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“The word 'strike', in relation to labour, originally had the connotation of submission. Ships would drop, or strike, their sails when surrendering to enemy forces or saluting their superiors. But when sailors in 1768 struck their sails in protest to demand better wages, they turned 'strike' from an act of submission to a strategic act of violence; by withholding their labour, they proved they were in fact indispensable.” — R.F. Kuang
The word 'strike', in relation to labour, originally had the connotation of submission. Ships would drop, or strike, their sails when surrendering to enemy forces or saluting their superiors. But when sailors in 1768 struck their sails in protest to demand better wages, they turned 'strike' from an act of submission to a strategic act of violence; by withholding their labour, they proved they were in fact indispensable.