The Winnipeg General Strike: A Case Study

In the meantime at San Francisco State College, students in the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF), a coalition of African-American, Latino, and Asian-American student groups, began demanding reforms that addressed the concerns of students of color and the surrounding community. After more than a year of negotiating with the school and organizing students, they called a strike on November 6, 1968, that became the longest student strikein United States history. When it was finally settled in March 1969, many of the students' demands were met, including the establishment of a School of Ethnic Studies.

In the first half of the 19th Century the working class in the newly industrializing American society suffered many forms of exploitation. The working class of the mid-nineteenth century, with constant oppression by the capitalist and by the division between class, race, and ethnicity, made it difficult to form solidarity. After years of oppression and exploitation by the ruling class, the working class struck back and briefly paralyzed American commerce. The strike, which only lasted a few weeks, was the spark needed to ignite a national revolt by the working class with the most violent labor upheavals of the century.

In the late 1800s and the early 1900s, labor was anything but easy. Factory workers faced long hours, low pay, high unemployment fears, and poor working conditions during this time. Life today is much easier in comparison to the late 1800s. Americans have shorter days, bigger pay and easier working conditions. Not comparable to how life is today, many riots sparked, and citizens began to fight for equal treatment. Along with other important events, the Haymarket Riot, the Pullman Strike, and the Homestead strike all play a vital role in illustrating labor’s struggle to gain fair and equitable treatment during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Every Canadian citizen can enjoy living in a country today where everyone has equal rights and freedom. Canadians today have many rights and freedoms that they take for granted. The rights and freedoms we have today were only made possible are many struggles that people in the past have faced. Various groups, specifically, Chinese workers, African Canadians, natives and women dealt with discrimination daily. Their battle for equal rights and freedoms amongst everyone has contributed greatly to the development of our nation to what it is today.

How far was the failure of the general strike due to the actions of the conservative government? (24)

The Winnipeg General Strike happened from May 15-June 25, 1919. This strike is Canada’s best known strike in its history. Massive unemployment and inflation, the success of the Russian Revolution in 1917, and rising Revolutionary Industrial Unionism, all were contributions to the postwar labor unrest that put the strike in motion.

After the war, Canadian factories that manufactured war supplies were permanently closed. This produced a lot of unemployment and bankruptcy. The cost to live was increasing dramatically and many people (who were still employed) could not compete with the inflation.(CBC, N/A, 1). WW1 veterans who had returned home after the war found that the wages were far too low.(School Work Helpers, 2016, 1). Some people wished to be employed, while others wished for better working conditions.(CBC, N/A, 2). On May 15, 1919, metal and building workers and the trades and labor council declared a strike. In a few hours, 30,000 left their jobs to participate in the strike.(Reilly, 2006, 3). One Big Union (OBG) was designed to speak for the workers.(School Work Helpers, 2016, 1). The House Of Commons had modified the Immigration Act so that any individual who was not born in Canada would be deported.(School Work Helpers, 2016, 2). The government feared that this strike would create a revolution, so they interfered. Workers were told to either go back to work or be fired.(Reilly, 2006, 6). On June 21, 1919, otherwise known as Bloody Saturday many people engaged in a silent protest. 2 people were killed that day and many sustained injuries. Several of the union leaders were arrested.(School Work Helpers, 2016, 2). Strike leaders were afraid that more people would be killed so on June 25, they went back to work.(Reilly, 2006, 3).

The Great Strike of 1877 coming after the heels of the Civil war and in the midst of a time of economic upheaval in American society, this is not argued, this is the fact of the time. We now have many primary source documents that we can use to ask questions and make judgements about this period in American history. Perhaps most importantly is the everlasting ability of using the media specifically newspapers during this time period, to sway public opinion. The question a historian finds himself asking is, if and how are the newspapers used to form and give the general public not the strikers or the business owners, a bad opinion of the strikes and a good opinion of the railroad strikers.

This article talked about the general things of the National Labor Union back in the 1800’s. It mostly talked about the negative effects of the NLU such as exclusion of women, racial prejudice, and failing to enforce the eight-hour labor law. The article did mention about groups of skilled, unskilled, and farmers were unable to share and participate in united political views unless they were intensely focused on labor union. After William Sylvis death in 1869, the NLU suffered politically and dealt with the Depression of 1873, where the NLU finally collapsed.

In 1968, a major change occurred in not only New York’s educational system, but also in the U.S. In the book The Strike That Changed New York, Jerald E. Podair aims to delve into the experiment known as Ocean Hill- Brownsville, that ultimately led to one of the largest teacher strikes in America’s history.

On July 21, 1899, New York City was filled with the voices of the newsies. Back in the 1800s, newspapers were the only source of media, they were the only way of knowing what was going on with the world. The newsies, also known as newsboys, were the ones who sold the papers, it was how they earned a living. Every morning, the newsies would line up and pay for a bundle of papers so they could sell them and hopefully make a profit. Most newsies were either orphans or runaways. When a newsboy did sell his papers, he used that money to buy food to tide him over for a day or two, but he had to save some of that money so he could buy more papers in the morning. If a newsies didn't sell enough papers, then he wouldn't

PC 1003 played an important role in the history of the Canadian Labor. The codes of the order-in-council PC 1003 created many arguments among many historians. Order-in-council PC 1003 came into effect on 17 February 1944. It was introduced during the Second World War in Canada by the Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. PC 1003 was also known by the Wartime Labor Relations Order. The codes of the Order-in-council PC 1003 protected the worker’s right to collectively bargain, represent and organize the unions chosen by a majority of the workers. This order-in-council PC 1003 covered both the federal and the provisional employees. This emergency law was extended by two years after the Second World War to bring peacetime in the Canadian

The Winnipeg General Strike The year of 1919 has been one of the most influential years of strikes

Since the very beginning of the nation’s history, America has strongly upheld the right of its citizens to practice free speech. As working conditions in the United States only grew worse in the 20th century, more laborers exercised their rights to free speech in efforts to gain the respect they deserved in the workplace. The Boston Police Strike of 1919 proves as a perfect example of workers’ efforts to improve the setting of their employment. On September 9th, groups of policemen all facing the same plight gathered to protest the dreadful circumstances they faced in the workplace, many struggling with the poor salaries and unacceptable environment they faced in their jobs. In wake of the protest, Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge made

“The use of strikes is a clear indication of the pressure they are feeling.” Just as author Stacy Teicher states in her article “New York Bus Strike: Sign of National Pressure on Unions”, “Strikes are not to be taken lightly. It is a sign that something is bothering the workers so much that it pushes them to publicly showing that they are unhappy with their job. This law allows workers who feel like they are being treated poorly to be able to voice their opinion and call out the company for doing its employees wrongly.”