The Cuno strikes were nationwide strikes in Germany against the government of Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno in August 1923. The wave of strikes demanded, eventually with success, the resignation of the Cuno government, which occurred on 12 August 1923, after only nine months. The strikes also buoyed the hopes of the Communist International of an imminent revolution. Background In January 1923, the Cuno government called for passive resistance of the Belgian and French occupation of the Ruhr region. At the same time, inflation in the Weimar Republic was racing out of control, result of the reparations payments or from the costs of the passive resistance, which made local authorities and companies boycott occupation forces while the government paid the wages of those administrations and compensated the coal and steel companies for their losses. The expenses caused the collapse of the Reichsmark, which had already been inflated. During 1923, the mark fell from 21,000 to the US dollar at the beginning of the year to 6 trillion at the end. For German society, the result was complete disaster, as people rushed out to buy things before their money lost its value, and people who had had savings saw them evaporate overnight. Considerable portions of the labour movement were as or even more opposed to the German government than to the French occupying forces. Their motto was "Beat Cuno and Poincaré at the Ruhr and at the Spree!" Strikes A labour dispute in the Berlin printing industry triggered a wildcat strike, instigated by the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). The Reich printing plant was also affected, causing the banknote presses to be stopped and, before long, a noticeable lack of paper money. Workers from power stations, construction and the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe joined the strike. The wave of strikes demanded the resignation of the Cuno government. Against the will of KPD party chairwoman Ruth Fischer, Otto Wels, the head of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was able to forestall a general strike. Pressured by the SPD, a conference of trade unions on 10 August 1923 rejected the call for a general strike, supported the left-wing Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund. The KPD, not accepting the defeat held a meeting of all the revolutionary works councils in Greater Berlin. It called a general strike to bring down the Cuno government but was hindered from publicizing the call widely because its Die Rote Fahne had been banned. Nevertheless,