This chapter from Carey McWilliams, California: The Great Exception (1949) tells the history of class war in San Francisco, when "all of labor [was] pitted against all of capital." The conditions were unique: "Nowhere in the world has there been a more favorable economic environment, nor more freedom for social and political experiments than in California." The result? Wobbly organizing and near-general strikes on the San Francisco waterfront in 1886, 1893, 1901, and 1916, setting the stage for the 1934 General Strike, followed by the Oakland General Strike in 1946.
By Pat Orr
Special to the Victorville Daily Press
It appears the effort to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom may qualify for a special election. That has not happened since Gray Davis fell to a successful recall election in 2003. Are recalls that unusual in California politics? Not at all. In fact, there have been 55 gubernatorial recall attempts since 1939.
That year, then-Gov. Culbert L. Olson was the subject of three recall efforts and two more in 1940. All failed to qualify for the ballot. Things fell quiet until the era of Edmund G. Brown, who had three recall attempts thrown his way in 1960 and 1965. Those failed, too, but the throw-him-out movement had become a political tool of protest.
Today in History
Today is Wednesday, Dec. 30, the 365th day of 2020. There is one day left in the year.
TodayÃs Highlight in History:
On Dec. 30, 1903, about 600 people died when fire broke out at the recently opened Iroquois Theater in Chicago.
On this date:
In 1813, British troops burned Buffalo, New York, during the War of 1812.
In 1853, the United States and Mexico signed a treaty under which the U.S. agreed to buy some 45,000 square miles of land from Mexico for $10 million in a deal known as the Gadsden Purchase.
In 1860, 10 days after South Carolina seceded from the Union, the state militia seized the United States Arsenal in Charleston.
On this day, Dec. 30 .
1922: Vladimir Lenin proclaims the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which would last nearly seven decades before dissolving in December 1991.
Also on this day:
1813: British troops burn Buffalo, N.Y., during the War of 1812.
1853: The United States and Mexico sign a treaty under which the U.S. agrees to buy some 45,000 square miles of land from Mexico for $10 million in a deal known as the Gadsden Purchase.
1916: Grigory Rasputin, the so-called Mad Monk who wielded considerable influence with Czar Nicholas II, is killed by a group of Russian noblemen in St. Petersburg. (AP Photo)
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