By Maria Brooks

A highlight of last month’s Longshore Caucus was the unveiling of a remarkable photo exhibition, the “Legacy of 1934.” The exhibit in San Francisco recounts the fierce struggle of West Coast longshoremen for democratic unionism and their triumph in 1937 with the emergence of the ILWU.

The delegates were the first to view the exhibit on and to inspect the seven-foot tall panels April 30. They were invited to analyze the presentation before the images are permanently laminated.
Tinted in sepia tones, the assembled photographs build, one upon another, into a dramatic story. Images of hooks, work tokens and union cards, newspapers, photos and drawings document the events that affected a generation of longshore workers. Brief descriptions guide the viewer through the twists and turns of history.

“Legacy of 1934” was designed as a traveling exhibition. Eventually four sets of the entire exhibit will be available to union locals so the display can run concurrently in different locations.

When the Caucus adjourned for the evening, groups of delegates drifted into the banquet room of the Holiday Inn. The panels supporting the digitalized photographs run fifty feet in length and reach nearly wall to wall. The normally talkative delegates grew silent as they looked at the images for the first time.

They saw pictures of hungry men and frightful times on the docks. It was the era of the shape up, the blacklist, and the fink book.
The pictures show police aiming their guns at workers. Crowds flee from the bullets and men die in the streets. It is Seattle and San Pedro and San Francisco.
A few of the delegates begin to share memories, recalling old timers they had worked with. The younger delegates say little, looking astounded by the powerful images.

 “This is an excellent exhibition,” said ILWU International President Bob McEllrath, staring at the panels. “It’ll teach our young people what we’re all about. We have to understand our history to know where we’re going.”

“Legacy of 1934” was inspired by Dan Imbagliazzo of longshore Local 13. A forty-one year member of the union, Imbagliazzo wanted to do something that would educate new members. And he wanted to share his deep emotions for the union. 

“I got a life of decency and respect,” he said. “I used to work next to old guys who faced loaded machine guns in ’34. They were the Salt of the Earth.”
He remembered his boyhood pleasure in looking at Life Magazine with its black and white pictures. He believes photographs can teach. He contacted ILWU Director of Educational Services and Librarian Gene Vrana. Imbagliazzo knew the library held a treasure trove of art and photographs and letters.
With the help of the union’s Education and Research Department, Imbagliazzo proposed a photo exhibit to the Caucus in 2006. If ILWU members were too busy to visit the library, then the library’s treasures would come to them. The project would be under the supervision of the Longshore Division’s Coast Committee.

Richard Bermack and Robin Walker were recruited to create the exhibit. Bermack, a long time labor writer and photographer, came on board as the project’s producer and designer. Walker, with a degree in history and experience working in museums, became the curatorial consultant. Harvey Schwartz, the ILWU oral historian, shared his scholarship with the production team.

After plumbing the resources of ILWU library, Bermack traveled the West Coast, visiting union halls from San Pedro to Seattle looking for materials. He interviewed old timers, talked to rank and filers, and conferred with historians. For eight months he collected, he photocopied, he procured objects that had not been seen in years.

“The ILWU attracted artists in past generations,” said Bermack. “These people were first rate, like [photographer] Otto Hagel who worked for Life Magazine and other major periodicals.”

Former International President Dave Arian, from longshore Local 13, walked around the panels several times. “Just beautiful!” he exclaimed pointing at a three dimensional drawing. Arian has devoted years to the development of educational materials for new members. “Probably 50 percent of our membership has less than five years in the union,” he said. “This is two, three generations removed from the origins of the union.”

Many new members in longshore have no union backgrounds. Some come from non-union families. “Young people coming in today have never faced the struggles that are projected on these panels,” said International President Emeritus Jim Spinosa, from clerks’ Local 63. “They need to know the sacrifices that got us here.”

International Organizer Carey Dall from warehouse Local 6 is age 30 and one of the younger members in the room. He came into the union as a bike messenger. “Young people have got to recognize this is our story,” said Dall, “This is not about George Washington or some president sucking up to the railroad interests. This story is us.”

Bermack darted behind the crowd, casting a critical eye on his work. For the past few weeks, he has lived with these pictures. He set up the entire display in his living room. There he adjusted and edited the images. He knows each picture intimately.

“If someone doesn’t know the history of his union, he or she is missing out on the whole experience.” Bermack said. “It’s like going on an expensive vacation and never leaving your hotel room.”

“Look at that first panel” shouted clerks’ Local 34 President Richard Cavalli. He points to a photograph from 1922 showing longshoremen crawling up a wooden ladder propped over the water from the pier to a ship. The ladder is rigged like a teeter-totter, with men clutching the rungs with no safety net.

“People who aren’t involved in this industry wouldn’t understand how unsafe that is.” Cavalli said, “If one of those rungs break, down you go.”
“There are pictures here that show the Ku Klux Klan on the West Coast,” added Cavalli. “Most people don’t know there was a Ku Klux Klan here on the West Coast. It shows what we were up against in terms of the society we lived in.”

The younger delegates peer at the panels showing strikers huddled together with their hands in their pockets. Pushing up their baseball caps, the young members move close to the photographs and squint at union brothers who lived 70 years ago. In the black and white images from the 1920’s, some workers look as if they had come from distant places.

“Immigrants were not considered Americans back then,” said Bermack. “They were foreigners. And the Irish, Italians and Jews were not considered white”, he added. A large percentage of America’s population was immigrant in the early years of the 20th Century. On the docks nationalities mingled.

“Harry Bridges had an internationalist experience,” said Dall. “Dock workers came from a variety of different ethnic backgrounds and were informed by very internationalist perspectives which came out of being seamen, of being itinerant workers.”

The images in the “Legacy of 1934” tell a collective story of longshore workers who, with courage and sacrifice, gained control of their union after monumental struggle.

The ILWU triumphed. Its achievement cast a bright light in the dark days of the Great Depression. By 1937, unions were on the march. The ILWU, with Harry Bridges at the helm, was leading the fight on the West Coast. And the whole country watched.

 “We must understand the importance what happened 80, 90, or even a 100 years ago,” reflected Dall. “We know what we have today—and how we got it. Now we must defend it.”