The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1912-12-20
THE GENER-
AL STRIKE:
THE FIRST OF A SERIES OF
ARTICLES TO APPEAR IN
THE JOURNAL FROM THE
PEN OF BRILLIANT LABOR
WRITER.
1.-THE FASCINATION OF THE IDEA.
BY Robert Hunter.

axe care, CTleu MlrlDeau, QC
not irritate this people, that produces
everything, and that, to make itselt
formidable, has only to become mo
tionless."
The threat of the general strike was
what this leader of the French revo
luton held before the privileged class
He was the first modern prophet OF
the general strike, and no one since
has stated so simply or so powerfully
this alluring idea. At various periods
throughout all of last century the idea
captivated the minds of numberless
leaders of the working class.
Today the general strike is the chief
war measure advocated by the trade
unions of the Latin countries. 1t has
it's philosophy and there is a library
of books on the general strike. 1t has
been discussed in the congresses, ma
tional and international, of the trade
unions and of the socialist party.
The organized workers of all lands
have studied the question, debated it
at length, and resolved for or against
this method of action. 1t has so ap-
pealed to the imagination that short
stories and novels have been written,
forecasting the helplessness of the
world in the hour when the working
class should stand motionless.
The anarchists have everywhere ac-
claimed the general strike as the
greatest example of the propaganda
of the deed.
The older socialist and trade union
leaders of Europe have looked upon
the general strike agitation with
alarm, and the discussion of it has
aroused intense interest as we'll as ex-
treme bitterness.
The greatest orator of the general
strike, Aristides BRAND, used It as a
ladder to rise from the ranks of un-
known lawyers to the highest position
in the French government, that of
prime minister.
Another leader of a general strike,
John Burns, rose from the ranks of
the hungry and unemployed to the
cabinet of the greatest industrial ma
ton.
Men have advocated the use of this
weapon for every conceivable pur-
pose. William D. Haywood would
have had it used to force the courts
to release the Mcnamara brothers,
Ettor and Others.
Keir Hardie would have it used to
prevent war.
Others would have this mighty
weapon employed to protect any one
injured by capitalist oppression.
Still others see in it an alternative
and substitute for political action and
advocate it's use as the ONLY 'politi-
caP' weapon of the workers to force
legislation and political reforms. They
would have it displace all socialist
party and parliamentary activity.
The anarchists, who are it's most
ardent advocates, believe that it is
the greatest stimulus to class hatred,
that it will make the masters more
ferocious and the workers more revo-
lutionary. They would use it as often
as possible. The more blood split in
class wars the more irreconcilable will
hooonoa oIacc onto
Every theorist of the general strike
claims that it is the supreme weapon
of labor. 1t is the final stand, where
the entire body of workers shall come
forth from mines, fields, and factories
to demonstrate their power.
1t will stop the world. Lights will
go out. Fires will die down. Food
will disappear. Trains will stand on
the siding. Mails, telephones, and
telegraphs will fail to function. News
papers will not appear; and all our
marvellous and intricate industrial
life, with it's wondrous mechanism and
tremendous power, will rest silent and
useless.
This people that produces every
thing has only to become motionless
to make itself formidable; this is the
essence of the battle cry of the French
syndicalists Grade unionists).
Surely there is no idea in the world
more arresting. The very thought of
it almost makes the heart stop in its
action.
1t is possible that this thought, so
simple to grasp, points the way to the
righting of all the wrongs of labor
and to the final emancipation of the
working class? Is it THE short cut,
THE royal road, leading clear and di-
rect to the end we seek? Or is it but
another snare and delusion that may
lead the working class astray?
Surely there is no other question
that so much merits inquiry as this
one.
What is the origin of the idea of the
general strike?
Is the general strike realizable? Il
it is, how and when?
Is the general strike a weapon 81
mighty that it shall be used but once