One of the most famous union conflicts that changed the shape of America happened in modern Downtown San Diego. The “Free Speech Fight” of 1912 occurred after the City council banned public speaking within the “Stingaree” district in downtown San Diego. This ban was in response to the International Workers of the World (the IWW or the Wobblies) canvassing the area to gain members.
This event changed San Diego and was a stepping stone on the long path for Unions to be taken seriously in America’s Finest City.
Stingaree has a very interesting history, dating back to the wild west. Stingaree housed San Diego’s working class, including longshoremen, sailors, miners, and fishermen. It was made up of several neighborhoods, including San Diego’s Red Light district, Chinatown, and more.
The IWW remains a controversial figure in American history. It was a “general union,” any blue collar/working class person could become a member. By 1912, the IWW were known as aggressive, but fair. This would change as political divides drove some members to extremism. At the time, they were nonviolent, loud, and growing.
This made Stingaree the perfect place to find members for the IWW, and so they would give large public speeches about uniting the working class. They also would admonish San Diego’s elite class, such as John D. Spreckels, and the City Council.
Specific comments about certain San Diego icons got them into hot water, leading to the law banning “soap box public speaking” in downtown. In March, when they began to enforce the law, the IWW began “soapboxing” as an act of civil disobedience.
The IWW organized quickly, and before March was over, 5,000 IWW members came to San Diego to protest. The City offered a compromise to release all prisoners, but to keep the ban, the IWW said no. Protests grew larger and the police deputized 500 men to “maintain the mob.” These “vigilantes” quickly turned to violence.
By April the situation grew worse. Jails were overcrowded, they were fed rotten food, and rats infested many cells. On the streets, the vigilantes rounded up protesters by any means necessary.
Between the arrests, violence, and the burgeoning Mexican Revolution (which many Americans fought in), the IWW’s numbers dwindled.
In June, two events marked the end of the fight: the kidnapping of IWW sympathizer Ben Reitman and the death of a police officer at the hands of an IWW member. While the protests continued, they had lost their spark. In September, the remaining IWW members in the City met and decided to comply. They had lost.
At the same time, Stingaree was being dismantled. During the fight, much of the district had been burned down. Some parts were condemned by the City’s Health Department and others were demolished to make room for new building projects.
Today, Stingaree is known as the Gaslamp District.
The Free Speech fight of 1912 was not the only free speech fight happening in American cities. There were 12 similar cases happening across the Country, and many local unions were at the forefront of that fight. As reports came out about what happened in San Diego, the American populous was outraged. This led to San Diego (and other Cities) lifting their ban on soapboxing. After which, local unions began to grow, especially during the 1920s (which is when MEA was founded).
For more reading, we recommended checking the SD History Center’s articles on the Free Speech Fight and the history of Stingaree. As a note: these articles were written in the 70s, when Unions were facing a different crisis.