No
event has
polarized Winnipeg more than the 1919 strike. On May 15, 1919, 12,000
union members walked off their jobs and were joined by another 12,000
unorganized workers, effectively shutting down all business activity in
Winnipeg. "Thursday May 15, 1919 is a date that will live long in the
history of Winnipeg" declared the leaders of the Winnipeg General
Strike.
In
less than two
hours the whole productive industry of an entire city was tied up. Not
a wheel was turning in the big plants, not a street car was visible.
Workers were convinced that their cause of improved wages, the right to
bargain as large groups and to organize politically were just causes.
Businessmen and government leaders felt they were seeing the beginning
of a revolution and an effort to establish Bolshevism.
The
youngest of
four children, George Armstrong had been born on a farm near
Scarborough, Ontario in 1874. His parents were of United Empire
Loyalist stock. Armstrong moved to Winnipeg in 1905. He worked as a
master carpenter and rose to become business agent of the carpenters'
union during WW1. He was also one of the founders of the Socialist
Party of Canada.
How
Armstrong
became a socialist after being brought up on the farm was a mystery
according to RB Russell. Armstrong was a Marxist who saw revolution
inevitable. He saw a growing gap between the rich and poor and preached
opposition to all forms of private property as a way of abolishing
exploitation of the workers. He believed that the capitalist system had
to be replaced and could not be reformed. Armstrong did not find common
ground with moderates and had nothing but scorn for anyone who thought
they could improve capitalism. Armstrong actually expected the working
class to rise up and take over the levers of power in Winnipeg. But he
never preached violence.
He
was a "rough
and tough kind of speaker, always handing out the Marxist line"
according to Fred Tipping. "A big man with a voice to match." And when
Armstrong tired, his wife Helen would take over with "her shrill
anti-capitalist vituperation."
Mrs
Helen
Armstrong was also active in union activity and had helped organize the
retail sales clerks. She had been born Helen Jury, the daughter of a
socialist tailor from Toronto. Helen served on the Winnipeg Women's
Labour League and worked on the General Strike Committee.
Armstrong
was
under police surveillance and on June 17, 1919 he was arrested. His
house on Edmonton St was searched. The police found no guns; just some
revolutionary literature. After the strike Armstrong was charged with
seditious conspiracy, brought to trial and was imprisoned along with
John Queen, William Ivens, RE Bray, Richard Johns, William Pritchard
and RB Russell. Armstrong's lawyer had pleaded for British justice and
the freedom of expression. He asserted that Armstrong could not have
lead such a diverse collection of people such as are found in the
labour movement. Armstrong was found guilty of sedition and sentenced
to a year on a Manitoba prison farm.
One
of the jail
guards was overheard referring to Armstrong's group in jail: "Seditious
conspiracy? My god you fellows can't agree on any one point." Upon
release he took the seat to the Manitoba legislature to which he, Ivens
and Queen had been elected. Armstrong was elected as the only Socialist
Party of Canada member to sit as an MLA till 1922.
After
the mid
twenties the Armstrongs faded away from labour activity. His entire
family including his three daughters and their families moved to
Chicago en masse. In 1945 he and his wife retired to Victoria. Helen
died in 1947, George lived to 86 and died in 1956 in California. Did
the authorities over react in the 1919 Winnipeg Strike? Had Armstrong
been a threat to peace and order? Would he be a threat today? What role
did the strike play in the decline of Winnipeg?