Introduction
One Of The Most Significant Strikes In Canadian History Happened During The Winnipeg General Strike In May 1919. Approximately Thirty Thousand Staff Members Made The Decision To Go On A Six-Week Vacation. The City Came To A Complete Standstill As A Consequence Of This Walkout, Which Also Affected Companies, Shops, And Transportation. The Staff Members’ Strike Was Started As A Result Of A Few Requests They Had, Including Better Wages And Working Conditions. Sadly, The Strike Brought About Two Fatalities And Many Other Injuries. On June 25, 1919, It At Long Last Came To An End.
Contextual Background
The Goal Of The Widespread Strike Claimed To The Strikers, Was To Obtain Their Right To Engage In Collective Bargaining Through Representatives Of Their Choosing. The Effects Of World War I In 1914 Had Left Canada’s Economy In Debt, Increased The Cost Of Commodities And Housing, Caused Firms To Sluggishly Operate, And Reduced Earnings.
Without Using Any Cites The The Majority Of The Money The Government Received Came From Taxes Contributed By Average Citizens, Which Increased Their Burden. In The Real Estate Industry, There Was A Lot Of Corruption And Considerable Unemployment During The Years 1914–1915. However, By Developing Their Industries Following The War, Certain Cities In Western Canada Were Able To Quickly Lower Unemployment. The Cost Of Living Was Steadily Rising, And There Was A Sizable Income Difference Between Different Professions. Because Many Posts Had Already Been Occupied By Immigrants, The Return Of War Veterans Looking For Work Exacerbated The Instability By Increasing Competition And Unemployment Rates.
Causes Of The Winnipeg General Strike
Non-British Migrant Laborers Had To Deal With Harsh Winters And Substandard Housing Circumstances While Living In Canada. Additionally, They Were Forced To Work In Hazardous Conditions Without Adequate Health Coverage, Which Led To Accidents And Occasionally Fatalities. Additionally, They Exposed Their Kids To A Variety Of Illnesses.[1]
The Owners Of Northern Iron Works, Manitoba Bridge And Iron Works, And Vulcan Iron Works, Their Employers In The Western Metal Industry, Never Gave The Workers Any Assistance. These Employers Made Life Extremely Challenging For The Workers By Refusing To Make Any Accommodations.
Despite These Difficulties, The Workers Did Not Speak Out And Did Not Start Staging Big Demonstrations Or Using Violence Until 1914. However, The Labor Movement Gained Traction As World War I Started That Year. The 1917 Russian Revolution And The “Turmoil In Europe” Gave Workers Optimism That They Might Unite And Articulate Their Demands Effectively To Get Better Outcomes.
Large-Scale, Violent Strikes Broke Out In Western Canada In May 1918, Severely Disrupting Services Like Electricity, Telephone, Rail, And Firefighting. In Addition, The Striking Workers Began Writing And Publishing A Newspaper Called The “Western Labor News,” Which Gave Them A Voice.
Strikers’ Challenges And Responses
The City Council Passed An Agreement That Compelled All City Employees To Sign A Document Committing Not To Go On Strike, Either Collectively Or Individually, In An Effort To Quell The Strikers. The Strikers Were Incensed By This Revision, Which Reinforced Their Demand For A General Strike.
When The City Council And The Labor Group Known As The Citizen’s Committee Of One Hundred Came To An Agreement And Rescinded The Issued Amendment, The 1918 Strike Came To An End. Even Still, The Labor Movements Continued. The Socialist Party Of Canada Conducted Two Meetings To Propose The Creation Of One Big Union In December 1918 And March 1919. This Union Sought To Promote Collective Bargaining By Uniting All Workers In The Nation. Nearly Every Winnipeg Resident Received A Vote On May 6, 1919, Asking Them To Weigh In On The General Strike And The One Big Union.
The Winnipeg Trades And Labor Council Conducted A Meeting On May 13, 1919, And The Results Were Revealed. It Stated That More Than 11,000 Votes Were In Support Of The General Strike, And One Big Union And 5,000 Were Against It. A Significant General Strike Consequently Started On May 15, 1919.
The Winnipeg Daily Newspapers (The Winnipeg Tribune, The Winnipeg Telegram, And The Manitoba Free Press) Were Seen By The Strikers As Unfairly Depicting Them. Newspaper Reporters Were Forbidden From Attending Any Meetings As A Result, And The Strikers Forced Typists Employed By These Newspapers To Resign From Their Positions In Order To Avoid Having Their Opinions Misrepresented.
The Manitoba Free Press Referred To The Strike’s Principal Organizers, Veitch, Robinson, Winning, Ivens, And Russell, As The “Red Five” In Pieces That Suggested That Daily Life In Winnipeg Was Unaffected By The Strike.
[2]
The New York Times Ran A Story Titled “Bolshevism In Winnipeg ‘One Big Union’ Assumed Entire Control Of City, But Was Ousted By A Bourgeois Committee” That Attempted To Connect The Strikes To The Russian Revolution (Berzish, 2010). With These Measures, The Strikers Were Meant To Be Discredited, And The Idea That They Were Attempting To Communize The Government Spread.
A Group Known As The Citizen’s Committee, Which Was Made Up Of 1,000 Businesspeople And Professionals, Fiercely Opposed The Strike. In Order To Find Volunteers To Take Over The Crucial Services That The Strikers Had Interrupted, They Teamed Up With The Military. They Argued For Replacing The Pro-Strike Police Force With 1,800 Special Constables Who Were Constantly Ready With Trucks And Automobiles To Quickly Deploy Soldiers If Needed In Order To Preserve Order And Avert Any Potential Bloodshed.
These Business Owners Had A Lot On The Line Because The Strike’s Media Coverage Caused The Stock Markets To Slump Significantly And Scared Away International Investors From Both The United States And Canada.
Image: Citizens Committee Gathering On June 4, 1919.
Government Response And Suppression Of The Strike
At The Time Of The Strike, The Government Supported The Employers. Postal Workers Were Regarded As Federal Employees Despite The Fact That The Strike Encompassed Workers Who Did Not Fall Under The Government’s Purview. As A Result, After Government Representatives Visited Winnipeg In May 1919, Postal Workers Were Given A Hard Three-Day Ultimatum To Return To Work. The Administration Used The Termination Of Those Postal Workers Who Disobeyed This Order To Show That They Were Unwilling To Make Concessions To The Strike. The Government Also Incorporated Information From Publications That Emphasized Immigrants As A Problematic Element Of The Strike. On June 5, 1919, In Ottawa, They Passed A Measure Known As “The Act To [3]Amend The Immigration Act” To Remedy This. Strikers Who Engage In Any Anti-Government Activity May Be Deported Under This New Regulation. Since Many Of The Strikers Were Immigrants And May Potentially Be Deported, This Gave Rise To Panic Among Them.
Resolution And Outcome
The Federal Government Sent Extra Specialized Troops And Armed Royal North-West Mounted Police To Be Ready For Any Violence After Learning How Strongly The Citizen’s Committee Opposed The Strike. Ten Strike Organizers, Including Anglo-Saxon And Immigrant People, Were Detained On June 17 And Accused Of Conspiring. On June 21, Pro-Strike Veterans And The Mounted Police Engaged In Combat As A Result. Following Mayor Gray’s Orders, The Troops Set Fire To The Rally, Turning It Into A Violent Demonstration That Left One Protester Dead And Numerous More Hurt. As A Result, 80 People Were Detained, And The Mayor Of Winnipeg Regained Control Of The City.
The Strike Eventually Came To A Conclusion After The Government Of Manitoba And The Protesters Agreed To Look Into The Province’s Working Conditions.
Even While The Strike’s Goal Of Raising Pay Was Not Met, It Did Give The Workers A Reduced Work Week Of Five Days, To Put It Succinctly And Without Plagiarism. Even After The Workers Returned To Work, Winnipeg’s Economy In The 1920s Didn’t Seem To Be Headed In A Positive Direction. Because Of Lower Freight Rates Brought On By The Panama Canal’s Construction And A Reduction In Agricultural Output, The Economy’s Growth Slowed. As A Result Of The General Strike Being Forcibly Put An End To And The Employees Becoming Weaker, The Fate Of Winnipeg Enterprises Was Decided By Elderly And Worn-Out Persons.[4]
Conclusion
In Summary, The Winnipeg General Strike Of May 1919 Is Recognized As A Monumental Occurrence That Forever Changed Canadian History. The Strike Served As A Representation Of The Group Struggle Of Thousands Of Employees Who Valiantly Interrupted City Operations In Order To Demand Improved Compensation And Working Conditions. It Revealed The Severe Financial Struggles That Workers Went Through, Which Were Made Worse By The Effects Of World War I. In Addition, The Russian Revolution And The Workers’ Demand For The Right To Participate In Collective Bargaining Gave The Labor Movement A Boost. The Demonstration Eventually Forced Management To Address Their Concerns About Working Conditions Despite Facing Adamant Opposition From Company Owners And Authorities, Leading To Altercations And Arrests.
However, The Strike’s Aftereffects Were Detrimental To Winnipeg’s Economy, Slowing Growth And Favoring More Experienced, Less Creative Company Executives. The Winnipeg General Strike Continues To Be A Significant Event In The Fight For Workers’ Rights And The History Of Labor Movements In Canada, Despite Its Difficulties And Limitations.[5]
Bibliography
Lewycky, Dennis. Magnificent Fight: The 1919 Winnipeg General Strike. Fernwood Publishing, 2019.
Mitchell, Cameron. “On Behalf Of The Great Mass Of The Public”: The Citizens’ Committee Of 1,000, Constituted Authority, And The Capitalist State In The Winnipeg General Strike.” (2019).
Thiessen, Janis. “Remembering 1919: The Winnipeg General Strike.” Labour 86 (2020): 159-176.
Kloss, Wolfgang. “The Canadian West In An Era Of Crisis (1919-1935) Historical And Fictional Representations.” Zeitschrift Für Kanada-Studien 41, No. 1 (2021).
Painter, Corinne, Ingrid Sharp, And Matthew Stibbe. Socialist Women And The Great War, 1914-21: Protest, Revolution And Commemoration. Bloomsbury Academic, 2022.
[1] Lewycky, Dennis. Magnificent Fight: The 1919 Winnipeg General Strike. Fernwood Publishing, 2019.
[2] Mitchell, Cameron. “On behalf of the great mass of the public”: The Citizens’ Committee of 1,000, Constituted Authority, and the Capitalist State in the Winnipeg General Strike.” (2019).
[3] Thiessen, Janis. “Remembering 1919: The Winnipeg General Strike.” Labour 86 (2020): 159-176
[4] Kloss, Wolfgang. “The Canadian West in an Era of Crisis (1919-1935) Historical and Fictional Representations.” Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien 41, no. 1 (2021).
Painter, Corinne, Ingrid Sharp, and Matthew Stibbe. Socialist Women and the Great War, 1914-21: Protest, Revolution and Commemoration. Bloomsbury Academic, 2022.
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