Canadian Labour Revolt


The Canadian Labour Revolt was a loosely connected series of strikes, riots, and labour conflicts that took place across Canada between 1918 and 1925, largely organized by the One Big Union.
It was caused by a variety of factors including rising costs of living, unemployment, intensity of work, the unwillingness of employers to recognize unions, and the ongoing international revolution. The One Big Union aimed to overthrow capitalism and the Canadian state and replace it with a socialist system based on worker control of industry and a democratic system with representation based on workplace instead of residential location.
Inspired by the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and the Spartacist uprising in Germany, labour unions in Canada grew increasingly militant. The revolt commenced with the Vancouver general strike on 2 August 1918. The general strike was violently suppressed by the military, and union offices were ransacked. Victor Midgley, the leader of the strike, was thrown out of a window, and forced to kiss the British flag. The suppression of the strike enraged the labour movement, with many labour leaders and union locals calling for revolution against the Canadian government. At the September 1918 national conference of the Trades and Labor Congress of Canada, the umbrella organization to which Canadian unions belonged, A. S. Wells, leader of the BC Federation of Labour said "we will have to have our industrial organization similar to that which has proven of such benefit in Russia." The growing radicalism was denounced by the TLC.
In March 1919, radical unions left the TLC and formed the One Big Union. The OBU organized over 100 general strikes by 1925, the most prominent being the Winnipeg general strike. Italian revolutionary Antonio Gramsci proclaimed that in Canada, "Industrial strikes have taken on the overt character of a bid to install a Soviet regime". The Labour Revolt ended in 1925 with the defeat of the steel and mine workers at the Battle of Waterford Lake on June 11, 1925.

Background

In the aftermath of WWI, Canada suffered from severe inflation. The cost of living increased by 48% between 1916 and 1918, increasing to 128% by 1920. Rent, fuel, and food all saw their prices increase significantly. Many who had been working in war time industries such as munitions became unemployed. Additionally, industries such as clothing and metalworking began implementing technology to streamline jobs. This made work more repetitive, intensive and rendered skills like craftsmanship redundant. A report conducted by the federal government found industrial workers suffered from poor working conditions, increasing working hours, and low wages. Child labour still persisted, and the condition of female workers was significantly worse than their male counterparts.
The Russian Revolution contributed to the increasing unrest within the Canadian working class, inflaming tensions between them and their employers. Organizations such as the Socialist Party of Canada and the Industrial Workers of the World saw significant increases of popularity, attracting many to the ideas of syndicalism, socialism, and communism.
Within the Canadian labour movement, there were increasing divisions regarding the purpose of labour unions. The socialist or 'radical' faction believed that overthrowing capitalism and establishing workers' control industry with production for use should be the ultimate goal. This lead the socialists to favour industrial unionism, which organized all workers into the same union regardless of occupation, craft, or skill level. The radical faction was also supportive of the Bolshevik Revolution, which alienated them from the Canadian government and sections of the middle class who were otherwise sympathetic of the labour movement. The moderate faction, which made up a majority of the Trades and Labour Congress leadership argued that the purpose of unionism should be to negotiate only for material gains such as working hours and wages. The moderates favoured craft unionism, which organized workers based on their trade. The moderate faction was significantly influenced by Samual Gompers and the American Federation of Labour, to which the TLC was affiliated. The ongoing allied intervention against the Bolshevik Revolution further embellished this divide. The radical faction demanded the 6000 Canadian soldiers deployed to fight the Russian communists be recalled, where as the moderates were silent on the issue.

1918 strike movement

Vancouver

Calgary

Between 1916 and 1918, Calgary, Alberta's union density increased by 35%, making it the 8th most unionized city in the country. Industrial unionism over took craft unionism in the city, with the Building Trades Council, the Carpenters District Council, and the CPR Federated Trades Council becoming some of the largest of the city's 44 unions. Within the Calgary Trades and Labor Council, socialists began to amass significant power. Socialist Andrew Broatch became leader of the machinist local, and was elected to the city council. In 1917, R.L Tallon was elected leader of the Railway Employees Department's 4th Division, representing over 50,000 workers across Alberta. Alex Ross won a seat to Alberta's legislative assembly.
In September 1918, R.L Tallon's Railway Employee's union failed to reach a collective bargaining agreement with Canadian Pacific Railway. Against the directive of the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada, the Railway workers went on strike on 5 October 1918. The newly created strike committee called on 21 union locals to join in on the strike, of which 19 voted to participate. Machinists, pipe-fitters, blacksmiths, boilermakers, carmen, and electricians downed tools and walked out on their jobs. On 19 October, workers returned streetcars to the depots, crippling public transit.
The strike enjoyed wide support among WWI veterans. Private George Palmer addressed a mass meeting of the Calgary Great War Veterans’ Association on 2 November 1918:
“Are we going to permit a few greed-sodden drones, men who know not nor ever did know the meaning of the words patriotism and sacrifice to have the ruling of our lives? No! A thousand times no! It’s the rotten corrupt system that allows men to accumulate millions while others starve.”
The strike was ultimately successful, with the railway workers receiving the concessions they demanded.

Edmonton

The militancy of the Edmonton labour movement grew significantly in 1918. On 19 January 1918, Edmonton city council appointed a fire chief who was outside the Firefighter's union and hostile to its existence. This led to firefighters holding a strike vote on 1 February and then going on strike. With the solidarity of the firemen and wide support among Edmonton citizens, the ETLC and other city unions, a vote was held among unionists about conducting a general strike in defence of the firemen's demands. A plebiscite was held on March 4, 1918 to allow the voters to weigh in, and a majority voted to back the firefighters. With the support of Labour Party aldermen on the Edmonton city council, the strike ended with success on 6 March.
In October 1918, the Edmonton Trades and Labour Council voted for a general sympathy strike with striking postal workers and the ongoing railway strike. Edmonton Grand Trunk Railway machinist E.J. Thompson stated:
"We're the producers and we ain't getting what we produce."
The threat of a sympathy strike was enough for the postal workers' strike to end in victory, and contributed to the success of the railway strike.

1919 Radicals split the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada, form OBU

On March 13, 1919, the Western Labour Conference was held in Calgary. In this meeting of delegates from Canada's five western-most provinces, unions belonging to the radical faction of the labour movement split from the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada, forming the One Big Union.
Alberta sent the largest number of delegates at 89, British Columbia sent the second at 85, Manitoba sent 46, Saskatchewan sent 17, and Ontario sent two. This made up a majority of labour unions in all cases except for Ontario. Unions from western Canada were significantly more radical than those in the East, and believed the Eastern unions were impeding the progress of the labour movement. The Western Labour Conference voted on and passed numerous resolutions that had been voted down at the national conference of the Trades and Labour Congress in Quebec during September of the previous year. The unions attending the conference voted to leave the TLC and form the One Big Union. The resolutions passed by the conference became the One Big Union's programme. The One Big Union was explicitly socialist and influenced by Marxist ideas. Some of its beliefs and aspirations were echoes of the then-outlawed Industrial Workers of the World.
The One Big Union's programme called for:
The One Big Union was immediately denounced by most media outlets and the remaining unions within the TLC for trying to start a Bolshevik Revolution in Canada.