Harry Bridges Quotes

Australia, Trade Unionist
July 28, 1901 – March, 30, 1990.

Harry Bridges (July 28, 1901 – March 30, 1990) was an Australian-born American union leader, first with the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA). In 1937, he led several chapters in forming a new union, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), expanding members to workers in warehouses, and led it for the next 40 years. He was prosecuted for his labor organizing and believed subversive status by the U.S. government during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, with the goal of deportation. This was never achieved.

I'm a machine man, and I head a machine.

Harry Bridges
- Man
- Head
- Machine
There is a weapon we can fight with. That is the weapon of political action.

Harry Bridges
- Political
- Action
- Fight

Neither, I must say with all due respect, is it the power of teachers and students. Basically the true and real power is with working people of all colors, of all beliefs, of all national origins.

Harry Bridges
- People
- Real
- Power
There will always be a place for us somewhere, somehow, as long as we see to it that working people fight for everything they have, everything they hope to get, for dignity, equality, democracy, to oppose war and to bring to the world a better life.

Harry Bridges
- People
- Life
- World
Everything is produced by the workers, and the minute they try to get something by their unions they meet all the opposition that can be mustered by those who now get what they produce.

Harry Bridges
- Everything
- Try
- Now
I'm a working stiff. I just happened to be around at the right time, and nobody else wanted the job.

Harry Bridges
- Time
- Job
- Working
No man has ever been born a Negro hater, a Jew hater, or any other kind of hater. Nature refuses to be involved in such suicidal practices.

Harry Bridges
- Man
- Born
- Negro
I would have worked with the devil himself if he'd been for the six hour day and worker control of the hiring hall.

Harry Bridges
- Control
- Devil
- Worked

Labor cannot stand still. It must not retreat. It must go on, or go under.

Harry Bridges
- Stand
- Labor
- Still
The most important word in the language of the working class is "solidarity."

Harry Bridges
- Important
- Language
- Word
Finally, it was about how people treat one another. It was about human dignity. We forced the employers to treat us as equals, to sit down and talk to us about the work we do, how we do it, and what we get paid for it. And I believe that the principles for which we fought in 1934 are still true and still useful. Whether your job is pushing a four-wheeler, or programming a computer, I don't know of any way for working people to win basic economic justice and dignity except by being organized into a solid, democratic union.

Harry Bridges