How The Winnipeg General Strike Affected Canadian History

A strike is a refusal to work organized by a body of employees as a form of protest, typically in an attempt to gain a concession or concessions from their employer. (www.dictionary.com) Although many Canadian companies had enjoyed enormous profits on World War I contracts, wages and working conditions were dismal and labour regulations were mostly non-existent. There were a lot of changes before and after the strike which effected Canada globally, socially, and economically. The following essay will demonstrate how in all of Canadian history, with Labour Union Movements and protest against the employers, the Winnipeg General Strike was one of the most explosive and meaningful of all previously recorded general strikes throughout Canadian history.

The Winnipeg General Strike began in the spring of 1919, a couple of months after the First World War ended. After the war was over the cost of living continued to increase and the soldiers that returned from the war wanted to be employed. Since, the soldiers were now looking for work, the government had no other choice than to force people out of work at the same time. This created deflation problems and it was also the main cause that led to a strike.
The first degree of the strike was when on May 1st all of the unions came together with the “Buildings Trade Council” and went on strike after consultation with the Winnipeg Builders Exchange.

An exact day later the “Metal Trades Council” announced a strike of employees. The three main areas of Winnipeg joined in the strike and abandoned their work. The second degree of the strike was when the Winnipeg Building Council and the Metal Trades Council went to the Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council (TLC) and confessed about this issue. The third degree of the strike was when the TLC came to an agreement. The agreement was that they wanted to survey all unions on a responsive strike. After the survey was held a general strike committee was formed which consisted of 300 people. 8,667 people stood up for the strike and only 645 against the strike. The final degree of the strike was when on May 15th at 11:00am, the actual strike began. Most of the employees followed the union members and all of the people involved in this strike were now

30,000.
There was also an opposite opinion on the strike. Some citizens didn’t like the strike because they thought Winnipeg was now lifeless because many regional businesses were shut down such as, shopping malls, convenience stores, newspapers, radio, bakeries, motorized transportation, mail, etc. The aftermath of this was harsh because retail was lame. Factories were also shut down. On May 16th, a Winnipeg Citizens Committee was declared which was made up of 1,000 union members. Throughout this conflict, the government set multiple ultimatums for strikers. Unfortunately 5,000 strikers refused the ultimatums. The government now realized that this affair was bigger than they had thought.
The only three things that the strikers wanted were first they wanted the right of unified bargaining, secondly a higher wage and lastly the recovery of all strikers. There were also things that they didn’t want. First was revolution, second was no disorder and third no dictatorship. The government refused to this ultimatum and an 1800 man force called “Specials” were sent out to calm the strikers. “Specials” were armed with baseball bats and wagon spokes supplied by local retailers. The strikers still did not surrender to the government, instead they charged the “Specials” with “Bolshevism,” “enemy allies,” and also of “undermining British values.” The civil war between Russia’s Bolsheviks and anti-Bolsheviks was raging on at the time. A Bolshevik is a member of the majority faction of the Russian Social Democratic Party, which renamed the Communist Party after seizing power in the October Revolution of 1917. (www.dictionary.com) .These charges were laid on the “Specials” by the Minister of Justice, Arthur Meighen.
After a week strikers were ordered to go back to work instantly. This command was not followed and the strike was back to where it had begun. The government now had to think of a new resolution and end this strike as fast as they possibly could. After Britain got the news about what was happening in Winnipeg, their parliament sent out a change in the Immigration Act and Criminal Code to the Canadian Parliament. The change declared that the government had a confirmation of deportation of all British born strike leaders. So any British born strike leader could now be deported back to Britain, the government of Canada had the right to do so.
On a late afternoon on June 17th, government agents now started to jail strike leaders and sent them to jail, without approved bail right.

Most of these arrests were taken place at night. There were 10 leaders of the “Central Strike Committee (CSC)” and 2 propagandists of a new group called “One Big Union.” One of the main leaders that was arrested was J.S Woodsworth. J.s Woodsworth became the first leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), democratic socialist party that later became the New Democratic Party (NDP). When the strikers came to know about these arrests they were filled with fury, and so the ultimate major movement in the strike began. All of the strikers gathered in Winnipeg’s Market Square and violence started in action. Leaders of the strike insulted the Royal North West Mounted Police (RNWMP). After a couple of minutes the RNWMP disembarked on the strikers, harming them with clubs and firing weapons. As a consequence 2 people were killed as well as 30 people were injured. The Winnipeg General Strike is recognized as “Bloody Saturday” because it was the day that had the most violence. The Canadian army was also out on the streets because they doubted more violence. Precisely 42 days from the beginning of the strike, on June 26th, the strike was over. The leaders of the strike did not want more violence and they also feared that the RNWMP would get involved more so they chose to finally end the

strike.