page_title: Winnipeg general strike
section_title: Opposition
hierarchical_section_title: Winnipeg general strike / The 1919 general strike / Opposition
caption_attribution_description: Winnipeg Telegram Front Cover June 9 1919
context_page_description: The Winnipeg general strike of 1919 was one of the most famous and influential strikes in Canadian history. For six weeks, May 15 to June 26, more than 30,000 strikers brought economic activity to a standstill in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which at the time was Canada's third largest city. In the short term, the strike ended in arrests, bloodshed and defeat, but in the long run it contributed to the development of a stronger labour movement and the tradition of social democratic politics in Canada.
context_section_description: In a city divided on class lines, opposition to the strike was led by a group of local businessmen and professionals who described themselves as the Citizens’ Committee of One Thousand. From their headquarters in the Board of Trade building, they encouraged employers not to give in to the strikers and attempted to stir up resentment of “alien” immigrants, who, they charged, were the principal leaders of the strike. They also put pressure on governments to take action against the strike. They published a newspaper, The Winnipeg Citizen, that claimed that “the so-called general strike is in reality revolution – or a daring attempt to overthrow the present industrial and governmental system.”
  At the end of the first week of the strike, two federal cabinet ministers arrived in Winnipeg to assess the situation, the acting Minister of Justice Arthur Meighen and the Minister of Labour Gideon Robertson. They refused to meet with the Strike Committee, but consulted with the Citizens’ Committee, who greatly influenced their conclusions. Meighen issued a statement that the strike was "a cloak for something far deeper—an effort to 'overturn' the proper authority". Robertson reported back to Ottawa that “the motive behind this strike undoubtedly was the overthrow of Constitutional Government.” They warned striking postal workers, who were federal employees, to return to work or lose their jobs.  At this time, they also authorized the local government to use the armed forces and the Royal Northwest Mounted Police as needed. In preparation for arrests, at the beginning of June, and on the advice of one of the leaders of the Citizens' Committee, A.J. Andrews, the federal government  amended the Immigration Act to allow for the deportation without trial of any British citizens not born in Canada who were charged with seditious activity.
  The municipal government also took action. As large numbers of veterans were holding marches in the streets in support of the strike, on June 5 Mayor Charles F. Gray announced a ban on public demonstrations. On June 9 the city also dismissed almost the entire police force for refusing to sign a pledge promising to neither belong to a union nor participate in a sympathetic strike. With the assistance of the Citizens’ Committee, the city police were replaced with a large body of untrained but better paid special constables who patrolled the streets with clubs. Within hours, one of the special constables, a much-medalled World War I veteran Frederick Coppins, charged into a gathering of strikers and was dragged off his horse and severely pummelled. This led to claims that he was attacked by "enemy ruffians."
  The local newspapers, the Winnipeg Free Press and Winnipeg Tribune, had lost the majority of their employees due to the strike, but once they were able to resume publication, they took a decidedly anti-strike stance. The Winnipeg Free Press called the strikers "bohunks," "aliens," and "anarchists" and ran cartoons depicting radicals throwing bombs. These anti-strike views  influenced the opinions of some Winnipeg residents and contributed to the deepening atmosphere of crisis.
  
  A plan to offer a modified form of collective bargaining to the Metal Trades Council was in the works at the middle of the month, but any efforts at compromise were ended by a series of arrests on charges of seditious conspiracy. In the early morning hours of June 17, the RNWMP apprehended several prominent leaders of the strike, including George Armstrong, Roger Bray, Abraham Heaps, William Ivens, R.B. Russell and John Queen. In addition, William Arthur Pritchard, a Vancouver union organizer who was returning from Winnipeg, was arrested in Calgary. R. J. Johns, of Winnipeg, was in Montreal and not arrested at this time. With the exception of Armstrong, who was Canadian-born, they were all British immigrants. Several foreign-born socialists, including Sam Blumenberg, Max Charitonoff and Solomon Almazoff were also arrested, as was Oscar Schoppelrei, an American-born Canadian war veteran of German ethnic origin.
caption: Winnipeg Telegram Front Cover June 9, 1919
exif: {}