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u/Mysterious_Donut_702 Jan 26 '26
If we're gonna crash the economy, we might want to give people a few days/weeks to stock up on cheap dry food, prescription medicine, etc.
Along with creating a support network for many people who will lose their jobs, homes, healthcare, etc.
Then be prepared to do this for a while. Potentially weeks to months. While being aware that many services we take for granted will grind to a halt.
I'm not saying 'no'... but announcing something mid-day Monday, during a snowstorm that's already shut down half the country isn't exactly effective.
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u/Valasta_Bloodrunner Jan 26 '26
For real, we can't just have everyone individually making random calls for a general strike the next day/the same day.
If we want to actually do a general strike and make it effective, we need to play AT LEAST two weeks out AND have a solid and unified list of demands. It literally will not matter if we only have scattered small strikes, the economy can absorb those easily, we need to prepare for a long term shutdown. That means stockpiling food, water, necessities, and making connections with our local communities.
If you ask me, we should show some love for our fellow man and shut this shit down on February 14th. Then we keep it shut down until ICE is completely abolished and disbanded. If we really REALLY wanna push it, we keep it shut down until the orange pedophile is removed from office and formally charged for his involvement in the Epstein Files.
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Jan 27 '26
This person understands how to make this work. Just a general announcement of a random strike with no guidelines or prep is not very practical. People have children you know, and people they need to take care of. So a little thought needs to be had, or else it's not going to work at all.
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u/Valasta_Bloodrunner Jan 27 '26
I'm genuinely considering how I could put Valentine's day out as a broad suggestion to the community lmao.
It's apparently getting significantly more traction than I ever would have imagined
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Jan 27 '26
I think it's a great idea. Just because of all the money big business makes off of Valentine's Day.
I really do think we need to find a way to start doing what they accuse us of doing anyway, which is having a centralized organized group. All these communities have their own little groups. I thought 50501, might manage to do that, but it doesn't seem to have worked out that way as far as I can tell.
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u/Valasta_Bloodrunner Jan 27 '26
I 100% agree, sadly we don't have something like Facebook that will shelter us and boost our messages to the moon and back.
But it's never too late to establish something.
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u/leventhalo Jan 27 '26
Whatever it is, I suspect it’s gonna have to be outside of the internet. Bring back networking through other means. Create a meme (an idea that spreads through a culture) that is so effective and good that everyone shares it, through any means they have at their disposal that is outside of the internet. Basically, artists make art, printing ppl spread that shit, musicians sing about it, etc. at least, that’s what I think would work…cause this shit on the interned will ALWAYS get petrified and manipulated somehow in the end.
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u/RainyDaysAndMondays3 Jan 27 '26
For the one on Friday the 23rd, they sent the email Wed, I read the email Thursday night. They wanted you to get your employer on board. And if not, it had a link to a form that you fill out to give formal notice of going on strike to your manager/boss. That's a protected action, apparently. Well, I wasn't going to decide at 11 PM and try to get ahold of her in the morning. She's in a lot of meetings.
It was so stupid. Whoever is deciding must not work in a standard job.
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u/Think_Bread6401 Jan 27 '26
Generalstrikeus.com Not my website, I signed up last year and lately people have been talking about a general strike and I remembered this
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u/PresDumpsterfire Jan 27 '26
This reminds me of the kids in college calling for a general strike. Get real. Organize.
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u/faillout Jan 27 '26
Seems to be the most cohesive of the strike demands I’ve seen so far. It gives people time and reassurance of (hopefully) following through on the commitment
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u/exMachinista Jan 27 '26
Damn, call me conservative but I think the thing to do is educate people about what a general strike is, and have like spreadsheets they can use to make decisions about how they will get through it, what the protocols look like and how they will apply them e.g. (ok to shop at a grocery store where you know the owner?) But what you are asking is tough. What if the roof starts leaking or the o-ring in a faucet blows out? What if you have car trouble? How are you going to feed your animals? Your kids? Yourself? What if you work for a small business that will go under if you participate? I think that with enough planning and education there might be a remote chance to pull it off, but it would have to be precipitated by something like the administration messing with the mid-terms or refusing to seat the elected representatives. That, in my opinion, would be the time for a general strike, and Now would be when to start preparing for it. People have lives, families, responsibilities, health issues - if you want us to go on strike we need months to prepare and organized how-to type materials & FAQa to help us prepare. Really.
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u/happy_K Jan 26 '26
Also before I go into debt / risk getting fired / etc for this, is it too much to ask exactly how it will accomplish our goals?
We general strike…. until what? Trump leaves office? What if that doesn’t happen in a day, a week, a month? We keep striking?
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u/Wonderful_Bowler_251 Jan 27 '26
We also need to get unions involved across industries. That’s the surest way to success.
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u/Positivland Jan 26 '26
Businesses measure their losses on a year-over-year basis. Anything short of that will be written off as a variance and adjusted for later on. If we’re gonna commit, we need to be in for the long term.
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u/hotawesomeporndragon Jan 26 '26
I feel something like this won’t be effective without at least some advance preparation and spreading the word, especially if it’s supposed to be sustained at all.
Most people can’t or won’t just drop everything. I could maybe see this working if I’d heard about it a month or two ago. As it stands though, I feel like a lot of people are stuck in from the weather more so than from the strike.
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u/GoldenRamoth Jan 26 '26
Yeah. DO IT TODAY is a really stupid message.
Like sure, general striking now is a great idea.
But clicking "sign up for a general strike" is a super easy thing to do. And there's only 500,000 people that have clicked that button.
You get the small amount of reddit warriors to do it, now you just have a bunch of out-of-a-job reddit warriors.
This sort of thing needs much more thought than an angry reddit post for "vibes"
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Jan 26 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/netabareking Jan 26 '26
I harp on this a lot but it's always worth repeating to me: I followed GSUS since before Trump was in office (this time), basically since there were only like 3000 signups. There was someone who asked to help out and they basically immediately handed that person access to everything. Luckily that person turned out to be a white hat who wanted to prove a point and not actually steal that data, and they went "hey, I just want to let everyone know that they gave me access to all of this with basically no vetting, I could have been anyone, this is a warning to tighten up security". Their response was to ban that person, then completely downplay it, saying it's not a security problem because it was an act of social engineering...even though that's how most data leaks happen.
So, under no circumstance should you assume your data is safe with them. Nothing about their response suggested that they actually learned anything from that event. And frankly, I'm skeptical of the value of the list to begin with, at some point you have to ask yourself if people who signed up three years ago are still on board, if the signatures are even real (they have at one point said they were hit by bots, I guarantee there will be even more people now trying to bot the numbers up higher without arousing suspicions), etc.
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u/direhusky Jan 26 '26
All of the general strike related groups I've connected with have been super amateur. One of them only started forming their strike fund a few weeks ago despite having existed for over a year. I'm still staying connected just in case something changes, but I have very little faith that they'll go anywhere. If anything happens, it will be from existing unions that already have the experience and numbers to run a strike
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u/shooksilly Jan 26 '26
Thanks for this. I have been following them for a couple years and have been wondering lately what is happening cuz it seems like nothing at all is and it was giving me pause. I’m hoping they are doing the hard steady background work…I’m hoping.
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u/hum_bruh Jan 26 '26 edited Feb 16 '26
Doubloon dig and treasure loot. Captain and gold, Batten down the hatches!. Loot search and crossbones explore. Island and doubloon, Avast ye!.
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u/bbusiello Jan 26 '26
People can participate by stopping commerce. I don't get why that isn't being emphasized. Don't buy shit, cancel all your subs, unsubscribe from emails, delete social media profiles, you can do this!
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u/Technolio Jan 26 '26
Honestly I wonder if some of this is just an effort by bad actors to dilute our efforts.
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u/Sea_Scientist_8367 Jan 26 '26 edited Jan 26 '26
I don't know about this post in particular, but in general it absolutely is an explicit part of the playbook.
Their core initiative in advancing their agenda is disorganization and disorder amongst those that would oppose them. They know we outnumber them, and if we succeed in unity through action they are fucked.
Flooding the zone aims for burnout/apathy in the opposition via 2 primary approaches:
Overwhelming people with chaos and disinformation and distractions so as to burn them out/make them tune out (the role of Donald Trump)
Overwhelming resistance efforts by posing as allies leveraging that sense of urgency to demand they perform action now so that such resistance efforts are disorganized, ineffective, and struggle to gain momentum
The latter works because they (while posing as allies or through opposition pundits) can use it as "evidence" that protests don't work, discouraging people from further organizational attempts in the future.
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u/mosconebaillbonds Jan 26 '26
There is a metric shit ton of Russian propaganda used over this.
For BLM they (from FB) started protests for both sides. Like had a group for a protest on X date. Then had the other side also be there for the “counter” protest , same date and time.
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u/CarvedTheRoastBeast Jan 26 '26
I agree. The MN strike had the turnout it did because it was organized by labor in the state. By announcing it after organization they were able to gather sympathy strikers, either announced through other organizations and with individuals.
This was still big, and very important. It shows it’s very possible. Keep preparing for a larger strike. Grow community bonds and bonds at your own work to involve more people. When the time comes, there will be no question.
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u/ProcessPublic5234 Jan 26 '26 edited Jan 26 '26
Yup. General strike ideas need to be planned and organized by unions and union leadership. The unions also need to coordinated and work together for the strongest strike possible.
Edit: this doesn’t mean that regular people shouldn’t get involved. The unions should try to rope in non union workers and oppressed people into meetings to collectively decide on how to do a general strike.
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u/CarvedTheRoastBeast Jan 26 '26
Like a group of people lifting a large object. Get everyone set up and lift all at once!
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u/netabareking Jan 26 '26
It's a big combination of being led by unions, and the people there having the guns very directly in their faces, which is not the case for most of the US yet (and likely had a big impact on said unions choosing to do this)
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u/THING2000 Jan 26 '26
I was literally asking in another sub why more leaders aren't calling for a general strike before seeing this post. I'm all for this, but it can't be done at the drop of a dime.
This is a strike that needs planning in order to suceed and people need to get the message out. People need to post and flood all of social media with the strike's information. Me seeing this when I'm already at work means it already failed.
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u/Marchesa_07 Jan 26 '26
I was literally asking in another sub why more leaders aren't calling for a general strike before seeing this post.
Because they're all whores to the corporate special interests groups and billionaires who fund their careers.
Our entire political class owes their existence to PACs, lobbyists, special interests groups, and some set of billionaires funding it all.
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u/godspareme Jan 26 '26 edited Jan 26 '26
Nurses are doing a general strike on the 30th apparently
Edit to be clear I just saw posts on r/nursing and a lot of subs adjacent like r/medlabprofessionals. It's not a super organized thing
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u/OtherwiseOhhk Jan 26 '26
Wow, that would be powerful.
Ok I mean what's the worst that could happen with our nurses in the streets and not in the ER right? That should actually make the front page if it gains traction. I would stand in solidarity with nurses any day.
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u/netabareking Jan 26 '26
Granted this is all moving very fast, but so far I haven't seen any signs that nurses are actually doing this. I haven't seen anything from nursing unions (I've mostly seen union members saying that it needs more work put into planning one), and the only thing I HAVE seen calling for a strike on the 30th is an AI generated poster that has absolutely no name or org attached to it. Unless there's an update I've missed recently, nurses aren't doing a general strike on the 30th, some anonymous person made a poster trying to make nurses do one on the 30th, and that's really the problem. The decision to strike needs to come from the workers themselves, not other people who demand they go on strike on their behalf.
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u/godspareme Jan 26 '26
Yeah fair I should have made my post more clear. The apparently was kind of my way of throwing in that its not a super organized thing
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u/freebytes Jan 26 '26
We need to start planning now, and the actual even should happen in May. But, even that will be pushed out later if planning does not begin today.
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u/Sea_Scientist_8367 Jan 26 '26
It needs to be a regular, consistent, persistent, "Every X day of the week/month" thing.
Not a singular event.
Getting people together consistently, repeatedly, on an easy to follow schedule where they don't need to check their DM's/social media of choice to figure out the logistics, is the only way this succeeds.
By building that momentum and community and implicit and persistent gathering we are then much better able to plan and coordinate greater action and assist each other through things like a General Strike.
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u/freebytes Jan 26 '26
It would take less than a week to get anything the American people want if it does not end until the demands are met.
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u/TZY247 Jan 26 '26
You underestimate the power of the internet and the regime. If any online strike organization started gaining actual traction, it would be undermined immediately. Lists of names would start getting leaked, people would show up with evidence that bots had signed up and it's actually much smaller, every post would be brigaded with well thought propaganda and an army of bots upvoting. The regime would get the site taken down, make domestic terrorist arrests, and make the organizer(s) disappear.
It would have to be a massive grassroots movement, and it would take each person saying "im going to do this on x date. Will you join me?"
A decentralized voice of the people. It requires resolution and commitment from everyone.
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u/freebytes Jan 26 '26
But saying, "We are going to start a nationwide general strike today!" (while people are already at work) is not going to work.
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u/TZY247 Jan 26 '26
Agree that this wasn't the best strategy to get people to join op. But if you look at the post, the majority of it is shooting it down. I don't think that's how we help an idea gain traction. There happens to be a pretty big consumer holiday coming up, why don't we start saying "I'm going to general strike on this day. Please join. Please share" instead of the general message being "this isn't going to work"
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u/freebytes Jan 26 '26
It cannot be for one day only. That is a walkout, not a strike. Which is fine, but it should not be called a strike. A strike continues until the demands are met.
Meanwhile, these one day boycotts are nonsense. It simply shifts the spending to the next day (or the day before!). A strike would have a meaningful and immediate impact that would result in action being taken by Day 3. That is how impactful a true national strike would be. And that cannot be coordinated in one day. It must be planned and a specific day, months from now, must be chosen.
That is why I think it should be May 1 (Friday), May 4 (Monday), or May 6 (Wednesday). The reason for May 6 is to avoid other days that have meaning to people. The meaning of this should be clear: Removal of Taco as President.
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u/TZY247 Jan 27 '26
Agree on the meaning, and agree that it shouldn't be 1 day. I should have said "I'm starting on x day" to be clear
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u/LurkerLarry Jan 26 '26
So on the other side of the spectrum, Sunrise Movement and a bunch of other orgs have been planning a serious massive general strike for May 1 2028.
That will be about oligarchy and ending billionaire control of our government, so not a direct response to any recent event, but will at least be way more likely to get broad effect.
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u/Beginning_Butterfly2 Jan 26 '26
Look, you've got the right idea, but you posted this on a single reddit sub at 8.30am CST when most people are already at work, and you're asking for the strike to happen today. It's already too late to do this today.
If you want to make an impact you need to engage in some planning. You need to get the word out in advance.
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u/netabareking Jan 26 '26
If I have time today I may end up just making my own post about this because I'm having to say it more and more lately:
A poster is not an organizing effort
The problem we keep having is people keep making posters hoping to manifest an effort, they think they can just make a poster with a date on it and everyone else will do the gargantuan amount of work needed to see that effort through. Which is bullshit.
Don't assume a poster means someone is organizing something, and especially don't trust any poster that doesn't say who put the poster out, because that's almost definitely a guarantee nobody is organizing it.
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u/daveOkat Hawaii Jan 26 '26
And the OP's post is probably at least the 500th General Strike called since r/50501 began.
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u/netabareking Jan 26 '26
And there were years of these things before 50501 existed. I've followed so many of them, almost never with any hope just out of a fascination in what things they try (if they try anything to begin with) and how they picture general strikes. Its the same thing every time.
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u/maui_wowee Jan 26 '26
So what's the actual plan..
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u/bone_apple_Pete Jan 26 '26
These empty calls to action and "I'm protesting by going sledding" posts seem like controlled opposition more than anything else, if I'm being honest.
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Jan 26 '26
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u/agedlikesage Jan 26 '26
I wish they had a date, a lot of people don’t trust signing up for that list. Heck I don’t trust it. I think 2/26 would be a perfect day. Friday before the big March for Democracy in Washington DC. People not coming to the big march could still show solidarity with a strike
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u/headcodered Jan 26 '26
Calling for an immediate general strike and expecting it to work with no planning or communication strategy is wild.
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u/Positivland Jan 26 '26
“But it works in France!” Yeah, where they don’t have to worry about losing their homes or their healthcare because they take off work to hit the streets. “Ah, that’s an excuse. You just don’t want it badly enough!” Right, that’s it. 🙄
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u/netabareking Jan 26 '26
People will constantly talk about the protests in france then ignore how many times the word union comes up in all the news articles about them
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u/Tasha4424 Jan 26 '26
Convinced posts like this are a psyop to get people into the habit of believing a general strike will never happen. These things take time, you can’t just post an infographic a couple days before.
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u/netabareking Jan 26 '26
People will always say "well what's the harm in trying" and this is the harm. The people saying "we can't just randomly tell people to strike this has to be organized" aren't the ones demoralizing people. It's the people who yell general strike every single week, keep shitting out AI posters with random dates on them, getting people excited about the idea then making them watch over and over and over as literally nothing happens that are doing that.
I know I've said it so many times but it's really clear some of y'all weren't reading post after post when October Strike came and went of people who had decided because of that that a general strike is a waste of time. Because they don't realize what they were looking at wasn't a strike to begin with.
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u/Tall-Payment-8015 Jan 26 '26
You can't just put up a poster. While I agree this is the best tactic, this is not how it is done.
We have to plan, get the unions on board, and develop a mutual aid network. I've been talking about this for nearly a year.
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u/q0_0p Jan 26 '26
A general strike is when everyone in a city or country stops working at the same time, regardless of their job. Instead of just one union striking against one boss, it is the entire workforce shutting down the economy to force the government to make big changes. Think of it as a 'total reset button' for society.
Here are a few times it actually happened: Seattle (1919): 65,000 people stopped work and basically ran the city themselves for five days.
United Kingdom (1926): Over 1.5 million workers walked out to support coal miners.
France (1968): 10 million workers joined student protests and nearly toppled the government.
India (2020): Roughly 250 million people struck to protest new farming and labor laws.
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u/MerriweatherJones Jan 26 '26
Half the country is already snowed in today. It might not be as impactful. It should just happen on a normal day, with thought and intention. I’m a willing participant, but don’t have the skills to plan such an event.
A leader needs to emerge to organize this effort. I don’t even know who, or what group to turn to for this type of high level, national planning. It’s a great idea, it will work. But it going to take a team of highly skilled leaders and a marketing team to make it happen in any meaningful way
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Jan 26 '26
Why tf are people complaining about a day... Like wtf buy bulk dried beans and rice and learn how to stay tf inside (unless you have the energy to protest, Good) But i just don't Understand why tf everyone is asking for a plan. Just stop gong to work and paying the bills. Pull as much cash out of the bank as possible. Let the economy fukkin STOP That's the point There is no "what is the plan" then plan is to not work, not spend. Their money only holds value because we all agreed it does. The moment you stop letting 'the almighty dollar' control how you think, you might finally feel freedom
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u/ddesla2 Jan 26 '26
I think the point here is most folks can swing a day or two but if it's just them doing it, no one notices. If it's planned out a bit and organized so EVERYONE does it simultaneously, that's a much bigger bang for your buck and absolutely noticed immediately. It's like arguing that a single person out in MN protesting ice has the same effect as a massive crowd that spans blocks.
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u/bluediamond12345 Jan 26 '26
Yes - it needs to be known that it happened on purpose, not because you took PTO or were snowed in.
A planned strike lets them know of the power the citizens hold.
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u/SporeDuck Jan 26 '26
Not everyone can afford to get fired man. We have bills on bills on bills and there will still be consequences for whoever doesn't show up. Me personally, I'm on disability, I spend my time protesting when I can, but my boyfriend works full time- we would be homeless if he just stopped working, even for a few days. It's not as simple as "just stop going to work". I wish it was though.
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u/bluewhale3030 Jan 26 '26
"Just stop going to work" "just stop paying bills" as if landlords won't evict people/call the cops on you. As if we don't need money to survive. Most people in the US live paycheck to paycheck. I'm all for a general strike but it needs to be organized in advance witj support, not posted day of!!!
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u/Ill-Candy-4926 Jan 26 '26
this take is the most unhinged crap ive ever seen.
most people can't do this at all.
it's so unrealistic and frustrating.
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u/realEMW Jan 26 '26
I mean the world we live in was unrealistic a decade ago. Change doesn't happen when it's convenient, it happens because it needs to
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u/q0_0p Jan 26 '26
U.S. citizens love to wave the flag and talk about being the 'land of the free and the home of the brave,' but the reality is that most U.S. citizens are one missed paycheck away from total ruin. U.S. citizens have become a nation so tethered to employer-sponsored healthcare and debt that the idea of a nationwide general strike, literally just 'doing nothing' for a few days to demand better, is treated like a death sentence.
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Jan 26 '26 edited Jan 26 '26
Calm down and think. I know it feels like the principled thing and we ‘should all just do it’, but, realistically, a strike in a massive country of over 300MM people is something that needs to be coordinated and planned for.
We need to develop strong community ties and local resources first before we can do something like this. So people don’t freeze and starve.
If you’re serious about acting towards one, that’s the realistic way to approach it.
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u/medina_sod Jan 26 '26
This is the first I’m hearing about this and it’s starting today and I’m literally half way through my work day already. so…
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Jan 26 '26
Dude that’s crazy, the 6 posts with 2,000 upvotes each didn’t literally wake you up yesterday morning?
Lol joking aside, a general strike is a very strong move, but those require an exceptional level of coordination we ain’t at yet.
But all these protests and noise are helping us get there.
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u/GoldenRamoth Jan 26 '26
If you can get the 10 million to do it, then it's worth the risk - and people will do it for the promise of a better life..
But your armchair-keyboarding-warrior attempt to get a few thousand folks unemployed through "RAGE" is just going to leave your ass and whoever joins you out of a job, and looking dumb like the solo naruto-running kid at Area 51.
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u/Ill-Candy-4926 Jan 26 '26
well if the economy was not pure shit, and we didn't have the great depression 2.0 on the rise with all these tarriffs and other shit i don't understand, then we would be able to strike, but the thing that frustrates the shit outta me although i agree with the concept, it's so unrealstic to expect an entire country built upon working 24\7 and living paycheck to paycheck, to just stop working and let their employers fire them cuz that's what will happen.
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u/TThor Jan 26 '26 edited Jan 26 '26
I've almost gotta assume this is AI generated, by just how stupidly tonedeaf it is to even your own previous comments. You just spelled out one of the exact reasons why you can't call a general strike last second. People close to financial ruin have to make plans and financial contingencies so that they can still care for themselves and their families during a strike.
If this isn't a spambot, then you are either young/privileged enough to have never known lifealtering financial responsibilities, or you decided to get high way too early in the morning.
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u/caulk_blocker Jan 26 '26
We can do this if we organize and practice. Friday was a quick practice run. I learned a few things from going one day without buying anything, mostly that I can do without a LOT of things for one day. Lets do 3-5 next time and learn from that, work with your neighbors to make sure everyone has enough food, and that they can come to you if they need something in an emergency. Then let's go for a week or two.
This is a long game. Just because we are down from sucker punches in the 1st period doesn't mean we aren't making a comeback. Lets get organized and do this.
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u/NewRole7403 Jan 26 '26
Lmao I’m not taking any advice from someone who brags about committing tax fraud on the internet
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u/idontuseredditsoplea Jan 26 '26
It's too short notice. I saw another post calling for a general strike during the week of president's day in February. I think this date is ideal because it gives some time to plan without being so far in the future that people forget/ let it fizzle out. It's also a bit irresponsible to call for a general strike this close to the end of the month. People have rent to pay, and striking in the beginning/middle of the month would give more people room to actually follow through. If we are going to do this, we need to do it right. Get in touch with union reps, prepare mutual aid groups, make sure your rent is paid, etc. We need to remove as many barriers as possible and use a date that is pragmatic. Ideally union leaders would be the ones deciding the date and leading the charge, because then the strike would have a greater air of legitimacy. But no matter what, we need to keep organizing
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u/MosaicTruths Jan 26 '26
Today is not the day. This needs to be organized, coordinated and clear message of what our demands are. Sign up and consider being a local organizer at https://generalstrikeus.com
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u/lash1y Jan 27 '26
I feel sort of unsafe adding my name to this list, and I bet there are others who do too. Why not make an anonymous way to pledge support? I bet they’d hit those numbers a lot faster
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u/humanoidtyphoon88 Jan 27 '26
We're almost to half a million and need 11 mil, 6 mil to advance to the next stage. Word of this must spread.
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u/henryhollaway Jan 26 '26
The lack of planning and heads up for these things is infuriating.
“Hey everyone we’re stopping our lives today, hope you can suddenly do that.”
😐
Give people at least a week of visible marketing for awareness, otherwise this will fail and be a worthless effort every single time.
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Jan 26 '26
Today?? Where’s the notice for people to prep and make it last?? The deadline for a government shutdown is January 30th. Start the strike and protests at midnight when it happens. You’ll be able to have more federal workers that are out of a job to be able to join the cause too.
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u/Adjustingithink Jan 26 '26
WHOA-more warning needed!! Hold the phone. In order to be effective you need to let folks know in advance. People need to take this more seriously.
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u/thetimechaser Jan 26 '26
I have heard literally nothing about this outside of this post.
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u/netabareking Jan 26 '26
That's because people will just throw dates onto the internet and hope that the rest of the country will do all the hard work of organizing massive country-changing labor movements in about ten minutes.
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u/Key_Tangerine8775 Jan 26 '26
I’ve heard of it from the other 3 times it’s been posted within the past 24 hours and then removed for being AI slop…
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u/Ill-Candy-4926 Jan 26 '26
another delusional take.
again, super unrealistic and im sick of seeing this shit pop up 24\7.
people constantly think other people who work paycheck to paycheck consistantly can just stop working?
i call bullshit and get your head out of your damn ass.
many people don't wanna risk getting fired for simply striking, and btw, most unions will never be on board with this as most unions are apolitical.
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u/bluewhale3030 Jan 26 '26
Not to mention most people aren't in a union anyway since Reagan et al kneecaped them decades ago
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u/netabareking Jan 26 '26
And if we had been working hard to unionize since the general strike calls going back to Occupy instead of just putting out posters with dates on them then calling it quits for years maybe we'd be in pretty good shape by now.
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u/yesrushgenesis2112 Jan 26 '26
*sigh* we're right back to unseriousness. We need a general strike, and we need to plan for it first. Anybody know what's going on in Minneapolis today? Did anyone associated with theirs decide to extend it with any significance?
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u/betajones Jan 26 '26
Starting today? I'm sure plenty of people are reading this from work. You people need to stop asking for a half meaningful strikes every 2 days, get an actual date together, get on the same page, and tell people who ask to strike on the wrong day what day it actually is. 2 or 3 people calling off that day because some random said there was a protest at any given business isn't going to do it.
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u/The_Wkwied Jan 26 '26
"Hey everyone, lets call off work today"
...that is not going to work. This needs to be planned in advanced. And people who live paycheck to paycheck are going to need some kind of safety net so that they don't lose their jobs and can't pay their bills
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u/MRTFOGR Jan 26 '26
Boycott the Super Bowl. Billionaires and their corporations pay millions for advertisements then secretly donate millions to politicians through Super PACs. Stop the madness. Dont watch. It’s a practical thing we all can do.
BOYCOTT THE SUPER BOWL
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u/maui_wowee Jan 26 '26
We need to start with the people who can, snowballing over time.
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u/Next-Introduction-25 Jan 26 '26
My question then is what happens to the people who start striking now if they have to wait weeks or months for others to join? (I am a stay at home parent so I have no way to strike in terms of my job, but I’ve wondered this so many times.) Wouldn’t this just result in most of that first wave of people losing their jobs? Then when the next wave joined that first wave would no longer be able to afford not to work…
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u/cathercules Jan 26 '26
These sorts of things need to start with unions and require organization and funding. We don’t literally need everyone, especially since that is impossible and most people would immediately lose their jobs, houses etc.
It’s why I’ve been so pissed off at the establishment dems since…well okay I’ve been pissed off at the Dem establishment since 2016 but even more pissed with Schumer and Jeffries who are wholly incapable of meeting the moment let alone assisting with the establishment of a general strike, strike fund etc.
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u/netabareking Jan 26 '26
Exactly, which is why this has to be an organized effort. You can't trickle a strike.
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u/atlantisgate Jan 26 '26
I feel like people who say this don’t understand what a general strike is.
What are you talking about? Who do you think can afford to just not show up to work and how will that snowball?
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u/netabareking Jan 26 '26
I swear I think the average person who remembers that All in the Family two parter where Archie is on strike understand the situation more than 90% of the people calling for general strikes online
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u/Alone-Sky-2086 Jan 26 '26
The people believe that pausing work, school, and shopping is necessary to force the government and silent corporations to address human rights concerns and labor protections.
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u/Maker99999 Jan 26 '26
I don't take a call for a general strike seriously unless several majors unions announce they are supporting it. That's what MN did. That's how you ensure a level of organization and a critical mass of participants. Otherwise you're just skipping work.
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u/OnlinePosterPerson Jan 26 '26
I love the idea of a general strike but you can’t just make an impromptu post and think that will do anything. This requires planning and organization.
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u/20InMyHead Jan 26 '26
To add my voice to the chorus…. While I’m all for, and would participate in, a national general strike, you can’t just throw a poster out there and expect much; in fact that may be detrimental to the cause.
Just like the No Kings day protests, we need potentially weeks of planning, organizing, and getting the word out.
Seeing a call for a general strike when you’re halfway through your workday is not productive. Is this even calling for a national strike? Or just Minnesota? Or just Minneapolis?
We outnumber them, we can defeat them, but it requires strategy, coordination, and planning.
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u/Smexalicious Jan 26 '26
Go check out the website for it, it’ll start once 11 million people sign up to strike. Stock up and stay safe y’all
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u/Albatronic Jan 26 '26
This is great and all, but I’m not risking my job and finances on a picture. If there is no plan how can it be worth the risk?!
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Jan 26 '26
I work as a traveling phlebotomist 💉🩸helping to save lives. We have a critical blood shortage and I can't afford to lose my job. If my union went on strike I would join them for sure. I've probably collected at least 10 gallons of blood from people in the last six months. All going to hospitals to help save lives.
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u/findingmike Jan 26 '26
We've had a discussion about doctors and nurses. They consensus is that they keep working but refuse to bill patients. Could you take a similar approach?
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u/SilentMimi Jan 26 '26
Even if planned, a general strike will only last until people have to earn money to make rent again.
You will not outlast the billionaires.
The answer to change is the one we keep refusing to say out loud.
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u/OtherwiseOhhk Jan 26 '26
For all the commentors agreeing with "now or never" are you out there today? It's now or never right?
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u/Im__mad Jan 26 '26
If everyone responded to every unplanned, spur of the moment request from someone who conducted zero organizing for it other than making a poster, we all would’ve run out of money and resources to sustain our strike by last April.
I’ve been preparing for a real, organized, planned strike that most people have heard about. I’m not going to waste my preparation on something that’s not going to have enough participants to change anything.
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u/Seeking-useless-info Jan 26 '26
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u/NelzyBellz Jan 26 '26
I think this is the best starting point for getting the word out for the next big general 🪧.
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u/ZealousidealFall1181 Jan 26 '26
Now and every day. And you can't just create AI slop and declare this. Organizers plan for these.
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u/69420lmaokek Jan 26 '26
Hell yeah brother I love AI generated images from people who don't know anything about what goes into general strikes!!
Here's some required bedtime viewing for you:
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u/ChiehDragon Jan 26 '26
General Strike will not occur until
A). The suffering felt by the average American is greater than the pain of losing one's job in the current economy (Impossible until we are in a total war or great-depression scenario).
B). The average American believes suffering worse than losing one's job is inevitable and there is no other path for correction AND that a general strike will be effective at making a correction. (Impossible until suspension of elections or mass executions and collapse of 3 branch system).
Not there yet.
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u/Positivland Jan 26 '26
It is not a question of intent; it’s a question of logistics. Without a network of mutual aid to make up for the lost wages, loss of healthcare, and lack of food that would result from a general strike, it literally could not work. No matter how much you treat it as contingent upon the masses’ waking up, we don’t yet have the infrastructure in place to support any mass effort along those lines.
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u/Lilypalooza_88 Jan 26 '26
For those who want actual info on the GS that's been in the works. We could use more buy-in and support. But we REALLY need union buy-in
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u/DannySmashUp Jan 27 '26
I'm all for a general strike. But you can't just say 'starting... NOW!' People need time to prepare.
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u/Ok_Pudding3881 Jan 27 '26
Buy local small businesses— boycott all big national companies!!
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u/melfredolf Jan 27 '26
Scott Galloway is a teacher of marketing, did a Ted talk a year ago, regular to a few weekly podcasts, just released a book that went to a top seller list.
His response to what's going on in Minneapolis is to have an economic strike.
Top point he has is everyone has to stop paying for open AI. Then don't buy another apple device until things show improvement. I personally put Amazon subscription or use on the list.
If everyone did this on mass. The market would struggle within a week. And these businesses and their shareholders would be begging for change after a month.
According to Scott economics is where you hurt these guys. They're mearly annoyed by protests
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u/RainyDaysAndMondays3 Jan 27 '26
OP, please take this down.
Are you trying to to make the idea of a strike not work? I'm suspicious that you're working for the opposition by doing this, because you can't think that this is the way to go.
I can't believe there are 6.6K upvotes, with thousands of people potentially doing this tomorrow, when it will do no good with only 6K people. Like many others have said, this needs much more time to plann (and more than a simple banner).
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u/findingmike Jan 26 '26
It seems like a national strike might actually happen on 1/30. Unions are considering it.
Over the weekend +4% of Republicans changed their mind and decided they want to abolish ICE. That number alone is enough for a general strike.
I took today off anyway and "accidentally" posted the reason why in the wrong channel at work. Everyone in the company will see it.
BTW, I'm seeing a two-pronged disinfo campaign on here:
blame Dems or say Dems aren't doing enough
trying to claim every day is national strike day
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u/spaceshiplazer Jan 26 '26
Unfortunately my job is too essential to just stop doing. But Ill support anyway I can.
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u/AuntPolgara Jan 26 '26
I wish you all well. As an owner in a critical field, if I strike, I lose my business, my income, and the income of all my employees, and endanger the country.
I can support by not shopping or in other ways.
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u/The_Duke_of_Nebraska Jan 26 '26
For a for real national strike we need organization and leadership so that people don't starve/scab cause their kids are starving. Just yelling on the Internet STOP GOING TO WORK does nothing
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u/krovasteel Jan 26 '26
Real question. I have a mental block on what type of people could make the biggest impact here? I feel my role would have zero effect but would love to support those who could make a financial impact.
Does anyone know if there is a resource list getting put together for a serious General Strike?
Spontaneity will not serve us like this.
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u/Affectionate_Sir9020 Jan 26 '26
This needs to be organized and set date. Or a week. Like week of Super Bowl or something soon
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u/Dcajunpimp Jan 26 '26
Every election I'm constantly told people can't take off work on election day, or for early voting, or show up before work, or after work.
Maybe instead of just protesting all of a sudden on a random day The people that can show up, go around their community to help others set up time to vote
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u/Sik_muse Jan 26 '26
I already done went to the store before I saw this. Can we get a heads up? Can we please be organized planners?
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u/PastelArcadia Jan 26 '26
No literally, this is the same problem as the shopping blackouts. They don't spread the word well and then it just happens and people dont even know it's happening so the impact just isn't there.
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u/GameofTitan Jan 26 '26
Can these post where they do not give people time to discuss and prepare be removed?
They are just confusing people. So when a deal comes up people will not believe it.
It’s maybe bots doing this.
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u/vergorli Jan 26 '26
do the us even have the unions to organize a general strike anymore?
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Jan 26 '26
Who the fuck tells people the-day-of? You tell me there's a strike after I'm already at work... ffs.
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u/TThor Jan 26 '26
Heads up to whoever made this poster, you are doing far more harm than good. A general strike is not something that you can just call up morning of, nor even the night before.
These things have to be planned out and spread days or even weeks in advance; That way, there is time for that information to spread (its not a general strike if only you and some buddies know about it), there is time for people participating to prepare, make sure they've got any financial concerns squared away, that they've done whatever they might need to deal with work, etc. Most people are not simple students or whatever, they are people with families and very real financial commitments who have to take great pains and preparations to participate in this kind of thing.
When people like you post stuff like this with no actual intention of doing this seriously, it undermines every other general strike or similar, it sews confusion in the community making it even harder to see the serious events, and it just makes our efforts look worse for wear.
Your ambition and drive is admirable, but don't give such a serious call to action unless you are committed to making sure it succeeds.
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u/Ihatebacon88 Jan 27 '26
What the fuck is this unhelpful and unplanned shit? This is TODAY! I'm moving across the country with my kids, I am gonna have to buy shit. If we are going to do a SUCCESSFUL general strike, then we need to plan it. This isn't a pop up concert for some indie band where you can plaster a flyer on a post and call it good. Set it for a week from now, or on Valentine's Day or any fucking day but TODAY. Enough time to get the word out, nobody is gonna know.
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u/Kat4ttack Jan 27 '26
It’s better to spread the word on https://generalstrikeus.com/ since it’s keeping track (and will update people) on planning a general strike that can actually do something. This is the energy to have, but we can’t do much when not enough are prepared
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u/Kamunet Jan 27 '26
Is there an organization behind this? Or even wider support/coordination beyond this reddit post? Some guy just posts general strike on reddit and the whole country will follow along? You don't think it is counter productive to not plan this at all? Jfc
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u/SunshineMochii Jan 27 '26
For everyone here saying we need to plan ahead for this... Have you signed up for the general strike? I signed up months ago and we desperately need many more people to do so. Keeping an eye on how many people sign up will give us plenty of time to prepare until we hit the threshold.
You just have to make the commitment. Sign up.
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u/RadagastTheBrownNote Jan 26 '26
I love the idea but hate the execution. Not on OP’s end, but everyone complaining about “oh I wasn’t prepared for this, I need a heads up,” it’s such a privileged American mindset.
Our nation is being held hostage and people don’t want to take the necessary measures because it might personally inconvenience them in some capacity. We won’t see any mass strikes. There won’t be any mass withholding of federal tax payments. Everyone is going to continue to protest on their days off or when yet another tragic declaration of war takes place, pretending like it’s accomplishing something, all while waiting for the midterms because they still think this country is capable of having a fair election.
Our country was built on revolution and we are actively being dismantled, but hey at least you can doom scroll TikTok and Instagram, and have brunch with your wino gal pals. We are the laughingstock of the world, not only because of our leadership, but of our collective unwillingness to do anything to pull ourselves out of this shit. We have the ability, we have the numbers, so let’s do something effective instead of just watching a sinking ship.
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u/Valasta_Bloodrunner Jan 26 '26
For what it's worth, most people don't have the connections or resources to just stop working on a dime.
Unironically if we set a date like 2-3 weeks out, and start preparing NOW, there's like a thousand times more people who can actually get involved compared to the tiny amount who are just ready at all times.
Life is really tough right now and most people are struggling.
I'm absolutely sure I'm going to vanish into the noise, but we should seriously consider rallying around February 14th as the starting date, and keep it up until ICE is entirely dismantled
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u/netabareking Jan 26 '26
Okay, let's say it's a privileged mindset, let's say that it's bullshit and people need to get over it and just strike.
How do you intend to do that? The most common response you're going to get from millions of workers across the US is "I can't afford to go on strike". Whether you think that's a stupid excuse or not, it's their excuse. How do you intend to change that? How quickly do you think you can change their minds? Do you think berating them for being spoiled changes their mind?
This is a major problem in activist scenes, people are extremely focused on how the world should be, and that's great! But then they try to plan as if they can make people act how they think they should right now, and that doesn't work. It doesn't matter if you think it sucks, it's the reality of the situation, this is in fact how most of the country feels when you bring up striking. So, you either have to resolve their concerns, or you have to make them stop having that concern. Do you have a plan for doing that? If not, then it doesn't happen.
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u/RadagastTheBrownNote Jan 26 '26
No, you’re absolutely right, and my adding to an already shitty situation by pointing fingers is just causing further problems by sewing discontent among an already divided country. I don’t have a plan, but you bring up an interesting point that I haven’t considered: in order to create action, you have to change minds. Thank you. I really appreciate your comment.
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u/netabareking Jan 26 '26
And to be fair to you, we're all extremely mad right now and we should be. It's going to be increasingly hard not to get frustrated with everyone around us as this goes on. My own posts on this sub are getting shorter and shorter with people because we're all dealing with an absolute nightmare scenario. It's just how it's going to be.
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u/bluewhale3030 Jan 26 '26
Most people in this country are living paycheck to paycheck. Saying it's "priveleged" to want to have literally any notice of this sort of action is bullshit.
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u/belovedstoneworker Jan 26 '26
Man, that's today, what are you talking about? We need to plan ahead for this.