Chicago Mayor Issues Defiant Call for General Strike
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson boldly called on Americans to organize a general strike during his speech at his city’s “No Kings” rally on Saturday.
Calling on people of all backgrounds to come together and take a stand against the “tyranny” of President Donald Trump, the “ultra-rich” and corporate greed, Johnson said: “We are going to make them pay their fair share in taxes to fund our school, to fund jobs, to fund health care, to fund transportation.”
“Democracy will continue to live thanks to this generation,” he proclaimed. “Are you ready to take it to the courts and to the streets?”
It was a bold statement from the mayor, who has risen to the top of Trump’s enemies list as he resists the cruel immigration operations and the arrival of hundreds of National Guards currently shaking Chicago.
Daniel Boczarski via Getty Images
KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI via Getty Images
There has never been a true nationwide general strike in the United States, although a series of post-World War II work stoppages, remembered as the “great strike wave of 1946,” mobilized five million American workers demanding leaders to address economic instability and unsustainable working conditions.
Congress later cracked down with the Taft-Hartley Act, legislation banning a wide range of union tactics, including calling for political strikes. The 1947 law remains in force, despite repeated attempts to repeal it.
While the Taft-Hartley restrictions make it nearly impossible for unions to orchestrate anything resembling a national general strike, it does not dictate how activists and grassroots coalitions could organize, as long as those efforts do not include help from legally recognized unions.
Johnson’s call to action made clear that he was not afraid to remain in Trump’s crosshairs, weeks after the president demanded that he be jailed in a post on Truth Social.
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More than 2,700 No Kings rallies took place across the United States on Saturday. According to organizers, nearly 7 million Americans attended the events.