An organization called the “Longshoremen’s Association of San Francisco and the Bay Area” issued little blue books to longshoremen. To get work on the docks, you had to belong to the “blue book union.” (The books were blue to distinguish them from the red books issued by the old ILA Riggers and Stevedores union.) The trouble was, the so-called Longshoremen’s Association wasn’t a union at all. Created by gang bosses during the 1919 strike and run by the employers, it existed to prevent the formation of a real union.

Harry Bridges attended one meeting. He reflected, “It became obvious to me that it was a company controlled union and a racket.” Bridges, born in Australia in 1901 to a Catholic family, went to sea at fifteen and was shipwrecked twice. His exposure to sailors’ conditions and a general strike in Australia during World War I began his union education.