Can someone explain a "general strike" to the self-employed?

[meadowlander]

36. It's the same as a general strike to anyone else.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_strike

"A general strike (or mass strike) is a strike action in which a substantial proportion of the total labour force in a city, region, or country participates. General strikes are characterised by the participation of workers in a multitude of workplaces, and tend to involve entire communities." [Emphasis added]

If you can't, or don't want to, participate, you don't have to. It's more about showing the 1% that if they choose to hijack the government for their purposes, the 99% of the population that gets things done can effectively shut the economy down.

If you want an example of how it works, look at the events leading up to the general strike in the Czech Republic during the Velvet Revolution:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvet_Revolution

The nurses walked out, then the students, artists, media figures, then the other unions, then the rest of the population. One month in, it was supported by 75% of the population.

It just takes a few unions, allied with students, allied with the free press to get the ball rolling.

And there have been general strikes in the US in the past, notably Philadelphia in 1835, St Louis in 1877, New Orleans in 1892 and 1907, New York in 1909, Seattle in 1919, San Francisco and Minneapolis in 1934, Oakland in 1946. The problem is that the history of the labor movement isn't taught in schools.