WINNIPEG GENERAL STRIKE 1919

CAUSES Inflation – cost of living rising fast Unemployment – especially returning soldiers Labour unions growing in power – demanding better wages and working conditions

EVENTS May 15, 1919 – 30,000 Winnipeg workers left jobs to support construction workers in their efforts to form a union. City paralyzed – streetcars stopped, mail undelivered, telephones out, bread and milk not delivered. Even police supported strikers.

EVENTS Employers and government believed it was a revolution against authority. Troops were brought in and special police were hired to replace those sympathetic to the strikers. June 17, 1919 – Strike leaders were arrested and sent to Stony Mountain Penitentiary, including R.B. Russell.

Events – bloody Saturday June 21, 1919 A protest march over the arrest of strike leaders. NWMP fired into crowd killing two and wounding several others. City was put under military occupation.

results Ended a period of labour strife in the country. Union movement weakened – did not regain power until World War II. Bloodshed and military occupation of Winnipeg.