An account by Stan Weir of the gen strike in Oakland, California, in 1946.

The Oakland (California) General Strike was an extension of the national strike wave. It was not a ‘called’ strike. Shortly before 5 a.m., Monday, December 3, 1946, the hundreds of workers passing through downtown Oakland on their way to work became witness to the police herding a fleet of scab trucks through the downtown area. The trucks contained commodities to fill the shelves of two major department stores whose clerks (mostly women) had long been on strike. The witnesses, that is, truck drivers, bus and streetcar operators and passengers, got off their vehicles and did not return. The city filled with workers, they milled about in the city’s core for several hours and then organised themselves.

In 1946, the largest general strike in U.S. history took place in Oakland. The strike effectively shut the city down for nearly three days (1946) Protestors surround a mail truck at the Oakland General Strike of 1946

The 1946 Oakland General Strike began as 425 mostly women employees working at two department stores, Kahn’s and Hastings, went on strike for wage equality beginning in November 1946.

The 1946 Oakland general strike began with a dispute at two downtown department stores, Hastings’ and Kahn’s, where 425 clerks (mostly women) were on strike for union recognition.