Left
Bank Will Be Closed
Wednesday,
November 2nd
In
Solidarity With the Oakland
General
Strike and Mass Day of Action
We in Seattle stand with
Oakland as they initiate the first citywide General Strike in the
United States since 1946. Our own city is credited with the first
city-wide labor action in America to be proclaimed a “general
strike” in February
of 1919 when 35,000 shipyard workers went on strike (the total
number of strikers were sixty-thousand union workers, joined by
40,000 other workers who walked out in sympathy): The
city was successfully shut down, except for essential needs such as
fire protection and hospital laundry. Thirty-five neighborhood milk
stations were set up throughout the city, and large kitchens prepared
thirty thousand meals per day.
In participating in the call for a general strike, we join millions in Egypt, Greece, Spain and elsewhere who
have launched waves of general strikes to shut their economies down
in the struggle against the global capitalist system. We in Seattle
are fighting against that same system.
“General
Strike” means nobody and nothing works. It means that we refuse the
demands of our bosses and re-appropriate our activity toward our own
desires. It can last for one day, for a week, or for as long as we
make it. No money is exchanged during a General Strike-everything is
for everyone.
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