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The longtime great alternative journalist of New Orleans, writes to
correct
An OpEd News item which stated, "The Seattle general strike of 1919 is
the first known city-wide general strike in U.S. history." New Orleans,
Ott notes, had a general strike in 1892, described by historian Zachary
Shrag:
||||| The first general strike sponsored by an American Federation of
Labor central labor union--the organization of all A.F. of L. locals in
a city--took place in 1892 in New Orleans. On November 8, 1892, the
Workingmen's Amalgamated Council, the local A.F. of L. central labor
union, called a general strike in support of three of its member
locals--the "Triple Alliance" of teamsters, scalesmen, and packers--who
were trying "to gain a preferential closed shop," among other demands.
The city's unions heeded the central's call, and "more than 20,000 men,
who with their families made up nearly half the population, stopped work
for three days." The strike committee called off the strike after nine
days, when the authorities threatened martial law.
The strike resulted in some improvement for the workers, but it did not
achieve the primary demand for a closed shop.17 Had the strike
succeeded, it "would have marked the greatest victory of the American
Federation of Labor in its early career. . . ." The failure may have
steered the national A.F. of L., which had supported the strike, away
from the use of the general strike. |||||
But there was a still earlier one:
|||| The first American general strike, the St. Louis strike of 1877,
was organized by the Workingmen's Party, a Marxist organization. This
small faction transformed, through speeches and organization, a strike
among railroad workers into a strike by thousands of workers in several
industries for the eight-hour day and a ban on child labor. This strike
collapsed after four days due to disorganization on the part of its
leaders, lack of food for the strikers, and the arrest of those leaders
by police and militiamen. The strike did not accomplish its main goals,
though it may have achieved incremental gains for labor. |||||
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The longtime great alternative journalist of New Orleans, writes to
correct
An OpEd News item which stated, "The Seattle general strike of 1919 is
the first known city-wide general strike in U.S. history." New Orleans,
Ott notes, had a general strike in 1892, described by historian Zachary
Shrag:
||||| The first general strike sponsored by an American Federation of
Labor central labor union--the organization of all A.F. of L. locals in
a city--took place in 1892 in New Orleans. On November 8, 1892, the
Workingmen's Amalgamated Council, the local A.F. of L. central labor
union, called a general strike in support of three of its member
locals--the "Triple Alliance" of teamsters, scalesmen, and packers--who
were trying "to gain a preferential closed shop," among other demands.
The city's unions heeded the central's call, and "more than 20,000 men,
who with their families made up nearly half the population, stopped work
for three days." The strike committee called off the strike after nine
days, when the authorities threatened martial law.
The strike resulted in some improvement for the workers, but it did not
achieve the primary demand for a closed shop.17 Had the strike
succeeded, it "would have marked the greatest victory of the American
Federation of Labor in its early career. . . ." The failure may have
steered the national A.F. of L., which had supported the strike, away
from the use of the general strike. |||||
But there was a still earlier one:
|||| The first American general strike, the St. Louis strike of 1877,
was organized by the Workingmen's Party, a Marxist organization. This
small faction transformed, through speeches and organization, a strike
among railroad workers into a strike by thousands of workers in several
industries for the eight-hour day and a ban on child labor. This strike
collapsed after four days due to disorganization on the part of its
leaders, lack of food for the strikers, and the arrest of those leaders
by police and militiamen. The strike did not accomplish its main goals,
though it may have achieved incremental gains for labor. |||||
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