General strike edition

In November of 1948, workers in the British and American-occupied sectors of west Germany (then known as the Bi-Zone Economic Area, Bizonia for short) staged the largest single-day strike in the nation's history.

More than nine million workers, out of a total workforce of 11.7 million, stayed home from work, shutting down mines, factories, mills, and transit services. The reason? Skyrocketing inflation sparked by a currency "reform" that had wiped out the savings of most average west Germans, while leaving those with capital – owners of businesses and real estate – largely unscathed.

It was this long-forgotten, one-day action that provided the true impetus for the development of Germany's reknowned "social market economy," argues historian Uwe Fuhrmann, though the strikers never got the credit.