General strike

Quick Facts: Who was General strike?

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General strike

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A mass strike involving a substantial proportion of the total labor force in an area.

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Origins & Early Life

A general strike (or mass strike) is a strike action in which a substantial proportion of the total labour force in a city, region, or country participates. General strikes are characterised by the participation of workers from a multitude of workplaces across different industries, and tend to involve entire communities. They are often used to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. General strikes first occurred in the mid-19th century and have characterised many historically important strikes. An early predecessor of the general strike were the Jewish traditions of the Sabbatical and Jubilee years, the latter of which involves widespread debt relief and land redistribution.

Career & Major Achievements

The secessio plebis, during the times of the Roman Republic, has also been noted as a precursor to the general strike. Early conceptions of the general strike were proposed during the Renaissance by Étienne de La Boétie, and during the Age of Enlightenment by Jean Meslier and Honoré Gabriel Riqueti. With the outbreak of the French Revolution, the idea was taken up by radicals such as Jean-Paul Marat, Sylvain Maréchal and Constantin François de Chassebœuf, who proposed a strike that included merchants and industrialists alongside industrial workers and farmworkers. In his essay Les Ruines, Chassebœuf proposed a general strike by "every profession useful to society" against the "civil, military, or religious agents of government", contrasting "the People" against the "men who do nothing". Chassebœuf's work held a great influence in Great Britain, where it was distributed throughout the country by the London Corresponding Society, while his chapter on the general strike was reprinted for decades after its initial publication.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

The idea was later taken up by the British economist Thomas Attwood and the French communist Louis Auguste Blanqui. During the early years of the Industrial Revolution, an ill-defined conception of a general strike was expressed by workers in Nottingham and Manchester, but it lacked a systematic formulation. There were periodic strikes throughout the early 19th century that could loosely be considered as "general strikes". In the United States, the 1835 Philadelphia General Strike lasted for three weeks, after which the striking workers won their goal of a ten-hour workday and an increase in wages. The idea of the general strike was first formulated by William Benbow, a Quaker and shoemaker who became involved in the British radical movement of the early 19th century.

Chronological Milestones & Life Events

1. 1835: 1835 Milestone — In the United States, the 1835 Philadelphia General Strike lasted for three weeks, after which the striking workers won their goal of a ten-hour workday and an increase in wages.

Historical Fact-Check Quiz: General strike

True or False: “The 1835 Philadelphia General Strike successfully achieved both a ten-hour workday and increased wages for striking workers.”

Answer (TRUE ⭕): The text explicitly states that after the three weeks of striking in Philadelphia, the workers won their goal of a ten-hour workday and an increase in wages.

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Frequently Asked Questions about General strike