The Seattle General Strike

In February 1919, the walkout of 100,000 people brought the city of Seattle to a screeching halt. It began with 35,000 shipyard workers striking for a wage increase. They appealed for support to the Seattle Central Labor Council, which recommended a citywide strike and on February 6, 1919, at 10:00 AM, the strike began. This caused everything in the city to stop functioning, except for activities organized by the strikes to provide essential needs.  Firemen agreed to stay on the job. Laundry workers handled only hospital laundry, etc. During the strike the Seattle Union Record wrote a poem-

What scares them most is
That NOTHING HAPPENS! They are ready
For DISTURBANCES. They have machine guns
And soldiers, But this SMILING SILENCE
Is uncanny. The business men
Don't understand
That sort of weapon . . .
It is your SMILE
That is UPSETTING
Their reliance
On Artillery, brother!
It is the garbage wagons
That go along the street
Marked ``EXEMPT by STRIKE COMMITTEE.''
It is the milk stations
That are getting better daily,
And the three hundred WAR Veterans of Labor
Handling the crowds WITHOUT GUNS,
For these things speak Of a NEW POWER
And a NEW WORLD
That they do not feel At HOME in.

After five days, the strike ended because of pressure from the international officers of the various unions as well as the difficulty of living in a shutdown city. Although the strike itself was peaceful, the reaction to it was not. After it was over there were raids and arrests. Thirty-nine members of the IWW were jailed as "ringleaders of anarchy". In addition, Frank Everett, an IWW member was first tortured, hung and then riddled with bullets.
The Mayor of Seattle stated the reason why such a reaction to the strike was necessary because, "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 practiced 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."

-Greg Ryslik

Sources

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