Tribune caption on the back July 17, 1934-- "Crowd in front of a Kearny Street restaurant (upper photo) which is one of the 19 permitted to operate in San francisco by the General Strike committee, whos official permit (inset) must be plainly displayed on the window. Lower photo shows grocerteria at Twenty-third and Mission Streets, the shelves of which were raided twice by street mobs that broke windows and forced the doors to get at the food.- Tribune photos." Photograph shows the front of a small grocery store. The name of the store "Little Mann Groceteria" is just visible at the top of the photograph painted on the awning over the sidewalk. The doors of the store are standing partially open and depris is littering the ground in front. A man is leaning against the window on the right side of the entrance, looking at the broken doors and debris. Standing on the left side is a police officer also looking at the damage. The economic problems of the Great Depression affected San Francisco in the spring and early summer of 1934. Wages were falling across the country and California employers took advantage of the national trend by slashing wages, extending work hours, and attempting to break unionization. Between 1921 and 1933, San Francisco employers had managed to made the city into an open-shop community. But things were going to be changing with the election of Franklin Roosevelt to the presidency. The National Recovery Act permitted labor to select a collective bargaining agency. San Francisco waterfront laborers choose to use the International Longshoremen's Association as their organization vehicle. In 1933 they obtained a charter from the national organization and organized most of the waterfront workers in the city to this union. One of the leaders of the union became Harry Bridges, an Australian immigrant, former sailor and dock worker. The waterfront workers wanted from their employers a increase in wages, the work week be shortened to thirty hours, a coastwide labor agreement be negotiated, and that the union be given control of the hiring halls. Natuarally the employers refused and the International Lonshorement's union of San Francisco went on strike on March 7, 1934. By May 15, the seamen's union also joined the maritime strike. They were later joined by the ships clerks' and licensed officers' labor unions. On July 5, 1934, a day remembered as "Bloody Thursday," the strike became violent between the police and strikers. Two union strikers were killed and more were gassed and clubbed by the police. The union responded by calling for a city wide general strike, the second important one in American history. Around 127,000 workers walked off the job, freezing the entire city from July 17-July 19. Stores were closed and factories padlocked and public transportation stopped. Naturally the strike made headlines across the country and the administrator of the National Recovery Administration went to California to denounce te general strike. Growing national disapproval made many of the striking workers return to their jobs. The waterfront workers continued to strike until it became clear that mediation of the disputed points would occur. The mediators eventually gave the unions control of the hiring halls as well as some of their other demands. (Information provided by Ralph J. Roske, "Everyman's Eden: A History of California." New York: The MacMillan Company, 1968; 505-506. The term "Great Depression" removed from the Argus Category field for CSpace cleanup. The category term was possibly related to exhibition planning (DAP, 1/5/2014).