Knowledge Is A Weapon Against Fascism

The California Labor School, originally called the Tom Mooney Labor School, opened in June 1942 in a small loft at 678 Turk Street in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District. 

As demand for political and cultural education increased, CLS moved into a five-story building at 216 Market Street and added extension schools throughout California.

In 1947, the School bought its own building at 240 Golden Gate Avenue. 

As workers from the American South migrated to join the war effort in the shipbuilding and maritime industries, Bay Area union membership increased dramatically.

Over 100 labor unions funded the California Labor School to educate their growing membership on social, economic, and political issues, including the trade union system. 

At its inception, the California Labor School was positioned as part of a Popular Front, a coalition of organized labor, New Deal liberals, the Communist Party, and other leftist organizations united in the fight against fascism.

Knowledge was seen as a weapon to win the war and shape a new world of peace, dignity, and security.

From 1945 to 1947, the School was accredited by the California State Department of Education and received funding for the education of veterans under the G.I. Bill of Rights.

By October 1946, 187 out of 800 students were veterans, 40% of whom were African American. 

The School had a strong focus on serving local communities materially, artistically, and politically.

The Labor Chorus supported labor actions by singing on picket lines.

 The Union of Marine Cooks and Stewards ran a free community soup kitchen in front of the School’s cafeteria to feed their neighbors.  

The California Labor School cultivated a vibrant working class culture that articulated a vision of progressive social change, as seen in the School’s 1946 statement of policy:

“The California Labor School works for basic social security, full employment, freedom from discrimination, and an honest, democratic peace.

We teach so that all men and women may realize themselves.

We teach so that people of every race, creed, and political party may unite to become an intelligent force in unbreakable group action.

We teach so that every living man and woman will recognize the dignity of every other living man and woman on the earth.” 

Education Includes Art and Culture

By 1948, the School offered not only union education, but also a robust arts program.

This arts program was viewed as the practical application of the Marxist theory that was taught in other courses, combining methods of cultural expression with analysis that promoted the power of the working class. 

The School offered classes in dance, literature, music, theater, painting, printing, ceramics, photography, and upholstery.

Students staged plays, such as The Stevedore, a stage play about solidarity, racism, and the 1934 Waterfront Strike.

Artists Giacomo Patri, Anton Refregier, Victor Arnautoff, and Pablo O’Higgins taught classes in mural painting, strengthening the community through cultural expression.

The School was actively involved in the politics and culture of the Bay Area and contributed to the communities in the Tenderloin by hosting many artistic and cultural events, such as the annual Artist's Carnival, Christmas Market, the United Nations Festival, and art exhibits.

Loyalty or Treason

Anti-capitalist movements and groups like the Communist Party were on the rise in the beginning of the 20th century. Workers on the West Coast won major gains due to their organization in militant unions.

The need for cooperation during wartime added to the strength of organized labor, enabling space for the education of the working class.

As World War II ended, the dominant political forces in the United States swung towards conservatism, ending the unity of the Popular Front against fascism.

As the Cold War began, repression against the Left led to relentless legal, financial, and socio-political attacks on organizations such as the California Labor School.

In 1948, the U.S. Attorney General designated the California Labor School as a Subversive Organization, effectively eroding the School’s base of union support.

The Loyalty Order barred any associates of the Subversives List from holding federal employment, leading to the loss of the School’s G.I. Bill funding.

Due to severe repression including investigations by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and blacklisting, the School ceased to be a vital center for labor education and by 1951, the catalogs did not list one labor studies class.

The school survived for a few more years as a center of resistance against State repression, offering a reduced number of classes on the Cold War, McCarthyism, U.S. history, socialism, and the arts.

As a Subversive Organization, the tax-exempt status of the California Labor School was retroactively revoked, and the School was held responsible for years of back taxes.

Despite efforts to save the School, the combination of increased repression, large tax debts, and the danger of aligning with any projects deemed “subversive” forced the School to close in May 1957.

Legacy

The California Labor School operated for 14 years, hosting 135 classes for 1800 students at the height of its popularity.

The legacy of this project, providing anti-capitalist education to build a better society, has continued on in the Bay Area, as seen in the Black Panther Liberation Schools (1971-1981), East Bay Free Skool (2009-2013), Raheim Brown Free School (2011), Bay Area Public School (2012-2015), Oakland Summer School (2018-2020), and Center for Political Education (1998-present).

While the conditions of capitalism and government repression remain, these experiments in radical education demonstrate the continued power of the working class.