Editing Winnipeg general strike (section)

== Causes of the strike ==
[[File:Pathé News No. 57 - (excerpt) (Winnipeg General Strike) (1919).webm|thumb|thumbtime=16|Newsreel footage of the Winnipeg general strike of 1919]]

There were many background causes for the strike, most of them related to the prevailing social inequalities and the impoverished condition of the city's working class. Wages were low, prices were rising, employment was unstable, immigrants faced discrimination, housing and health conditions were poor. In addition, there was resentment of the enormous profits enjoyed by employers during the war. Soldiers returning from the war were determined to see improved social conditions and opportunities after their harrowing experiences overseas. Most workers did not have union representation, but many were influenced by the hope of achieving greater economic security through unions.<ref name= "Bumsted p. ">{{harvnb|Bumsted|1994|p=}}</ref> 

Many workers were also influenced by socialist ideas voiced by local reformers, radicals and revolutionaries. These attracted greater interest, especially among the large population of immigrants from Eastern Europe, after the Russian Revolution of 1917. A meeting of western labour delegates in Calgary in March 1919 adopted numerous radical resolutions, including support for a five-day week and a six-hour day. They also called for the establishment of a new union centre, the [[One Big Union (Canada)|One Big Union]], to promote class solidarity by uniting workers from all trades and industries in one organization. The idea that the OBU instigated the general strike is misleading, as the OBU was not formed until June 1919. However, the "one big union" idea contributed to the atmosphere of unrest.<ref>James Naylor, "Standing Together," ''Canada's History'' (April–May 2019), pp. 22–24.</ref> Similar volatile conditions existed elsewhere in Canada, and in other countries around the world, at the end of [[World War I]], but the combination of circumstances in Winnipeg proved to be explosive.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Workers' Revolt in Canada, 1917–1925|last=Heron|first=Craig|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=1998|location=Toronto}}</ref>

The most immediate cause of the strike involved support for collective bargaining in the metal trades and building trades, where workers were attempting to negotiate contracts through their trades councils. When the Metal Trades Council and the Building Trades Council had both failed to secure contracts with employers by the end of April, they went on strike, the building trades on May 1 and the metal trades on May 2. Shortly afterwards, the situation was discussed at meetings of the Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council, the umbrella body for the city's unions. The Labour Council decided to call on their 12,000 affiliated members to vote on a proposal for a general strike.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Confrontation at Winnipeg: Labour, Industrial Relations, and the General Strike|last=Bercuson|first=David|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|year=1974|location=Montreal|pages=109–112}}</ref> On a smaller scale, this tactic had achieved success for striking city workers a year earlier in 1918.<ref>Bercuson, ''Confrontation at Winnipeg'', pp. 58–65.</ref> Preliminary results of the vote among the Labour Council's member unions were announced on May 13. The outcome showed overwhelming support for a general strike, 8,667 to 645.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Winnipeg 1919|last=Penner|first=Norman|publisher=James Lorimer and Company|year=1973|location=Toronto|pages=43–44}}</ref> Ernest Robinson, secretary of the Labour Council, issued a statement that "every organization but one has voted in favour of the general strike" and that "all public utilities will be tied-up in order to enforce the principle of collective bargaining".<ref name= "Bumsted p. 28">{{harvnb|Bumsted|1994|p=28}}</ref> A Strike Committee was established, with delegates elected by the city's unions. The leadership included both moderate trade unionists, such as James Winning, a bricklayer who was president of the Trades and Labour Council, and socialists such as [[Robert B. Russell|R.B. Russell]], a machinist who favoured the OBU.