The Comma Strike
I read about this in [[October (book)]]. Print workers demanding pay for punctuation led to a [[general strike]] in Russia in 1905.
In September 1905, printers in Ivan Sytin’s Moscow publishing house went on strike, demanding pay for punctuation marks. Discontented workers in other trades and other cities soon joined them in sympathy: bakers, railroad workers, lawyers, bankers, even the Imperial Ballet. Without the railroad, steel and textile mills were forced to shut down; soon nearly the entire adult population of Petrograd had ceased work. The general strike led Tsar Nicholas II to issue the October Manifesto, granting a constitution to Russia for the first time in its history.
Highlights the power of strong [[unions]] and [[strike action]].
- public document at doc.anagora.org/the-comma-strike
- video call at meet.jit.si/the-comma-strike