Transcript Post-War Disillusionment - Winnipeg General Strike

The Great War is over.
What are people thinking and feeling after four
years of turmoil?
Cubism – fragmented images, angular
lines
Modern Art - Artists tried to capture
new perceptions of reality
The Lost Generation felt betrayed by
their leaders, their culture, and their
institutions.
•They asked themselves “How could all
this death and destruction have been
allowed to happen?”
•They felt helpless, and lost.
•They despaired for the future.
•Where once they had trusted, now
they did not. It appeared that Good
had lost the battle against Evil.
The Workers Revolt-Canada after
the Great War
After four years of war, the world had changed.


Boundaries of Europe changed creating new
nations.
Revolution in Russia
–
–

new communist government
the communist army wins the civil war
and establishes itself as the undisputed
government
U.S. Role in the world increased
–
considered a major power
For many of those who fought in Europe,the end
of the First World War meant the beginning of a
new society. The years which followed the was
brought some of the worst crises in Canadian
history.
Returning soldiers at Union Station in Winnipeg,
1919
The End of the War

World War I ended in 1919. Times were hard for the
Canadian worker.
1)Jobs
were hard to find.
With the armistice, the munitions plants were
shut down. Suddenly, a quarter of a million
workers had to hunt for jobs.
350,000 vets returned to Canada
No pensions or medical assistance
2) Anger over Profiteering People were angry that
corporations had made huge
profits during the war while
others suffered.
3)
Inflation - Prices were rising much faster than
wages.
- wages often didn't cover food & rent.
4)The government made organizing hard
for unions and radical groups by keeping
wartime orders limiting free speech and
assembly.
Some left-wing organizations were
made illegal.
– These measures were prompted by a
fear of communism.
Although communism never spread to
Canada, the idea of workers joining
together to demand improve working
conditions did. In Canada in 1919, workers
had no unemployment insurance,
compensation for injuries on the job, or
pensions.
- Unemployment was high (40-60%)
- Strikes and Labour disputes were
common.
Calgary,March 1919
Union leaders met + formed One Big
Union (OBU)
Goal – The union was

seeking better wages
and working conditions
for workers in all Canadians
cities.
The union began to organize
workers across Canada.
Building and metal workers tried to
become unionized, but management
refused to negotiate. The workers
decided to strike for better wages and
union recognition.
The Winnipeg General Strike

May15,1919 – 30,000 Winnipeg workers –
union members and unorganized workers –
went on strikes. They shut down Canada's third
largest city for six weeks. Workers went on
strike for recognition of their unions and the
right to bargain collectively for their wages and
working conditions. Factories,
stores,restaurants,offices,public transportation,
fire departments,newspapers,garbage
collection,telephone,postal system – everything
stopped.
The Winnipeg General Strike was the most
complete general strike in North American
history. Thousands of war veterans
demonstrated in support of the strikers. Many
strikers and demonstrations took place in other
cities across Canada.
Government and Business Owner’s
Response:
The government and businesses saw the strike
as the beginning of a worker revolution and took
steps to stop protest:


Winnipeg business people organize the
“Citizens Committee of 1000” to oppose the
strike.
Winnipeg officials banned all parades and
demonstrations.


Any person born outside of Canada and who was
suspected of trying to cause a revolution could be
arrested and deported without a hearing or trial.
The government promised to use all resources,
military, financial, and legislative, to crush the
strike. Armoured cars, troops, and machine-gun
units were moved to Winnipeg. The strike leaders
were arrested and threatened with deportation.
Bloody Saturday
June 21st . 1919 – violence erupted in Winnipeg


A huge crowd gathered to watch a parade
protesting against the arrest of the strike
leaders. The crowd overturned a streetcar and
set it on fire.
The police violently attacked a peaceful
Winnipeg parade of strikers and war veterans –
one man was killed, 30 were injured and
hundreds were arrested. The strike was
smashed.
Results:
In a way, the Winnipeg General Strike
failed:



Workers gained little + lost much
Unions nearly destroyed
Money lost
But in other ways, the strike succeeded:


In the years that followed, many of the workers
demands became law. The government
realized that there were serious labour issues it
had to address to avoid future unrest.
Many strike leaders were elected to provincial +
federal government
*J.D.Woodsworth – founded the Co-operative
Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in 1933
- This political party would later on become
the NDP