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Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday February 4, 1919
Seattle, Washington – General Strike of 60,000 Workers Set for Thursday
At 10 o’clock next Thursday morning 60,000 organized workers in the city of Seattle will stand shoulder to shoulder in the first general strike that has ever been successfully inaugurated in the history of this country. Insolently and contemptuously Mr. Charles Piez and his labor-snubbing shipping board threw down the defiant gauntlet which has now been taken up with a firmness of resolution and a solidarity unmatched in the annals of the American Labor movement.
The workers of the northwest believe that they have been flouted and fooled by Piez and his fellow labor-baiters, that they have been deceived and betrayed by the politicians, both state and federal, and they have resolutely grasped the only weapon over which they have any direct control, determined to make a fight that will demonstrate whether or not they have the power to secure the justice that has been denied them by industrial barons and bureaucratic despots.
Negotiations Fail
In proof of these statements the officers of the Metal Trades Council point out that they were unable after long months of patient waiting-to get a square deal from the Macy board, that they exhausted every means at their disposal to have their grievances peacefully adjusted, that they were given permission by Piez and his associates to deal directly with the employers, and that as these employers stubbornly refuse to grant a living wage the shipyard workers by a referendum vote subsequently endorsed unanimously by all locals at their meetings decided to strike.
Recognizing that this fight vitally concerned the rank and file of all the workers the Central Labor Council called for a general strike as the most effective way of reaching a decisive conclusion to the conflict. By an overwhelming majority practically all the unions in the city endorsed the strike and authorized three representatives from each local to meet as a general strike committee and finalize the plans for the most epoch-making industrial struggle that the country has ever known.
From 8 a. m. till 9 p. m. Sunday, in the Labor Temple, delegates from 110 unions discussed the whole situation and laid their plans. All decisions were made with one voice and a remarkable unanimity was demonstrated throughout the meeting. The time for the general strike was set for 10 a. m. Thursday. Arrangements were made to feed the strikers and the public. A committee was appointed to urge upon other Puget Sound towns the advisability of presenting a solid front by calling a general strike for the same day.
Tremendous cheering greeted the treble announcement that by a big majority the street car men had vote to quit, that the longshoremen’s union had decided to strike in spite of its international officers, and that, for the first time in its history, the typographical union had joined in the general strike movement.
Efforts will be made to extend the general strike throughout the state. if that course becomes necessary, it was announced.
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[Emphasis to first paragraph in original, other emphasis added.]
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SOURCE & IMAGES
Seattle Union Record
(Seattle, Washington)
“Published for Principle and Not for Profit”
-Feb 3, 1919
http://depts.washington.edu/labhist2/SURfeb/SUR%202-19-3%20full.pdf
Jan Feb 1919-SUR re Seattle General Strike
http://depts.washington.edu/labhist/strike/news.shtml
http://depts.washington.edu/labhist/strike/unionrecord_Jan1919.shtml
http://depts.washington.edu/labhist/strike/unionrecord_Feb1919.shtml
See also:
Tag: Seattle General Strike of 1919
https://weneverforget.org/tag/seattle-general-strike-of-1919/
Re names of Unions for tags below, see AFL Convention Proceedings of 1919:
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=H4NEAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=GBS.PR5
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