Thread by @tiptransformed

Ok, since the general topic is coming up, let's talk a little about the Seattle General Strike of 1919. (Quick note: I am not an expert in this period; this is based solely on reading some secondary sources. This is also gonna be a more general thread, no big details.) 1/n

So, 1919. Nearly two years after WWI ended, and after war related wage freezes were supposed to end. No surprise, they didn't, all over the country. Seattle was a hotbed of unionism, with various factions all competing for various industries. 2/n

Ground zero for the problems was the Seattle shipyards. To be brief, the owners tried to divide and conquer and failed--the workers went on strike. At this point, the federal government (which had an interest in shipbuilding!) stepped in and demanded no wage hikes for workers.3/n

This is when the Seattle Labor Council stepped in. (Told ya it was a hotbed of unionism), and a majority of union members (of all unions!) called for a general strike in support of the dock workers. This would be the first general strike in US history! 4/n

So they formed a General Strike Committee--again, the were kind of making this up as they went along. One thing the committee attempted to do was try to win over the general citizenry. They assured people that not all workers would be off jobs-- 5/n

Necessary work for the life of the city would continue. (The thing that made the biggest impression on my memory is that some streetcar service would still run, for example.) 6/n

This actually had the effect of at least not alienating everyone, even as the city gvt and newspapers railed against the "Bolshevik" strike. I think this is the first important lesson of the Seattle strike: don't bring everything to a standstill. Keep the public on your side. 7/n

The general public actually supported the striking unions. And everything seemed to be going well. But then the committee hit a snag. Summarizing (BIG TIME), the various unions hadn't agreed fully on a unified set of demands. Remember, never been done before. 8/n

And this is where things started falling apart, because they still didn't agree. I'm not getting into any details here (personalities entered into this), but after 5 days, the strike fell apart under both external *and* internal pressure. Arrests happened. 9/n

The only one to win big from the strike, really, was Seattle's mayor at the time, who went on speaking tours, etc., as a "Strikebuster." He made a bunch of money. (There's a lot of good that can be said of Mayor Hansen's effect on the city....and a LOT of bad.) 10/n

So, what lessons can we take from this for any kind of National general strike? In my opinion, the biggest one is: HAVE A PLAN BEFORE YOU START. If we're going to call for a strike, we should figure out our demands before the thing begins, not once it's already underway. 11/n

The second lesson is something Seattle did right: Keep necessary services going. Hospitals, some public transportation, etc. Third: Have a way to counteract police presence that is effective, not necessarily confrontational. (Seattle had Army vets patrolling the streets.) 12/n

All of this will help keep the general public on our side, rather than angry. A final point that I didn't touch on: the Seattle strike was incredibly racist in nature. This was a time of heavy anti-Chinese discrimination, and some of the unions were terrified of Chinese labor13/n

But some weren't, which caused additional tension in the strike committee. Whatever any general strike makeup is, IT MUST BE INTERSECTIONAL or it will not work. Period. 14/n

It's also worth noting that the strike went on for 5 days, and achieved little of immediate substance. (It had wide-reaching long term effects, but that's not what we're talking about.) Any general strike must be prepared for the possibility that it will take longer... 15/n

...than a single day to achieve its goals, and that it needs to keep public support during that time. (See above.)

There are reasons it's incredibly hard to have a nation-wide General Strike, especially in the US. The issues can be overcome, but it's going to take... 16/17

A lot of work and planning to do it. It's really easy to call for a General Strike. (And I agree that it might be necessary!) But it's hard as heck to pull one off! I encourage everyone to read about the Seattle strike (and the race riots) and learn from it! 17/17