Imagine the center of Belgrade if all the professional drivers get out of their cars, if the workers lock up the shops and cafes, and if the street cleaners and washers stop. That we don't see anything on all televisions, that all websites are blocked - is this the general strike that is being called for?
"Simultaneous suspension of work in several different activities in order to achieve economic or political goals."
This is how the concept of general is explained strike, at least according to Encyclopaedia Britannica.
He was repeatedly called upon by various trade unions, and the last time the term was shouted en masse at protest of teachers in Belgrade on Monday (January 20) on the plateau in front of the Faculty of Philosophy. The protest meeting turned into a plenum voted for a "general strike".
"A general strike is a strike that involves an entire industry, that is, a branch of the economy or an entire society," Sociology professor Zoran Stojiljković explains to "Vreme". "Depending on whether it is one branch or the entire economy, the strike has different forms."
From a one-day to a general strike to the fulfillment of demands - it is not yet clear how everyone in Serbia is calling for a general strike, that is, how long it could last.
"I believe that, as things stand now, there is a call in the country - for Serbia to stop," adds Stojiljković. "Now we just need to see if it is too hasty and who will organize it all, because it is very important that it be a well-thought-out, coordinated action, and not just a rhetorical call for a work stoppage."
Warning, solidarity
If no one in Serbia worked for 15 minutes - for Zoran Stojiljković, professor of the Faculty of Political Sciences, that would also be a valid general strike.
Before that, he thinks we should take a step back and test a general strike.
"It could first be a warning or solidarity strike, so that no one works for a short time," he says.
Stojiljković still wonders what will happen to numerous members of SNS in that case.
"Do you think that the entire public sector will be able to stop when so many party bookies are working in it," he adds.
Where did the idea come from?
The very phrase about a general strike, as a deliberate part of collective bargaining tactics, originated in Great Britain, where the term entered the language in the 1830s, writes Britannica.
French philosophers believed that workers could bring about a social revolution by defeating the managers and owners of capital through a general strike.
General strikes first became possible with the rise of large trade unions in the late 19th century. Two major general strikes took place in Belgium in 1893 and 1902 in support of universal male suffrage. A large-scale strike took place in Sweden in 1902 over similar issues.
The general strike that swept through Russia during the 1905 Revolution forced the Tsar to issue the October Manifesto, in which he promised to approve the country's constitution.
The Swedish General Strike of 1909 showed that major economic reforms could be achieved without resorting to violence. The strike occurred because of the wage freeze policy. Almost half of the country's total workforce went on strike, and the outage lasted a month before the strike was resolved.
In some Asian and African countries, trade unions associated with independence movements often resorted to general strikes as a means of political protest during colonial rule.
Where there was a general strike
In previous years, there were several examples of a general strike in the world, organized in Brazil, Argentina, France, known for its strong trade union organizations, writes the BBC.
At the beginning of January 2024, Germany was almost paralyzed due to a major railway strike, but also farmers' protests, and Greece is also known for mass union work stoppages due to the economic crisis of 2017.
