What Do You Think It Would Take For The U.S. To Hold A Successful, General Strike ???

[WillyT]

Let's say the GOP continues its obstruction, the Unions continue to be decimated, TPP gets "fast-tracked", Democrats join Republicans in promoting a war against Iran, and a thousand other possibilities...

What would it take, what would it look like, and how successful do you think a General Strike in America would be.

The French seem to be able to shut down the means of production... are we so brainwashed that we could never do that?

[firsttimer]

1. Oh my

[firsttimer]

2. To answer your question it would get bloody

It would be ugly , the military would be used against us.

[BainsBane]

34. No need. It would never happen.

It has never happened in the history of the US, even at the height of the labor movement. It's certainly not going to happen now.

[Hekate]

49. That's pretty much my take on "general strikes" in the US. Doesn't seem to be our tradition.

Oddly enough, this same question was raised here at DU during the Dubya administration. We marched on Washington, a million strong. We had anti-war activities in our home towns. But never was there a possibility of a general strike as done in France.

[Zorra]

3. Way more people who actually have a set. nt

[panader0]

4. It'd be easy for me to get on board--I'm not employed.

[TexasProgresive]

5. Hard shut down production

When so much is in China.

[firsttimer]

7. You shut down ports

Nothing is unloaded nothing is moved

[TBF]

24. Yes. nt

[clffrdjk]

45. And everyone who can't buy the latest greatest toy

Has a brand new group of terrorists to hate. You need more than one industry hell you even need a cause the republitards can support otherwise yea there will be blood.

[AnalystInParadise]

6. An alternate reality

[Fumesucker]

8. This *might* do it

[WillyT]

9. Some Art, Some History...

Art:



History: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_strike

[firsttimer]

12. Sometimes all it takes is balls

[legcramp]

10. What would be the reason and what would be the goal?

Just wondering.

Perhaps you could expand on your query.

[WillyT]

15. Well... For Starters... Our Wages Have Not Kept Up With Our Production...

So we're getting screwed.

?w=614&h=404

[firsttimer]

19. So who do you blame for that ? Corporations or the people who are bought off by them

in Washington ?


No matter how many times I read blaming the rich in this country......

The rich do not pass laws , the people in Washington do.


So again I ask who do you blame?

[senseandsensibility]

21. THE RICH BUY OFF THE PEOPLE IN WASHINGTON

No, the "people" in Washington are not blameless (quite the opposite), but the RICH people do cause the problem. Without them, it would not exist.

[firsttimer]

22. That's because of laws passed by free trade , wages , pension laws , 401K's , IRS tax codes etc...

I blame the congressmen , congress women , senators and Presidents that allow
them selves to be bought by corporations and by the rich.


This is not a Democrat or Republican problem , this is a Washington problem.


What you are doing is blaming the fox after he kills a chicken because the farmer decides to let loose a fox in a henhouse.

[WillyT]

27. So... The Nature Of The Rich Is To Be Predatory... And Buying Off The Congress Is Their Nature...

Too... Therefore, in your mind, the rich are blameless in their inherent quest for power and greed, yet the Congress is to blame for the power and greed they are being offered by the rich.

Have I got that correct ???

[firsttimer]

29. I don't elect the rich ... I elect congressmen , senators and Presidents

[El_Johns]

36. You elect the people the rich have already chosen.

Or perhaps "elect".

[firsttimer]

38. yeah

Top Contributors

Senator Hillary Clinton




Contributor

Total

Indivs

PACs


Citigroup Inc $779,427 $771,427 $8,000
Goldman Sachs $711,490 $701,490 $10,000
JPMorgan Chase & Co $646,594 $639,094 $7,500
DLA Piper $628,030 $601,030 $27,000
EMILY's List $605,174 $601,254 $3,920
Morgan Stanley $535,645 $530,645 $5,000
Time Warner $418,746 $393,746 $25,000
Skadden, Arps et al $406,640 $402,140 $4,500
Lehman Brothers $346,853 $343,853 $3,000
University of California $329,673 $329,673 $0
Cablevision Systems $315,063 $285,675 $29,388
Kirkland & Ellis $308,641 $291,641 $17,000
21st Century Fox $302,400 $302,400 $0
Ernst & Young $298,142 $278,142 $20,000
National Amusements Inc $296,534 $293,534 $3,000
Merrill Lynch $292,303 $286,303 $6,000
Credit Suisse Group $289,600 $279,600 $10,000
Corning Inc $276,200 $258,200 $18,000
Greenberg Traurig LLP $273,050 $264,950 $8,100
New York Life Insurance $251,700 $231,700 $20,000

[El_Johns]

39. Basically the usual suspects, eh. Those are nearly everyone's top contributors.

[firsttimer]

40. They pay everyone off , both parties

So who's more to blame ? the person bribing or the person taking the bribe?

Because you can whitewash it any way you want .......these are bribes

[El_Johns]

41. I agree they're bribes. No bribes, no election. The system IS legalized bribery.

[FatBuddy]

47. the rich buy the people who make the laws

the lobbyists of the rich submit legislation to the people who make the laws.

don't be so naive.

[pscot]

11. A more engaged, less self-indulgent citizenry?

Maybe a nationwide cable tv oitage.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

13. Understanding who the real enemy is (which of course is what the 1% spends most time on preventing).

[Spider Jerusalem]

14. A completely different culture and history, is what it would take.

And class-consciousness on the part of American workers (that is to say the awareness that they are in fact the "working class" and not the "middle class&quot . And some sense of worker solidarity.

[Skip Intro]

16. A great awakening of the general popluace to the methods of manipulation

masterfully wielded by tptb to keep us divided and powerless.

[Doremus]

17. It's going to have to get much worse for lots more ppl before there's ample momentum

Sad to say most of us are just comfortable enough to keep us inside our personal bubbles.

When that status changes for many (most) Americans, the tsunami will build. Until then, there's barely a ripple in the kiddie pool.

[agent46]

18. People must understand that it is possible

We have vast social networks and instant communication now. It can be set up and accomplished. it would require a new form of high tech activism and organizing that goes way beyond signing petitions online - but it can be done.

Here's Mario Savio telling it like it is on the steps of Sproul Hall in 1964. Same as it always was.

[FarCenter]

20. 70% of workers are in the service sector

So you would be closing down government, medical care, schools, public transportation, bars and restaurants, supermarkets and other retail establishments, etc.

The impact would be huge, and you would have a nationwide disaster zone in a few days. So it is very unlikely to happen.

Consider what closing all the gas stations would do.

[NightWatcher]

23. We are six times the size of France.

They have 65 million and we have 380 +\- million people.

[WillyT]

25. But We... Are The Home Of The Brave... The Land Of The Free... We Kicked Out The Monarchy...

and we eventually embraced unionization.

We got shot and jailed for it, but we eventually got a two day weekend, a 40 hour work-week, paid holidays, sick days, health benifits, and defined retirement programs.

ALL UNDER THREAT TODAY!!!

WHY?

[NightWatcher]

31. But we are the Home of the Whopper

Where more people voted for American Idol than for the President of the United States.

We've failed civics class.

We've failed economics class.

We're not going to strike unless it's because CBS cancels Survivor or McDonalds cancels the Big Mac.

[doc03]

26. The only thing that might motivate people to go on a general

strike is if fucking Walmart closed. People in the US will roll over and take anything anymore. When we went on strike in the steel industry to try and protect our benefits the young guys would be on TV after they lost their first pay check blaming the union for keeping them from going to work. And that is no exaggeration!

[Squinch]

28. People would need to become aware of income inequality in the first place, then become aware

of the mechanisms that dependably redistribute income to the richest from everyone else, then become aware of their own falling standard of living, then stop believing that "the poor other" is getting a handout and start believing that it is the wealthiest who get all the handouts.

[CFLDem]

30. They would need to bring back the draft.

Anything short of that just ain't going to cut it.

[Douglas Carpenter]

32. it is simply not plausible within the American political culture - it is not going happen in the

foreseeable future - baring some currently unimaginable catastrophic events - Republicans obstructing, Unions being decimated and the TPP being fast-tracked are barely noticed in mainstream American society -

[MisterP]

37. presumably it's "revolution-proof"--but us masses went up a steeper slope 1928-38

OTOH the Dem brigades saying "Nader caused Lebanon and the polar vortex!" have collapsed entirely since they're the ones who *just boosted Christie for the election*: before that they were just bankrupt

[snot]

33. Most of the people in my area are so fast asleep, I'm afraid I can't readily imagine it.

This is one reason I'm so frustrated about conservative control of the media.

[Brigid]

35. Depending on how it's handled . . .

This incident in West Virginia might do it.

[DevonRex]

42. Pensions being gutted wholesale,

unemployment forcing women to stay home again - when mortgages take 2 incomes. So families have to take in their elderly parents who've lost their pensions, just to support one house or apartment and one car.

Americans aren't used to living that way. Generations crammed together, combining SS checks with the Breadwinner's salary to survive. At best the grandparents could babysit when the mom goes out and works a part time job.

At that point there is no hope. And they'll know where the jobs went.

[LadyHawkAZ]

43. Mass starvation

If you're looking for a wide-scale strike, that's what it would take- income falling below basic survival level, to the point where the majority of workers starve..

[Spirochete]

44. Nationwide shutdown of

cable TV.

It would get ugly.

[BobUp]

46. Seems Americans have become pacifists in the past 40 some years,

I recall all the demonstrations of the 60's and 70's for equality and to stop a stupid war, it seems Americans really don't give a shit anymore.

[Coyotl]

48. Never happen!

[FatBuddy]

50. a disruption or breakdown of the social order would wake people up

zombie outbreak, emp attack, a series of cataclysmic weather events in a short period of time.

we need a reset, an equalization, or a revolution.

[Scuba]

51. A single spark.

The poisoning of the water supply for hundreds of thousands of people perhaps.

[Android3.14]

52. Somebody was hitting the intoxicant of choice Saturday night

It's one of those questions with an answer similar to, "First, we win the lottery..."