Winnipeg general strike ended - June 26, 1919

The Winnipeg General Strike officially ended when the strike leaders called it off.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hey y'all, I'm Eves and Welcome to This
Day in History Class, a podcast that proves history is
made every day. Today is due. The day was June

(00:25):
nineteen nineteen. The Winnipeg General Strike officially ended when the
strike leaders called it off. In Winnipeg, the capital of
Manitoba and Canada, early twentieth century workers faced poor living,
in working conditions, and other social inequalities. In the late
eighteen hundreds, immigrants made their way to Winnipeg to work

(00:45):
in agriculture and other growing industries. At the same time,
business owners were growing wealthier and building huge homes in
the city. But World War One began in nineteen fourteen,
and wages were low while inflation was high. Unemployment was
on the rise, sanitation was poor, and living conditions were crowded.

(01:06):
Many people were not making enough money to be able
to afford adequate food and medical care. Working class immigrants
in Winnipeg were deeply affected by these conditions. In March
of nineteen nine, Canadian labor leaders met in Calgary and
called for the establishment of the One Big Union, which
later formed as a labor union that worked to empower

(01:27):
workers through mass organization. Along industrial lines, workers in the
building and metal trades were negotiating new contracts with their
employers for better wages and working conditions. They were trying
to negotiate these contracts through trades councils that represented workers
across their industry, but negotiations between employers and trades councils

(01:49):
broke down and a strike committee was formed after member
unions in the Winnipeg Trades and Labor Council voted to
hold a general strike on May fifth, teenh The Winnipeg
General Strike began when around thirty thou people left their
jobs to strike for their right to collective bargaining and
better wages. Telephone operators, retail workers, factory workers, postal workers,

(02:14):
and firefighters were among the people who went on strike.
The police force remained on duty, though they officially supported
the strike. Most of the police force was dismissed for
supporting the strike and replaced with so called special Police
who walked the streets with clubs. The city's business elite
quickly formed the Citizens Committee of one thousand in opposition

(02:36):
to the strike. The Citizens Committee maintained that the strike
was actually a revolutionary conspiracy led by Bolsheviks and quote
alien scum. Some mainstream newspapers printed stories that cast the
strikers in a negative light and blamed the strike on
European workers. On June five, Winnipeg mayor Charles Gray band

(02:57):
parades in public gatherings. Still, news of the strikes spread
to cities across Canada, and people in places like Calgary, Edmonton,
Prince Albert, and Victoria announced their own strikes. Employees told
striking workers that they had to get back to work
or they faced being dismissed. On top of that, the
government passed legislation that allowed the immediate deportation of British

(03:21):
born immigrants deemed seditious. In mid June, the Royal Northwest
Mounted Police arrested several strike leaders. The strike reached a
peak on Saturday, June one, when thousands of workers gathered
downtown to protest the arrests. The Northwest Mounted Police was
called to disperse the crowd, and in the ensuing chaos,

(03:43):
two people were killed and at least thirty were injured.
The Special Police and military patrols also showed up to
break up the protest. Some of the labor leaders were released,
but editors of the strike bulletin J S. Woodsworth and
Fred Dixon were arrested. Fearing more violent the strike committee
called for the general strike to end. On the morning

(04:03):
of June seven. Strike leaders were convicted of seditious conspiracy
and were given sentences of six months to two years
in jail. The Royal Commission that investigated the strike determined
that it was not a criminal conspiracy by foreigners. Still,
many strikers lost their jobs, and those who didn't found
that conditions stayed the same. The striking workers did not

(04:25):
immediately win the wage and condition improvements, union recognition rights,
or collective bargaining they aimed for, but unionism and labor
actions continued to spread in Canada, and the creation of
the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation political party got some strikers elected
to City Hall and the Manitoba Legislature. I'm Eve Chef

(04:47):
COO and hopefully you know a little more about history
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(05:19):
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