November 23, 1996 to February 23, 1997
We Called it a Work Holiday:
The 1946 Oakland General Strike
Presented by the History Department

In honor of a dramatic event in Oakland's history, the Oakland Museum of California will present We Called It A Work Holiday: The 1946 Oakland General Strike, an exhibition in the History Special Gallery Nov. 23, 1996 through Feb. 23, 1997. The selection of historic photographs, memorabilia, video and audio footage commemorates the 50th anniversary of the strike by AFL unions that shut down the city of Oakland for two days. The exhibition is organized by History Department Photo Archivist Marcia Eymann, joined by consultants Charles Wollenberg, professor of history at Vista College, and Fred Glass, communications director for the California Federation of Teachers.

We Called It A Work Holiday views the general strike in the context of California's labor history and of union and business activity during and after World War II, and Oakland city politics at the time of the strike. The exhibition includes some 35 photographs taken during the strike, most of them drawn from the museum's own collection; strike memorabilia such as buttons, posters, and ads taken out by the retail merchants; and newspaper reports on strike activity in Oakland and around the state. Also included are recreations of a window of Kahn's department store, where the strike originated; a room in the exclusive Athens Club, where the city's wealthy business leaders congregated; and a parade float from an election rally by a populist voters league formed in the strike's wake. A seven-minute video produced by consultant Glass includes the only surviving film footage of the strike, and audio elements provide first-hand accounts of the action by participants and organizers, recounted and recorded in 1976.

The events leading to the General Strike, one of only a handful in the nation's history, began in the fall of 1946. Faced with the continuing resistance of Oakland's retail merchants to unionization at Hastings and Kahn's department stores in downtown Oakland, 400 clerks from those stores went out on strike in late October. In early December, the strike escalated when store management, backed by Oakland's city government and conservative business elite, enlisted the aid of police to clear away pickets and protect strike-breaking delivery trucks. American Federation of Labor unions throughout Alameda County voted to strike in solidarity with the clerks. On December 3, 1946, 100,000 workers from 142 AFL unions -- including workers from factories, industries, services, retail stores, transportation systems and more -- declared a "work holiday" and walked off their jobs. The General Strike lasted until city and labor leaders settled on a compromise agreement, returning workers to their jobs on Dec. 5. In the months that followed, the populist Oakland Voters League brought together progressive factions in the city to elect four out of five labor candidates to the city council.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of public programs in December and January, including a symposium and gallery talks.

We Called It A Work Holiday: The 1946 Oakland General Strike is funded by the California Labor Federation AFL-CIO, the California Federation of Teachers, and the Central Labor Council of Alameda County and its affiliated unions.

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