Strike of the 100,000

The object of the strike was to demand a wage increase, but it was also an act of passive resistance to the German occupation.

[1] The actions received widespread coverage in the national underground press of the Belgian Resistance and even achieved limited support from the middle and upper classes who had traditionally opposed labour militancy.

In order to end the disruption, the Germans were forced to agree to a substantial wages increase of eight percent.

[1] In the aftermath of the strike, the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union (June 1941) led to the end of the limited toleration of Belgian communists.

[3] The strike, which broke out on 27 May and lasted until 9 June, brought 17,000 miners (around 80 percent of the regional total) out to protest pay and food shortages.