Summary
The two most-used economic noncooperation methods — consumer/worker withdrawal of participation or purchase, in support of a demand.
Body
The two most-used economic noncooperation methods — consumer/worker withdrawal of participation or purchase, in support of a demand.
A boycott is a collective refusal to purchase from, work for, or interact with a target. A strike is a collective withdrawal of labour. Sharp catalogues many variants in the 198 methods — quickie walkouts, slowdowns, general strikes, hartal, consumer boycotts, traders’ boycotts [source: commons-198-methods]. The Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung publishes German-language material on strike strategy in the labour context, including the difference between wildcat strikes, warning strikes, and unlimited strikes [source: rosa-luxemburg]. Both methods rely on the same principles: clear demand, visible participation threshold, communication to the public about the dispute, and a built-off-ramp for the target. The Commons Library treats economic noncooperation as the most-underused lever in social-movement campaigns, where most organisers default to petition-and-march [source: commons-library]. Sortir du nucléaire’s boîte à outils militante publishes the practical mechanics of running a French boycott — signage, communication, escalation — that translate to most European contexts [source: sortir-du-nucleaire].
Use it for
Designing a consumer boycott; planning a labour strike; choosing between economic and political noncooperation in a campaign.
Worked examples
- case-studies/montgomery-bus-boycott
- case-studies/sindicato-inquilinas
Related
- noncooperation
- methods-of-nonviolent-action
- escalation
- affinity-groups
- commons-198-methods
- rosa-luxemburg
Open Questions
None yet.
Sources & verification
- sources/commons-198-methods — grounding: secondary — RAW (12729 chars)
- sources/rosa-luxemburg — grounding: secondary — RAW (6048 chars)
- sources/commons-library — grounding: secondary — RAW (5257 chars)
- sources/sortir-du-nucleaire — grounding: secondary — RAW (7851 chars)
Verified 2026-06-23 by llm-qc.