Workers striking in South Africa and South Korea can be an inspiration to workers in Britain to fight against their own conditions. Strikes can also have a further impact. They are a break from the old routine of dragging yourself into work. Many strikers begin to organise picket lines themselves and run strike meetings. In this way the experience of being on strike can raise workers' confidence.
Strike action can also raise wider questions about the world.
These can be issues like the way the law is used to stop workers striking, why the media take the bosses' side, whether the union leaders are supporting the action, and what democracy means as people begin to ask who has real power in society. At key points in history strikes have moved beyond the sectional issues they began over and become a fight over the whole structure of society. This happened in Russia in 1905 when a printers' strike gave rise to a new form of organisation, the soviet or workers' council, made up of workers from all different workplaces, which challenged the rule of the official government. Of course strikers don't start by asking how we can take on the whole system. But strike action raises the question of how exploitation works, who benefits and if there is an alternative.