DSA Night School
September 26, 2023
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
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:
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/