Crowd gathered outside old City Hall during the Winnipeg General Strike, June 21, 1919 The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 was one of the most influential strikes in Canadian history. It resulted in drastic improvements in working conditions for millions of Canadians. J.S. Woodsworth, a strike leader who was briefly imprisoned, went on to found Canada's first socialist political party, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, which was the forerunner of the New Democratic Party. Crowd gathered outside old City Hall, at Main Street and William Avenue, during the Winnipeg General Strike. ...
Crowd gathered outside old City Hall, at Main Street and William Avenue, during the Winnipeg General Strike. ...
J.S. Woodsworth James Shaver Woodsworth (July 29, 1874 – March 21, 1942) was a pioneer in the Canadian social democratic movement. ...
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction. ...
This article is about the Canadian political party. ...
After World War I many Canadian soldiers returned home to find few opportunities, though many companies had enjoyed enormous profits on war contracts. Wages and working conditions were dismal and labour regulations were mostly non-existent. The Bolshevik revolution had just occurred in Russia, and many workers saw this as an example of a successful socialist revolution[citation needed]. This was in fact the pretext Minister of Justice Arthur Meighen used to accuse the strike leaders of being Communists, and many were deported from Canada after an amendment to the Canadian Naturalization Act. “The Great War †redirects here. ...
A wage is a compensation which workers receive in exchange for their labor. ...
For other uses, see Bolshevik (disambiguation). ...
Socialism is a social and economic system (or the political philosophy advocating such a system) in which the economic means of production are owned and controlled collectively by the people. ...
This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ...
In March 1919 labour delegates from across Western Canada convened in Calgary to form a branch of the "One Big Union", with the intention of earning rights for Canadian workers through a series of strikes. This article is about the Canadian city. ...
For the concept, see One Big Union (concept). ...
The Strike
Organization In Winnipeg, workers within the building and metal industries attempted to unionize by forming the Building Trade Council and Metal Trade Council respectively, but the management refused to negotiate. Due to the restrictions of labour policy in the 1900s, a union could be recognized only voluntarily by employers, or through strike action. Therefore, workers from both industries went on strike to gain union recognition.
The Building and Metal Trade Councils further appealed to the Trades and Labour Union, the central union body representing the interests of many of Winnipeg's workers, for support in their endeavours. The Trades and Labour Union, in a show of union solidarity, voted in favour of a sympathetic strike in support of the Building and Metal Trade Councils. By 11 AM on May 15, 1919, virtually the entire working population of Winnipeg had walked off the job. 30,000 to 35,000 people were on strike in a city of 200,000. Even essential public employees such as fire fighters went on strike, but returned midway through the strike with the approval of the Strike Committee. The members of the Winnipeg Police Service were technically on strike but in practice remained on patrol. is the 135th day of the year (136th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ...
Motto: Template:Unhide = Unum Cum Virtute Multorum (One With the Strength of Many) Location City Information Established: 1738 (Fort Rouge), 1873 (City of Winnipeg) Area: 465. ...
Winnipeg Police Service is the police force of the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba. ...
The strike was generally nonviolent. Relations with police were tense but generally did not result in clashes, although a young boy was accidentally killed early in the strike.
Opposition The local newspapers, the Manitoba Free Press and Winnipeg Tribune, had lost the majority of their employees due to the strike and took a decidedly anti-strike stance. The New York Times front page proclaimed "Bolshevism Invades Canada." The Manitoba Free Press called the strikers "bohunks," "aliens," and "anarchists." They ran cartoons depicting hooked-nosed Jewish radicals throwing bombs. These anti-strike views greatly influenced the opinions of Winnipeg residents. However, the majority of the strikers were reformist, not revolutionary. They wanted to amend the system, not destroy it and build a new one. The Winnipeg Free Press is the primary daily newspaper of Winnipeg, Manitoba. ...
The Winnipeg Tribune was a newspaper serving Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada from 1890 to 1980. ...
The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...
For other uses, see Bolshevik (disambiguation). ...
The Winnipeg Free Press is the primary daily newspaper of Winnipeg, Manitoba. ...
For other uses, see Jew (disambiguation). ...
Reformism (also called revisionism or revisionist theory) is the belief that gradual changes in a society can ultimately change its fundamental structures. ...
Revolutionary, when used as a noun, is a person who either advocates or actively engages in some kind of revolution. ...
A counter-strike committee, the "Citizens' Committee of One Thousand", was created by Winnipeg's wealthy elite. The Committee declared the strike to be a violent, revolutionary conspiracy by a small group of foreigners. On June 9th, at the behest of the Committee, the City of Winnipeg Police Commission dismissed most of the city's 200 policemen. It had been assumed that a large force of specials stood available to the city. This was soon recognized as illusory, and for the period from June 9th to Bloody Saturday, control of the streets was beyond the capacity of the city.
The Citizens' Committee met with federal Minister of Labour Gideon Decker Robertson and Minister of the Interior (and acting Minister of Justice) Arthur Meighen, and warned them that the leaders of the general strike were revolutionists and demanding action. Robertson ordered federal government employees back to work, threatening them with dismissal if they refused. Meighen had the Criminal Code of Canada amended to broaden the definition of sedition, and also amended the Immigration Act to target British-born radicals for deportation. The two ministers refused to meet the Central Strike Committee to consider its grievances. In the Cabinet of Canada, the Minister of Labour is responsible for setting national labour standards and federal labour dispute mechanisms. ...
Gideon Decker Robertson (August 26, 1874 - August 5, 1933) was a Canadian Senator and Canadian Cabinet minister. ...
Arthur Meighen, PC, QC, BA, LL.D (June 16, 1874 – August 5, 1960) was the ninth Prime Minister of Canada from July 10, 1920 to December 29, 1921 and June 29 to September 25, 1926. ...
The Canadian Criminal Code (formal title An Act respecting the Criminal Law) is the codification of most of the criminal offenses and procedure in Canada. ...
Sedition is a term of law which refers to covert conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority as tending toward insurrection against the established order. ...
Violence On June 21 the federal government ordered the arrest of ten strike leaders (including J.S. Woodsworth and Abraham Albert Heaps). Four days later, strikers assembled at Market Square, where Winnipeg Mayor Charles Frederick Gray read the Riot Act. Royal North-West Mounted Police were sent and charged into a crowd of strikers, beating them with clubs and firing weapons. One man was killed and at least 30 were injured in what became known as "Bloody Saturday". A number of eastern European immigrants were rounded up and deported. is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
J.S. Woodsworth James Shaver Woodsworth (July 29, 1874 – March 21, 1942) was a pioneer in the Canadian social democratic movement. ...
1930 election leaflet Abraham Albert Heaps (December 24, 1885 _ April 4, 1954) was a Canadian politician and labour leader. ...
For other uses, see Winnipeg (disambiguation). ...
For the album by Pearl Jam see Riot Act (album). ...
RCMP redirects here. ...
By June 26, 1919 the workers were gradually giving up and the Central Strike Committee decided to halt the strike. is the 177th day of the year (178th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ...
Aftermath The head of the Royal Commission which investigated the strike found that the strike was not a criminal conspiracy by foreigners and suggested that "if Capital does not provide enough to assure Labour a contented existence...Government might find it necessary [to intervene] and let the state do these things at the expense of Capital".[citation needed]
Organized labour thereafter was hostile towards the Conservatives, particularly Meighen and Robertson, for their forceful role in putting down the strike. Combined with high tariffs in the federal budget passed in the same year (which farmers disliked), this contributed to the Conservatives' heavy defeat in the 1921 election. The succeeding Liberal government, fearing the growing support for hard left elements, pledged to enact the labour reforms proposed by the Commission. In this way the Winnipeg General Strike can be said to have resulted in much improved working conditions for millions of Canadians. The Canadian parliament after the 1921 election The Canadian federal election of 1921 was held on December 6, 1921 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons. ...
The Liberal Party of Canada (French: ), colloquially known as the Grits (originally Clear Grits), is a Canadian federal political party. ...
J.S. Woodsworth, a strike leader who was briefly imprisoned, would go on to found Canada's first socialist political party, and the forerunner of the NDP, the CCF. J.S. Woodsworth James Shaver Woodsworth (July 29, 1874 – March 21, 1942) was a pioneer in the Canadian social democratic movement. ...
This article is about the Canadian political party. ...
The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups as well as the League for Social Reconstruction. ...
See also Monument to the shootings The Reesor Siding 1963 Strike was one of the defining labour conflicts in Canadian history. ...
The On-to-Ottawa Trek was a 1935 social movement of unemployed men protesting the dismal conditions in federal relief camps scattered in remote areas across Western Canada. ...
External links - Strike - The Musical (The Winnipeg General Strike put to music)
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