[Seattle-editorial] FP: General Strike anniversary

[jonathan lawson]

subtitle: MILESTONE IN AMERICAN LABOR HISTORY
title: Feb. 6 Marks 85th Anniversary of Seattle General Strike

On the morning of February 6, 1919, Seattle, a city of 315,000 people, <a 
href="http://faculty.washington.edu/gregoryj/strike/"><b>stopped 
working</b></a>. 25,000 union members had joined 35,000 already on strike. 
Much of the remaining work force was idled as stores closed and streetcars 
stopped running. The General Strike Committee, composed of delegates from 
the key striking unions, tried to coordinate vital services and negotiate 
with city officials, but events moved
quickly beyond their control. The <a 
href="http://www.tpl.lib.wa.us/cgi-win/fulltcgi.exe/General_Strike_of_1919|labor/genstrik.19"><b>historic, 
city-wide strike</b></a> led off a tumultuous era of labor conflict that 
saw massive strikes shut down the nation's steel, coal, and meat packing 
industries and threaten civil unrest in a dozen cities.

<p><a href="http://faculty.washington.edu/gregoryj/pnwlabor/"><b>Northwest 
Labor History Project</b></a> (Univ. of Washington)

<p><a 
href="http://faculty.washington.edu/gregoryj/strike/images/nooneknowswhere.jpg">Union 
Record editorial, 4 Feb 1919</a> | <a 
href="http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/hist_texts/seattle1919_p2.html">General 
Strike Committee account, March 1919</a>