$.

25 - The Winnipeg General Strike Lesson Plan

By Strike! Composer/Playwright Danny Schur

Why do we study history? As an artist, I believe that the study of history should enhance our social em-
pathy. That is, by understanding the way real people reacted in a given set of circumstances, we are better
equipped to deal with the important decisions of our lives and times.

My purpose with this lesson plan is to engage teachers and students as dramatists - to analyze history not
as dry facts but as IRUFHVRIGUDPDWLFFRQÁLFW. And what can be more dramatic than to use music as our
emotional connection to the past? The music from Strike! transports us to the mood of the past while trig-
gering an emotional response in the present.

Historians tell us that the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike is one of Canada’s formulative historic events. I
maintain that the strike’s continued importance is as an event with universal themes that resonate in the
present.

The title of the musical Strike! is not a noun; the exclamation mark denotes a verb and the stylized baton
exclamation mark is a symbol of the repression of the strike on Bloody Saturday, June 21st, 1919. The
point is, the event is a metaphor for the violence that leads to the breakdown of civil society. We can trans-
SRVHWKHIRUFHVDWSOD\GXULQJWKHVWULNHLQWRDQ\FXUUHQWZRUOGFRQÁLFWRSHQWRGD\·VQHZVSDSHUDQG\RX
see the same forces playing out somewhere. That’s why we should study Winnipeg’s general strike.

The Large Dramatic Forces & Their Offspring

In drama, and history, two of the biggest forces of opposition are:

1) Old versus New (aka Status Quo vs. Change, or Age vs. Youth) and,
2) Powerful versus Powerless (aka Rich vs. Poor or Established vs. Newcomers)

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FRQÁLFWVWKDWGURYHWKHGUDPDRIWKHVWULNHDVGHVFULEHGLQWKHIROORZLQJGLDJUDP

Powerful
Old vs. New vs.
Powerless

Immigrant vs. Immigrant Veterans vs. Immigrants

Veteran vs. Veteran Opponents vs. Strikers
Opponents vs. Strikers Male Society vs. Women
Male Society vs. Women

1
 $.25 - The Winnipeg General Strike Lesson Plan
The $.25 Connection and The Teachable Concepts

In my research for Strike!, the monetary sum $.25 appeared over and over. The sum connected so many
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,KDYHLGHQWLÀHGVHYHQWHDFKDEOHFRQFHSWVWKDWZHDYHWKHLUZD\WKURXJKWKHVRQJVRIWKHPXVLFDOVRPH-
times several within one song. The following is a concept by concept description, including the concept’s
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1. Winnipeg’s Place in Canada and the World

Winnipeg in 1919 was Canada’s third-largest city, surpassed only by Montreal and Toronto. Vancouver,
Calgary, Edmonton were but specks on the map and everything and everybody that went west, went
through Winnipeg. Some of Canada’s richest people lived and built fabulous mansions in Winnipeg. But
WKHPDVVLYHLQÁX[RISRRULPPLJUDQWVIURP(XURSHVXIIHUHGXQLPDJLQDEOHSRYHUW\

$.25 Tidbit: Some of the poorest workers in Winnipeg made only $.25/day - 25% of what was needed
to survive.

'UDPDWLF&RQÁLFW+HUHWKHGUDPDKDVQRW\HWJLYHQULVHWRDVWULNHVSHFLÀFFRQÁLFWEXWWKHODUJHIRUFH
of “Old vs. New” is clear. Shiny new Winnipeg with its new ways, new ideas and new people believes
itself superior to the old ways of Europe and Eastern Canada.

Song: CD Track #1 (Winnipeg’s Giddy) Page: 5

Mood of the Song/Era: The song is up-tempo and jazzy in its optimism. The young, brash city believes
its future to be very bright. The booster lyrics proclaim:

Winnipeg’s giddy / It’s 1919 / There ain’t been a city with Winnipeg’s gleam / The seems are a-burstin’
/ There’s growth everywhere / The Prairies are thirstin’ for Winnipeg’s wares / Flags are unfurled /
Bring on the world / Winnipeg’s giddy in 1919

But even the poorest immigrants had reason to hope, because most were young and optimistic, unlike their
forebearers.

'UDPDWLF&RQÁLFW: Immigrant vs. Immigrant

Song: CD Track #13 (Better Days) Page: 52
Mood of the Song/Era: The introduction of the song is dreamy, and naive in its youthful idealism:

Better the days / More modern the ways / The past is so hazy / The future so clearly shaped / Out with
the old and “hello” to the very new / We can all look forward to better days

2
 $.25 - The Winnipeg General Strike Lesson Plan
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made.

$.25 Tidbit,QDSDLOFRVWEXWE\WKDWVDPHSDLOFRVW7KHUHDVRQ9XOFDQ,URQ
Works, a Winnipeg pail manufacturer, converted their pail factory to the manufacturing of shells for the
war. The law of supply and demand dictates that, the fewer pails there are, the more each pail will cost.

'UDPDWLF&RQÁLFW: Opponents vs. Strikers

Song: CD Track #7 (Fifty Dollars) Pages: 28 & 31
Mood of the Song/Era: The song is a lament, representing the bitter plight of the poorest paid immi-
grants and their scant chance of increased wages. When the workers muster up the guts to ask for a wage
increase, (Pg. 31) the mood turns solemnly hopeful:

3J Fifty dollars / Fifty dollars / Fifty dollars / In a half a year

(Pg. 31) Sixty dollars now that would be something / Sixty dollars now that would just be the day / That
would pay a living wage / We just want / Sixty dollars / Sixty dollars / Sixty dollars / For the half a
year

3. War’s Effect on Society

The study of history tends to focus on battles and casualties. But the First World War’s effect on the home
IURQWEHWZHHQDQGZDVDQRYHUZKHOPLQJLQÁXHQFHRQWKH*HQHUDO6WULNH0RQWKVEHIRUHWKH
strike, returning veterans rioted, demanding jobs they felt immigrants had stolen from them. The strike
turned violent when veterans held a demonstration to protest the government’s arrest of strike leaders.

$.25 Tidbit: Soldiers in the British army risked life and limb for a paltry $.25/day.
'UDPDWLF&RQÁLFW: Veterans vs. Immigrants.
Song: CD Track #1 (Winnipeg’s Giddy) Page: 6
Mood of the Song/Era: Optimism turns to anger as returning soldiers demand jobs:

We stuck out our necks like some miserable drecks and we fought tooth and nail ‘til the Krauts hid their
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sense? / You tell me

The most violent clash of the General Strike resulted from a split in how veterans felt about the strike.
Those that supported the strike felt a common bond with the poorest of the immigrants, many of whom
were considered the enemy during the war. But many veterans who opposed the strike became baton-car-
U\LQJVSHFLDOSROLFHDIWHUWKHSROLFHIRUFHZDVÀUHG

3
 $.25 - The Winnipeg General Strike Lesson Plan
'UDPDWLF&RQÁLFW: Veterans vs. Veterans
Song: CD Track #15 (O’Reilly’s Song) Page: 60
Mood of the Song/Era: Solemn resignation overtakes the veteran who discovers he has something in
common with the former enemy:

Red was the blood of the men I’ve slain / Brown was the mud in the trenches where they lay / And black
is the heart when the truth of war’s made plain / Death has a way of making every man the same

4. Immigration & Zenophobia

Canada was very much a colony of Britain in 1919 and Winnipeg was a colonial outpost. The English lan-
guage, and the culture of the empire, were the enforced preference. An ugly distaste for foreigners before
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ZHUHIRUFHGWREHFDUGFDUU\LQJ´(QHP\$OLHQVµ7KRXVDQGVKDGSURSHUW\FRQÀVFDWHGDQGZHUH
detained in 26 prisoner of war camps across Canada.

$.25 Tidbit: Immigrants detained in the prison camps were paid $.25/day - the same amount soldiers were
paid to be on the front lines. The soldiers’ perception that the enemy had safe employment back in Canada
made veterans livid when they returned to unemployment in Winnipeg.

'UDPDWLF&RQÁLFW: Veterans vs. Immigrants

Song: CD Track #2 (The Immigrants’ Song) Page: 10
Mood of the Song/Era: The song is a slow dirge, with simmering anger beneath the lyrics. But the lyric
HQGVZLWKSURXGGHÀDQFH

An immigrant is all they see / An alien / The enemy / An immigrant yes I may be but damn them all they
can’t take all my dignity

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&DQDGDLQZLWKWKHUHWXUQLQJVROGLHUV7KHLPPLJUDQWSRSXODWLRQOLYHGLQWKHFORVHVWTXDUWHUVDQG
ZDVGHFLPDWHGE\WKHÁXFDXVLQJDQXJO\EODPHJDPHEHWZHHQWKHLPPLJUDQWVDQGYHWHUDQV

'UDPDWLF&RQÁLFW: Veterans vs. Immigrants

Song: CD Track #1 (Winnipeg’s Giddy) Page: 7
Mood of the Song/Era: The song is perky and upbeat, but bravado hides a growing fear between im-
migrants and veterans:

We left what was home for some promise of gold / Now we slave night and day in the jobs that don’t pay
/ And our fam’lies we lose to that dread Spanish Flu from those damn veterans / Where is the sense?
You tell me!

4
 $.25 - The Winnipeg General Strike Lesson Plan
The Russian Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 brought about the violent overthrow of the Russian monarchy.
Adding to the drudgery of a poverty-stricken life for some immigrants, was the further indignity of being
labeled “Bolshevik revolutionaries” by the veterans. But many immigrants feared the revolution as well,
having left family in Ukraine and Russia.

'UDPDWLF&RQÁLFW: Veterans vs. Immigrants

Song: CD Track #7 (Fifty Dollars) Page: 29
Mood of the Song/Era: The song is slow and sad, and the mood of the lyrics, resigned:

Immigration / Cancellation / Of all the hopes and dreams that I did see when / I was still a man with
wife and children who would / Fill my world with love because it / Mattered not how much my love
in dollars brought / But now they run from Bolsheviks ‘cause all that I can make is /Eighty dollars /
Eighty dollars / Eighty dollars / In a half a year

The federal government used deportation as a much-feared tool to keep the immigrant population in
check. Later in the strike, the government amended the law such that even British citizens could be de-
ported without trial.

'UDPDWLF&RQÁLFW: Opponents vs. Strikers

Song: CD Track #6 (Plight of the Working Class) Page: 27
Mood of the Song/Era7KHVRQJKDVDFHUWDLQSRPSWKDWUHÁHFWVWKHDWWLWXGHVRIWKHFRORQLDOSROLWLFLDQV
in power. But the business-as-usual tone hides sinister designs:

And if this thing’s to simmer down / I could use your heft / Deporting Bol-she immigrants is the only
option left / The right of the ruling class / Demands that the gov’rn-ment act / To spare society the pain
/ The right of the ruling class / Is to put down the working class / Before revolution wins the day

'HSRUWDWLRQEHFDPHVRFRPPRQSODFHDQGDUELWUDU\WKDWLPPLJUDQWVGHYHORSHGDEODFNKXPRXUHGDF-
ceptance of their lot.

'UDPDWLF&RQÁLFW: Opponents vs. Strikers

Song: CD Track #13 (Better Days) Page: 54
Mood of the Song/Era: The song is up-tempo and seemingly happy, as immigrants joke about deporta-
tion:

If he breathes / Deport him / If he bleeds / Deport him / Can’t speak with ease? / Deporting’s a breeze /
No good spleen / Deport him / Ends with “ski” / Deport him / Garlic-smelling meals? / Deport him with
his peels / Deport me someone please

5
 $.25 - The Winnipeg General Strike Lesson Plan

5. Unionism & The General Strike

Getting together with fellow employees and making demands of your employer as a group was barely
tolerated in 1919. Losing your job or pension, or serving time in jail, were the price to be paid for many
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branded “radicals.”

$.25 Tidbit: Some workers demanded a pay increase of $.25/day and were denied, precipitating the Gen-
eral Strike.

'UDPDWLF&RQÁLFW: Opponents vs. Strikers

Song: CD Track #4 (Nothing Radical) Page: 17
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ZRUNLQJSODFHV)HZHUKXQJU\IDFHV'HFHQWMREVIRUWKHWDNLQJWKHUHLV1RWKLQJUDGLFDOQR1RWKLQJ
radical / Nothing radical about that

A “general strike” is when many unions go off the job at the same time, effectively shutting down a region.
While not illegal in 1919, general strikes were seen as dangerously radical, even revolutionary. Those
who opposed the Winnipeg General Strike labelled it an attempt to transfer the Russian Revolution to
Canada.

'UDPDWLF&RQÁLFW: Opponents vs. Strikers

Song: CD Track #10 (Strike!) Page: 42
Mood of the Song/Era7KHVRQJLVXSWHPSRDQGWKHO\ULFVGHÀDQW7KHZRUNHUVDUHRYHUMR\HGDVWKH\
shut down Winnipeg, and list the participating unions in the general strike:

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1RKLUHGDLGV1RSDSHUVSDLQWHUVEDNHUVZDLWHUV8QLRQL]HGRURWKHUZLVH7HPSRUDULHV)XOOWLPH
labour / They all heed the call and / Strike while the iron’s hot to get what we haven’t got and / Take
back the things they took and make right the wrongs and look right / Into their eyes until they blink
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Opposition to the strike mounted instantly. Federal minister of labour Gideon Robertson refused to meet
with representatives of the General Strike Committee, citing their demand for “collective bargaining”
- one bargainer for all of the unions in one industry - as unreasonable. Robertson issued a crushing ulti-
matum which was ignored by the strikers.

'UDPDWLF&RQÁLFW: Opponents vs. Strikers

Song: CD Track #12 (Ultimatum) Page: 48
6
 $.25 - The Winnipeg General Strike Lesson Plan
Mood of the Song/Era7KHVRQJLVDVÀHU\DQGSDVVLRQDWHDVWKHLPSDVVHLQWKHVWULNH

I don’t bargain / I won’t pardon / I won’t recognize collective bargaining as anything but tampering
with governing authority / Ultimatum / My words verbatum / Debate them / Mistake them best ye not
/ Ultimatum / Your jobs / Vacate them / Negate them / Erase them / Pensions gone / Ultimatum / Your
KRSHV,·OOEUHDNWKHP'HÁDWHWKHP5HSODFHPHQWVWDNH\RXUMREV

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peace) and replaced it with a special police force (the “Specials”) that was largely comprised of anti-immi-
grant, anti-strike veterans. Then he arrested the strike leaders, precipitating a protest march by pro-strike
veterans. The resulting clash became known as “Bloody Saturday” - June 21st, 1919.

'UDPDWLF&RQÁLFW: Opponents vs. Strikers

Song: CD Track #19 (Saturday in June) Page: 75
Mood of the Song/Era: The song is a tragic dirge, sung from the perspective of a slain striker/immi-
grant:

They weren’t supposed to put us down / We were supposed to hold our ground on this Saturday in June
/ There wasn’t supposed to be blood spilled / There wasn’t supposed to be any killed on this Saturday
in June

6. Women’s Rights

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numbers. The independence and freedoms won during the war contributed to Manitoba women being the
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and, with the return of the veterans, many of the advances for women in the workplace were lost. Women
were grossly underpaid and, rich or poor, there was no social safety net for those who lost a breadwinner
in the war.

$.25 Tidbit: Waitresses were notoriously underpaid at $.25/day as a base pay. Even with overtime, a
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were forced into prostitution to make ends meet.

'UDPDWLF&RQÁLFW: Male-dominated society vs. women

Song: CD Track #8 (Better Man) Page: 32
Mood of the Song/Era: The song is a moody ballad that barely hides the disgust of a woman’s perspec-
tive:

Here I stand and smile and stew ‘til bitter to the bone / I see widows’ children starving from the war
that’s torn the land / But God forbid a woman speaks / She must heed the better man / A better man /
7
 $.25 - The Winnipeg General Strike Lesson Plan
I gave my hand / To a better man / I abandoned plans / My husband shines of decency and so politely
hinders me / My role is far beneath the better man

Even the lowest paid unskilled male immigrant made more than most skilled women workers. Many
women worked as telephone operators, a technical position that required advanced skills in English that
paid less money than unskilled immigrants in the metal shops.

'UDPDWLF&RQÁLFW: Male dominated society vs. women.

Song: CD Track #7 (Fifty Dollars) Page: 28
Mood of the Song/Era: The bitterness of a telephone operator is in full evidence as she recounts that she
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Repetition / Promotes attrition / Of all the hopes and dreams that I did see when I was but a / Girl with
thoughts that some day there could be a world in which it wouldn’t matter just how much my worth in
dollars made / But now I see the fool I’ve played ‘cause all my work is paid is / Fifty dollars / Fifty dol-
lars / Fifty dollars in a half a year

7. Multiculturalism

The modern concept of many cultures, languages and races coming together as equals in a Canadian na-
tion was unheard of in 1919. Although Winnipeg was a cosmopolitan and ethnically diverse city compared
to most, ugly discrimination was widespread. Immigrants experienced unrelenting pressure to conform to
English society. Interfaith marriage was a rare exception, frowned upon or banned.

$.25 Tidbit: Marriage licenses cost $.25 in 1919 but processing could be declined if the race or religion
of the couple was mixed.

'UDPDWLF&RQÁLFW: Immigrant vs. Immigrant

Song: CD Track #8 (Better Man) Page: 33
Mood of the Song/Era: The song is a ballad in which a young woman is torn between adherence to her
religion and love for a man from a different culture:

I’m dying just to touch him / But forget such naive plans / A Catholic is forbidden fruit / They tell me
ÀQGDEHWWHUPDQ:KLVSHUHGZRUGVRIPRFNHU\ZRQ·WFKDQJHP\FKRLFHRIPDQIRUPH7KH\FDQ·W
dictate who’ll be my better man

Multiculturalism began with the increase in intercultural and interfaith marriages. Committed couples
braved shunning, excommunication and social ostracization to build the complex web of cultures that
became modern Canada.

'UDPDWLF&RQÁLFW: Immigrant vs. Immigrant

Song: CD Track #9 (Love in a Place Like This) Page: 39

 $.25 - The Winnipeg General Strike Lesson Plan
Mood of the Song/Era7KHVRQJLVDSRLJQDQWEDOODGLQZKLFKD\RXQJFRXSOHODPHQWVWKHGLIÀFXOW\RI
an interfaith relationship:

Noble intentions of fools unaware / Still leave me with scars and a heart that’s just scared / They’d
make it a shame / Just to mention our names / Can you handle so much pain? / How can there be love?
/ Love in a place like this? / Who wants to take the risk? / On love in a place like this? / One possible
fate surely awaits love in a place like this

Suggestions for Implementation

Not all of the teachables are appropriate to all grade levels. While Grade Eleven students will be able to
absorb all seven teachables, teachers can be selective in their choices for lower grade levels. The follow-
ing are some implementation strategies that have demonstrated success.

Primary & Middle Years

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songs.

2) Use excerpts of songs (as demonstrated within this lesson plan) as a means of keeping short attention
spans engaged.

Senior Years

1) Assign students a read/listen of the entire play prior to class. Once in class, have students “reverse
engineer” the events of the General Strike in chronological order. This is a particularly effective means
of using drama to teach history.

2) Play entire songs and have students identify the multiple dramatic forces at work within each song.
Fifty Dollars, by way of example, imbeds women’s rights, unionism and immigration/zenophobia.

3) Have students prepare scenes or parts of scenes for in-class demonstration (from memory or book in
hand). Scenes do no necessarily have to be musical; there are many straight-dialogue scenes that portray
any number of the teachables. The more adventurous musical students are encouraged to perform songs
LQFODVV)UHHSLDQRVFRUHVDQGNDUHRNH03·VDUHDYDLODEOHE\HPDLOLQJ'DQQ\6FKXUDW

dannyschur@[Link].

Further information about upcoming performances and auditions is available at:

[Link]