On this day in labor history, the year was 1919.
That was the day the Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council called a general strike.
It is considered one of the most important strikes in Canadian history.
Social tensions intensified as soldiers returned home in search of work, only to find skyrocketing unemployment and inflation.
In Winnipeg, building trades and metal workers attempted to organize and bargain as an umbrella organization.
They walked off the job at the beginning of May, appealing to the city’s unions for support.
On this day in 1919, some 30,000 workers walked off the job, starting with women telephone operators.
The general strike had begun.
Union and non-union workers alike heeded the call.
Factories shut down.
Public services came to a halt, including transit, mail service and utilities.
Having lost most of their workers to the strike, newspapers quickly branded strikers as Bolsheviks, depicting them as bomb throwers in cartoons.
Winnipeg’s bosses formed the Citizens Committee of 1000 and declared the general strike a conspiracy led by “alien scum.”
When the police sided with strikers, they were fired and replaced in their entirety by ‘Specials,’ used to break the strike.
Workers were intransigent and by the middle of June, the federal government ordered the arrest of strike leaders.
When tens of thousands of workers gathered on June 21 for a demonstration at Market Square, they were charged at by Royal Mounted Police, armed with clubs and guns.
Two strikers were killed and scores more were injured in what is known as Bloody Saturday.
Winnipeg was under military occupation and the strike ended in heavy losses for workers.
But many strike leaders won regional political elections the following year, defeating the very forces that smashed their strike.
October 25 - NY Daily News On Strike!
October 24 - Eight Hours for Work, Eight Hours for Rest, Eight Hours for What We Will!
October 23 - John Sweeney is Elected
October 22 - Pretty Boy Floyd Is Gunned Down
October 21 - Through Rain, Sleet, Snow & Anthrax
October 20 - Remembering Debs
October 19 - Tragedy on the Tracks
October 18 - Voice of an Era
October 17 - Fighting to End Poverty
October 16 - Thank A Farmer
October 15 - Too Little, Too Late for Radiation Sickness
October 14 - Marching for Equality
October 13 - We Whipped the Ivy League and You Can Too!
October 12 - Workers Begin to Come Together
October 11 - Remembering Mary Heaton Vorse
October 10 - With a Push of a Button, Oceans Are Joined
October 9 - The End of the Boom Boom RoOm
October 8 - The Great Chicago Fire
October 7 - Housing Now!
October 6 - Clinton Signs the Hatch Act
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