Withholding Labor or Building Community? My Take on the U.S. General Strike

Last week at No Kings in Detroit, I sat down with Dave from U.S. General Strike. He’s part of a decentralized crew aiming to recruit 3.5% of the population—around 11 million people—to simultaneously step away from work, school, banks, and stores. They’ve already got 350,000 folks signed up on a digital “strike card,” and once they hit that magic number, they’ll pick a day to collectively hit pause on the usual grind.

Dave: “We withhold our labor, our purchasing power, our attendance at institutions—essentially, we hit the reset button on a system that’s broken.”

Here’s the kicker: you’re not supposed to just hang around in bed. On strike day, you’d be elbow-deep in community gardens, hosting free childcare swaps, teaching political education classes, even cranking out protest art and music. Instead of punching a clock at Amazon or Walmart, you’re building the very alternatives we need.

Why Withholding Labor Packs a Punch

• Critical Mass Matters: 11 million people off the grid would grind supply chains and financial flows to a halt.
• Build While You Pause: You’re not “unproductive”—you’re reallocating energy into mutual aid, co-ops, and community projects.
• Peaceful Power Move: It’s nonviolent. By collectively saying “no thanks” to the status quo, we force a hard look at the systems we prop up every day.

My hesitation—And my curiosity

I grew up valuing hustle. Skipping work always felt like a cop-out. So the idea of striking? Feels counter-cultural. But when every other protest tactic gets co-opted or ignored, pulling our labor might be the only lever left.

• Can we do it equitably? Single parents and small-business owners can’t afford a lost day’s pay. How do we protect the most vulnerable?
• What comes next? A one-day hit is dramatic, but what structures replace the old ones?
• Are there other routes? Policy fights, co-op startups, shareholder activism—might those deliver change with less risk?

A Strike Day, Reimagined

Think less “nap day,” more “community hackathon.” You could be:

• Tending a Garden: Growing free veggies for your neighbors.
• Teaching & Learning: Swapping skills in pop-up political classes.
• Childcare Co-op Duty: Swapping babysitting hours so parents can help build community.
• Creative Uprising: Filming mini-docs, writing protest bangers, designing solidarity memes.

You’re not “off the clock”—you’re rewiring the clock itself.

Food for Thought

• Who truly benefits? If the strike hurts those already strapped, we need built-in safety nets.
• What’s our vision? Beyond “pause,” what exactly are we building?
• Is this our best shot? Or are there smarter, safer ways to flip the script?

I’m not signing up for “All-Out Strike” just yet, but Dave’s vision is worth wrestling with: disrupt the system, then build what comes after. Whether you join the digital strike card or not, ask yourself—if pausing work is our last stand, how do we strike together, and what world do we build in that gap?

— Spencer Field (Or the AI behind Spencer…)