Harry Bridges

Robert W. Cherny is a professor emeritus of history at San Francisco State University. His many books include Victor Arnautoff and the Politics of Art

"In Harry Bridges: Labor Radical, Labor Legend, the culmination of thirty-five years of effort, Robert Cherny provides a majestic biography." --New York Labor History "Allows us to revisit a monumental twentieth-century life. Bridges the man may not be widely known, but his philosophy of inclusive, democratic unionism imbues much of today’s most ambitious organizing campaigns, from Starbucks and Amazon to the teachers’ unions in Chicago and Los Angeles." --New York Review of Books​"A detailed account of Bridges’s life and achievements, using not only the extensive government files from his various prosecutions and the ILWU’s voluminous archives but also Bridges’s own papers, a number of interviews with him, and, crucially, CPUSA files in Russian archives. It is unlikely that a more complete story of the man will ever be told." --Commentary"A must-read for students of 20th Century US History." --Labor History"Cherny's text is about as complete a biography of Bridges as one will find. Politically astute and with a deep understanding of the complexities of labor organizing and union work, the text presents a portrait of a man, his politics, and his steadfast belief in the necessity and potential power of an organized working class. . . . One of the best pictures of labor unionism ever written down." --Counterpunch"Cherny's text is as complete a biography of Bridges as one will find. Politically astute and with a deep understanding of the complexities of labour organizing and union work, the text presents a portrait of a man, his politics, and his steadfast belief in the necessity and potential power of an organized working class. " --Morning Star"A monumental achievement. More than thirty-five years in the making, it is exhaustively researched, gracefully written, and comprehensive. . . . Offers tantalizing details that may surprise even those who already know a great deal about Bridges and the ILWU. . . . It should appeal to everyone interested in Harry Bridges, the history of the ILWU, and the American labor movement in general." --Dispatcher"A deeply researched biography. . . this book will be valuable to readers interested in labor history, maritime history, the history of American communism, and California history." --Choice

• Acknowledgments AbbreviationsFrom Australia to the San Francisco Docks, 1901-1922San Francisco Longshoreman, 1922-1929San Francisco Longshoremen Organize, 1929-May 9, 1934The Big Strike, May 9 to July 4, 1934The Big Strike: Bloody Thursday and After, July 5th to the End of 1934Pursuing Maritime Unity, October 1934-January 1936Founding the ILWU, 1936-1940Harry Bridges and the Communist Party in the 1930s: Evidence from the Russian ArchivesDeport Bridges! 1934-1941If at First You Don't Succeed: Deportation, 1940-1945World War, Labor Peace, 1940-1945Cold War, Labor War, 1945-1948Try, Try, Again: Deportation and Expulsion, 1948-1953The Last Deportation Trial and New Beginnings, 1953-1960Transforming Longshoring: The M&Ms, 1960-1966Labor Statesman? 1960-1971The Longest Strike: Relations with PMA, 1966-1977Living Legend, 1971-1990NotesSelected BibliographyIndex