History 22 results

One, two, three strikes — and Canada is out!

History: The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, Part Two The workers of Canada united behind strikers in Winnipeg, leading to the largest labour action in Canadian history and a class division that continues to create friction and distrust 100 years on.  

The Winnipeg General Strike fought the pejorative optics of “Socialism”

History: The 100 year anniversary of the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, Part One Disillusioned workers demanded fair wages and the right to collective bargaining, but their biggest foes throughout the historic, 40-day labour action weren’t just the powerful and privileged -- but the rabid rhetoric surrounding “Bolshevik” forces and "undesirables, socialists, radicals, enemy aliens, Marxists, foreign agitators, revolutionaries, reactionaries, extremists, and (of course) anarchists.”  

Lest We Forget the heroes once branded “enemy aliens”

Mickleburgh: Japanese-Canadian Veterans Huddled under a colourful autumn canopy, in a secluded corner of Vancouver’s Stanley Park, Rod Mickleburgh found a Remembrance Day ceremony that refused to forget Canada’s racist past.

How the ghost of Ginger Goodwin painted the town “Red”

Canadian History: The Ginger Goodwin General Strike of 1918 When pacifist union organizer and worker’s rights activist Ginger Goodwin was killed by a single police bullet 100 years ago, it marked the beginning of Canada’s first general strike, and a blood-drenched birth to B.C.’s modern labour movement. By Rod Mickleburgh At 12 o’clock sharp on Aug. 2, 1918 – one hundred years ago today – Vancouver transit operators stopped their streetcars in mid-route, drove them to the barns and walked home. The city’s normally bustling waterfront fell silent, as 2,000 burly stevedores and shipyard workers streamed from the docks. Construction workers refused to pound another nail or lift another brick. They joined textile and other union workers across Vancouver who were also leaving their jobs. It was the start of Canada’s first general strike and the beginning of one of the most memorable 24 hours in the city’s history. (Okay, I could have photo-shopped this a bit ...

How the ghost of Ginger Goodwin painted the town “Red”

Canadian History: The Ginger Goodwin General Strike of 1918 When pacifist union organizer and worker’s rights activist Ginger Goodwin was killed by a single police bullet 100 years ago, it marked the beginning of Canada’s first general strike, and a blood-drenched birth to B.C.’s modern labour movement. By Rod Mickleburgh At 12 o’clock sharp on Aug. 2, 1918 – one hundred years ago today – Vancouver transit operators stopped their streetcars in mid-route, drove them to the barns and walked home. The city’s normally bustling waterfront fell silent, as 2,000 burly stevedores and shipyard workers streamed from the docks. Construction workers refused to pound another nail or lift another brick. They joined textile and other union workers across Vancouver who were also leaving their jobs. It was the start of Canada’s first general strike and the beginning of one of the most memorable 24 hours in the city’s history. (Okay, I could have photo-shopped this a bit better...

Neither Waffles nor Pancakes, Dave Barrett’s Proof was in Pudding

Tribute: Dave Barrett Back in the summer of 1972, Dave Barrett hit the campaign trail and started changing the mindset of British Columbians about socialism. After his historic win, he went further still, and literally transformed the provincial  landscape by introducing the Agricultural Land Reserve. The act was is designed to increase food security, but like many other initiatives, it was at risk from the very start. By Rod Mickleburgh In the best of summers, Dave Barrett ran the best of campaigns. Up against the seemingly unbeatable W.A.C. Bennett, the NDP leader was as unruffled as the weather, relaxed and purposefully out of the media spotlight. Forty people at a small gathering in Houston, a brief visit to the distant mining town of Stewart, a mid-morning tea in mighty Yahk, mainstreeting in Revelstoke. It was all the same to Barrett, part of his strategy to defuse once and for all Bennett’s tried-and-true election fear mongering about the “socialist hordes.” Of course ...

A Tribute to Dave Barrett, the Socialist Who Stormed the Gates

* In light of Dave Barrett’s recent passing, we took the opportunity to republish Rod Mickleburgh’s thoughtful look at the quiet, yet revolutionary, BC Premier. Politics: Looking back at the first BC NDP victory in 1972 Rod Mickleburgh remembers the day the “socialist hordes” stormed the gates of Government House and Dave Barrett took the oath of office. There was no ceremony, no dancers, no tweets, but British Columbia would never be the same. By Rod Mickleburgh Watching the joyous, almost giddy swearing-in of the province’s new premier and his gender-balanced cabinet, I couldn’t help thinking of BC’s very first transition of power to the NDP, so long ago the Vancouver Sun had two full-time labour reporters. That historic ground-breaker took place way back in 1972, or five years before David Eby, the province’s new Attorney General, was born. July 18 was only the third such right-to-left tilt in BC history. Of course, that’s three more than the zero ...

Dave Barrett Broke Down Walls of Government

* In light of Dave Barrett's recent passing, we took the opportunity to republish Rod Mickleburgh's thoughtful look at the quiet, yet revolutionary, BC Premier. Politics: Looking back at the first BC NDP victory in 1972 Rod Mickleburgh remembers the day the "socialist hordes" stormed the gates of Government House and Dave Barrett took the oath of office. There was no ceremony, no dancers, no tweets, but British Columbia would never be the same. By Rod Mickleburgh Watching the joyous, almost giddy swearing-in of the province’s new premier and his gender-balanced cabinet, I couldn’t help thinking of BC’s very first transition of power to the NDP, so long ago the Vancouver Sun had two full-time labour reporters. That historic ground-breaker took place way back in 1972, or five years before David Eby, the province’s new Attorney General, was born. July 18 was only the third such right-to-left tilt in BC history. Of course, that’s three more than the zero Stanley Cups won by the ...

Right to Left: Watching the Political Pendulum Swing

Politics: Looking back at the first BC NDP victory in 1972 Rod Mickleburgh remembers the day the "socialist hordes" stormed the gates of Government House and Dave Barrett took the oath of office. There was no ceremony, no dancers, no tweets, but British Columbia would never be the same. By Rod Mickleburgh Watching the joyous, almost giddy swearing-in of the province’s new premier and his gender-balanced cabinet, I couldn’t help thinking of BC’s very first transition of power to the NDP, so long ago the Vancouver Sun had two full-time labour reporters. That historic ground-breaker took place way back in 1972, or five years before David Eby, the province’s new Attorney General, was born. July 18 was only the third such right-to-left tilt in BC history. Of course, that’s three more than the zero Stanley Cups won by the hapless Canucks, and just enough to keep politics interesting and a semblance of two-party democracy alive in BC’s polarized environment. No wonder John ...

Helena Guttridge, Mayor Gregor and Auntie Irene

People: Irene Howard, History Is Her Story Mayor's tribute to Vancouver's first female councillor strikes a personal note for Rod Mickleburgh, who in turn honours a chronicler he calls 'Auntie Irene' By Rod Mickleburgh (May 17, 2017) - At the age of 70, my beloved Auntie Irene, under her scholastic name of Irene Howard, published her definitive biography of Helena Gutteridge, Vancouver’s first woman “alderman”. Ten years later, when she was 80, she completed her remarkable book Gold Dust On His Shirt, a moving saga of her family’s working class life in the gold mines of British Columbia, feathered with impeccable research of the times. At 90 she published a very fine poem, which is reproduced below. And one morning last month, at the age of 94 and a half, Auntie Irene sat in the front row of chairs arrayed in a room off the main lobby at city hall, looking as elegant and vivacious as anyone who pre-dated Vancouver’s Art Deco municipal masterpiece by 14 years ...