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Mother Jones illustration; Jen Golbeck\/SOPA Images\/Sipa\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Every few months,<\/span> you likely notice something: people on Instagram calling for a general strike.<\/p>\n The posts will appear suddenly, evincing urgency but sparse in details. Their provenance is usually obscure. But the message is always clear. To resist Trump\u2019s authoritarian agenda, Americans need to unite in a national economic blackout.<\/p>\n The cyclical nature of the posts can be frustrating, but the impulse is born from a hopeful place. General strikes have a rich history in the United States. A wave of citywide strikes in the 1940s proved so threatening to the prevailing order that Congress passed the Taft\u2013Hartley Act, banning unions from striking in solidarity with workers at other companies.\u00a0For the past few decades, the general strike has seemed more like the fanciful hope of the anarchist bookstore poster than a real possibility. Online, much the same has happened. Modern-day social media calls for mass strikes have rarely translated to collective action in the material world.<\/p>\n Then came Minneapolis.<\/p>\n On January 23, roughly 75,000 people flooded the streets on a workday, in sub-zero temperatures, demanding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) leave Minnesota. Hundreds of businesses and cultural institutions in the Twin Cities closed their doors; one in four Minnesota voters either participated in the shutdown or knows a loved one who did, according to Blue Rose Research. A motley coalition led the charge: labor unions, racial justice groups, faith-based organizations.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no one figurehead that\u2019s going to save us from authoritarianism. What I\u2019m seeing every day here is thousands of people finding the way to plug in and do what they can.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n The remarkable success of Minnesota\u2019s \u201cDay of Truth and Freedom,\u201d as it was billed by organizers, inspired student groups at the University of Minnesota to call for another day of action. One week later, on January 30, tens of thousands of protesters across all 50 states took to the streets. Students held walkouts on high school and college campuses<\/a>. Many businesses in major cities either closed for the day or committed<\/a> to donating their proceeds to immigrant advocacy groups. More than 1,000 organizations signed on in support of the \u201cnational shutdown<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to bring it to the national stage and see it happen all over the country,\u201d Austin Muia, vice president of the University of Minnesota\u2019s Black Student Union told my colleague<\/a>, Nate Halverson. \u201cWe want everyone to feel that solidarity that we felt last week.\u201d<\/p>\n While the day of action on the 30th was an impressive start, it ultimately manifested more like a mass protest. A general strike requires a substantial portion of workers, organized across multiple industries, to halt economic activity in pursuit of a shared goal. <\/p>\n The US economy largely functioned as usual. That means there\u2019s still a lot of work to be done.\u00a0<\/p>\n But as Trump\u2019s federal agents continue to occupy US cities\u2014raiding workplaces, wrenching apart families, and shooting protesters dead in the street\u2014the momentum for a national general strike is undeniably growing. <\/p>\n Last week, I spoke with five organizers involved in the Day of Truth and Freedom. We discussed the tactics they used to organize a labor stoppage in the Twin Cities and what strategies the rest of the country can employ to replicate Minnesota\u2019s success.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here are six key takeaways from those conversations.<\/strong><\/p>\n Labor unions were vital for executing the Day of Truth and Freedom. They mobilized thousands of people to stop work across sectors\u2014both those in their unions and those who aren\u2019t in them.<\/p>\n Devin Hogan, president of OPEIU Local 12\u2014whose members include roughly 2,000 clerical workers and paraprofessionals\u2014told me that unions bring experience in spearheading collective action. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen our labor movement so organized over the years,\u201d he said, and so even if others were nervous, \u201cwe knew that this could be pulled off basically without a hitch.\u201d<\/p>\n An event two years ago provided an example for how local labor leaders could coordinate mass action. In 2024, various unions across industries<\/a> in Minnesota arranged for their contracts to expire at the same time, increasing their leverage and bargaining power. Local units are now \u201corganized in a way that allows them to basically all be ready to go on strike if they need to,\u201d said Hogan, \u201cand also bring in the broader labor movement.\u201d<\/p>\n Other union leaders told me similar stories of working across the movement. As a hospitality union composed largely of women, people of color, and immigrants, UNITE HERE Local 17 has been hit particularly hard by the ICE occupation in Minnesota. President Christa Sarrack said at least 17 of the unit\u2019s members have been detained since December.\u00a0She said organizing collectively was crucial to protect workers. \u201cWe\u2019ve been working together closely with lots of other unions for years,\u201d Sarrack said. \u201cIt can\u2019t be any one union\u2026We just had to take that risk and really believe in what we were doing and know that at the end of the day, if something happened, it was worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n While organized labor provided a foundation, both Hogan and Sarrack highlighted the importance of unions working in coalition with a broad range of community groups to broaden the reach.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was very helpful to have faith leaders as part of the coalition from the start, because when we\u2019re talking to employers, we\u2019re not saying, \u2018Oh, this is just unions doing union stuff.\u2019 Instead, it was faith leaders, cultural organizations, and labor unions all working together for this goal,\u201d said Hogan. \u201cI\u2019m glad to see the participation of clergy across various religions, seeing this as what it is\u2014as a righteous fight.\u201d<\/p>\n Minnesota organizers continually looked for people with different skillsets and positions that could help build the movement.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re looking at our own communities to see where the pillars of power are represented. Do we have people in the press? In our churches and synagogues? Do we have people in major corporations?\u201d said Rev. Dana Neuhauser, a Methodist deacon who serves on the steering team of MARCH (Multifaith Antiracism, Change & Healing). \u201cThere is no one figurehead that\u2019s going to save us from authoritarianism. What I\u2019m seeing every day here is thousands of people finding the way to plug in and do what they can, so the work is distributed and broad and growing deeper.\u201d<\/p>\n Officially, of course, unions can\u2019t call for general strikes. So Minnesota labor leaders tried something different: They asked their employers to close.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s really the biggest lesson I can share to the rest of the country: just ask,\u201d said Hogan. \u201cYou\u2019d be surprised by how many people are willing to either close for the day, or make arrangements to plan ahead for their \u2018business needs\u2019 while also letting as many people off as possible.\u201d Once a few large cultural institutions agreed to close, others followed suit.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s really the biggest lesson I can share to the rest of the country: just ask.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Hogan and Sarrack explained how they negotiated using a ladder of requests. First, if employers refused to close, organizers asked that unit members be allowed to take time off without penalty. Then, they requested permission for employees to use paid time off. If businesses imposed limits on how many people could take off that day, unions pushed to increase the cap. And then, finally, they asked employers to refrain from disciplining unit members who called in sick.<\/p>\n \u201cVery, very few of our employers were just not willing to negotiate,\u201d said Sarrack. \u201cI think they also know that this is their workers\u2019 safety too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Every person I spoke with emphasized that the Day of Truth and Freedom was made possible by Minneapolis\u2019s decades of organizing history and the existing fabric of community groups.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a very deep movement ecosystem in the Twin Cities metro area, from unions to community groups to renters\u2019 rights and worker centers,\u201d said Merle Payne, executive director of Centro De Trabajadores Unidos En La Lucha (CTUL), a grassroots organization that fights for fair wages and better labor conditions, especially among immigrant workers who can\u2019t unionize. These hundreds of organizations, Payne said, enabled the people of Minneapolis to \u201ctake the anger of being pushed into a corner and channel it in a direction of mass peaceful resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n That ecosystem didn\u2019t appear overnight. It was built, often through previous tragedies. \u201cUnfortunately, we\u2019ve had a lot of practice in Minneapolis responding to state-sanctioned murders of our neighbors,\u201d said Rev. Neuhauser. She pointed to the police killings of Jamar Clark, Philando Castile, George Floyd, and others in recent years.<\/p>\n \u201cI think with each of those inflection points, we\u2019ve gotten more skilled at building deep relationships, so that we are nimble and ready to show up,\u201d she said. \u201cThe on-ramp to growing a resistance was shorter because of that muscle memory.\u201d<\/p>\n Hogan of OPEIU Local 12 also said that 2020 was a tipping point for building out organizing infrastructure. \u201cWe had Proud Boys and Boogaloos on the streets, so we had to get to know our neighbors in order to stand watch and protect ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRight now, the thing that is going to win is community-led, community-decided solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Rod Adams, founder and executive director of the New Justice Project\u2014a Black-led organizing hub focused on racial and economic justice for low-income Minnesotans\u2014told me something similar. \u201cEvery five years, there is a moment where Minneapolis is center stage in America or global political news,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s important for people around the country to learn how we got this way.\u201d And, he noted, sustained mass political engagement has led to real legislative change. Adams cited a suite of progressive policies passed by the Minnesota legislature in 2023, including paid family leave, voting rights for formerly incarcerated people, and a new child tax credit.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cThose are policies that have been worked on for 20 years by hundreds, if not thousands, of people,\u201d Adams said. \u201cThe thing that I say to the rest of the country is that right now is the moment to get organized.\u201d<\/p>\n Okay, so you\u2019re not in Minnesota, and you\u2019re not in a union or in a community group. Now what? How do you actually get <\/em>organized?<\/p>\n \u201cGet to know your neighbors,\u201d said Hogan. \u201cStart with two or three people on your block, and then just keep talking to people. And then that can turn into not only protecting yourselves from ICE, but saying, hey, let\u2019s all work together to show up at the next protest or event.\u201d<\/p>\n Those neighborhood connections proved vital for pulling off the Minnesota strike. While social media played a role in getting the word out, much of the communication happened on the ground\u2014whether among neighbors or labor unions, inside congregations and local ICE rapid response networks, or simply going from business-to-business, asking them to close for the day.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe talked to dozens of Black businesses in North Minneapolis, which is really the core economic hub here for Black Minnesotans,\u201d said Adams of the New Justice Project. Sarrack of UNITE HERE Local 17 said the regional labor federation went door-to-door with flyers.<\/p>\n \u201cIf your city is being occupied by ICE and there\u2019s a rapid response group in your neighborhood, join it. If there isn\u2019t, create one. If there is a mutual aid network, join it and support it. If there isn\u2019t, create one,\u201d Adams added. \u201cRight now, the thing that is going to win is community-led, community-decided solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n Building power at the micro level also means understanding the immediate needs of your community and strategizing accordingly. Since OPEIU Local 12 represents clinic workers, for instance, Hogan said that unit members had conversations with hospital employers about creating protocols for protecting the rights of undocumented patients in the event ICE shows up. Something everyone can do right now, he said, is demand their employer have a policy for when ICE enters their specific facility or detains a colleague.<\/p>\n Organizers pointed to the range of ways that community members showed up on January 23 and throughout that week.\u00a0<\/p>\n While 75,000 people marched down the streets of Minneapolis, protesters demonstrated against ICE deportation flights at the Minneapolis\u2013St. Paul airport. Roughly 100 faith leaders were arrested after kneeling on the road, praying for immigrants who had been detained\u2014including members of UNITE Here 17, Sarrack noted. A few days before that action, a group organized by CTUL\u2019s worker-leaders occupied<\/a> the offices of developer DR Horton, demanding that the company protect its employees against ICE raids on construction sites.\u00a0<\/p>\n In addition to asking folks to strike, UNITE HERE Local 17 used the Day of Truth and Freedom to push out a mutual aid fundraising drive. When I spoke with Sarrack on January 29, she said the fund had already raised $100,000 for members who are currently unable to work.<\/p>\n Rev. Neuhauser said she saw a huge outpouring of donations of winter wear for protesters and clergy. \u201cAnd then there are these community-based little glimpses of\u2014I mean, I don\u2019t know how to describe it other than love,\u201d she said. People served hot beverages to marchers on the side of the road, while businesses opened their doors just so people could come get warm.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOne of my favorite things about what\u2019s been happening in Minneapolis is the number of Somali aunties that show up to public actions with trays of homemade sambuses and cups of hot Somali tea,\u201d Neuhauser added. <\/p>\n The Day of Truth and Freedom may be over, but the work will continue. \u201cWe\u2019re in a different world than we were even a month ago. The possibility of what can be done is different,\u201d said Payne of CTUL. <\/p>\n He noted that CTUL is using the momentum generated from the strike to demand workplace protections from large developers and visiting job sites to talk to workers about their rights.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been silence from the largest business interests in the state since all of this is happening, but this is impacting their bottom line,\u201d Payne said. \u201cWe see an opportunity to make our campaign significantly larger than we ever could have in the past\u2026and drive a wedge between the largest business interests and the Trump administration.\u201d<\/p>\n Organizers all said they were encouraged by seeing people across the country march and strike in solidarity with Minnesota, because it shows people understand their struggles are connected.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are all under attack,\u201d said Adams. \u201cIf you don\u2019t understand that you\u2019re under attack, you\u2019re going to wake up one day and realize that you had an opportunity to stand up and now it\u2019s too late.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n
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