Seattle General Strike

Last updated
Seattle General Strike
Part of the First Red Scare
Seattle General Strike.jpg
Union Record Monday, February 3, 1919
DateFebruary 6–11, 1919
Location
Seattle, Washington
Caused by
Goals
  • Pay increases
Resulted in
  • Arrests of strikers, charges later dropped
  • Foundation of several cooperatives after, including a cooperative bank [2]
  • Build up of the First Red Scare

The Seattle General Strike was a five-day general work stoppage by 65,000 workers in the city of Seattle, Washington from February 6 to 11, 1919. The goal was to support shipyard workers in several unions who were locked out of their jobs when they tried to strike for higher wages. Most other local unions joined the walk-out, including members of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The national offices of the AFL unions were opposed to the shutdown. Local, state and federal government officials, the press, and much of the public viewed the strike as a radical attempt to subvert American institutions.

Contents

The strike's demand for higher wages came within months of the end of World War I, the original justification for the wage controls. From 1915 to 1918, Seattle had seen a big increase in union membership, and some union leaders were inspired by the Russian Revolution of 1917. Some commentators blamed the strike on Bolsheviks and other radicals inspired by "un-American" ideologies, making it the first expression of the anti-left sentiment that characterized the Red Scare of 1919 and 1920. [3]

Background

In these years, more workers in the city were organized in unions than ever before. There was a 400 percent increase in union membership from 1915 to 1918. At the time, workers in the United States, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, were becoming increasingly radicalized, with many in the rank and file supportive of the recent revolution in Russia and working toward a similar revolution in the United States. In the fall of 1919, for instance, Seattle longshoremen refused to load arms destined for the anti-Bolshevik White Army in Russia and attacked those who attempted to load them. [4]

The arrival of the Russian steamship Shilka in Seattle on December 24, 1917 added to the thought of Bolshevik involvement. The ship had been damaged and thrown off course in a storm and limped its way into the port almost out of fuel, food and fresh water. The U.S. Attorney in Seattle was tipped off by an "informant" that the ship was coming and it was going to "aid the enemy." [5] The enemy at this time would have been the labor parties threatening a strike. Many believed that its arrival signified a Bolshevik connection with the labor unrest in Seattle. A lot of rumors came about because of this ship's arrival. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer ran a front-page article about an I.W.W. ship being held that contained over a hundred thousand dollars to help I.W.W. members get out of jail. [6]  This article proved to be false as the search of the vessel by local law enforcement turned up nothing of significance. A first-hand account of a sailor aboard the ship claimed that there was no evidence found on board because the only contentious material was some flyers in a briefcase that were carried off of the ship upon its arrival. [7]  Another passenger that arrived with the ship was arrested for taking part in labor talks with one of the unions in the area. [8] Although there was never any concrete evidence connecting the Shilka to the labor parties of Seattle, there was enough to show that the labor parties at the least had the support of Bolshevik Russia. There was a lot of fear of the Bolsheviks because it was known that they had been hoping for a revolution in the Western world in order to support Russia by pooling resources. [9]

Most unions in Seattle were officially affiliated with the AFL, but the ideas of ordinary workers tended to be more radical than their leaders. A local labor leader from the time discussed the politics of Seattle's workers in June 1919: [10]

I believe that 95 percent of us agree that the workers should control the industries. Nearly all of us agree on that but very strenuously disagree on the method. Some of us think we can get control through the Cooperative movement, some of us think through political action, and others think through industrial action.

Another journalist described the spread of propaganda relating to the Russian Revolution: [10]

For some time these pamphlets were seen by hundreds on Seattle's streetcars and ferries, read by men of the shipyards on their way to work. Seattle's businessmen commented on the phenomenon sourly; it was plain to everyone that these workers were conscientiously and energetically studying how to organize their coming to power. Already, workers in Seattle talked about "workers' power" as a practical policy for the not far distant future.

Strike

Seattle shipyard workers leave the shipyard after going on strike, 1919. Seattle General Strike 1919 Participants Leaving Shipyard.png
Seattle shipyard workers leave the shipyard after going on strike, 1919.

A few weeks after the November 1918 armistice ended World War I, unions in Seattle's shipbuilding industry demanded a pay increase for unskilled workers. They formed the Seattle Metal Trades Council, made up of delegates from twenty-one different craft unions; there were seventeen at the time of the first strike vote. At the time of the General Strike, these separate unions no longer made separate agreements with the yard-owners; a single blanket-agreement was made at intervals by the Metal Trades Council for all the crafts comprising it. In August 1917, the workers had succeeded in establishing a uniform wage scale for one third of the metal tradesmen working in the city. [11] At the time of the general strike, James Taylor was president of the Council. [12]

In an attempt to divide the ranks of the union, the yard owners responded by offering a pay increase only to skilled workers. The union rejected that offer and Seattle's 35,000 shipyard workers went on strike on January 21, 1919. [13]

Controversy erupted when Charles Piez, head of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC), an enterprise created by the federal government as a wartime measure and the largest employer in the industry, sent a telegram to the yard owners threatening to withdraw their contracts if any increase in wages were granted. The message intended for the Metal Trades Association, the owners, was accidentally delivered to the Metal Trades Council, the union. The shipyard workers responded with anger directed at both their employers and the federal government which, through the EFC, seemed to be siding with corporate interests. [13]

The workers immediately appealed to the Seattle Central Labor Council for a general strike of all workers in Seattle. Members of various unions were polled, with almost unanimous support in favor–even among traditionally conservative unions. As many as 110 locals officially supported the call for a general strike to begin on February 6, 1919, at 10:00 am. [14] Among the strikers were war veterans who wore their uniforms as they went on strike. [15] : 86–87 

Life during the strike

The strike committee set up soup kitchens and distributed as many as 30,000 meals each day. In the photo, a woman serves a plate of food to a striking worker. Serving Food Seattle Strike 1919.png
The strike committee set up soup kitchens and distributed as many as 30,000 meals each day. In the photo, a woman serves a plate of food to a striking worker.

A cooperative body made up of rank and file workers from all the striking locals were formed during the strike, called the General Strike Committee. It acted as a "virtual counter-government for the city." [16] The committee organized to provide essential services for the people of Seattle during the work stoppage. For instance, garbage that would create a health hazard was collected, laundry workers continued to handle hospital laundry, and firemen remained on duty. Exemptions to the stoppage of labor had to be passed by the Strike Committee, and authorized vehicles bore signs to that effect. [14] [16] In general, work was not halted if doing so would endanger lives. [16]

In other cases, workers acted on their own initiative to create new institutions. Milk wagon drivers, after being denied the right by their employers to keep certain dairies open, established a distribution system of 35 neighborhood milk stations. A system of food distribution was also established, which throughout the strike committee distributed as many as 30,000 meals each day. Strikers paid twenty-five cents per meal, and the general public paid thirty-five cents. Beef stew, spaghetti, bread, and coffee were offered on an all-you-can-eat basis. [14]

Army veterans created an alternative to the police in order to maintain order. A group called the "Labor War Veteran's Guard" forbade the use of force and did not carry weapons, and used "persuasion only." [14] Peacekeeping proved unnecessary. The regular police forces made no arrests in actions related to the strike, and general arrests dropped to less than half their normal number. Major General John F. Morrison, stationed in Seattle, claimed that he had never seen "a city so quiet and orderly." [14] The methods of organization adopted by the striking workers bore resemblance to anarcho-syndicalism, perhaps reflecting the influence of the Industrial Workers of the World in the Pacific Northwest,[ citation needed ] though only a few striking locals were officially affiliated with the IWW. [14]

Radical visions

The pamphlet entitled "Russia Did It." Russia Did It.jpg
The pamphlet entitled "Russia Did It."

Revolutionary pamphlets littered the streets of the city. One called "Russia Did It" proclaimed: "The Russians have shown you the way out. What are you going to do about it? You are doomed to wage slavery till you die unless you wake up, realize that you and the boss have nothing in common, that the employing class must be overthrown, and that you, the workers, must take over the control of your jobs, and through them, the control over your lives instead of offering yourself up to the masters as a sacrifice six days a week, so that they may coin profits out of your sweat and toil." [17]

In an editorial in the Seattle Union Record , a union newspaper, pro-Soviet activist Anna Louise Strong, although not a union member tried to use the general strike's power and potential to have the workers seize the industries of Seattle: [18] [19]

The closing down of Seattle's industries, as a MERE SHUTDOWN, will not affect these eastern gentlemen much. They could let the whole northwest go to pieces, as far as money alone is concerned.

But, the closing down of the capitalistically controlled industries of Seattle, while the workers organize to feed the people, to care for the babies and the sick, to preserve order –this will move them, for this looks too much like the taking over of power by the workers.

Labor will not only Shut Down the industries, but Labor will reopen, under the management of the appropriate trades, such activities as are needed to preserve public health and public peace. If the strike continues, Labor may feel led to avoid public suffering by reopening more and more activities.

UNDER ITS OWN MANAGEMENT.

And that is why we say that we are starting on a road that leads – no one knows where!

Newspapers across the country reprinted excerpts from Strong's editorial. [20]

End of the general strike

Police setting up a mounted machine gun during the strike. Seattle General Strike 1919 Police setting up mounted machine gun.png
Police setting up a mounted machine gun during the strike.

Three simultaneous movements brought the strike to an end: Mayor Ole Hanson increased the police and military forces available to enforce order, though there was no disorder, and possibly to take the place of striking workers. Union officials, especially those more senior and those at higher levels of the labor movement, feared that using the general strike as a tactic would fail and set back their organizing efforts. Union members, perhaps seeing the strength of the forces arrayed against them, perhaps mindful of their union leaders concerns began to go back to work.[ citation needed ] The General Strike Committee attributed the end of the strike to pressure from international union officers and the difficulty of continuing to live in the shut-down city. [21]

Mayor Hanson had federal troops available and stationed 950 sailors and marines across the city by February 7. He added 600 men to the police force and hired 2,400 special deputies, students from the University of Washington for the most part. [15] : 87  On February 7, Mayor Hanson threatened to use 1,500 police and 1,500 troops to replace striking workers the next day, but the strikers assumed this was an empty threat and were proved correct. [22] The Mayor continued his rhetorical attack on February 9, saying that the "sympathetic strike was called in the exact manner as was the revolution in Petrograd." [23] Mayor Hanson told reporters that "any man who attempts to take over the control of the municipal government functions will be shot." [24]

The mayor's newly hired deputies receive their weapons. Seattle General Strike 1919 Deputies receiving weapons.png
The mayor's newly hired deputies receive their weapons.

The international offices of some of the unions and the national leadership of the AFL began to exert pressure on the General Strike Committee and individual unions to end the strike. [25] Some locals gave in to this pressure and returned to work. The executive committee of the General Strike Committee, pressured by the AFL and international labor organizations, proposed ending the general strike at midnight on February 8, but their recommendation was voted down by the General Strike Committee. [25] On February 8, some streetcar operators returned to work and restored some critical city transportation services. Seattle's main department store reopened as well. [26] Then teamsters and newsboys returned to work. [27] On February 10, the General Strike Committee voted to end the general strike on February 11 and by noon on that day it was over. [28] It stated its reasons: "Pressure from international officers of unions, from executive committees of unions, from the 'leaders' in the labor movement, even from those very leaders who are still called 'Bolsheviki' by the undiscriminating press. And, added to all these, the pressure upon the workers themselves, not of the loss of their own jobs, but of living in a city so tightly closed." [29] : 35  [30]

The city had been effectively paralyzed for five days, but the general strike collapsed as labor reconsidered its effectiveness under pressure from senior labor leaders and their own obvious failure to match the Mayor's propaganda in the war for public opinion.[ citation needed ] The shipyard strike, in support of which the general strike had been called, persisted. [31]

Aftermath

Newspaper caption, "How the Great Seattle Strike was broken - Our photo shows machine gun crews ready to fire upon the strikers. Police, soldiers and armed civilians were used by Mayor Hanson" Armed response to Great Seattle Strike 1919.jpg
Newspaper caption, "How the Great Seattle Strike was broken - Our photo shows machine gun crews ready to fire upon the strikers. Police, soldiers and armed civilians were used by Mayor Hanson"
Hanson, July 1, 1919 Seattle Mayor Ole Hanson 1919.jpg
Hanson, July 1, 1919

Immediately following the general strike's end, thirty-nine IWW members were arrested as "ringleaders of anarchy". [32]

Seattle Mayor Ole Hanson took credit for ending the strike and was hailed by some of the press. He resigned a few months later and toured the country giving lectures on the dangers of "domestic Bolshevism." He earned $38,000 in seven months, five times his annual salary as mayor. [33] He agreed that the general strike was a revolutionary event. In his view, the fact that it was peaceful proved its revolutionary nature and intent. He wrote: [17] [32]

The so-called sympathetic Seattle strike was an attempted revolution. That there was no violence does not alter the fact... The intent, openly and covertly announced, was for the overthrow of the industrial system; here first, then everywhere... True, there were no flashing guns, no bombs, no killings. Revolution, I repeat, doesn't need violence. The general strike, as practised in Seattle, is of itself the weapon of revolution, all the more dangerous because quiet. To succeed, it must suspend everything; stop the entire life stream of a community... That is to say, it puts the government out of operation. And that is all there is to revolt—no matter how achieved.

Between the strike's announcement and beginning, on February 4, the U.S. Senate voted to expand the work of its Overman Judiciary Subcommittee from investigating German spies to Bolshevik propaganda. The Committee launched a month of hearings on February 11, the day the strike collapsed. Its sensational report detailed Bolshevik atrocities and the threat of domestic agitators bent on revolution and the abolition of private property. The labor radicalism represented by the Seattle General Strike fit neatly into its conception of the threat American institutions faced. [34]

See also

The 'Wobblies' (IWW) joined the general strike and advocated for One Big Union. The hand that will rule the world.jpg
The 'Wobblies' (IWW) joined the general strike and advocated for One Big Union.

Notes

  1. ↑ History Committee of the General Strike Committee (1919). The Seattle General Strike: An account of what happened in Seattle, and especially in the Seattle labor movement during the General Strike, February 6 to 11, 1919. Seattle: The Seattle Union Record, Publishing Co., Inc. hdl:2027/hvd.32044011842598.
  2. ↑ Winslow, Cal (2020). Radical Seattle: The General Strike of 1919. Monthly Review Press. p. 252. ISBN   978-1583678527.
  3. ↑ Murray, Robert K. (1955). Red Scare: A Study in National Hysteria, 1919–1920. U of Minnesota Press. p. 58. ISBN   9780816658336.
  4. ↑ History Committee of the General Strike Committee, accessed June 6, 2011
  5. ↑ Spence, Richard B. (2017-04-03). "The Voyage of the Shilka : The Bolshevik Revolution Comes To Seattle, 1917". American Communist History. 16 (1–2): 88–101. doi:10.1080/14743892.2017.1330106. ISSN   1474-3892. S2CID   159539922.
  6. ↑ "Charles Pierce Lewarne. Utopias on Puget Sound, 1885–1915. Seattle: University of Washington Press. 1975. pp. xiv, 325. $12.50". The American Historical Review. October 1976. doi:10.1086/ahr/81.4.985-a. ISSN   1937-5239.
  7. ↑ Mason Daniel; Smith, Jessica, eds. (1970). Lenin's impact on the United States. N.W.R. Publications. OCLC   92937.
  8. ↑ Magden, Ronald. “The Radical Era.” A History of Seattle Waterfront Workers, 1884–1934. 1st ed. Seattle, Wash.: International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union 19 of Seattle, the Washington Commission for the Humanities, 1991.
  9. ↑ Cole, G. D. H. (October 1952). "The Bolshevik Revolution". Soviet Studies. 4 (2): 139–151. doi:10.1080/09668135208409848. ISSN   0038-5859.
  10. 1 2 Brecher, 120
  11. ↑ History Committee 1919, p. 8.
  12. ↑ History Committee 1919, p. 11.
  13. 1 2 Foner, 65
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Zinn, 368–369
  15. 1 2 Hagedorn, Ann (2007). Savage Peace: Hope and Fear in America, 1919 . New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN   978-0-7432-4372-8.
  16. 1 2 3 Brecher, 122
  17. 1 2 Brecher, 126
  18. ↑ Brecher, 124–125
  19. ↑ "No One Knows Where" in The Seattle Union Record, February 4, 1919, p. 1; online
  20. ↑ Hagedorn, 87
  21. ↑ Zinn, 369–370
  22. ↑ Foner, 73–74
  23. ↑ Foner, 73
  24. ↑ Sobel, Robert. Coolidge: An American Enigma. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, Inc. p. 124.
  25. 1 2 Foner, 75
  26. ↑ Foner, 74
  27. ↑ Foner, 76
  28. ↑ Foner, 75–76
  29. ↑ History Committee of the General Strike Committee (1919). The Seattle General Strike: An account of what happened in Seattle, and especially in the Seattle labor movement during the General Strike, February 6 to 11, 1919. Seattle: The Seattle Union Record, Publishing Co., Inc. hdl:2027/hvd.32044011842598.
  30. ↑ Brecher, Jeremy (2014). Strike!. PM Press. p. 112. ISBN   9781604869071.
  31. ↑ "Shipyard Strike May Be Long One" . Retrieved January 15, 2016– via University of Washington Seattle General Strike Project.
  32. 1 2 Zinn, 370–371
  33. ↑ Murray, 65–66; Hagedorn, 180
  34. ↑ Hagedorn 59, 147–148; Murray, 94–98

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Syndicalism</span> Form of revolutionary organisation

Syndicalism is a revolutionary current within the labor movement that, through industrial unionism, seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes, with the eventual goal of gaining control over the means of production and the economy at large through social ownership. Developed in French labor unions during the late 19th century, syndicalist movements were most predominant amongst the socialist movement during the interwar period that preceded the outbreak of World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Industrial Workers of the World</span> International labor union

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with industrial unionism, as it is a general union, subdivided between the various industries which employ its members. The philosophy and tactics of the IWW are described as "revolutionary industrial unionism", with ties to socialist, syndicalist, and anarchist labor movements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Haywood</span> Labor organizer (1869–1928)

William Dudley Haywood, nicknamed "Big Bill", was an American labor organizer and founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and a member of the executive committee of the Socialist Party of America. During the first two decades of the 20th century, Haywood was involved in several important labor battles, including the Colorado Labor Wars, the Lawrence Textile Strike, and other textile strikes in Massachusetts and New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">One Big Union (concept)</span> Merger of all labor unions

The One Big Union is an idea originating in the late 19th and early 20th centuries amongst trade unionists to unite the interests of workers and offer solutions to all labour problems.

The International Workers' Association – Asociación Internacional de los Trabajadores (IWA–AIT) is an international federation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions and initiatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Red Scare</span> Early 20th-century American historical event

The first Red Scare was a period during the early 20th-century history of the United States marked by a widespread fear of far-left movements, including Bolshevism and anarchism, due to real and imagined events; real events included the Russian 1917 October Revolution and anarchist bombings in the U.S. At its height in 1919–1920, concerns over the effects of radical political agitation in American society and the alleged spread of socialism, communism, and anarchism in the American labor movement fueled a general sense of concern.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Centralia massacre (Washington)</span> United States historic place

The Centralia Tragedy, also known as the Centralia Conspiracy and the Armistice Day Riot, was a violent and bloody incident that occurred in Centralia, Washington, on November 11, 1919, during a parade celebrating the first anniversary of Armistice Day. The conflict between the American Legion and Industrial Workers of the World members resulted in six deaths, others being wounded, multiple prison terms, and an ongoing and especially bitter dispute over the motivations and events that precipitated the event. Both Centralia and the neighboring town of Chehalis had a large number of World War I veterans, with robust chapters of the Legion and many IWW members, some of whom were also war veterans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston police strike</span> 1919 labor unrest in Massachusetts, US

The Boston police strike occurred on September 9, 1919, when Boston police officers went on strike seeking recognition for their trade union and improvements in wages and working conditions. Police Commissioner Edwin Upton Curtis denied that police officers had any right to form a union, much less one affiliated with a larger organization like the American Federation of Labor (AFL), which some attribute to concerns that unionized police would not protect the interest of city officials and business leaders. Attempts at reconciliation between the Commissioner and the police officers, particularly on the part of Boston's Mayor Andrew James Peters, failed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Profintern</span> International labor union confederation

The Red International of Labor Unions, commonly known as the Profintern, was an international body established by the Communist International (Comintern) with the aim of coordinating communist activities within trade unions. Formally established in 1921, the Profintern aimed to act as a counterweight to the influence of the so-called "Amsterdam International", the social-democratic International Federation of Trade Unions, an organization which the Comintern branded as "class-collaborationist" and as an impediment to revolution. After entering a period of decline in the middle 1930s, the Profintern was finally dissolved in 1937 with the advent of Comintern's "Popular Front" policy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph James Ettor</span> American labor leader

Joseph James "Smiling Joe" Ettor (1885–1948) was an Italian-American trade union organizer who, in the middle-1910s, was one of the leading public faces of the Industrial Workers of the World. Ettor is best remembered as a defendant in a controversial trial related to a killing in the seminal Lawrence Textile Strike of 1912, in which he was acquitted of charges of having been an accessory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ole Hanson</span> American politician

Ole Thorsteinsson Hanson was an American politician who served as mayor of Seattle, Washington, from 1918 to 1919. Hanson became a national figure promoting law and order when he took a hardline position during the 1919 Seattle General Strike. He then resigned as mayor, wrote a book, and toured the lecture circuit, earning tens of thousands of dollars in honoraria lecturing to conservative civic groups about his experiences and views, promoting opposition to labor unions and Bolshevism. Hanson later left Washington and founded the city of San Clemente, California, in 1925.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Industrial Workers of the World philosophy and tactics</span>

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is a union of wage workers which was formed in Chicago in 1905 by militant unionists and their supporters due to anger over the conservatism, philosophy, and craft-based structure of the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Throughout the early part of the 20th century, the philosophy and tactics of the IWW were frequently in direct conflict with those of the AFL concerning the best ways to organize workers, and how to best improve the society in which they toiled. The AFL had one guiding principle—"pure and simple trade unionism", often summarized with the slogan "a fair day's pay for a fair day's work." The IWW embraced two guiding principles, fighting like the AFL for better wages, hours, and conditions, but also promoting an eventual, permanent solution to the problems of strikes, injunctions, bull pens, and union scabbing.

<i>Dangerous Hours</i> 1919 film

Dangerous Hours is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by Fred Niblo. Prints of the film survive in the UCLA Film and Television Archive. It premiered in February 1920.

The Agricultural Workers Organization (AWO), later known as the Agricultural Workers Industrial Union, was an organization of farm workers throughout the United States and Canada formed on April 15, 1915, in Kansas City. It was supported by, and a subsidiary organization of, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Although the IWW had advocated the abolition of the wage system as an ultimate goal since its own formation ten years earlier, the AWO's founding convention sought rather to address immediate needs, and championed a ten-hour work day, premium pay for overtime, a minimum wage, good food and bedding for workers. In 1917 the organization changed names to the Agricultural Workers Industrial Union (AWIU) as part of a broader reorganization of IWW industrial unions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Ault</span>

Erwin Bratton "Harry" Ault (1883–1961) was an American socialist and trade union activist. He is best remembered as the editor of the Seattle Union Record, the long-running labor weekly published from 1912 to 1928. After termination of the Union Record, Ault worked as a commercial printer for a number of years, before being appointed a deputy U.S. Marshal for Tacoma, Washington, a position which he retained for 15 years.

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is a union of wage workers which was formed in Chicago in 1905. The IWW experienced a number of divisions and splits during its early history.

A general strike is a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coalitions of political, social, and labour organizations and may also include rallies, marches, boycotts, civil disobedience, non-payment of taxes, and other forms of direct or indirect action. Additionally, general strikes might exclude care workers, such as teachers, doctors, and nurses.

The 1913 Studebaker strike was a labor strike involving workers for the American car manufacturer Studebaker in Detroit. The six-day June 1913 strike, organized by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), is considered the first major labor strike in the automotive industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States strike wave of 1919</span>

The United States strike wave of 1919 was a succession of extensive labor strikes following World War I that unfolded across various American industries, involving more than four million American workers. This significant post-war labor mobilization marked a critical juncture in the nation's industrial landscape, with widespread strikes reflecting the heightened socioeconomic tensions and the burgeoning demand for improved working conditions and fair labor practices.

The 1916 West Coast waterfront strike was the first coast-wide strike of longshore workers on the Pacific Coast of the United States. The strike was a major defeat for the International Longshoremen's Association, and its membership declined significantly over the next decade. Employers won control over hiring halls and started a campaign to drive out the union's remaining presence.

References

Further reading

Archives

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.