Winnipeg's General Strike by Michael DuPuis

Author:Michael DuPuis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2014-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Norris addressing anti-strike Loyalist veterans, June 4. Note the reporter in front of Gray writing on a notepad. Courtesy of Archives of Manitoba N12297, Winnipeg Strike 6.

Anti-strike Loyalists veterans prepare to march on June 4. Courtesy of Archives of Manitoba N12295, Winnipeg Strike 4.

Anti-strike Loyalists veterans’ demonstration at City Hall, June 4. Courtesy of Archives of Manitoba N2737, Foote 1671.

By the authority vested in me, I do hereby order that all persons do refrain from forming or taking part in any parades or congregating in crowds or upon the streets of the City of Winnipeg, and do hereby request of all law-abiding citizens the full compliance with this proclamation.

On June 6, the Canadian government introduced amendments to the Immigration Act permitting deportation without trial of anyone not born in Canada who was accused of sedition. The Act to Amend the Immigration Act, which took only forty-five minutes to be given three readings in the House of Commons and Senate, was targeted against the British-born leaders of the Winnipeg strike. The following day, Mayor Gray addressed a large crowd of strikers and veterans at Victoria Park, which had been renamed Soldiers’ Parliament, and several returned soldiers were signed as special constables. On June 8, former Winnipeg minister James S. Woodsworth arrived in Winnipeg and that evening spoke at the Sunday Labor Church service at Victoria Park to ten thousand people.

James Hare’s photo story in Leslie’s, titled “Canada’s Fight Against Bolshevism,” provided a gallery of twelve photographs. Two side-by-side pictures taken on June 3 showed a large crowd of pro-strike veterans assembled in front of the Industrial Bureau. The first photograph was captioned, “Strikers about to tear down sign from the Board of Trade doorway in the Industrial Building, Winnipeg ‘Headquarters of Citizens’ Committee of One Thousand.’ Though small fights have occurred regularly, there has been no mob violence except in the matter of destroying signs, newspapers, etc.” The second photograph was captioned, “The same doorway a few moments later after the sign was torn down. This demonstration followed a visit to the Parliament buildings to demand new legislation favorable to the strikers. The general strike began in May over a trivial labor dispute, but it developed into a matter of ‘Bolsheviks’ vs. ‘bourgeois.’”

In contrast, three of Hare’s photographs shot on June 4 featured anti-strike returned soldiers. One taken at the corner of Main Street and Broadway Avenue showed a parade of veterans and was captioned, “The Canadian general strike has settled down to the bitterest fight between union labor and a community that the western world has seen. Canada looks upon the strike as a finish fight against the soviet idea in government.” A second featured the same veterans in front of City Hall with signs reading, “Down with Bolshevism, We Will Maintain Constituted Authority, Law & Order” and “Deport the Undesirable Alien.” A third with Premier Norris addressing anti-strike servicemen near the legislature was captioned, “Premier Norris denounced the strikers’ parade because of its leaders, who advocated Bolshevism. He refused

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