15 May, 1919 – The IAM and the Winnipeg General Strike
For six weeks, 15 May to 26 June, 1919, more than 30,000 workers shut down the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Robert Boyd (R. B.) Russell and Peter Herenchuk, Machinist Union activists from Local Lodge 122 were strike leaders. The strike produced the worst repressive measures taken to that time against trade unionists. Arrests and killings eventually ended the strike but moved the labour movement into the field of political action.