"Time For A General Strike” & Lessons Of The 1919 Seattle General Strike On The 100th Ann

2/5/19 SF Forum "Time For A General Strike” And The Lessons Of The 1919 Seattle General Strike

Public Forum
Tuesday February 5, 2019 7:00 PM
Bernal Library
500 Cortland St.
San Francisco, CA


The General Strike is becoming again relevant after many decades. The president of the CWA-Association of Flight Attendants Sara Nelson on the commemoration of MLK anniversary called for organizing a general strike to carry out the goals of MLK and also against the attack on millions of public workers and contract workers by the Trump administration.
The reactionary vicious assault of Federal workers ordering over 500,000 to work without pay is tantamount to slave labor prior to the US civil war. The 13th amendment of the Constitution passed to prevent the re-institution of slavery banned this practice yet the Trump administration is now bringing it back. The mass action of airline air traffic controllers calling in sick actually ended temporarily the Federal government shutdown after La Guardia airport slowed traffic and banned corporate planes from operating during the emergency.
It is important that working people in the US learn from our general strikes in our country. The last general strike in America was in 1946 in Oakland and the successful 1934 strike of ILWU longshore workers and west coast maritime workers in 1934 broke the back of the bosses and allowed hundreds of thousands of workers to organize in Northern California. The power of the ILWU still remains and it continues to take political job action including against the war in Iraq and the racist police murders.
This is also the 100th anniversary of the Settle general strike in February 6, 1919 which took place after the Russian revolution.
Today, the Trump government is planning to call a national emergecy to carry out his program to usurp the Congress and people of the United States. They are also planning an invasion of Venezuela. He wants a dictatorship and he is intent on creating an “emergency” to help push his drive for dictatorship along. The Democrats and Republicans will not protect us from the rise of fascism since this is a system problem. On February 15 when Trump plans to possibly push a national emergency we need to organize now for mass collective action.
This forum will look at the lessons of the Seattle general strike, past strikes and the struggle today for a general strike.

Sponsored by
United Public Workers For Action
http://www.upwa.info
For information
info(at)upwa.info
(415) 533-5942‬