On a chilly day some 100 years ago, 35,000 Seattle dock workers walked out in an action that would lead to the first general strike (a strike of all workers in an area) anywhere in the United States.
Inspired by the Russian revolution and a wave of post-war rebellions around the world, workers across Seattle would completely shut down the city for five days in February of 1919 in solidarity with the dockworkers. It was more than a protest. Over five days, working people in Seattle ran the city democratically based on human needs, rather than for profit.
During World War I, workers were faced with wage freezes in the name of doing their patriotic duty for the war. When the war officially ended in November 1918, workers wanted their promised pay increases. What they found instead were bosses who went on an “open shop” offensive, which finds its echo today in the “right to work” offensive. Both of these policies aim to break union rights, which results in lower living standards for all.
When dockworkers demanded pay increases for all, employers responded by offering increases only for the better paying jobs. This is a classic divide-and-rule tactic which has echoes throughout history, but workers, fed up with stagnating wages, weren’t having it.
Over the course of the war, with the need to build and transport massive amounts of military equipment and supplies, labor unions had flourished. In 1915, Seattle had 15,000 workers organized in unions.
By 1919, that number had more than quadrupled. The striking dockworkers appealed to the Seattle Labor Council for some 60,000 unionized workers across the city to join their struggle.
The general strike call won the support of a large majority in every union and a general strike was set for February 6, sponsored by 110 unions. Workers were influenced by the ideas of the Socialist Party and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) who believed that “an injury to one is an injury to all.” Their organizing strategy was to stand together across job lines, racial lines, and all other dividing lines for maximum unity.
The IWW approach of organizing workers into “one big union,” rather than being split up into separate craft unions based on their skills. This was a major step forward for labor from the American Federation of Labor approach, which was based on organizing workers into separate craft unions — often only the better-paid White male workers.
At 10 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 6, the strike began as tens of thousands of workers walked out on their jobs, joined by over 40,000 unorganized workers. Each of the 110 participating unions elected three members to make up a General Strike Committee (GSC) which would be the main decision-making body during the strike.
Industrial silence washed over the city. Over the course of the general strike, any necessary jobs to be performed had to be approved by the GSC. For the first time, the city’s economic activity only continued with the approval of representatives of workers.
The GSC approved necessary deliveries, as well as light, heat, and repair jobs. The firemen were exempt and allowed to stay on duty. Pharmacists could only dole out needed medical prescriptions, but would not sell anything else. Garbage collectors collected any trash that would rot or otherwise cause disease. Twenty-one strike kitchens were set up around Seattle, feeding meals to over 30,000 people each day.
Each task approved by the GSC was left to the various workers’ unions to implement.
The milk-delivery workers, for instance, developed an ingenious system. When the bosses locked up the milk storage with armed guards, the workers began picking up milk from local farmers around Seattle. They set up 35 milk delivery stations where they delivered 3,000 gallons of milk per day to families who needed it.
Seattle Mayor Ole Hanson claimed to be organizing extra police, armed with rifles and shotguns, to keep the water and power running and to ensure business could go on as usual.
In truth, the GSC ran the city during the general strike, including the water and powers. The mayor and other power-brokers were regular attendees at the GSC asking for various exemptions to the strike.
Mayor Hanson continually tried to call off the general strike. On Friday morning, the mayor issued a proclamation for the strike to end by noon. Noon came and went, and the strike soldiered on. Then he issued a second proclamation for the strike to end by Saturday morning, to no avail.
Not eager to give policemen or soldiers any excuse that could be construed as ‘disorder,’ the striking workers created their own company of peacekeepers called the Labor War Veterans Guard. This was, in a sense, a police force for labor but in an important sense it was nothing like the police. Written on a board in their office was this mission statement:
‘The purpose of this organization is to preserve law and order without use of force. No volunteer will have any police power or be allowed to carry weapons of any sort, but to use persuasion only.”
This is was a dramatic break from traditional policing, but Army commander John F. Morrison admitted to striking workers that in forty years of military experience he had never seen so quiet and orderly a city, according to historian Howard Zinn.
Four days into the strike, the Seattle Times reported that General Morrison’s detachment of troops had been instructed to intervene.
With the Army ready to invade, and no plan for how to defend the city or spread the general strike throughout the country, on day six it was decided to end the strike in an organized retreat. This was a defeat, as the shipyard bosses had not yet met the demands of the dockworkers.
Seattle workers had given a small glimpse of what a workers’ government could look like, and what it could deliver.
Not a single local union deserted the General Strike as a result a membership vote. In fact, it was just the opposite. Despite demands from certain union leaders, the rank-and-file workers said they would be ready to come back out on strike if requested by the GSC.
Despite the decline of unions, strikes still have great power today. Powerful educator strikes are winning better schools in states across the United States.
Strikes can be used to fight sexism and racism. Recent examples include the “Strike 4 Repeal” in Dublin, Ireland for the right to abortion, and the walkouts by Google employees against workplace harassment.
In 2006, a conservative effort to make undocumented immigrants felons was defeated by the “Day Without An Immigrant” mass mobilization, when millions of immigrant workers and families walked off the job.
Today we face Donald Trump and the billionaire class.
A century later, the remarkable Seattle General Strike still shows us that a better world is possible — if we fight for it.
Whitney Kahn is a public school educator and union representative with the Seattle Education Association, a member of Democratic Socialists of America, and a member of Reform and Revolution.
Read the full Feb. 13 - 19 issue.
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