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A packed crowd gathers around a Skinner and Eddy, a shipbuilding corporation, warehouse.
A strike against shipyards on the Seattle waterfront precedes the Seattle General Strike (1919). (Photo: Paul Dorpat)

General strike begins in Seattle.

1919

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A strike against shipyards on the Seattle waterfront precedes the Seattle General Strike (1919). (Photo: Paul Dorpat)

The Seattle General Strike marks the first recognized city-wide labor action in the United States. Arising from shipyard workers' demands for a pay raise after WWI production increases, the strike lasts one week and leads to a wave of labor conflict in the post-WWI era.

The strike is largely seen as anti-American in public opinion. Blame for the strike is placed on "dark," "undesirable aliens," which, in this case, refers to immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe.