T I]'fE S OF TROUBLE : LABOUR QUIESCENCE IN WINNIPEG t 920 - 1929 BY DAVID EDÍ,TARD HALL A Thesis Submitted Eo Ehe Faculty of Graduate SEudies of the Universiry of Manitoba In ParEiaI FulfiLlment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of History University of Manitoba I9 83 'r' rIl¡ls oF'IRolrBl.Fl : I,ABOLIR OIIII.]SCENCE IN WI¡,]NIPEC 1920 - r929 BY DAVID E. HAI,I, A tlrr-'sis sublllittcd to thc Faculty of Graduatc Sttrdies ol thc' U¡livcrsit¡' ol' ivla¡litoba in partial fi¡l[ill¡¡lu'¡lt of the requirenìetìts of the degrce of' I-ÍASTER OF' ARTS o/ I 9g3 Pennission has beerr granted to tl¡e LIBRARY OF THE UNIVER- SITY OF Ì\,lAlilTOUA to lc¡rd or sell copic-s of tl¡is thesis. to the NATIONAL LIBRARY OF CANADA to nricrofil¡n this thesis and to lend or se'll copies of tlic' film. and UN¡VERSITY NllCROFlLlvlS to publish an abstract of this thesis. The author reserves other publicatiorr rights, a¡rd neitlier the thcsis llor exterìsive extracts frolll it nray be ¡rrirrted or other- *,isc reprodrrced without the ar¡tllor's writte¡l ¡rc-rrrrission. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS A. F. L. American Federation of Labour A. C. C. L. All Canadian Congress of Labour B. R. A. C. Brotherhood of Rail and Steamship C1erks c. B. R. E. Canadian Brotherhood of Railway Employees c. L. c. Central Labour Councit (tYinnipeg O.B.U- ) c. P. Communist Party D. L. P. Dominion Labour Party I. A. M. International Association of Machlnists I. L. G.W. U. International Ladies Garment Workers Union I.L.P. Independent Labour PartY I. T. U. International Typographical Union I. U. N. T. W. Industrial Union of Needle Trades Workers J. C. r. Joint Council of IndustrY o. B. u. One Big Unlon S. D. P. Social Democratic PartY s. P. c. Socialist Party of Canada T. L. C. Trades and Labour Congress u. G. lY. u. United Garment lVorkers Union I1l7.T. L. C. Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council t{. u. L. Workers Unity League llJ. l{I. L. L. Iltinnipeg Womenrs Labour League II PR.BFACE This thesj-s originated in my curiosity over the last decade or more, âs to the fate of the "golden age" of labour radicalism j-n Winnipeg after the First World War. As a radical and trade unionist I wanted to understand why this radicalism declined so drastically over the half century to the leve1s it existed in the cityrs unions in 1969 when I first got involved in the labour movement. The logical place to start looking for answers was the decade following the general strike and preceding the depression of the thirties. In researching and writing this thesis I have found some answers, although they have seldom been simple, about the effects of the twenties on union radicalism. The task has been made more difficult and at the same time more stimulating by the almost total lack of work by labour historians on the twenties. To the extent that the period has been dealt with at all it l[¡as as a prelude to the great depresslon and the rise of the C.I.O. in Canada, or as a postscript to work on labour and radicalism before and during the post war upsurge and in Winnip€g, the general strike. Surprisingly little has been added to D. C. Masters' comment written in 1949: iii : lv (By L92L) The tempo of Winnipeg labour had changed. The collapse of the strike and the difficulties of readjustment had told There was no abandonment of the struggle for reform, but counsels of moderation now secured a better hearing and men \¡/ere more disposed to accept gradual step by step progress.' A. R. McCormack in a work on western radicalism to 1919 attributes this quiescence to the proven futility of radical unionism2 and the ". bad beating workers had taken"3 brrt concludes that: More important the quiescence v/as a function of improved social conditions. In the most basic terms, workers enjoyed a higher standard of Iiving; with the decline in immigration, real wages steadily increased during the decade.+ The onty major exception to this postscript approach to the twenties in lYinnipeg is D. J. Bercusson's hlstory of the one Big Union (o.B.U.).5 While the book addresses only one, shrinking faction of the labour movement, and concentrates on events outside of WinniP€g, it offers some valuable insights. Un1lke Masters and McCormack, hê notes the importance of a severe recession or depression which began in late L92O and dfd not end until early 1926. In place of "step by step" progress" and "a higher standard of living" Bercusson describes how "High unemployment matched a fall in wages."6 In the context of these disagreements, the actual material conditions of the working class in Winnipeg requires investÍgation. It cannot be safely argued that increasing economic hardshlp leads directly to economic militancy and political radicalism, although there is v clearly a relationship between them. However it is often argued that increasing working class prosperity reduces both of these manifestations within the working cIass. It is this agreement which both Masters and McCormack appear to use as a major basis for their explanation of working class quiescence after 1919. It was in tnvestigating these economic questionsT that I developed the periodication which is the basis of the chapter structure of the thesis. In the decade following the general strike Winnipeg's economy went through three distinct stages which vitally affected the working class. The first, from the strike until the end of 1920, was characterized by reasonably healthy levels of economic activity and was in essence a continuation of the war economy which began in 1915. While the stream of demobil- ízed soldiers assured the city of persistent unemployment, it was not on a large scale and, for tbe overwhelming majority of workers, fu1l time employment was the norm. Beginning in late L92O Winnipeg entered the post war depression which was worldwide in scope. In Winnipeg this depression was to last until roughly the end of 1925. It was characterized by massive unemployment and widespread short hours with their accompanying shrunken pay checks. It was only in the years from L926 to L929--four years-- that Winnipeg experienced much of the prosperity and economic growth usually associated with the twenties. Of course this period conveniently closes with the onset of v1 the "great depression" in the winter of T929 1930. In attempting to understand the effects of these economic cycles on the working class and the labour movement at least two criteria required examination. The first was real wages--money wages adjusted for changes in the cost of living. In making these calculations I was basically extending the work of H. Sutcliffe on real wages in selected occupations in ltrinnipeg from 1900 to t9t98 uy including the twenties. In addition I was able to collect data on some classes of unskilled workers and on workers claiming Workments Compensation benefits, although unfortunately this data only covers the twenties and does not allow comparisons with earlier periods" The data on real wages, both as it regards money wages and the cost of Iiving, suffers limitations rooted in the primitive statistics gathering techniques of the period. Yet there is no reason to doubt them as indicative of overall trends, particularly when similar patterns emerge in various occupations. The question of unemployment is even more difficult to quantify or anal-yze accurately. A wide variety of Sources had to be looked àt, none of them very satisfactory in themselves. Trade union reports on unemployment, city rellef statistics, census data, €ñPloyers' reports on employment, and general references to levels of employment and unemployment in government and labour publications, alI provided some information. In addition some weight had vii to be attached to the widespread use of shortened work weeks as an alternative to lay-offs. Again one must be eautious when generalizj.ng from such sources, but they do tend to compliment each other and provide reasonably safe indications of general trends. Inadditiontolookingattheeconomicforcesat work on the working class, the bulk of the thesis addresses developments in the trade union movement. It has been possible to trace with some accuracy the evolution of unionism in ltJinnipeg in terms of the growth or decline of union membership. wherever possible I have attempted to provide membership figures for individual unions or sectors, as the forces at work and their effect on unions is often different in different ind.ustries ancl trades. The key criterion for labour militancy is of course strike/lockout activity, and the excellent records of the federal Depart- ment of Labour make possible a detaj.led evaluation of this form of class conflict. within the trnions the lack of source material, particularly for the International unions, has severely limited the possibility of analyzing membership views, power struggles or ideological conflicts. I have outlined Some of the more important ones for which informa- tion is available and generalized on likeIy patterns. Alastaspectofworkingclasslifewhichlhave addressed is labour and radical potitics. Membership figures for the various class based parties is unfortunately almost non-existent. This has led to a reliance on VII I electoral activity and results as an indicator of working classpoliticalattitudes.Thedisadvantageofthis approach is that it tells us relatively little about the attitudes of labour activists who may or may not be in stepwiththemassofthec}ass.Ihavenotattemptedto ana:yze the j-nternal conflicts in these parties to any extent and provicle only an outline of their interrelation- ships.