SEATTLE, WASH--Harry Bridges, the renowned left-wing labor leader, yesterday retired from the presidency of the International Longshoremen and Warehousemen's Union after 43 years in the post.

Bridges began his career as a leader of the 1934 San Francisco general strike which first won recognition for the longshoremen's union.

A representative of the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents the shipping industry, said yesterday that Bridges had taught the companies to think of workers as human beings. He said Bridges was responsible for the transformation of a "once terrible industry."

In 1934, the companies who today paid tribute to Bridges, used extraordinary measures to break the longshoremen's strike, enlisting the aid of National Guardsmen who killed and wounded scores of workers.