A sweat-drenched metalworker emerges from the dust and din of the Vulcan Iron Works factory in Winnipeg's Point Douglas neighbourhood, and the sounds and smells of nearby industry bombard his senses.



Wafting in the air is the stink of livestock from the Canadian Pacific Railway yards, within spitting distance of Vulcan's back door.

The soot and smoke that rise from coal-burning factory chimneys create a haze overhead and sting the nostrils.

And just as the shop door slams shut behind him, a steam engine locomotive whistles by with such force that it shakes the earth and pains the ear.

It's the end of a 10-hour day of hard manual labour at 50 cents an hour for one of the blue-collar labourers whose appalling work and living conditions served as the spark for the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919.

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A combination of social and economic inequality and a growing awareness among the working class of these disparities led somewhere between 25,000 and 35,000 workers to walk off the job for 42 days, beginning on May 15.

The reasons so many people put their livelihoods at risk by striking in a harshly anti-union climate were manifold.

Poor work conditions, inadequate wages and the refusal by many employers to recognize and negotiate with unions culminated in the unrest that spilled into the streets and left two men dead by the end of the six-week strike.

Groups clash on June 14, 1919, during the Winnipeg General Strike. (Foote collection/Archives of Manitoba) Post image on Pinterest: Groups clash on June 14, 1919, during the Winnipeg General Strike. (Foote collection/Archives of Manitoba)

Groups clash on June 14, 1919, during the Winnipeg General Strike. (Foote collection/Archives of Manitoba)

The cost of living spiked 75 per cent between 1914 and 1918, during the First World War, and workweeks were long.

"Workers are extremely frustrated with the situations in which they find themselves," said historian Nolan Reilly, former director of the University of Winnipeg Oral History Centre, reflecting on the mood of Vulcan and other metalworkers back then.

"There was clearly a lot of wealth, because some of the elites had made a tremendous amount of money off of the war through war profiteering."

Shell-shocked soldiers looking for normalcy returned home after the First World War armistice of Nov. 11, 1918, to find conditions hadn't changed much since a depression rocked the west in 1913. Their families were still struggling to get by and, in many cases, worse off.



Construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway Station in Winnipeg was finished in 1881. (Western Canada Pictorial Index) Post image on Pinterest: Construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway Station in Winnipeg was finished in 1881. (Western Canada Pictorial Index)