This photo (Province of Manitoba Archives) depicts a gathering during the 1919 General Strike in Victoria Park , in the eastern part of the Exchange District in Winnipeg. The park was a common meeting place during the Strike. The General Strike started on May 15, 1919, with approximately 12,000 union members going out in support of the Metal and Building Trades workers' demands for wage parity with other shops. An additional 12,000 non-union workers joined the strike. Winnipeg was in a state of shutdown. The strike lasted six weeks.

In the course of that time, the Strike Committee attempted to maintain order by allowing certain sectors to work -- such as milk and food delivery workers. When the police indicated they would join the Strike, it was the Strike Committee that convinced them to stay at work. All this was taken by the anti-Strike side as indication that the Strike Committee was taking over the city, and served to fuel the hysteria in those quarters of insurrection by Communist aliens. The Citizen's Committee of One Thousand was formed. It was composed of the most prominent and wealthiest elements in Winnipeg -- businessmen, politicians, lawyers, etc.

Provincially, legislation that would have guaranteed collective bargaining rights was blocked by then-premier Tobias Norris. Municipally, the city council voted on a resolution calling city workers back to work and removing their right to strike. The Police Commisssion called on all police to sign a pledge indicating they would not join the Strike nor associate with the labour council. The policemen refused and were dismissed en masse.They were replaced by the infamous "Specials" -- a "private army" sympathetic to the Citizens' Committee. The Federal Government moved to set up legislation giving the government power to deport anyone "suspected of plotting to overthow authority"(Let Us Rise, Doug Smith) The result was the arrest of ten strike leaders: R.B. Russell, John Queen, Rev. William Ivens,A.A. Heaps, Moses Almazoff, R.E. Bray, Mike Varenchuck, S. Choppelrei, George Armstrong, F. Charitonoff. Others, including Fred Dixon and Rev. Woodsworth were not yet arrested, and kept the Western Labor News going in the meantime.

This all set the scene for Bloody Saturday. A silent parade of protest held by returned veterans (the veterans were split on their position regarding the Strike since some veterans were in the Specials ranks). The city had banned all parades and gatherings. The Mounted Police charged the silent parade of protest four times. The Mounties fired into the crowd, killing two people. This was immediately followed by a club and gun attack by the Specials into the crowd. The exact number of injured will never truly be known. The strike was officially called off on June 25 by the Winnipeg Trades and Labor Council.

For comprehensive information on the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike see cbc.ca/millennium/timelines/feature_generalstrike.html