Harbour Workers Rise: Hong Kong Seamen’s Strike Victory
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On This Day in Working Class History — Harbour Workers Rise: Hong Kong Seamen’s Strike Victory. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.
On this day in working class history, the 8th of March. On the 8th of March 1922, Seaman in Hong Kong and Guangzhou won pay rises of 15-30% ending their strike which began in January. The British colonial government had declared the strike illegal, brought in the army, and tried to use scabs from the Chinese mainland and forced labour to break the strike. But the strike spread was joined by rail workers, docus, cooks and servants, and workers set up an armed militia to blockade food to Hong Kong by rail or sea. Eventually, bosses were forced to cave in. In terms of the workers' demands, they didn't agree to the demand of a union shop, but they did give substantial pay rises, they legalised the Seaman's union, freed in prison strike leaders, and paid back half pay to workers for the strike days. For sources, maps, and all about anniversaries each day, check out the on-this-day section
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