David J. Bercuson

Confrontation at Winnipeg : labour, industrial relations, and the general strike

Why was Winnipeg the scene of the longest and most complete general strike in North American history? Bercuson answers this question by examining the development of union labour and the impact of depression and war in the two decades preceding the strike.

The Canadian Historical Review and the State of the Profession: a View on our Sixtieth Birthday

Historical Review. It is, we think, a fitting time to remind our readers what purpose the cI-IR serves. It is more important to do this now, given the state of our profession, than at any time in the past. There are at present more Canadian historians, working in more fields, writing more history, than ever. The profession has experienced unprecedented expansion in the last twenty years. The small and tightly knit group that once dominated the writing of Canadian history has given way to a more extended, but also fragmented, profession. The focus of a self-appointed mission to promote national survival is no longer so much in evidence. Given this expansion, and this loss of a unity of purpose, approach, and method, there are those who believe that a journal such as the cI-Ia, which publishes articles about all aspects of Canadian history, has no clear role. We think such beliefs are dead

Some Frank Words about the Canadian Historical Review

foremost journal of the historical profession in Canada. We believe that every country must have a national journal to reflect its best historical writing. Tradition forces the 1⁄2I-IR to assume that role. Let us be frank. The CHR has, to some, become the grandmother of the Canadian historical profession; respected but, for important matters, disregarded. We intend to show our readers that this is not true. The last ten years have witnessed a revolution in historical writing in Canada. Canadian historians have shown an increasing interest in the comparatively neglected fields of social, labour, and economic history. We want the CH• to reflect those changes. Political history has always found a home in our pages. It will continue to do so, but it will have to share the limelight with newer approaches. We invite historians with contributions in these fields to try the 1⁄2I-I• on for size. We want to dispel some myths about the CHg. Our backlog is neither immense nor indefinite. At the moment it is between nine months and one

The Winnipeg General Strike, Collective Bargaining, and the One Big Union Issue

THE PRINCIPLES OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING had won wide acceptance in Canada by the summer of 1919. Many key industries acknowledged the idea of trade unions and were negotiating wage and working condition agreements with representatives of their workers. The private metal and foundry industries of Canadas third largest city, however, had not accepted the collective bargain as a recognized factor in their industrial ife. The general strike in Winnipeg which broke out in May 19 • 9 was caused primarily by the stubborn refusal of certain leading metal works to deal with orthodox and established trade unions.