The strikes were called by the Communist Party of Germany in response to Cuno's policy of passive resistance against the French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr and the hyperinflation that resulted from it.

The strikers demanded the resignation of the Cuno government, which occurred on 12 August 1923 after the Social Democratic Party called a vote of no confidence in the Reichstag.

The Cuno government reacted with a policy of passive resistance, which, combined with acts of civil disobedience, brought Germany's Ruhr industrial heartland almost to a stop.

[4] On 10 August 1923, a conference of trade unions rejected the call for a three-day general strike made by Ruth Fischer, the chair of the Berlin KPD.

The vote came after Otto Wels, leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), announced a number of government measures to improve the food supply and stabilize the currency.

[5] The SPD, pushed by its base and looking to avert worse social unrest or possibly revolution, saw no other political alternative than to join a grand coalition led by Gustav Stresemann of the German People's Party.

Leon Trotsky and other Influential members of the Soviet Politburo and the Comintern believed Germany was ready for revolution, but Heinrich Brandler, the head of the KPD, felt that the timing was premature.