Free Speech Struggles – San Diego, Then & Now
DSA Night School
September 26, 2023
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Torture! Murder! Soapboxes!
DSA San Diego’s Education Committee takes a look at the history of the free speech fights in San Diego from the early 20th Century through today.
Timeline
May 4, 1886
Haymarket Affair (Chicago)
June 27, 1905
Formation of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) – called the Wobblies
1910
IWW attempted to organize Mexican workers of the San Diego Consolidated Gas and Electric Company
October 1, 1910
LA Times building bombing
November 10, 1910
Germania Hall incident. Police shut down union hall in San Diego. IWW start soapbox oratory.
January 29, 1911
Liberation of Mexicali – Magonista rebellion starts.
June 22, 1911
Second Battle of Tijuana
December 8, 1911
Grand jury said street-speaking “congested the heart of the city” and must be prohibited.
January 6, 1912
Event that gave cause to pass Ordinance 4623 – off-duty constable R.J. Walsh drove his car into a crowd in an attempt to disrupt a soapbox event. Police were beaten by civilians.
January 8, 1912
Official beginning of the free speech fight; SD city council passed Ordinance No. 4623, prohibiting free speech in a 49-block zone
January 16, 1912
California Free Speech League was created
February 8, 1912
Ordinance 4623 went into effect
March 10, 1912
Fire Hose Episode
March 28, 1912
Michael Hoy, 63, died after police beat him and withheld medical attention
May 1912
Socialist Joseph Mikolasek was shot and killed by police
May 1912
Ben Reitman, Emma Goldman’s partner, tarred, and sagebrushed by vigilantes. Flag rammed down his throat.
December 6, 1912
The wrecking ball razed much of the Stingaree.
May 20, 1913
Emma Goldman returns, immediately “deported” again
1915
Panama-California Exposition
1915
San Diego’s ban on street speaking (Ordinance No. 4623) rescinded
April 1918
San Diego section 56.30 of the city code introduced (seditious language)
May 1918
San Diego’s leaders banned free speech in a large chunk of downtown
May 1918
Congress passed the Sedition Act, which said no one could “willfully utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of the Government of the United States.”
1920
U.S. Sedition Act repealed after the war was over.
2011
More than 50 Occupy San Diego protesters arrested under encroachment law
2017
San Diego chapter of the IWW was (re)chartered
September 29, 2020
San Diego repeals seditious language law
Sources & Further Reading
Books
Davis, Mike, et al. Under the Perfect Sun: The San Diego Tourists Never See. United Kingdom, New Press, 2003.
(OUT OF PRINT. San Diego Public Library | San Diego County Library)
Songs
We’re Bound for San Diego:
Lyrics: http://politicalfolkmusic.org/blog/anonymous/were-bound-for-san-diego
Proles’ 2012 performance: https://youtu.be/b9Vhm1u8P3Y
Outline
By Topic
The Free Speech Fight in San Diego
—. Spread the Story of San Diego’s Shame. Industrial Worker. 1 May, 1912, https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/industrialworker/iw/v4n06-w162-may-01-1912-IW.pdf
“1912: The San Diego Free Speech Fight.” libcom.org, libcom.org/article/1912-san-diego-free-speech-fight.
April. “The Wobblies and San Diego’s Shame.” San Diego Reader, www.sandiegoreader.com/news/1992/apr/02/battle-soapbox-row.
Dotinga, Randy. “When San Diego Had Its Own Big Labor Clash.” Voice of San Diego, Mar. 2022, voiceofsandiego.org/2011/03/15/when-san-diego-had-its-own-big-labor-clash.
A Fight for Free Speech in San Diego | Industrial Workers of the World. archive.iww.org/history/library/misc/DJones2005.
“A Fight for Free Speech in San Diego: Davey Jones.” libcom.org, libcom.org/article/fight-free-speech-san-diego-davey-jones.
Free Speech San Diego. aftguild.org/free_speech/index.html.
Kelly, Michael. Journal of San Diego History. https://web.archive.org/web/20050210012222/http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/73winter/speech.htm.
Smith, Jeff. “The Big Noise: The Free Speech Fight of 1912, Part One.” San Diego Reader, 23 May 2012, www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2012/may/23/unforgettable.
Smith, Jeff. “The Big Noise: The Free Speech Fight of 1912, Part Two.” San Diego Reader, 30 May 2012, www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2012/may/30/unforgettable-big-noise-2.
Smith, Jeff. “The Big Noise: The Free Speech Fight of 1912, Part Three.” San Diego Reader, 6 June 2012, www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2012/jun/06/unforgettable-big-noise-3.
Smith, Jeff. “The Big Noise: The Free Speech Fight of 1912, Part Four.” San Diego Reader, 13 June 2012, www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2012/jun/13/unforgettable-free-speech-protesters-got-fire-hose.
Smith, Jeff. “The Big Noise: The Free Speech Fight of 1912, Part Five.” San Diego Reader, 20 June 2012, www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2012/jun/20/unforgettable-city-leaders-cracked-heads-county-li.
Smith, Jeff. “The Big Noise: The Free Speech Fight of 1912, Part Six.” San Diego Reader, 27 June 2012, www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2012/jun/27/unforgettable-violence-against-free-speech-activis.
Smith, Jeff. “The Big Noise: The Free Speech Fight of 1912, Part Seven.” San Diego Reader, 4 July 2012, www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2012/jul/04/unforgettable-big-noise.
Smith, Jeff. “The Big Noise: The Free Speech Fight of 1912, Part Eight.” San Diego Reader, 11 July 2012, www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2012/jul/11/unforgettable.
The Life of Socialist George Woodbey Must Not Be Lost to History. 1 May 2022, jacobin.com/2022/05/george-woodbey-debs-socialist-party-free-speech.
“Porkchops for All! The 100th Anniversary of the San Diego Free Speech Fights.” libcom.org, libcom.org/article/porkchops-all-100th-anniversary-san-diego-free-speech-fights.
Wikipedia contributors. “San Diego Free Speech Fight.” Wikipedia, Sept. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego_free_speech_fight.
The Wobblies
https://spartacus-educational.com/USAiww.htm
Emma Goldman
From the Archives: May 20, 1913: Emma Goldman returns: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/150-years/sd-me-150-years-may-20-htmlstory.html
Free Speech in the Progressive Era: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldman-free-speech-progressive-era-1907-1916
Dr. Ben Reitman
REITMAN DESCRIBES HOW HE WAS TARRED; Emma Goldman’s Manager Tells About Tortures Inflicted by Vigilantes on California Desert: https://www.nytimes.com/1912/05/17/archives/reitman-describes-how-he-was-tarred-emma-goldmans-manager-tells.html
Fire Hose Incident
From the Archives: Limits set on free speech in San Diego 110 years ago: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/local-history/story/2022-01-09/from-the-archives-limits-set-on-free-speech-in-san-diego-110-years-ago
From the Archives: The 1912 fight over free speech in the streets of San Diego: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/local-history/story/2020-03-10/from-the-archives-the-1912-fight-over-free-speech-in-the-streets-of-san-diego
The Stingaree
Shady Ladies in the “Stingaree District” When the Red Lights Went Out in San Diego: https://sandiegohistory.org/journal/1974/april/stingaree/
Unforgettable: A Walk on the Stingaree Side, Part 1: https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2009/jul/01/walk-stingaree-side-part-1/
Love shacks in the Stingaree: https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2000/jul/06/san-diegos-chinatown-and-stingaree-district/
https://sandiegohistory.org/exhibition/sindiego/
LA Times Building Bombing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_the_United_States#Deadliest_attacks
https://www.latimes.com/visuals/photography/la-me-fw-archives-the-1910-bombing-of-the-los-angeles-times-20180612-htmlstory.html
Seditious Language
Federal Sedition Act of 1918: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedition_Act_of_1918
San Diego City Council repeals ‘seditious language’ law from its books: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/san-diego/story/2020-09-29/san-diego-city-council-repeals-seditious-language-law-from-its-books
Slideshow Photos
Slide 1:
https://weneverforget.org/hellraisers-journal-from-the-industrial-worker-worse-and-more-of-it-for-free-speech-in-san-diego-california-1912/ (referred from Twitter)
Slide 2:
https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2012/may/23/unforgettable/
Slide 3:
Photo on left: https://aftguild.org/free_speech/free-speech-gallery/gallery01.html | https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/1992/apr/02/battle-soapbox-row/
Photo on right: https://aftguild.org/free_speech/free-speech-gallery/gallery04.html
Slide 4:
https://digital.wolfsonian.org/WOLF045327
Slide 5:
https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/kt3w1018rb/
Slide 6:
https://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dies_laboris#/media/Fasciculus:Haymarket_explosion.jpg
Slide 7:
Photo on left: https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2000/jul/06/san-diegos-chinatown-and-stingaree-district/
Photo on right and center: https://sandiegohistory.org/exhibition/sindiego/
Slide 8:
Photo on left: https://aftguild.org/free_speech/free-speech-gallery/gallery02.html
Photo on right: https://oac.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt6n39q2b6/?brand=oac4
Slide 9:
Photo on left: https://harrisconnor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/THE-SPRECKELS-MANSION.pdf
Photo on right: https://coolsandiegosights.com/2014/11/04/behind-the-scenes-look-at-the-spreckels-organ/
Slide 10:
All photos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama%E2%80%93California_Exposition
Slide 11:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCwN4Y9_WZs
Slide 12:
Slide 13:
All photos: http://aftguild.org/free_speech/history/pdf/ordinance-4623rev.pdf
Slide 14:
Photo on left: https://aftguild.org/free_speech/free-speech-gallery/gallery03.html
Photo on right: https://aftguild.org/free_speech/free-speech-gallery/gallery11.html
Slide 15:
Photo on left: https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/kt2000142d/
Photo on right: https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/kt2x0nc2cr/
Slide 16:
Photo on left: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Goldman#/media/File:Emma_Goldman’s_deportation_photo,_1919.jpg
Photo on right: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldman-anarchism-and-emma-goldman/
Mother Earth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Goldman#/media/File:Mother_Earth_1912.jpg
Slide 17:
Photo on left: https://www.abebooks.com/9782846030045/Boxcar-Bertha-Ben-Reitman-2846030049/plp
Photo on right: https://www.ebay.com/itm/393747683732
Photo in center: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Reitman
Slide 18:
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0071315/mediaviewer/rm2663398656/