonald's or working as a home health care worker. Right. Jobs that actually exist today, as opposed to factory jobs that are not coming back.

Yeah, that's right. I mean, just from the work perspective, we know absolutely that there's nothing inherently better about a factory job than working at McDonald's or working as a home health care worker. Right. Jobs that actually exist today, as opposed to factory jobs that are not coming back.