Historical Events of the Revolutionary World Movement

BRISBANE GENERAL STRIKE 18 January 1912

18 January 2022 is the 110th anniversary of the 1912 Brisbane General Strike — one of the defining episodes in the history of unionism in Queensland.

The general strike showed the power of combined unions that operated as an alternative governmental system for several weeks, undermining the power of the conservative government.

The 1912 strike was essentially about the right to join a union. Forty three unions joined the general strike on January 30. The darkest moment of the struggle was Black Friday, February 2, 1912, when police and strikebreakers attacked marching strikers. The strikers wore red ribbons to show solidarity. The strikers formed a Vigilance Committee that recruited 500 Vigilance Officers in order to keep order among the strikers. They also set up an ambulance brigade. The workers were returning to work out of financial needs.

The result of the Brisbane General Strike was the formation of a left wing in the unions and its fight against the reformist wing which supported the reformist Labor Party and its first Government 3 years later - for the first time in Australia.

Official Strike Bulletin No. 1

issued during the Brisbane Tramway Strike, 1912

The sacking of members of the Australian Tramways Association on 18 January 1912, and the repercussions that ensued, led to Queensland's first General strike. The strike was triggered when members of the Australian Tramways Association wore their union badges at work from 12 noon on 18 January 1912.

Until 1980, wearing of union badges on uniforms, the cause of the strike, was forbidden.

The dispute had been simmering for nine months since the manager of Brisbane Tramways, Joseph Stillman Badger, effectively banned union badges to stymie union membership. Badger suspended the tramway workers who then marched on Brisbane Trades Hall and organised a mass protest meeting to be held that night in Market Square. That evening, more than 10,000 people rallied in Market Square in support of the sacked men. This was the beginning of the Brisbane General Strike.

On the second day of the strike, more than 25,000 workers, many of who had taken to wearing red ribbons as a mark of solidarity, marched eight abreast in a procession three kilometres long from the Brisbane Trades Hall to Fortitude Valley and back — with more than 50,000 supporters watching from the sidelines.

A contingent of 600 women marched with the strikers. By now, the strike had begun to spread throughout Queensland, with many regional centres witnessing their own demonstrations. Other unions quickly joined the action. Altogether, 43 unions joined the Brisbane General Strike on 30 January.

The trade unionists of Brisbane went out on a general strike, not just for the right to wear a badge, but for the basic right to join a union. On 30 January 1912, the dispute escalated into a general strike and the strike committee effectively became an alternative government. No work could be done in Brisbane without a special permit from the strike committee, which even issued a limited form of currency in the form of strike coupons, which were honoured by various firms in return for services. The strike was to last five weeks, becoming a turning point in Queensland's history.

The darkest moment of the strike was Black Friday, 2 February 1912 — a day of violent clashes. The authorities were becoming increasingly concerned with the strike activity and an application by the strike committee for a permit for a march on 2 February 1912 was refused by Police Commissioner William Cahill. Conservative Queensland Premier Digby Denham viewed the strike committee as an opposing alternate administration and said there were "not going to be two governments", opposing all further permits for processions. When he attempted to enlist support of the Federal Government in the use of the military, he was rebuffed by the Labor Prime Minister, Andrew Fisher, member for the Queensland seat of Gympie. Fisher had also received a request for military support from the Combined Strike Committee, but declined this offer preferring to send a monetary donation in support of the strike.