San Francisco's Civic Auditorium was packed the night of June 19-ten thousand in its seats and more in every foot of standing room. (No vessel had sailed through the Golden Gate that day for the first time in forty-five years.) One estimate guessed strikers made up 40 percent of the audience, families, friends, and the general public the balance. A noisy mix of boos and cheers greeted the appearance of Mayor Rossi, escorted by Police Captain W. T. Healy, and interrupting Bridges's review of the strike. Captain E. B. O'Grady, of the Masters and Mates, banged his gavel hard, asking "a respectful hearing and a courteous welcome." He was only partially successful. The mayor was frequently, and similarly, interrupted as he declared he would work for peace without bloodshed and violence. His promise to help the American Federation of Labor (AFL) brought renewed jeers. His advice was "keep cool. Win without violence." His departure won another round of cheers and jeers. Following the mayor, a series of speakers-including Harry Jackson of the Marine Workers Industrial Union-rehearsed their unions' grievances and their strike goals. Several urged a general strike as the only action that could win the strikers' demands.

The longshoremen's strike was barely three weeks old when Ralph Mallen, the ILA publicity chairman, touched on the possibility of a general strike. Some local unions invoked the possibility in letters to the city's unions-some, Sam Darcy said, at the instigation of the Communist Party. 12 The ILA strike committee had pro- posed a twenty-four-hour work stoppage. On June 11, the ILA asked unions throughout the area to consider a sympathetic strike in support of its strike. The June 19 mass meeting was, Sam Kagel has suggested, a testing ground for the idea. 13 A leaflet circulated in advance of the meeting urged "a solid front of all workers" as the necessary response to the Chamber of Commerce-Industrial Association plans to use force to break the strike. More than one of the speakers called for a general strike. Machinists, Lodge 68, informed the San Francisco Labor Council that on June 20 its membership had voted to participate in a general strike if the unions affiliated with the Council deemed it necessary "to aid the striking unions on the waterfront." 14 Still, when an ILA delegate, Charles (Curley) Cutright, raised the question in the June 29 Labor Council meeting, it was met with applause that Eliel called "only scattered" and the ILA Strike Bulletin "a wave." The butchers' representative declared that if the employers attempted to open the port, union workers in the city's meat jobbing houses would be called out. The teamsters' joint executive board told the council that it had taken a stand against a general strike and had asked its affiliates to take similar action. Other unions would also look at the possibility in the days immediately ahead, but it was at the moment little more than a distant rumbling.