1920's and 30's test Flashcards
(19 cards)
what were the lives of workers like in 1919
(right after the war)
Prices of goods very
high
Workers had taken lower
wages to support the
war, but after the war
wages stay low
Long hours, terrible
working conditions
Unions are formed
to fight for worker’s
rights
Who were the workers compared to?
Communists, because the workers thought all people should
be treated equally and fairly
Why was the government fearful of the workers rebelling?
Due to the communist Russian Revolution,
employers feared communism would spread to
North America
What did the workers want in the winnipeg general strike?
Fair pay = 85 cents per hour
An 8 hour work day
The right to bargain (get a deal) collectively
(as a group) for better working conditions
Who supported the workers in the winnipeg general strike?
Trades/building
Railway/factory workers
Police
Firefighters
Postal workers
Cooks/waiters
Tailors
30,000 walk out!
Who did not support the workers?
Business leaders
Politicians
Industrialists
Concerned citizens
groups
They saw the strikers as
communist types, trying to
overthrow the government.
The federal government
decided to stop them.
What did the federal government do to stop the strike?
They ammended the immigration act.
(giving them the power to deport all foreign
workers & union leaders)
How long does the strike last, and how does it end?
The strike lasts 6 weeks
ends when the mayor (charles f gray) hires the special police to arrest
what is bloody saturday?
Workers gather downtown to protest and police are
sent out to meet them
Police attacked the protesters - one dies, others
wounded
Finally, strikers return to work
What is the result of the winnipeg general strike?
The strikers lost
Unions suffer a setback
Many workers only rehired after promising not to join a union
What is prohibition?
The manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages is restricted or illegal
Which pime minister started prohibiton in canada?
P.M Borden began prohibition in March, 1918
over a year before the us
why was prohibition started?
Main reason = shortages of grain during WW1 (grain used in many alcohols)
what was the Women’s Christian Temperance Movement
- started in Ontario in 1875
- worked to ban the sale of alcohol
How did people still drink alcohol during prohibition?
Bootleggers
criminals made lots of money making, selling and importing illegal alcohol
Mafia gangsters, like Al Capone, gain much of their power/money during the days of prohibition
Alcohol was also available from pharmacies by prescription
What were bootleggers?
People that maufactured their own alcohol to sell
(moonshine)
What were rum runners?
People that smuggled alchohol into canada, or into the us. Rocco Perri smuggled alchohol through the great lakes into the us.
Who was rocco Perri?
Operated out of Hamilton
Fleet of 40 boats and trucks
Rum-running to U.S on the Great Lakes
Disappeared mysteriously in 1944 (Mafia hit?)
Al capone of the north
