Contingencies For the General Strike

When we get 11 million people who refuse to cooperate with fascism and plutocracy, or even if we fall short of that mark, what are our options?

Some smart and caring people have taken a bold step: they are organizing and promoting a general strike, so that the people of the United States can take back their power from the new fascist government.

There is no doubt that this CAN succeed. There is no guarantee that it WILL succeed. Each of us should do what we can to ensure that it does.

I have signed a Strike Card. I urge you to stop reading and do the same this moment, before continuing. See https://generalstrikeus.com.

What Happens Now?

As I write these words, the number of people who have signed Strike Cards has topped 275,000. That’s a big number but still far short of the targeted 11 million people. The work continues, so please contact your friends and urge them to sign strike cards.

No doubt, the number of people who join this action will increase sharply. We may or may not reach the 11 million. But in either case (and we damn well intend to exceed 11 million), we have options.

I think we should consider intermediate actions along the way.

Also, we should be aware that many people, including some who signed strike cards cannot actually strike. For example, some may be retired. Others may be living too close to the edge to risk their jobs.

On the other hand, all of us are at risk under the existing systems and perhaps especially under the current administration. In many cases, actively supporting the strike is both the morally correct AND pragmatic position.

Still, can we and should we take intermediate steps, prior to the actual strike? I myself do not know, but I do believe it is important to consider this possibility.

While we build our numbers (and please also SHARE the General Strike URL and messages on social media!) let’s also think ahead. You can even join discussions directly via the GSUS Discord channel. You will get an invitation to the channel AFTER you sign your Strike Card. 😉

What might these pre-strike options be?

Some Ideas and Qualifications for Proposed Actions

I like to think of our options as a sliding scale of risk. Some of us will have a higher threshold for personal risk than others. To maximize participation in any particular action, we should try to minimize the risk.

But still maximize the impact. We want to do things that are hard to ignore, things that will quickly build our numbers, weaken support for cruel systems and leaders and actions, and ultimately topple the old decaying order, giving birth to a new civilization focused on care for people everywhere and for our common home, the Earth.

We need ideas that give us a nice ratio of risk to impact.

Here’s some ideas that come to mind. I’m not even assessing them. These are examples of the kind of imagination we need to apply. We need ways to cripple existing systems, to weaken them, to ensure that authorities lose control, to weaken their illusion of power, to make them the subject of derision instead of fear.

1. Screw around with taxes. We are not ready for an actual tax revolt. But we CAN mail blank 1040 forms with notes to the IRS. Maybe thousands or hundreds of thousand or millions of them. We can insert a note, perhaps the same note saying something like this: All governments draw their just powers from the consent of the governed. We withdraw our consent. The current administration, headed by a rapist, felon and insurrectionist is holding office in direct violation of Section 3 Amendment 14 of the Constitution. This year, we pay our taxes under duress. Our “representatives” have failed to represent us and OUR MONEY is being stolen by billionaires. The lies about fiscal efficiency are both ridiculous and insulting. You have been warned just as patriots warned King George III. You do not represent us, you are serving illegally and we will not follow you. We declare our independence—yet again—from tyranny. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
   Perhaps after a year we can escalate our withdrawal of cooperation. I call this second step, A Day Late and A Dollar Short. In this action, we pay our taxes—but do so on April 16th and deduct $1 from the total. Again, we include identical notes of protest, but this time related to the new action. Finally, we literally withhold taxes in the 3rd year. Having taken smaller steps earlier, we may be ready for millions to take this bolder step.
2. Before the General Strike, what about targeted strikes? Can we, for example, pick a particular financial institution to wound? Withdraw our money from that ONE institution. Perhaps thousands of employees of that firm could call in sick on Mondays. Every Monday. Maybe by focusing our efforts, instead of dispersing them, we can seriously damage a significant player. This would probably scare the rest of them—which would be a bonus.
3. I would also be interested in seeing if we could cause labor problems at, say, one or more large oil refineries. Again, this is a critically important sector, and if we could inflict damage on that sector, that could be nearly as terrifying to the plutocrats as our general strike will be.
4. Celebrations in front of our homes with friends and neighbors, helping each other and ridiculing the old impotent men who we will depose. Showing courage and confidence is itself a revolutionary act. The plutocrats want us fighting each other, and shaking in fear of our financial and political masters. But we recognize no masters. We are Americans. When we display this spirit, we help support each other and—though less dramatic than the other measures—we begin to take control of the culture and the narrative. This may seem relatively small, but I think it’s actually very big.

Now, I don’t want us to get too excited about these ideas. They may be good, they may be bad, but we can’t do too much at once, so we should pick and plan carefully.

The question is: Which actions can we actually pull off? Some may be good but we can’t do them yet. And, equally important, what is the value of each action? Does it build our numbers? Add to our credibility? Give us confidence to take bolder steps? Does it weaken our opponents?

I’m thinking that 275,000, although far short of 11 millions, is still a pretty large number of people. If we could get even 10%-20% of them to take one action, perhaps something like the ones I described, or ideally something better—well, that would be a meaningful start. And don’t we need some practice before the big day, the day when we are ready to strike?

Please sign a Strike Card RIGHT NOW at https://generalstrikeus.com.