Winnipeg Strike of 1919

a general strike of workers of the city of Winnipeg, Canada, in May and June 1919. The strike occurred during an upsurge of the labor movement in Canada after the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia and the end of World War I. Beginning on May 1 as a strike of steel and construction workers for higher wages and trade-union recognition, by mid-May it had become a general strike with more than 24,000 participants. For more than a month, power in Winnipeg was virtually in the hands of the strike committee. Forcibly suppressed in late June 1919, the strike played a great role in the development of the labor movement in Canada.