The Morning After Life after WWI

Learning Goals Understand the economic struggles that led to a workers revolt in the Winnipeg General Strike (K/U) Understand the agrarian [cultivation of land] discontent of farmers following the war (K/U)

Issues at home after WWI Inflation during the war years meant decreased real wages Average family’s purchasing power was less Increased unemployment as 500,000 veterans returned from overseas Prosperity eventually returned by the mid-1920s C&C - Chapter 3: The radio Age, starting on p. 124. The war years had been a boom period for the Canadian economy. More than half of Canadians found themselves living in poverty

Winnipeg General Strike (1919) Largest Western City & Capital of Saskatchewan

The Lead Up Soldiers Lack of gov’t aid (pension, medical) Few jobs Resented rich employers (factory owners) Workers Poor pay Poor conditions Influenza (Flu) Epidemic Passed along CPR Hit Winnipeg hard Communist Influences Russian Revolution (1919) “Worker’s Unite!” No private ownership High Russian Population

Workers’ Rights in 1919 No minimum wage Low salaries No benefits British Columbia adopted the Men’s Minimum Wage Act in 1925, making it the first province to legislate a minimum wage for male workers 2012 minimum wage in Ontario is $10.25 and the lowest in Canada is $9.00 in the Yukon Low salaries No benefits No collective bargaining

Rules of the Workplace (Cigar Factory) 10 hrs make up a day's work No one is allowed to stop work during working hours All employees to be search before leaving the factory Loud or profane talking strictly prohibited. All employees wasting or dropping tobacco on the floor will be fined for each offence. Hair combing not allowed in the factory

Mounted Police charging down Main Street during the Winnipeg Strike, June 21, 1919.

A crowd attempts to tip over a tramway car during the Winnipeg General Strike, June 21, 1919.

Veterans of the Great War parade in opposition to the Winnipeg strikers, June 4, 1919.

Winnipeg General Strike Dispute over wages and collective bargaining rights in the building and metal trades 35,000 workers belonging to 50 different unions left their jobs Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions

Citizen Committee of 1000 Business leaders, politicians,factory owners Create Special Police Force Arrest strike leaders Fire civic workers “Sedition” = threatening the state By the time the strike ended (six days after Bloody Saturday), 7 of the strike’s leaders had been charged with “seditious conspiracy”

Bloody Saturday (June 21, 1919) Climax of the strike = clash between committee’s special police (N.W.M.P.) and strikers Deaths of 2 marchers Injury of 34 others Arrest of another 80

Summary of the WGS Winnipeg in a fragile state, unhappy masses Workers strike to protest unrest City grinds to a halt Citizen’s Committee of 1000 opposes Bloody Saturday - violence erupts Workers return back to work

WGS Provocative Question Were the workers justified in their decision to strike?

Agrarian Discontent Farmers were Concerned about rural depopulation Anxious to see fed. gov’t do something about tariffs Angry at fed. gov’t’s refusal to honour its promise to exempt farmers’ songs from conscription Tariff = tax or duty to be paid on a particular class of imports or exports. Tariffs kept he prices of manufactured goods artificially high and yet limited the markets for their grains

Effects of agrarian discontent Agrarian discontent led to formation of United Farmers of Ontario (UFO) who swept the October 1919 provincial election in Ontario United Farmers parties formed government in Alberta in 1921 and became official opposition in other prairie provinces In next session of federal Parliament, several western members of the union government joined forces with a group of Liberals and created a farmers’ representatives under leadership of Thomas A. Crerar (National Progressive Party) (with 43 seats, leaving the next closest at 28 for Liberals) (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba)

vs. Activity If you were a wealthy businessman who wanted to make more profits, write your views on the Winnipeg General Strike. If you were a worker and were not able to afford basic necessities, write your views on the Winnipeg General Strike. Who would you vote for in the federal election of 1921? Put the different parties in the federal election of 1921 on PP or the blackboard = 117 seats for Liberals [under Mackenzie King], 65 for Progressives, 50 for Conservatives and 3 for independent members of Parliament