Today in Labor History Nov 2, 2011: Occupy Oakland attempted to initiate a General Strike. Without official support from any trade unions, Occupy activists, who’d set up an encampment in Oscar Grant Plaza on October 10, 2011, organized the General Strike in response to a brutal, militarized police attack on their encampment on October 25. 600 cops participated in the attack, backed by armored vehicles and helicopters, firing tear gas, flash bang grenades and bean bag rounds into the crowd of nonviolent activists. Scott Olsen, an Iraq War veteran, was hit by a flashbang grenade, which fractured his skull. When others came to his rescue, another cop threw a grenade directly at them.
The next day, on October 26, activists called a General Assembly, where they proposed and approved a call for a General Strike. At the planning meeting, on October 27, activists pointed out that successful General Strikes usually occur during times of heightened class struggle, with ample organizing among union members. Another pointed out the union membership in the U.S. was less than 12%. Therefore, for a successful General Strike in contemporary U.S., the activist correctly recognized that it would take considerable organizing among the ununionized majority. (By 2024, union membership in the U.S. had declined to 9.9%, the lowest level in nearly 40 years.)
In spite of the short time to plan and the low levels of union participation, the General Strike did have some success in shutting down business-as-usual. Many members of the ILWU refused to take work assignments, causing the Port of Oakland to operate below capacity for the entire day. According to KPFA radio, 18% of Oakland schools had to close for the day because so many of their teachers didn’t show up. 5% of city workers didn’t come to work. The Men’s Warehouse, located at the site of the old Hasting’s and Kahn’s Department Store, epicenter of the 1946 Oakland General Strike, posted a sign saying, “We stand with the 99%. Closed Wednesday, November 2.)
It is worth noting that the last actual General Strike to occur in the U.S. was the Oakland General Strike of 1946, led by the women at Hasting’s and Kahn’s Department Store. That strike, along with General Strikes that same year in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Stamford, Connecticut; and Rochester, New York; all part of the largest strike wave in U.S. history in which 4.3 million workers participated, led to the enactment of the Taft-Hartly bill, which banned General Strikes.
Under Taft-Hartly, union officials can be jailed for organizing a General Strike and union funds can be seized, contributing to the absence of General Strikes since 1946. However, the Oakland General Strike of 2011 shows us that a General Strike is still possible in the U.S., in spite of Taft-Hartly, in spite of the low levels of union membership, in spite of the conservative leadership of the majority of mainstream unions. And it has the potential to be much bigger and more effective, too, perhaps even nationally, or in multi-cities. But it will take effective and ongoing organizing to build the solidarity and class consciousness necessary to get sufficient numbers of coworkers and neighbors to make the sacrifices and take the risks required for a successful General Strike, particularly one that goes beyond the standard set of reformist demands, like returning to the onerous pre-Trump status quo, or even the slightly more progressive reformist demand of taxing the rich.
For more, check out this article:
libcom.org
Oakland’s Third Attempt at a General Strike
On November 2, 2011, Occupy Oakland — coming out of the international Occupy Movement — called for a General Strike. It was the third time a Ge...
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