Any good sources on the Winnipeg general strike?

Submitted by slothjabber on March 16, 2019

I have honestly tried to find some, but not been able to find out much. Does anyone have any recommendations?

jondwhite

5 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by jondwhite on March 17, 2019

There are a plethora of books on Amazon, all of which I have never read.

slothjabber

5 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by slothjabber on March 17, 2019

Yes.

I suppose the question means 'has anyone read any of the things that are available and can recommend or warn me against any of them (and why), or do I have to do all the work myself?'

And as a corollary, 'does anyone have access to an archive of stuff from, ooh, I don't know, the Socialist Party of Canada maybe, discussing the Winnipeg General Strike?'

mollymew

5 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by mollymew on March 19, 2019

From Canadian Dimension, a Winnipeg magazine best described in my opinion as "left social democrat"

https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/the-1919-winnipeg-general-strike

I'll try to find others for you.

mollymew

5 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by mollymew on March 19, 2019

Here from the University of Alberta's archives is a publication released by the strike's defence committee. It looks EXREMELY LABORIOUS to get through but it *is* a primary source.

http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/4548.html

ajjohnstone

5 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by ajjohnstone on March 19, 2019

I've written an article for the Socialist Standard on the Strike - unfortunately you'll have to wait for the May issue to read it - that is if they choose to print it. If not it will appear on the blog

mollymew

5 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by mollymew on March 19, 2019

Speaking of laborious the following thesis on : The Winnipeg General Strike: Class, ethnicity and Class Formation in Canada takes forrrrever to load. It's a hard to read pdf, but it might have something of interest for you.

http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca/webclient/StreamGate?folder_id=0&dvs=1552960359855~557

Alf

5 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Alf on March 22, 2019

I'm pretty sure there is an article in an old issue of Internationalism on the Winnipeg general strike. I'm away at present but will check it out soon. Not digitised but it would be a good time to do it.

slothjabber

5 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by slothjabber on March 22, 2019

Yes, the 100th anniversary is in a couple of months - that's what got me thinking about. I think it's a relatively-forgotten incident and it would be good to see both the history being more widely-shared and some analysis and lessons to be learned.

Hieronymous

5 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Hieronymous on March 24, 2019

First, you've got to get Fnbrill back here on lilbcom. He's something of an expert on the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike and the IWW breakaway group One Big Union (OBU) that had a presence on the North American West Coast, but was especially strong in western Canada and Manitoba. OBU was heavily involved in the 6-week general strike.

Also, from my perspective, the living person who is most knowledgeable about the strike is retired University of Winnipeg professor Nolan Reilly. His wife Sharon curated the 75th anniversary exhibit of the General Strike at the Manitoba Museum. When I met them at a Working Class Studies Association Conference in 2007, she had created a packet of materials -- including a documentary video -- about the strike, which she was trying to distribute around Canada to encourage the teaching of Labor History in the schools. While not libertarian commies, Neil and Sharon both have an amazing wealth of knowledge about the General Strike, are genuinely nice people, and are willing to share their resources.

Both are involved in commemorative events this year, the 100th anniversary:

UWinnipeg Winnipeg General Strike Centenary Lecture Series (with Neil)

Winnipeg General Strike Centenary Conference, May 8-11

I scoured my bookshelf, but could only find one book: The Winnipeg General Strike, edited by David P. Gagan and Anthony Rasporich and put out in 1973 (part of the "Canadian History Through the Press Series"). It's kinda like a scrapbook of mainstream newspaper accounts, but with some great red scare graphics. I wouldn't recommend it, but I picked it up for a couple bucks.

Fnbrill, though, has tons and tons of scanned documents, so many that he should write them up into a book (he's even threatened to do so, but apparently nothing's come of it -- yet).

Alf

5 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Alf on March 24, 2019

I checked, and I was wrong - our article is online:

https://en.internationalism.org/inter/151/winnipeg-general-strike

We also did one on the Seattle general strike:

https://en.internationalism.org/inter/150/seattle-general-strike-1919