Please see below for a motion made by the Hon. Bill Blaikie on Tuesday, May 19, 2009 to the Manitoba Legislature. Bill Blaikie is an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Winnipeg.
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
RESOLUTIONS
Res. 10 – 90th Anniversary of 1919 Winnipeg General Strike
Hon. Bill Blaikie (Elmwood): Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Burrows (Mr. Martindale), that:
WHEREAS for more than six weeks in the spring of 1919 Winnipeg experienced an unprecedented display of labour solidarity between local union and non-union workers from the private and public sectors; and
WHEREAS the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 was precipitated by opposition to the principle of collective bargaining and the need for better wages and working conditions; and
WHEREAS the strikers were seeking to achieve social and economic justice by peaceful means, but were nonetheless confronted with aggressive reactions from their employers and various levels of government, including the events of June 21, 1919, known as Bloody Saturday, a day when the Royal North West Mounted Police, riding on horseback, charged and fired into a crowd of strike supporters, resulting in many injured, numerous arrests and one death; and
WHEREAS the Winnipeg General Strike was fundamental in influencing legislators to oblige employers to recognize the rights of workers to bargain through their union; and
WHEREAS the people of Winnipeg showed their support for the goals of the strike by going on to elect many of the strike leaders to public office, including Canadian social gospel pioneer J.S. Woodsworth, who later became the founding leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba recognize the significant historical contribution of the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919 to the struggle for social justice in Manitoba; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Winnipeg General Strike as an important historical event in the development of this province.
…
Mr. Blaikie: Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to rise today to speak about and to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919. As I’m sure many members know, the strike, at this time 90 years ago, was in full flight, shall we say. The strike commenced on May 15 of 1919 and didn’t end until June 25, 1919.
I want to begin by extending congratulations to the many Winnipeggers who have been involved in a variety of events, some of which have already occurred and some of which are yet to occur, commemorating the 90th anniversary of the 1919 strike. I had the opportunity to attend one such event, at the book launch for a book of poetry by Ron Romanowski, and I found that to be a very interesting event. I hope that other members of the Legislature have opportunity to participate or to attend at other events that are being sponsored by an organization called May Works, and other events that may be occurring to commemorate the 90th anniversary.
Just taking the Chamber through the resolution, Mr. Speaker: as I said, the strike went on for about six weeks in the spring of 1919. It was both union and non-union workers. Even the police were on strike–that was the extent of the solidarity that existed–police and fire, a great deal of public sector workers, about 12,000 union and 12,000 non-union workers. I believe that ultimately the police were fired en masse because they wouldn’t agree not to go out on any further sympathetic strikes with the workers. So a great deal of solidarity and unity of mind amongst the working people of Winnipeg at that time.
The second WHEREAS, Mr. Speaker, says WHEREAS the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 was precipitated by opposition to the principle of collective bargaining, and the need for better wages and working conditions. This prompts me to say that we still live in a world, unfortunately, 90 years after the Winnipeg General Strike, where there is still opposition to the principle of collective bargaining. Not here in Manitoba–we may have our disputes about collective bargaining and how it ought to be organized and whatnot–but there’s opposition to the principle of collective bargaining to be found in many places in the world as yet. I had many opportunities, as a Member of Parliament, to meet with representatives from different countries, and you’d be surprised just how many labour activists and labour leaders are murdered every year around the planet as a result of their commitment to organizing working people in their own interests. Something to keep in mind, Mr. Speaker.
Having to do with wages and working conditions, here in Manitoba, this government is certainly, by way of its policy of increasing the minimum wage every year, trying to address the overall condition that I think exists in Canada and many other places in the world, which is that the general buying power of the wages of working people has diminished greatly over the last 20 or 30 years. This is as a result of economic conditions and global economic policies that I don’t have the time to go into here except to note that the struggle for decent wages continues. It’s not something that has been won and, even when it gets won from time to time, there’s always downward pressure on wages for a variety of reasons. Something we also need to keep in mind.
The third WHEREAS, Mr. Speaker, has to do with the events of Bloody Saturday. I want to put on the record the name of Mike Sokolowski, who was the person who was unfortunately killed in the events of Bloody Saturday. It came to my attention only recently that there was another person who actually passed away as a result of that event–but some time later, as a result of infection from gangrene from a wound that occurred on that day. So another person died as a result of that event, Steve Schezerbanowes.
Now, Mr. Speaker, you might think that, again, these things are things of the past, but again I want to remind members that there’s still an inability on the part of many governments around the world, even here in Canada from time to time, to make the proper distinction between political activism and dissent, and subversion and sedition.
Having been at many protests over the years, Mr. Speaker–I’m thinking particularly of ones having to do with the WTO or the FTAA–many, many innocent protesters, who had nothing in mind other than exercising their perfectly democratic right to protest what they thought were bad agreements that were being entered into or contemplated by the governments, were tear-gassed, or were the object of rubber bullets. There’s still this inability on the part of governments to distinguish between legitimate dissent and subversion or, as in the case of the strike in 1919, sedition, where we had, I think it was a dozen strike leaders who were charged with sedition. The honourable Member for Burrows will have more to say about these trials, as the debate proceeds here today.
One of the more shameful aspects of the politics of that at the time, of course, Mr. Speaker, was the extent to which the people who were opposed to the strike at the time, wanted to caricature the people who were participating in the strike as Bolsheviks or, even more shamefully, as aliens, because they didn’t have Canadian citizenship. Again, there’s always this temptation in political life to caricature the other, to demonize the other.
The Robson commission, the royal commission that followed the strike, was very clear in its conclusions that strikers were engaged in peaceful protest and that it wasn’t an alien conspiracy or a Bolshevik conspiracy, it was simply working people asking that their demands for better wages and working conditions be met by their employers and be respected by the various levels of government.
Another WHEREAS, Mr. Speaker, reads that the people of Winnipeg showed their support for the goals of the strike by going on to elect many of the strike leaders, including J.S. Woodsworth of course. But it wasn’t just J.S. Woodsworth, there were many other strike leaders who were elected to public office, some of them while they were still in prison.
Yes, people were jailed as a result of the trials that took place, and I’ve always found it interesting, Mr. Speaker, the triumph of democracy over the perversion of justice that occurred at the time of these trials when the people spoke very clearly about whether or not they thought these people should have been treated the way they were by their government and charged with sedition. Always interesting to me, although I think the charge was ultimately dropped against J.S. Woodsworth, that he was charged with sedition. The quote that was used against him was a quote from Isaiah, from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, when the prophet Isaiah was chastising the powers that be at the time for how they were treating the poor and the powerless. This was quoted in the strike newspaper, and this was cited as grounds for suspicion of sedition
* (11:10)
My goodness, Mr. Speaker, there’s only two minutes left. In any event, as we know proceeding from the events of 1919, there were many, many political developments, not the least of which was the election of J.S. Woodsworth to Parliament in 1921. He became the centre of a very small group which in 1933 morphed into the Co‑operative Commonwealth Federation and later, of course, morphed again into the New Democratic Party which we all know today. I was going to say which we all know and love, but I don’t want to speak for the members on the other side of the Chamber.
I’m hoping, Mr. Speaker, that this resolution might find bipartisan support. I know that there’s a history of such. Apparently when the Conservatives were in power, the Minister of Labour at that time, Darren Praznik, erected a plaque, I think either on the 75th or 80th anniversary of the strike in the Legislature here. Doesn’t matter what your political ancestry might be, it’s hard not to recognize what this resolution asks people to recognize and that is that the strike of 1919 was a significant event in the life of Manitoba and that it was a significant event in the struggle for social justice in Manitoba. On that basis I would certainly urge all members to support the resolution.
