Winnipeg General Strike

1876 Words8 Pages
The idea of a “general strike” was established in Europe. The essential cause behind a general strike is that work can change it employers to its will and instead of stopping production in a single industry, it shuts down work in an entire city or province. This concept began in the 19th Century during the second decade in England and first appeared in that country in 1842 (Schrag). The Winnipeg General Strike took place on May 15th 1919. It was one of Winnipeg’s biggest highlights during that time period. There are many different views about why the strike initially happened, however; it is recognized as taking place due to a major dispute between metal workers and their bosses. It then quickly spread rapidly throughout Winnipeg’s working class citizens, spread by deeper problems over inflation, unemployment and turmoil (Bumsted 1). Bank, mail, food delivery services, newspapers, telephones, taxis, water, power and police and fire departments were cut off or significantly reduced during this time. The strike did not solely take place with the situation within Canada and the West but also there had been tension building for many years throughout the world before it occurred. It had a tremendous impact on people’s lives throughout the city of Winnipeg in which we live today (Winnipeg Strike). This paper will intend to demonstrate the history of how the largest strike in Canada caused many hardships for the working class, and had and overall negative effect on the city itself. Some argue the different effects the strike had on Winnipeg and the rest of Canada, however it is evident that one of the more important issues of the strike was the picketing that took place each day during the walkout and how effective their picketing was in encouraging the government to give them the wages and hours that
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