May 1 General Strike Poster, Molly Crabapple

Exhibition Label: "Prepared: Strategies for Activists," Apr-2012, Kris Ercums The artist, Molly Crabapple, produced one of several posters promoting the upcoming May 1 General Strike in New York City. Rather than calling for a more traditional general strike, which was made illegal 65 years ago via the Taft-Hartley Act, Occupy Wall Street is calling for “A Day Without the 99%.” That is, a day where people disconnect from commerce insomuch as they can manage without endangering their lives or livelihoods. Posters promoting the General Strike urge people to refrain from work, school, housework, shopping, or banking. Occupy Wall Street has been organizing the critical, massive day of action in collaboration with immigrant worker groups, faith groups, and major labor unions in the city. Around the country and the world, other Occupy movements are organizing city-wide strikes, with variations on how such a day might look depending upon what groups are involved. In 2006 in New York City, May 1-traditionally a workers’ day and usually a holiday outside of the U.S.-immigrant worker groups rallied and marched and made the day a significant one for labor in this American city as well. The cat in Crabapple’s poster is a reference to the concept of the “wildcat strike,” a strike action taken by workers without the support of their union. For more see http://www.occupymay1st.org/