In a message dated 6/26/99 7:23:10 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:

>If you are one of those
>that has a dark view of human nature you will fear any relaxation of
>coercive social control. If you take the opposite view, like me, then you
>will be optimistic that anti-social behaviour will be lower if people are
>more economically secure and able to pursue a more satisfying life.


[Scene: Seattle, Washington 1919. A general strike was called and carried
through. Basically, labor unions took over the entire city.]

"A Labor War Veteran's Guard was organized to keep the peace.
On the blackboard at one of its headquarters was written: 'The purpose of
this organization is to preserve law and order without the use of force. No
volunteer will have any police power or be allowed to carry weapons of any
sort, but to use persuasion only.' During the strike, crime in the city
decreased. The commander of the US army detachment sent into the area told
the strikers' committee that in forty years of military experience he hadn't
seen so quiet and orderly a city."

[from  "A People's History of the United States," Howard Zinn]

The strike only lasted five days before it was called off. What followed was
a great deal of  violence that included a bit of murder as  state and capital
went about killing and imprisoning the most prominent workers involved in the
strike.  Oddly enough, the murderers who acted through the state were never
punished.

johnk