Rise
The general strike that began in Winnipeg on May 15 was not associated organizationally with the OBU. Yet the federal government and some conservative labor politicians accused the OBU of instigating it. Many of the strike's leaders, including OBU activist Robert B. Russell, were arrested in conjunction with the strike, Russell being sentenced to two years imprisonment. Edmonton, Calgary, Drumheller and Vancouver began their own general strikes in support of the Winnipeg workers, and some of these strikeleaders, such as Edmonton's Joe Knight, were OBU affiliates.
The AFL and the TLC resisted the secession, by what would soon become the OBU. OBU members and OBU unions were expelled from most local trades councils. Nonetheless, thousands of workers resigned the AFL and the TLC and joined the OBU. These included loggers, hard rock miners, coal miners, longshoremen, construction workers, metalworkers, shop craft workers, etc. The One Big Union organized by industry rather than by trade, in response to a deemphasis of craftsmanship, (Taylorism), and the burgeoning demand for unskilled labour. The OBU's anti-capitalist policy was evident by its constitution's pre-amble:
The O.B.U. ... seeks to organize the wage worker nor according to craft but according to industry; according to class and class needs; and calls upon all workers irrespective of nationality, sex, or craft to organize into a workers' organization, so that they may be enabled to more successfully carry on the every day fight over wages, hours of work, etc. and prepare themselves for the day when production for profit shall be replaced by production of use.
By late 1919 the OBU's membership was 40,000 to 70,000. The members were almost exclusively in the west of Canada. Efforts to organize in other parts of Canada and in the United States failed.
On June 4, the union was finally initiated officially at a small meeting in Calgary. Although an industrial form of organization was chosen, many questions were left unanswered in the constitution approved at this meeting. The manner of operation of the OBU did not differ much from that of the AFL or the TLC. Often, AFL or TLC union methods were simply incorporated into the OBU without any change; members simply started paying their dues to a different organization, but one with more radical aspirations.
Read more about this topic: One Big Union (Canada)
Famous quotes containing the word rise:
“And now you try
Your handful of notes;
The clear vowels rise like balloons.”
—Sylvia Plath (1932–1963)
“We are dying, we are dying, we are all of us dying
and nothing will stay the death-flood rising within us
and soon it will rise on the world, on the outside world.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“To-morrow I will have finished four-score years. I have lived to rise from the most despised and hated woman in all the world of fifty years ago, until now it seems as if I am loved by you all. If this is true, then I am indeed satisfied.”
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)