Talk:Winnipeg general strike/Archive 1

Archive 1

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The article seems to be completely messed up. Why does the majority of the article discuss strike actions in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada when the article is about the strike that occurred in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada? It makes no sense! This would be like have the majority of the article about the Hurricane Katrina Disaster in New Orleans explaining the 1907 Earthquake in San Francisco. --Jason Savage —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.188.168.12 (talk) 16:29, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

Something useful to say? --Alexwcovington 06:25, 16 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Whatcha talking about?--Lucky13pjn 15:32, Jun 16, 2004 (UTC)

I dunno. I learned a bit about the strike in a Canadian history class I took at the University of North Dakota. It's a decent article overall, but I think there could be more depth. --Alexwcovington 18:44, 16 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Then by all means, write away. You probably know more about the strike than I do, which is sad considering I am Canadian. ;)--Lucky13pjn 23:08, Jun 16, 2004 (UTC)

The small section about the One Big Union in this artical is a bit misleading as the One Big Union was not organized until after the general strike was over. Therefore, historians generally agree that the One Big Union did not influence the general strike. 12:49, March 13, 2006 (UTC)

Numbers for deaths & injuries on Bloody Saturday

I have looked at a couple of sources, including Canadian History for Dummies and the Canadian Museum of Civilization website and I can not find a reference that 94 were injured. Where did this number come from? I will update the stats to reflect what I have been able to find. -- JamesTeterenko 04:20, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

The article, as it exists so far, doesn't include information on riots, skirmishes, and beatings by the 'special constables'. It also includes nothing on the role of the RCMP in the whole affair -- a very dark chapter in the RCMP's history. I studied this particular strike in University in depth as part of a large treatise on organizational development. I'll dig up the facts and update this wiki. It is a fascinating seminal/germinal event in Canadian social development.

204.10.59.203 (talk) 19:00, 24 August 2008 (UTC)Matthew Simon.

Wasn't there a Winnipeg Manifesto?

Or "something"; I remember one of our diehard NDPer schoolteachers talking about strike, and that there was a manifesto or constitution or something, published in several languages, implying the potential creation of a worker's republic. I know this must have been a fringe element only, judging by the article overleaf, but I'm curious as to which languages and what was in it. On the other hand, there's lots of bowdlerized/toned-down Canadian history all over Wiki...or was this teacher just raving in technicolour?Skookum1 16:29, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

An organization called the "Winnipeg Soviet" was proclaimed (a Soviet is a council of workers), but Google has only a few oblique references to the term. I don't believe it was actually proclaimed as a republic, but the potential was there. I'll add some information to the article when I get good refs, but your teacher was not raving in technicolour. Eleland 20:03, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

accident?

"a young boy was accidentally killed early in the strike". what kind of accident? Jackzhp 00:21, 2 August 2007 (UTC)kNEVER THOUGHT IT WAS A BOY... thought it was a blacksmith... i dunno though...

How's that again?

Quoting article:

"With the cost of living rising due to the inflation caused by World War I, the City of Winnipeg's teamsters, electrical workers, water works employees and office workers approached City Council in April 1919 for a wage increase. Their proposal was rejected and City Council offered the four departments war bonuses, with a promise to revisit the topic after the war."

A promise to "revisit the topic after the war" doesn't make sense, IMO. April 1919 WAS "after the war".

Wanderer57 (talk) 03:33, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

Also, later in the article (Aftermath section): "Charitonoff were scheduled for deportation, however, only Blumenberg was deported, after he voluntarily left for the United States."

If Blumenberg left voluntarily, he was not deported.

Wanderer57 (talk) 03:46, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

Also, from the lead section: "The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 was one of the most influential strikes in Canadian history as it was the first organized large scale strike in history...."

Is this intended to mean the "first organized large scale strike" in world history or in Canada's history?

Thanks, Wanderer57 (talk) 13:57, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

Line in intro

This line in the intro:

"Although many Canadian companies had enjoyed enormous profits on World War I contracts, wages and working conditions were dismal and labour regulations were mostly non-existent."

gives me pause. While it may be demonstrable that labour regulations were "mostly non-existant" (although it hasn't been shown in this article) saying working conditions were dismal seems like a judgment call and a matter of opinion, which is not how an article should be written. If examples of poor working conditions exist, they should be stated as the facts they are, not described in vague, condemning language. Does anyone disagree? Can I remove the sentence or modify it to be less opinion based? TastyCakes (talk) 14:55, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

Please change the entry which states that JS Woodsworth was sentenced to a year in prison as a result of the Winnipeg Strike. Fact was that the charges against Woodsworth were withdrawn after Fred Dixon's trial. Woodsworth was elected to the Canadian Federal Parliament as the representative for Winnipeg North Centre in the election following the strike. Greatstuffa1 (talk) 02:12, 28 December 2009 (UTC)

problems:

The "causes" section seems to suggest that the strike began with electrical workers fighting with the city, however from everything I've read this is not the case. According to most of the literature I've seen it was started by the Metal Trades Council and the Winnipeg Building Trades Council both of whom were fighting for the right of collective bargaining.

Haikud'etat (talk) 01:50, 2 March 2010 (UTC)