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Cal Winslow is the author of Radical Seattle: The General Strike of 1919, along with Labor’s Civil War in California. He is editor of E.P. Thompson and the Making of the New Left.
This year marks a century since the First Red Scare, which decimated the ranks of the US left. One of the worst episodes was the Centralia incident — where a reactionary mob tortured and killed a group of IWW members to drive them out of the Washington town.
Mineworkers and their families in Harlan County, Kentucky, have blockaded the railroad tracks of a deadbeat employer. It’s a reminder of the county’s heroic history of struggle and solidarity.
The Seattle General Strike of 1919 is a forgotten and misunderstood part of American history. But it shows that workers have the power to shut down whole cities — and to run them in our interests.
Decades before Amazon dominated the city, Seattle was the fiery site of labor unrest, radical action — and the US's only true general strike.
Picasso's "Guernica" still stands as a searing protest against the brutality of war and fascism.