The Swedish general strike ( sv, Storstrejken) of August 4 to September 4, 1909, was a general work stoppage by over 300,000 individuals all over

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. It was the first major conflict between the

Swedish Trade Union Confederation The Swedish Trade Union Confederation ( sv, Landsorganisationen i Sverige ; literally "National Organisation in Sweden"), commonly referred to as LO (), is a national trade union centre, an umbrella organisation for fourteen Swedish trade unions ...

(), and the

Swedish Employers Association The Swedish Employers' Confederation ( sv, Svenska Arbetsgivareföreningen, SAF) was a Swedish employers' organization founded in 1902. In 2001, SAF merged with the Federation of Swedish Industries (''Sveriges Industriförbund'') to form the Con ...

(). The losses to employers was estimated to be around 25 million

Swedish kronor The krona (; plural: ''kronor''; sign: kr; code: SEK) is the official currency of the Kingdom of Sweden. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it b ...

Recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...

was having a negative impact on many companies and the SAF therefore wanted to lower wages. A

lockout Lockout may refer to: * Lockout (industry), a type of work stoppage **Dublin Lockout, a major industrial dispute between approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers 1913 - 1914 * Lockout (sports), lockout in sports leagues **MLB lockout, lock ...

of 80,000 workers in the

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

- and

pulp industry Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit Engineering * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Molded pulp, a packaging material * ...

was put in effect. The LO answered with a call for

general strike A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large co ...

. Only

healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

workers and a few other skeleton professions were exempt from the strike. Funds were short and forced the union to end the strike after a month, resulting in major membership losses. The LO lost almost half of its members, some to the newly formed

anarcho-syndicalist Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and thus control influence in b ...

Central Organisation of the Workers of Sweden. The anarcho-syndicalists argued that the management of the LO had handled the strike half-heartedly and only started it to curb its members' more radical stance. Employers also took the opportunity to lay off approximately 20,000 workers, which also contributed to mass defections from LO when workers were forced to leave the union to keep their jobs.

Emigration Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

also rose as a consequence of the strike. The failure of the general strike formed an important backdrop to the

Saltsjöbaden Agreement The Saltsjöbad Agreement ( sv, Saltsjöbadsavtalet) is a Swedish labour market treaty signed between the Swedish Trade Union Confederation ( sv, Landsorganisationen, LO) and the Swedish Employers Association ( sv, Svenska arbetsgivareföreningen ...

of 1938.

External links

Tony Cliff, Patterns of mass strike
{{Authority control 1909 labor disputes and strikes General strikes in Europe Labor history Swedish Trade Union Confederation Social history of Sweden 1909 in Sweden Labor in Sweden August 1909 events September 1909 events