(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
A General Strike? Why This is a HUGE Organizational Undertaking [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-03-16
There is a political theory that it takes 3.5% of the population in order to change an autocratic government — even in the modern era. Whether that is through nonviolent protest or through a general strike there is safety in numbers.
In each case, civil resistance by ordinary members of the public trumped the political elite to achieve radical change. There are, of course, many ethical reasons to use nonviolent strategies. But compelling research by Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist at Harvard University, confirms that civil disobedience is not only the moral choice; it is also the most powerful way of shaping world politics – by a long way. Looking at hundreds of campaigns over the last century, Chenoweth found that nonviolent campaigns are twice as likely to achieve their goals as violent campaigns. And although the exact dynamics will depend on many factors, she has shown it takes around 3.5% of the population actively participating in the protests to ensure serious political change.
Before you get all excited, this would involve nearly 12 million people in the United States. Is it even possible to get that many people to agree to take such a radical action? Why does it seem that these larger strikes happen in other countries but never here in the United States?
It’s time to explore general strikes below the fold.
What is a general strike?
A strike is the option of last resort if you remain nonviolent.
First, it helps to have a general background on what a strike is:
There are plenty of variations as listed in the Wikipedia article. One of them is the general strike.
A general strike is a labor action in which a significant amount of workers from a number of different industries who comprise a majority of the total labor force within a particular city, region, or country come together to take collective action. Organized strikes are generally called by labor union leadership, but they impact more than just those in the union.
In the United States, general strikes are technically illegal thanks to the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947.
The Taft-Hartley Act was in response to the largest strike wave that the United States has ever seen. It is estimated that between 4 million and 5 million individuals participated in a strike in the years 1945-46. Strikes have seen declining participation ever since — except for a small boom in striking actions during Trump 1.0.
A New Hope: How Strikes Can Succeed
The Red for Ed movement was wildly successful in 2018-19. Striking actions can still work!
For a strike to succeed, there are quite a few conditions that are necessary. I’m not saying strikers need to satisfy all of these conditions but the more that are the better the chances of success. Using the Red for Ed strikes as an example, here’s why the second biggest striking action this century in the United States worked.
There needs to be nearly unanimous solidarity amongst workers in an industry. Otherwise, scabs and strikebreakers will continue producing the goods or services in question. Many tactics to discourage scabs are now illegal making solidarity nearly essential. I wasn’t on board with Red for Ed (I was living rough in Arizona at the time) but enough people were on board that my lack of participation didn’t matter. Public opinion needs to be on the side of the strikers. Red for Ed only worked because the parents supported it just as much as the teachers. The longer a strike goes on, the more support wanes for the strikers. Launching a PR campaign is another nearly essential step. Plan, plan, plan! Laborers in the industry need to know precisely what leverage they have and where to direct it. Knowing the weaknesses of the sector you work for is paramount. For instance, the fact that there weren’t scabs available for teachers in the Red for Ed strike made a sick out strike very effective. Know the production chokepoints for your industry if you are producing goods. The article I linked to describes that the chokepoint in Big Food is loading and processing the great amounts of raw materials in the plants. A simple but successful strike involved refusing to unload hogs until conditions improved at the plant! Timing matters. Red for Ed would have failed if it happened at the start of the school year because people still had their summer child care arrangements as a possibility. Waiting until after spring break and before testing season was a high leverage point because child care services hadn’t ramped up for the summer yet.
Even with these five crucial conditions in mind, strikes are rare because collective bargaining and even arbitration are preferable to striking actions. As you are about to read, strikes have a lot of problems to solve if they are to be successful.
The Grim Reality: Why a General Strike Won’t Work in the United States
Strikes involve a shared sacrifice that is sorely lacking in the United States.
If protests face long odds at being successful, general strikes face miniscule odds. You have the same problems protests face as well as some additional problems that need addressing. Only groups that can tackle the long list of problems have a chance of succeeding.
Problem #1: Economic conditions for strikers are markedly worse because they forgo income.
A strike takes a shared sacrifice that is sorely lacking amongst the American people in most circumstances. This is the major stumbling block for most people and asking people who live paycheck to paycheck to risk it all is madness.
“If you are asking someone to strike, you have to be able to help them answer the question of how will you help them survive if they do. It’s a question that has been asked and answered before, but it is a serious thing,” she says. “In reality, general strikes are generally lead by the most marginalized groups, because it is a way to wield power.”
Problem #2: Scabs and strikebreakers can easily replace strikers in most cases.
In right to work (for less) states, unions are weak and it is easy to hire scabs and retain strikebreakers and fire all of the people striking. In the moment that broke the labor movement in the United States, President Reagan simply fired and eventually replaced all of the PATCO strikers during the air traffic control strike.
Problem #3: Solidarity within the labor movement and amongst the people is likely impossible. The trades and industrial union rank and file is moving to the right while public sector and service unions are moving to the left. Besides, less than 10% of workers are still in a labor union so you would have to rely on people not in a union to join.
Problem #4: Even if you get solidarity, the scale of repression for a general strike by the Musk/Trump regime will be on a scale that is unimaginable today. The history of the labor movement is filled with corporate, legal, and governmental repression. This has been ignored by advocates and whitewashed to a large extent in popular culture. The labor movement still remembers its history and — setting aside the illegality of such an action — will avoid calling for a general strike. Sabotage by union leaders is a thing.
Conclusion
Including the problems from the article on mass protests, I count 11 reasons that general strikes will not work in the United States. I’m sure I am missing some as well. The amount of organizing needed to make a general strike work is off the charts.
Plus, you need a leader that is able to command the tens of millions necessary to make a general strike succeed. It’s not going to be a politician, celebrity, or influencer because such actions could cause serious damage to their brands. No such leader exists in the United States as of right now. The labor movement is too weak to produce such a leader that can command the respect of enough people.
I’m sorry, but a general strike changing things is as much of a fantasy as mass protest changing things at this time. Perhaps at some point in the future such actions can be successful again. It would take a huge change in the culture of the USA for me to be convinced that such actions are viable.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/3/16/2309711/-A-General-Strike-Why-This-is-a-HUGE-Organizational-Undertaking?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
