What To Do – Call A Strike

Striking has long been used in Europe as a method of putting pressure on government.  With varying degrees of success. The two types of
strike that come immediately to mind are:

• A tax strike – that is, a unified refusal to pay taxes, and,
• A general strike – that is, a unified refusal, on the part of the productive, to perform productive work.

In the United States, the income tax withholding system makes an income tax strike impractical, and this is the only type of tax the
ordinary citizen can use effectively against the federal government.  Most of the taxes ordinary citizens have direct control over
affect state and local governments and, at this moment, these are not the target of our efforts. Given this, the following will be
directed only toward the general, or productivity strike.  Let’s look at it:

PRO:

1. General strikes can be very effective, given adequate participation.  It is very hard for government to fight back against a general strike – giving the ordinary citizen the upper hand in a situation where that is rarely the case.
2. General strikes do not depend on support from the “takers”, slackers, and other parasites on society.
3. General strikes can be used to very quickly bring an entire economy to a standstill. Even those who did not intend to participate soon find themselves unintentional participants as various enterprises shut down due to the lack of essential goods and services.
4. General strikes very quickly deny the government the goods, services, and cash flow that are needed to operate, thus rendering government virtually powerless.

CON:

1. General strikes also very quickly affect the strikers and other innocent bystanders.  Without some advance planning and stockpiling, the strikers may well find themselves under even more pressure than that they have brought upon government.
2. In the present economy, it is very hard to ask already financially stressed workers to voluntarily give up what, for most, is their only source of income.
3. General strikes too often lead to general mayhem, violence, looting and the like.

ISSUES:

1. Labor unions are the best equipped to organize and implement strikes.  However, given that most unions are socialist entities, often “thugocracies”  themselves, they are very unlikely to help ordinary citizens resist socialization.
2. It is not at all clear to what extent the armed forces of the United States would, if so ordered, sustain fire upon unarmed citizens. My present assessment is that most would not, especially after witnessing it actually happening in the early stages of a conflict.  However, this can quickly change as command is passed from patriots to thugs.

ASSESSMENT:
Possibly viable but not at all an attractive approach.  The odds are simply too great that it would cause undue harm to the very people
whose freedom it presumes to regain.  The possibility of a general collapse of civilized conduct, especially in the inner cities, is already too great.  A general strike might well be all that is needed to set off such a collapse.

One might well ask how this is different from armed resistance (which we will discuss in a future essay)?  To my mind, the difference is
that armed resistance suggests some level of organization, some clear tactical and strategic goals, a clearly defined “enemy”, and
intentional limitations on collateral damage.  A general societal collapse suggests mindless violence and pointless chaos.

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