The recent Russian Revolution was an inspiration
to some striking workers, especially those sympathetic to socialism or
syndicalism. Pamphlets and flyers such as this
one put out by the IWW littered the streets of Seattle during the general strike.
Most workers were thinking not about revolution
but about workplace rights and the need to maintain a strong labor movement.
For them the strike was an important expression of labor solidarity.
“If by revolution is meant violence,
forcible taking over of property, the killing or maiming of men, surely no
group of workers dreamed
of such action. But if by revolution is meant that a Great Change is coming
over the face of the world, which will
transform our method of carrying on industry, and will go deep into the very
sources of our lives, to bring joy and
freedom in place of heaviness and fear--then we do believe in such a Great
Change and that our General Strike was one
very definite step towards it.”
- Seattle Union Record, February 12, 1919
