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We’re Going to Run This City: Winnipeg's Political Left after the General Strike
Stefan Epp-Koop’s We’re Going to Run This City: Winnipeg’s Political Left After the General Strike explores the dynamic political movement that came out of the largest labor protest in Canadian history and the ramifications for Winnipeg throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Few have studied the political Left at the municipal level—even though it was at this grassroots level that many people participated in political activities and it was at this time the struggles between Left and Right were played out.
Winnipeg was divided between the political descendants of the General Strike's Citizen’s Committee of 1000, the conservative business elite who advocated for minimal government and low taxes, and parties on the political left. The Independent Labour Party and the Communist Party of Canada had numerous ties to the 1919 strikers and, although they were often in conflict with each other, both put forward platforms focused on the city’s working class.
The political strength of the Left would ebb and flow throughout the 1920s and 1930s but peaked in the mid-1930s when the ILP’s John Queen became mayor and the two parties on the Left combined to hold a majority of council seats. Astonishingly, Winnipeg was governed by a mayor who had served jail time for his role in the General Strike.
Winnipeg was divided between the political descendants of the General Strike's Citizen’s Committee of 1000, the conservative business elite who advocated for minimal government and low taxes, and parties on the political left. The Independent Labour Party and the Communist Party of Canada had numerous ties to the 1919 strikers and, although they were often in conflict with each other, both put forward platforms focused on the city’s working class.
The political strength of the Left would ebb and flow throughout the 1920s and 1930s but peaked in the mid-1930s when the ILP’s John Queen became mayor and the two parties on the Left combined to hold a majority of council seats. Astonishingly, Winnipeg was governed by a mayor who had served jail time for his role in the General Strike.
216 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2015
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April 12, 2016
A very well written account of what happened to the left/labour/communist movements in Winnipeg post the 1919 general strike. I knew how divided by class this city is but I did not realize how ethnically divided the city was and continues to be. Interesting facts I learned: Winnipeg was the first city in North America to elect an openly communist mayor and city council members; Winnipeg elected Ralph Webb mayor after he had only been in town for 20 months; John Queen served time in Stony Mountain for his part in the general strike and was elected as mayor less than 15 years later.
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