The Winnipeg General Strike in 1919.

1. By: Breanna Strieb

2. Winnipeg in the 1900’s

4. The work was irregular,
you never knew if you
would have a job one
month to the next
If you were unskilled
many dangers were there,
like losing appendages
Was unrelenting work
Had long hours, usually
12 hours a day
The wages were low
The work conditions were
awful

5. Winnipeg was divided
between wealthy lawyers
and other influential
people in the south and
poor people living in
poverty in the north
In the south : lawyers,
politicians, large business
owners who prospered
after the war
In the north: blacksmith,
needle workers, railway
workers, construction
workers, mainly manual
labor

6. Working for a dollar a day

7. Inflation was eating away
the income
Many small business were
going broke having no war
the supply
Wives whose husbands
were killed at work lived
in poverty after
There was no social
assistant
There was no medical care
There was no workers
compensation

8. The Arlington Street Bridge was called the ribs of death
because it looked skeleton like and so many workers were
killed building it.

10. It was a city of
immigrants
They were hoping for a
better life
Many died of hunger and
disease
This often made them
unskilled at the work they
were hired to do
Had a population around
175,000 people
They received over 1,000
immigrants a year
Was the third largest city
by 1920

12. The soldiers and
husbands and sons who
survived the war were
still in England at first
They had to wait till their
battalion was called to be
shipped home
The longer they had to
wait to go home the more
irritated they became
Finally they were brought
back to Winnipeg by the
thousands

13. The soldiers came back
hoping for normal
Get back to an
economically ruined
Winnipeg
There was few jobs for the
returning soldiers
The veterans were getting
angry and were
demanding change

14. World War One soldiers returning to
Winnipeg at Union Station

15. Soldiers returning to Canada on a
ship

16. By May 1919 the city is in
turmoil
Some employers
benefitted more then
sacrificed in the war and
this brought on extra
tension
The contrast between
wealthy and poverty was
very large
The people have had
enough so the union put it
to a vote, white for yes
and black for no
11,000 were for the
protest and 500 against in
the vote

18. The strike began on May
15th at 11:00 a.m.
It was a strike on
everything that the lower
class was anger about
2/3rds weren’t union
Factory workers, and
people from stores, shops
and other places just
dropped everything and
left
It was a big risk, after the
strike they might not have
a job again

19. The leaders of the strike
were: Bob Russel, J. S.
Woodsworth, William
Ivans, Abraham Heaps,
John Queen, Fred Dixon
Everything was silent
The committee of 1000
assembled, they were
anonyms top lawyers and
wealthy higher ups who
opposed the strike

20. A crisis over bread and
milk was happening and
people were getting
hungry
They had cards so
essential services were
still delivered
The committee of 1000
were afraid of the strikers
and blamed it on the
people from eastern
Europe
Those who opposed the
strike turned to Ottawa
for help

21. This was card to be provisions of
milk.

23. They turned to Ottawa for
help saving the Winnipeg
because they thought it
was on the edge of
revolution
The minister of labor in
Winnipeg didn’t even
understand the reasons
for the strike or the work
conditions
AJ Andrews was sent
from Ottawa to report on
anything that looked like
it was treason
AJ takes an aggressive
stand against protesters

24. Protesters holding a banner
peacefully walking

25. A meeting of the citizens committee
of 1000

26. The headquarters of the citizens
committee of 1000

27. Children, men and women striking

28. The fire department ready to go

30. Helen Armstrong was a
labor heroine who lead the
women strikers and
opened a soup kitchen to
feed the hungry strikers
and families
Still peacefully the
veterans are starting to
get impatient
They hold marches and
parades, going against
what the strike leaders
say

31. Veterans and men willing march
against orders

32. The mayor bans parades

33. Mayor Gray fire the police
who were part of the
march even though they
were stilling doing there
job (June 9th)
They hire special
constables
RCMP arrest the main
strike leaders
RCMP raid labor halls
Everyone questions the
fairness of the trails

34. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police
at roits

35. Things start to get ugly
and stuff is being thrown,
the special constables step
in and start beating
people
The silent march is
scheduled for Saturday
June 21st
The silent march begins
and is just men, women,
and children marching
The mayor orders the
strikers to disperse but it
is ignored

36. Strikers marching silently on June
21st

37.  The RCMP are ordered to take
back control of main street
 The people start to throw stuff
at the RCMP as they ride back
and forth
 The RCMP start to fire shots
 Men and woman and children
get trapped in an alley and
beat by special police
 Military was brought in
The numbers of how many
were injured is impossible
to tell because the many
immigrants that were
there are afraid to go to
the hospital and get
deported

39. The leaders of the strike
are released on bail and
want no more blood shed
The strike ends June 26th
at 11:00 a.m.

40. Marchers tip a bus and set it on fire.

41.  30,000 strikers
 One of the largest and bloodiest
 There was all kinds of people, Great
Britain , Canadian born, and
immigrants
 It was six weeks with little to no food
 The main leaders were charged with
trying to over throw the government
 2 of the main leaders were later
elected into parliament
 The money that was set aside for the
soldiers coming home from war was
used to pay for the prosecutions, this
angered many people even today (
100 years later)
 The strike technically achieved very
little
 Lost the battle but over time it won
the war
 Many other strikes were inspired by
1919 Winnipeg General Strike

42. Main street where thousands
gathered for the strike

43.  There was blood shed and arrests for what seemingly at the time nothing
 Vs.
 Contributing to the development of other labor movements
 Was the strike worth it and beneficial?- All in all the strike is considered one of the
greatest and it is crazy how organized they were so it was definitely important
and worth it for the generations after.

44. A sculpture made to remember the
strike by Bernie Miller and Noam
Gonick.

45. Yes
 The mayor got death threats
 They destroyed a bus
 Many people had no job after
 There was people starving
 There was violence both at RCMP
and the strikers
 Many were arrested and tried
 Soldiers money was used on other
things
No
 It inspired more strikes
 Help in the long run change labor
laws
 Got people listening
 Still is inspiring for many 100 years
later
 People were standing up for what
they believed in
 Respectable people from strike were
elected into parliament

46. A strike that is 100 years old and
still controversial and investigated.