The Western Labor Conference [1] was a radical Canadian labour convention held March 13-15, 1919, in Calgary. [2] It is known for being the convention at which One Big Union was formally proposed. [3]
Two hundred and thirty-nine delegates from five Canadian provinces attended the event. [4] Alberta sent the largest number of delegates at 89, British Columbia sent 85, Manitoba sent 46, Saskatchewan sent 17, and Ontario sent 2. [5] The British Columbia Federation of Labour, which was viewed as the most militant of any of the attending groups of delegates, proposed several resolutions. [2] They included a six-hour work day, the end of Allied interference in Russia, severance of ties to international unions outside of Canada, the end of the political imprisonment of Canadian citizens, and the acknowledgement of the impediment of labour movements under the capitalist economic system. If these demands were not met by the Canadian government by June 1, 1919, the newly formed One Big Union would call for a general strike. [6] The resolutions concluded with a solidarity greeting addressed to the Russian Bolsheviks and the German Spartacus League. [2] However, they met with opposition from other conference delegates. [2] The more moderate delegates then proposed the idea of polling all registered Canadian trade unionists on the decision to establish One Big Union as well as exiting from the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada and the American Federation of Labor. The motion was defeated. In its place, the conference agreed to form a committee that would familiarize Canadian workers with the concept of One Big Union. The committee consisted of R.J. Johns, W.A. Pritchard, J. Knight, J. Naylor, and V.R. Midgley. [3] The undercover Mountie Frank Zaneth attended as a delegate. [7]
Syndicalism is a revolutionary current within the labour movement that, through industrial unionism, seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes and other forms of direct action, with the eventual goal of gaining control over the means of production and the economy at large through social ownership.
The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 was one of the most famous and influential strikes in Canadian history. For six weeks, May 15 to June 26, more than 30,000 strikers brought economic activity to a standstill in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which at the time was Canada's third largest city. In the short term, the strike ended in arrests, bloodshed and defeat, but in the long run it contributed to the development of a stronger labour movement and the tradition of social democratic politics in Canada.
The One Big Union is an idea originating in the late 19th and early 20th centuries amongst trade unionists to unite the interests of workers and offer solutions to all labour problems.
There have been various groups in Canada that have nominated candidates under the label Labour Party or Independent Labour Party, or other variations from the 1870s until the 1960s. These were usually local or provincial groups using the Labour Party or Independent Labour Party name, backed by local labour councils made up of many union locals in a particular city, or individual trade unions. There was an attempt to create a national Canadian Labour Party in the late 1910s and in the 1920s, but these were only partly successful.
The first modern Farmer–Labor Party in the United States emerged in Minnesota in 1918. The American entry into World War I caused agricultural prices and workers' wages to fall, while retail prices rose sharply during the war years. Consequently, farmers and workers made common cause in the political sphere to redress their grievances.
The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada (FOTLU) was a federation of labor unions created on November 15, 1881, at Turner Hall in Pittsburgh. It changed its name to the American Federation of Labor (AFL) on December 8, 1886.
The Red International of Labor Unions, commonly known as the Profintern, was an international body established by the Communist International (Comintern) with the aim of coordinating communist activities within trade unions. Formally established in 1921, the Profintern aimed to act as a counterweight to the influence of the so-called "Amsterdam International", the social-democratic International Federation of Trade Unions, an organization which the Comintern branded as "class-collaborationist" and as an impediment to revolution. After entering a period of decline in the middle 1930s, the Profintern was finally dissolved in 1937 with the advent of Comintern's "Popular Front" policy.
The Trades and Labor Congress of Canada was a Canada-wide central federation of trade unions from 1886 to 1956. It was founded at the initiative of the Toronto Trades and Labour Council and the Knights of Labor. It was the third attempt at a national labour federation to be formed in Canada: it succeeded the Canadian Labour Union which existed from 1873 to 1877 and the Canadian Labour Congress which held only one conference in 1881.
The Socialist Party of British Columbia (SPBC) was a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada, from 1901 to 1905. In 1903, the SPBC won seats in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.
The Workers' International Industrial Union (WIIU) was a Revolutionary Industrial Union headquartered in Detroit in 1908 by radical trade unionists closely associated with the Socialist Labor Party of America, headed by Daniel DeLeon. The organization was formed when it broke with the main faction of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) over the question of political action.
When Bill Haywood used a board to gavel to order the first convention of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), he announced, "this is the Continental Congress of the working class. We are here to confederate the workers of this country into a working class movement that shall have for its purpose the emancipation of the working class..."
The One Big Union (OBU) was a left-wing industrial union based primarily in Western Canada. Launched formally in Calgary on June 4, 1919, the OBU, after a spectacular initial upsurge, lost most of its members within a few years. It finally merged with the Canadian Labour Congress in 1956.
This is a timeline of labour issues and events in Canada.
James Duncan was a Scottish American union leader, and president of the Granite Cutters' International Association from 1895 until his death in 1928. He was an influential member of the American labor movement, helping to co-found the American Federation of Labor.
The International Federation of Trade Unions was an international organization of trade unions, existing between 1919 and 1945. IFTU had its roots in the pre-war IFTU.
The Labor Party of the United States was a short-lived political party formed by several state-level labor parties upon the encouragement of Chicago Federation of Labor leader John Fitzpatrick. It was formed in the immediate aftermath of World War I, due in large part to deterioration in the condition of the country's workers due to the imbalance between static workers' wages and rapidly escalating prices for necessities and consumer goods.
William Arthur (Bill) Pritchard was a Canadian Marxist labour activist, organizer, editor, journalist, and politician. A major figure in the One Big Union movement, he also was one of the defendants in the 1920 sedition trial of leaders of the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike. Pritchard later was elected reeve (mayor) of Burnaby, British Columbia during the Great Depression and played an instrumental role in founding the BC Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.
The First International Congress of Working Women (ICWW), convened by the Women's Trade Union League of America from October 28 to November 6, 1919, was a meeting of labor feminists from around the world. The ICWW planned to share their proposals for addressing women's labor concerns at the First International Labor Conference (ILC) of 1919. ICWW delegates agreed upon a list of resolutions, some of which were taken up by the ILC's Commission on the Employment of Women and resulted in the passage of the Maternity Protection Convention, 1919.
Amos N. Gray was a Liberian trade unionist. Born in Pull River, Maryland County, Gray attended primary school in Pull River and secondary school in Harper. He attended college in Monrovia, studying social studies for two years and law for one year. During his college years he worked part-time at the Freeport of Monrovia. Working at the port in 1960, he joined the Maritime and Dock Workers Union. After his college years he worked at the Maritime and Dock Workers Union office in Monrovia.
The Canadian Labour Revolt was a loosely connected series of strikes, riots, and labour conflicts that took place across Canada between 1918 and 1925, largely organized by the One Big Union (OBU).