Final Project, History 2100, Spring 2017, William Paterson University

1. Strike in Seattle.1919
Adrian Phillips

2. Opening statement.
• The strength of the many is very powerful, the strength of the many can
affect change. It is a Strong show of force that demonstrates that a
community of people can come together to voice their concerns and push
for a better and fair work environment for everyone.

3. History of the strike.
• The Seattle General Strike was the first general
strike in the U.S. and marked the beginning of a
post-WWI era of labor conflict.
• The Seattle General Strike of 1919 was a five-day
general work stoppage by more than 65,000 workers
in the city of Seattle, Washington.
• The strike was non-violent and lasted less than a
week.
• government officials, the press, and much of the
public viewed the strike as a radical attempt to
Challenge US institutions.

4. The length of the strike. History continued.
• The strike lasted from February 6 to February 11 of 1919.
• One factor that contributed to the strike being so short was because people
saw the strike as a radical moment inspired by "un-American" ideologies,
brought on by the red scare of early 1919 and 1920.

5. The Affected parties
• The General Strike in Seattle grew out of the strike of about 35,000 shipyard
workers for higher wages.
• The strikes shut down the nation's steel, coal, and meatpacking industries and
threaten civil unrest in a dozen cities.

6. Reason to fight.
• the shipyard workers had gone out on strike for higher wages to
accommodate rising postwar prices.
• This would help the poorest paid workingmen.
• went through 2 years of wage control in a post WW1 era.
• They couldn’t support their families.

7. Average family expenses.
National Humanities Center The 1919 Seattle General Strike: Resources from the University of Washington
Seattle General Strike Project

8. The power of the collective people.
• The Seattle shipyards are on a basis of closed shop and collective bargaining
between the various yard-owners and the Metal Trades Council of Seattle.
• These separate unions no longer make separate agreements with the yard-owners; a
single blanket-agreement is made at intervals by the Metal Trades Council for all the
crafts comprising it.
• This was the situation before the United States entered the war.

9. The opposition to the strike.
• Company owners.
• Mayor Hanson.
• City newspapers predicted chaos and condemned the strike as a Communist threat to American.
• The EFC (Emergency Fleet Corporation) - Because of the need during World War I to build ships rapidly,
on 16 April 1917 the U.S. Shipping Board incorporated the Emergency Fleet Corporation to build, own, and
operate a merchant fleet for the U.S. government.

10. Events leading to the strike ends.
• Mayor Hanson increased the police and military
forces available to enforce order, though there was
no disorder, and possibly to take the place of
striking workers.
• Mayor Hanson had federal troops available and
stationed 950 sailors and marines across the city by
February 7. He added 600 men to the police force
and hired 2,400 special deputies, students from the
University of Washington for the most part.
• Mayor Hansen told reporters that "any man who
attempts to take over the control of the municipal
government functions will be shot.
• Some locals gave in to this pressure and returned to
work.
• On February 8, some streetcar operators returned to
work and restored some critical city transportation
services.

11. The last straw.• Some locals gave in to this pressure
and returned to work.
• On February 8, some streetcar
operators returned to work and
restored some critical city
transportation services.
• "Pressure from international
officers of unions, from executive
committees of unions, from the
'leaders' in the labor movement,
even from those very leaders who
are still called 'Bolsheviki' by the
undiscriminating press. And, added
to all these, the pressure upon the
workers themselves, not of the loss
of their own jobs, but of living in a
city so tightly closed.(Jeremy
Brecher112)

12. The Aftermath. Mayor Ole Hanson
• Seattle's mayor Ole Hanson took credit for ending the strike and later resigned to toured the country giving lectures
on the dangers of "domestic bolshevism.
• He earned $38,000 in seven months, five times his annual salary as mayor
• He agreed that the general strike was a revolutionary event. In his view, the fact that it was peaceful proved its
revolutionary nature and intent.

13. No win for the working people.
• The papers declared the General Strike in Seattle was lost.
• The workers lost five days' pay.
• workers went back to work and didn’t receive any of their demands.

14. winners
• The workers of Seattle did not go back to work with the feeling that they
had been beaten.
• They came organized and came together on a city wide scale to work towards
achieving a common goal of wage increase for all their fellow workers.
• Against the odds they fought to let their voices be heard and at the end of
the day they were proud to do so.

15. Conclusion
• The company owners used their power, wealth and recourse to affect change in
their favor. Legislation was passed earlier that year and it was used as the basis
for numerous raids on Socialist and IWW headquarters, police disruption of
meetings, and arrests of suspected revolutionaries. What was a demonstration
of the will of the people peacefully fighting to get their voices heard in an
environment that was directly profiting off of their labor was demonized by
the powerful in order to push their own agenda. Even though the workers did
not get the desired outcome from their actions they did not regret going on
strike because they came together and made their voices and concerns heard.
There is power the strength of the many.

16. Work cited.
• http://americainclass.org/sources/becomingmodern/prosperity/text6/seattlestrike.pdf
• http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/hist_texts/seattle1919_p2.html
• Strike! By Jeremy Brecher112.
• Boswell, Sharon and Lorraine McConaghy.“Strike! Labor Unites for Rights.” 21 March,
1996. The Seattle Times. 14 April 2010.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/special/centennial/march/labor.html
• Robert L. Friedheim,The Seattle General Strike. Seattle: University of Washington Press,
1964., Papers 1919-64. Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries, Seattle, WA.