User:Avalystic/US Strike wave of 1919

The US strike wave of 1919 was a series of massive post-war labor strikes after World War I in the United States spanning numerous industries. More than four million American workers were involved in strikes that year.

DRAFT:

The US strike wave of 1919, a succession of extensive labor strikes following World War I, unfolded across various American industries, involving more than four million workers. This significant post-war labor mobilization marked a critical juncture in the nation's industrial landscape, with widespread strikes reflecting the heightened socio-economic tensions and the burgeoning demand for improved working conditions and fair labor practices.

Background
The years during World War I was a place of much greater strike activity then the previous years. The average number of workers on strike each year from 1916 to 1918 was 2.4 times higher than those on strike in 1915.

This set the stage for the strike wave of 1919, as workers became directly aware of the power they had over production from those strike actions. In addition, the environment had created ripe conditions with the cost of living in the US nearly doubling from August 1915 to August 1919.

The recent success of the Russian revolution of 1917 also played a small role. There were sections of support among the more radical workers within US unions of it. And paranoia among business and government leaders that the existing set of industrial relations was under attack from a unified conspiracy of 'Bolshevism'. With the 1919 Seattle General Strike, in part, inspired by the event.

DRAFT:

During World War I, the period witnessed a notable increase in strike activity, with the average number of workers participating in strikes each year from 1916 to 1918 being 2.4 times higher than in 1915. This upsurge laid the groundwork for the subsequent strike wave of 1919, as workers began to grasp the influence they could exert over production through collective actions. The economic backdrop further fueled discontent, with the cost of living in the United States nearly doubling from August 1915 to August 1919.

The aftermath of the war also introduced a complex socio-political environment. The success of the 1917 Russian Revolution found resonance among certain radical factions within US unions. Concurrently, concerns among business and government leaders intensified, driven by a perception that existing industrial relations faced a unified challenge from what they regarded as a 'Bolshevist' conspiracy. The 1919 Seattle General Strike, partly inspired by the Russian Revolution, served as a manifestation of these tensions, contributing to the overall atmosphere of unrest.

The Strikes
After the war, following the end of wartime price controls & laxing of government regulation against union busting, the cost of living rose significantly. This led to anger among workers and subsequently large strikes.

Some notable strikes in 1919 include:


 * 365,000 steel workers (September 22– January 8, 1920)
 * 394,000 coal workers (November 1 – December 10, 1919)
 * 120,000 New England textile workers
 * +70,000 New York Longshoremen workers (October 9, 1919 -)
 * 65,000 Seattle workers (February 6 – 11, 1919)
 * 35,000 NYC Garment Workers (January 21, 1919 – )
 * 15,000 NYC Harbor workers (January 9 – April 20, 1919)
 * +12,000 California telephone workers (June 18, 1919 – )
 * +9,000 New England telephone operators  (April 15, 1919 – April 21, 1919)
 * Los Angeles streetcar workers (August 1 – 6, 1919)
 * Actors' Equity Association strike (August 7 – September 6, 1919)

Reactions
There was a wide amount of support and opposition to many of the strikes around the country. Some of the strikes led to state and federal responses. During the peak of the Seattle strikes, Mayor Ole Hanson called upon Secretary of War Newton Baker to deploy federal troops to threaten strikers to return to work. Further federal responses came from President Woodrow Wilson and his administration, who were emboldened by Congress passing the Lever Act in 1917, which granted the president the authority to manage the distribution of food and fuel. This allowed the president and his administration the ability to negotiate directly with many large unions across the country and deter strikes, while also threatening fines, such as the United States Fuel Administration punishing striking coal miners in Indiana with a 1 dollar fine.

There was also widespread divisions among workers. Native workers and immigrant workers were frequently divided as employers sought to use propaganda to capitalize on racial hostility some white native workers had. Riots started in some cities, such as the Cleveland May Day Riot where tension spiked from a series of strikes that caused fights between unionists and leftists and anti-communist and anti-unionist residents.

Aftermath
The results of the individual strikes were varied:

In broad trends, strikes would begin to decline in number from their peak in 1919. As the United States war economy reverted, the labor market tightened as veterans returned to the workforce, immigration resumed, and the economy contracted into two separate recessions and prices began to increase. These factors led to decreasing bargaining power for many workers, as job markets tightened and the federal government stopped protecting unions to by dismantling it’s wartime labor agencies and allowing companies to begin union busting once again. The strike wave then failed to gain continual growth and concessions due to state and federal governments working to suppress strikes both militarily, and using the fear of Bolshevism following the Russian Revolution. The wave of strikes as a whole has been speculated to have played a part in the emergence and intensity of the First Red Scare.
 * The UMW Coal strike was a success, winning a 14% wage increase.
 * The steel strike was a crushing defeat without winning their demands and causing almost no union organizing to occur in the sector for the next 15 years.
 * The New England telephone strike was a victory, winning wage increases.

Following the start of the Great Migration, significant amount of African Americans moved into the industrial north. In some cities, they were hired as strikebreakers, especially during the strikes of 1917 and 1919 as it was one of the few ways for them to get jobs. This caused new racial tensions largely caused by white workers. The Red Summer also occurred in 1919, a set of white supremacist terrorism, and racially motivated attacks against Black Americans within the US.

Outline of changes:

 * Major Strikes and Events
 * Expansion of background
 * Communism
 * May Day Riots (fear of communism)
 * Demographics after WW1
 * Expansion of Aftermath
 * Fix List of Strikes
 * Add images