Liberty Hill site
Liberty Hill site is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Liberty Hill site
Location of Liberty Hill site in the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Location5th St. & Harbor Blvd. San Pedro, California
Coordinates33°44′26″N 118°16′50″W / 33.740685°N 118.280563°W / 33.740685; -118.280563
Built1923
DesignatedMarch 3, 1997
Reference no.1021
Upton Sinclair spoke at Liberty Hill site on May 15, 1923

Liberty Hill site in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California was the site of the 1923 strike by the Marine Transport Workers Industrial Union 510 a part of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The strike was called to draw attention to the worker's low wages and poor working conditions. It was also to draw attention to some union activists that had been arrested and lockup for violating the California Criminal Syndicalism Act passed on April 30, 1919, by Governor William Stephens, which criminalized syndicalism.[1] The strike tied up 90 ships in Port of Los Angeles San Pedro. The Liberty Hill site was designated a California Historic Landmark (No. 1021) on March 3, 1997.[2][3]

On May 15, 1923, writer Upton Sinclair spoke to approximately 3,000 striking longshoremen at Liberty Hill. Sinclair used street theater to highlight ongoing suppression of freedom of speech by the LAPD, Sinclair began his address by reading the Bill of Rights. Within moments, he was arrested.[4] The strike did not achieve its goal, but did start a movement that found success in the 1930s, the Congress of Industrial Organizations. The California Criminal Syndicalism Act was found unconstitutional in 1968.[5] [6][7]

Marker

Marker on the site reads:

  • NO. 1021 LIBERTY HILL SITE - In 1923 the Marine Transport Workers Industrial Union 510, a branch of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), called a strike that immobilized 90 ships here in San Pedro. The union protested low wages, bad working conditions, and the imprisonment of union activists under California's Criminal Syndicalism Law. Denied access to public property, strikers and their supporters rallied here at this site they called "Liberty Hill." Writer Upton Sinclair was arrested for reading from the Bill of Rights to a large gathering. The strike failed but laid a foundation for success in the 1930s. The Syndicalism Law was ruled unconstitutional in 1968."

See also

References

  1. ↑ Repealed by California Stats. 1991, c. 186 (A.B. 436).
  2. ↑ Beatrice Delja. "CHL # 1021 Liberty Hill Site Los Angeles". californiahistoricallandmarks.com. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
  3. ↑ washington.edu, Upton Sinclair, the 1923 San Pedro IWW Maritime Strike, and the Battle of Liberty Hill
  4. ↑ Robert Gottlieb; Mark Vallianatos; Regina M. Freer; Peter Dreier (2005). The Next Los Angeles: The Struggle for a Livable City (second ed.). Berkeley, California: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-25009-3.
  5. ↑ "Images from the Liberty Hill Strike of 1923 in San Pedro | Industrial Workers of the World". iww.org. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
  6. ↑ TheOkayNetwork.com (2012-10-21). "The Politics of San Pedro in Los Angeles, California". Archived from the original on 2012-11-05. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
  7. ↑ "Uppity Sinclair and the Battle of Liberty Hill | UFCW Local 324". ufcw324.org. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
  8. ↑ "Liberty Hill Foundation". Liberty Hill Foundation. Retrieved 2011-07-17.
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