0.3 Great war (part ii)  (Page 14/16)

In February of 1919, labor leaders throughout Seattle worked together to hold a city-wide strike. This “general strike,” as they called it, was in protest to a lack of raises. Part of the WIB’s role during the war was to work with labor organizations to keep the salaries low in order for businesses to make more war-related stuff. Workers were told they were being patriotic by participating in these war time wage controls. Many workers believed, and some were even led to believe, that once the war was over then wages would naturally rise.

Shipyard workers were refused a pay raise in 1919 and thus the Metal Trades Council union alliance declared a strike and closed the yards. Most of the city’s unions voted to strike in support of the shipyard workers. Seattle shut down as more and more businesses were unable to operate (a port town relies heavily on the use of its ports). By February 11 ^th , the strike had ended as a result of pressure labor leaders felt from the stationing of thousands of federal troops, state police, and armed volunteers throughout the city. Most workers had returned to their jobs (expect those from the shipyards who originated the strike) yet local police decided to use the general strike as a justification for attacking a pro-communist union, the International Workers of the World as well as the headquarters of the Socialist Party in Seattle. The strike was a failure for the unions because neither public opinion, nor local media, politicians, even the leaders of the University of Washington supported their tactics of trying to shut down the city. Although the general strike in Seattle ended without almost no violence, a “Red Scare” swept across the United States.

Strikes happened in nearly every major city and local politicians reacted with the use of violence. The American Legion, an organization founded by military veterans in 1919, reported that it had evidence that communists were to lead a revolution following May Day parades (the first of May was a European day of celebrating workers although in the US anarchists, socialists, and communists used “May Day” to remember the Haymarket Square incident).

“Reds Planning to Overthrow U.S. on May Day” American newspapers warned in April on 1919. Package bombs addressed to prominent Americans were discovered in various US post offices and Boston newspapers informed the public of a “Bolshevik plot” to over throw this country under the banner headline “REDS PLAN MAY DAY MURDERS”.

The federal government responded to this (real or imagined) fear of a communist takeover by expelling suspected “alien radicals” such as Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman, and more than 500 others. Many states, such as California, adopted loyalty oaths in which you had to pledge to protect the state and the federal government if you wished to secure certain state jobs. Many of those arrested were denied bail, denied trial by jury, and in some cases there was no evidence against them except the word of the arresting authority. In reaction to this attack on Americans’ civil rights (especially the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth amendments), progressive reformers such as Helen Gurley Flynn helped create the American Civil Liberties Union.