18 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS - SATURDAY, MAY 11, 2019
61 Carlton St. | 204-943-2835 | dalnavertmuseum.ca
NOW SHOWING TO
SEPTEMBER 29
An exhibit
celebrating the 100
th
anniversary of the
1919 Winnipeg
General Strike.
Free Admission
On the morning of
May 15, 1919, women
telephone operators
were the first
workers to walk
off the job, kicking
off the Winnipeg
General Strike.
At the official start of the strike, at 11 a.m.
women in garment factories, bakeries,
confectionary shops and department stores
joined them. The most poorly paid workers, they
were also among the most fiercely determined,
fighting for a living wage and agitating for
better living conditions and supports for their
families and neighbours.
The Women's Labour League, led by working-class activist Helen
Armstrong, set up a labour cafe to feed women strikers — and men
who needed a meal. They took up collections and held fundraising
benefits to help women pay their rent, and they were ferocious in
defending their turf.
"One of the most interesting confrontations that occurs during the
strike — and there are not a lot of confrontations — occurs over
on Logan Avenue in the Weston/Brooklands area. This is where
the Women's Labour League is well represented," says historian
Nolan Reilly.
"When the downtown stores try to send their delivery wagons into
Weston and Brooklands, the street is blocked and they can't get in and
they are told in no uncertain terms that they are bloody well not going
in there because these people support the strike.
"There's a report of a wagon driver saying, 'I met these women,' and
he said, 'I've never been so scared in my life. They used language
that I have never heard in my life before and I will never, even when
the strike is over, I will never go back into these neighbourhoods in
my life.'
Women
on the Front Lines
18 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS - SATURDAY, MAY 11, 2019
