•  The problems these workers faced and the solutions they saw.
• Why they believed a union hiring hall would solve some of their problems.
•  The importance of coast-wide solidarity.
•  The importance of building coalitions with community groups.
•  The importance of mobilizing rank-and-file members.
•  Being able to withhold labor (strike) as a factor in workers' strength.

When the PNLHA toured, we were joined by Marvin Ricks, a longshoreman jailed during the 1934 strike. Marvin was a fount of information and anecdotes. A video of his talk at the site may be available.

A background source for the strke in Portland is the chapter in William Bigelow and Norman Diamond, The Power In Our Hands, Monthly Review Press, New York, 1988. Possible activities at the site will vary depending on whether students have gone through the lesson in that book. One activity that has worked well is to divide students into two groups, one representing longshore strikers, the other the unemployed workers’ councils of that time. The groups meet separately on opposite sides of the street. Their objective is to negotiate an understanding such that the unemployed workers will not cross the strikers’ picket lines and take their jobs. What kind of solidarity and,perhaps, benefits, do the longshoremen have to offer the unemployed to turn them into allies? The groups caucus for ten minutes, then designate three delegates to cross the street and negotiate with the other side. If the delegates reach an agreement, the groups meet in a large plenary session to ratify or reject it. Especially if they’re unable to reach agreement (which has never happened so far), tell them what did happen historically. A more detailed lesson plan is in chapter 13 of The Power In Our Hands.