28 January 1921: Letter from F.J. Dixon to Meighen

Dixon writes to Hugh Guthrie, Justice Minister and Arthur Meighen, now the Prime Minister, to remind them that Ivens, Queen and Armstrong, all of whom are MLA-elects, are still in jail and unless released:

We would emphasize at this time the discontent that is likely to be aroused in the minds of the voters who elected these men to public office, if they find their elected representatives are barred from performing their public function.

In case you're wondering ...

There IS more 1919 to come ! My plan was to do this blog in real time which, upon reflection, doesn't work so great for the post-strike period. Over the hols I might speed up the remainder of 1919 and 1920 which includes the trails.

6 November 1919: The Robson Report

The Robson Commission report is presented to the provincial government (for background and a link to the report).

Similar to the feds', Mathers Commission report of earlier in the year, Robson does not find much in the way of Bolshevik revolution. Rather, he concludes, the strike was a "protest against conditions" that workers faced and a "demand for relief":

"it is too much for me to say that the vast number of intelligent residents who went on strike were seditious or that they were either dull enough or weak enough to allow themselves to be led by seditionaries."

The government did not make the report public for another four months, after the trials of the strike leaders were complete.

General Strike Lecture 24 Sept '09

Here's an Upcoming Lecture:

"The Winnipeg General Strike: Writing About the Citizens' Committee of 1000"

by Tom Mitchell, Archivist & Historian, Brandon University

WHEN: Thursday, 24 September 2009, 7:30 PM
WHERE: Archives & Special Collections, 330 Dafoe Library, U of M
COST: Free

This event is sponsored by Archives & Special Collections and the Association for Manitoba Archives. All are welcome!

Exhibit: 1919 The Ripple Effect of Fear

Exhibit: Winnipeg's 1919 General Strike: The Ripple Effect of Fear

Martin Auditorium, Dalnavert Museum, 61 Carlton Street, Winnipeg.

This display, developed in commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, showcases those who were in charge on either side and the consequences of the fear that gripped that era as witnessed in Winnipeg. Learn why this event was so significant at that time and what seeds were sown affecting our lives today.

7 September 1919: More Protest

More protests:

Legal Beagles Part 2: Royal Commissions

Another source of legal activity were the two main Royal Commissions happening in 1919.

Name: The Commission to Inquire into and Report upon Industrial Relations in Canada (often short-titled to the Royal Commission on Industrial Relations or the 'Mathers Commission')

Government: Dominion of Canada
Time of Activity: April - June 1919
Date of Report: July 1, 1919 (Tablled in House)
Chair: Thomas Graham Mathers
Detail: The Royal Commission to enquire into and report upon the causes and effects of the General Strike which recently existed in the City of Winnipeg for a period of six weeks, including the methods of calling and carrying on such strike


Name: The "Royal Commission to enquire into and report upon the causes and effects of the General Strike which recently existed in the City of Winnipeg for a period of six weeks, including the methods of calling and carrying on such strike" (often short-titled to the Royal Commission on the Winnipeg General Strike or 'The Robson Commission').

Government: Province of Manitoba
Time of Activity: July - November 1919
Date of Report: November 6, 1919 (not made public until March 20, 1920)
Chair: Hugh Amos Robson
Detail: That title sort of sums it up !

1 September 1919: Protests Renewed

The Winnipeg Eight are still being held in prison awaiting trial. Protests for their release grow louder. The largest protest to-date was held September 1, 1919 as described in this article in the September 5th Western Labour News (to see full article).

1919 Legal Beagles Part 1

The names of those who stood trial are still known, some celebrated, today. Post-strike there was another set of players to enter the arena: the legal teams. For them, these were not ordinary trials. They were a chance to make legal history.

Walter Pue, in a paper titled Cowboy Jurists & the Making of Legal Professionalism said of this era in Prairie law:

"Lawyers combined agendas which were explicitly moral and reforming with a profound restructuring of their profession. Their efforts to reform the curriculum of formal legal education was part of a cultural project, but so too was their desire to attain self-regulation, monopoly, professional independence, and plenary disciplinary powers."

Who were some of these lawyers ? Here are a few of the key players. Note that by going to their bios you may see the outcome of some of the trials yet to appear here !

Citizens Committee of 1000 lawyers:

Alfred Joseph "A.J." Andrews - Was mayor in 1898-99. He led the team for the Committee.

Issac Pitblado At the time he was a member and cousel for the Committee as well as the head of the Manitoba Law Society. The Isaac Pitblado Lectures have been held annually for almost 50 years.

Travers Sweatman - (no image) Famous for having defended Thomas Kelly during the Manitoba Legislative Scandal. He would later become a judge (source) nominated by A.J. Andrews (source)

James Bowes Coyne A member of the Aikins firm

Winnipeg Trades and Labor Council lawyers

Thomas J. Murray K.C. (no image) Represented Moses Chartinoff

Marcus Hyman - Defended the 'radical aliens', those born outside Canada, facing deportation by the the Board of Inquiry. Later in life he became an MLA and introduced The Manitoba Defamation Act (1934) - the first Canadian group libel law, and the only one until 1970 (source).

E.J. Murray (no image)

Reference:
All that I could find on-line were written by those on the side of labour. If anyone has a link to something from the other side or from a legal point of view please share !

"Repressive Measures": AJ Andrews, the Committee of 1000 and the Campaign Against Radicalism after the Winnipeg General Strike

"Legal Gentlemen Appointed by the Federal Government": the Canadian State, the Citizens' Committee of 1000, and Winnipeg's Seditious ConspiracyTrials of 1919–1920.

27 August, 1919 - The Newsstand

The Strikers' Defence Bulletin was published in August to cover the trials and appeal for financial help. This is the only known copy to survive. It provides coverage of some of the proceedings, including the statements of some of the arrested.

August 1, 1919: The Winnipeg Eight

Source

Following those arrested and what happened to them will be the next section of this blog. I will try to follow as many as I can, though there is less detail available on-line as there was for the actual strike itself.

One group that I certainly will follow are "The Winnipeg Eight". These strike leaders, who by now were household names, were all arrested / had warrants issued for their arrest on June 17, 1919. They faced multiple charges of sedition.

Sent to Stoney Mountain (see above photo) to await their trials as of August 1 they were still waiting in jail.

Those eight are:

William Ivens
Born: Barford, England, 1878

Former Methodist minister. Editor of the Western Labour News. Arrested June 17 on multiple counts of seditious conspiracy.

Robert Boyd "R.B." Russell
Born: Glasgow, Scotland, 1888

OBU delegate, union leader and member of Central Strike Committee. Arrested June 17 on multiple charges of seditious libel.

Richard J "Dick"Johns

Born: Cornwall, England, 1889.
CPR Machinist, Manitoba leader for the OBU. Arrest warrant issued June 17, (while he was in Montréal). Charged with seditious conspiracy.

John Queen

Born: Lanarkshire, Scotland, 1882

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Alderman for Ward 5 (North End). Member of Social Democratic Party and business agent / advertising manager for the Western Labor News. Arrested June 17 on multiple charges of sedition.

Abram Albert "A.A." Heaps

Born: Leeds, England, 1885

Member of Social Democratic Party, oversaw operations for the strike committee. Arrested June 17, 1919 on charges of sedition.

George Armstrong

Born: 1870 Scarborough, Ontario, 1870

Union Organizer, member of Socialist Party, prominent Marxist. Arrested June 17 on seven counts of seditious conspiracy

Roger Bray

Born: Sheffield, England

Butcher, Lay Methodist preacher, spokesman for returned soldiers and leader of veterans’ parades. Arrested June 17 on multiple charges of seditious conspiracy

William A. (Bill) Pritchard

Born: Salford, England, 1888.
B.C.-based, editor of socialist newspaper and OBU delegate. Warrant issued for arrest for sedition, captured on a train in Calgary while returning to B.C.

Strike! The Musical July 30th - August 5th

July 30th - August 5th, 2009

The first annual run of Strike! at Winnipeg's Canwest Performing Arts Centre at the Forks, Winnipeg. Show times for this 8-show limited engagement are 8:00 PM daily with an additional 2:00 PM Sunday matinée on August 2nd.

For More Info

Reconstruction from the Viewpoint of Labor

After the strike, J.S. Woodworth released Reconstruction From the Viewpoint of Labor.

The time has come now when we must figuratively sit down and ask ourselves two questions: 1. what do we want and 2. how are we going to get it.

Citizens Committee Briefing Book

In 1920 the Citizens Committee of 1000 published a 30 page briefing booklet about the strike.

A goal of the Committee was to share "best practises" with other communities that are, or may, deal with large-scale labour unrest. During and after the strike members would make presentations (see earlier entry for Moose Jaw).
This booklet outlines the history of the strike from their point of view. It also provides great detail about the organization and activities of the committee. The final section is a detailed "how to" guide when it comes to dealing with unrest and how to set up a civilian government should the unrest turn to a general strike.

Workers' Defence Fund and Liberty Bonds

Set up after the arrests during the strike, the Workers' Defence Fund appealed for money to go toward court costs. This is from the June 26 Enlightener:

Eventually your donation would get you a paper "bond".

Front and back of bond. Source

July 20, 1919: Defence Fund Fundraisers

From Western Labour News, July 11, 1919

17 July 1919 - The Robson Commission

While the trials were going through the courts the Justice H.A. Robson's Royal Commission was sputtering to get started.

Manitoba Free Press 17 July 1919

July 1919 - 'The Robson Commission'

The "Royal Commission to enquire into and report upon the causes and effects of the General Strike which recently existed in the City of Winnipeg for a period of six weeks, including the methods of calling and carrying on such strike" (often short-titled to the Royal Commission on the Winnipeg General Strike or "The Robson Commission") was created in July 1919 by the Manitoba Government and chaired by Hugh Amos Robson.

The report, which can be read in it's entirety here, was underway but would not report back to the Province until November 6, 1919 and the report would not be made public until March 29, 1920 (I won't release the results until then either !).

Image source and a more detailed bio:
The Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba, 1870-1950 By Dale Brawn, Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History

July 1919 - Woodsworth's Incarceration In His Own Words

Woodsworth was arrested the night of June 21st. In July 1919, while out on bail, he wrote of his time at Stony Mountain.

Arrest Watch: 7 July 1919

From the Alberta Non-Partisan, July 7, 1919, Page 12
Life and Work: The arrested Strike Leaders and Democracy