Interwar Years

Social Reformation, Economic Changes, Rise of Socialism/Fascism

Winnipeg General Strike – Why? 1. Workers saw the need to united, starting many unions in

other parts of Canada. • This would include meaningful rules and regulations for

labour (e.g., safe working conditions, appropriate wages).

2. Strike leader J.S. Woodsworth would be was jailed during the Winnipeg General Strike. • Later, Woodsworth would found Canada's first socialist

political party, the CCF (eventually the New Democratic Party of Canada - NDP) • The political party advocating the rights of workers and

the alternative choice during many Canadian elections3. Canadians began questioning the tactics and force used by

the government. • Should governments be able to attack -- in newspapers

and with guns -- its citizens? • A Royal Commission said, “No.” Canadians agreed.

Immigrants +Veterans + Decreasing Jobs = Turmoil

• Before the war, Canada was looking to establish its Western territory with rural farmers. Consequently the government would establish programs and incentives for immigration to Canada.

• During the war, very few people were accepted into Canada. • By the end of the war, repatriation (Canadian soldiers

returning home) became a huge issue, as the crown corporations began to dissolve and the economy took a dip.

• Immigrants had been brought to Canada to fill jobs, while Veterans wanted those jobs

• Many veterans would become unemployed

Veterans Affairs• Canada had limited experience in dealing with veterans –

army had only ever been a few thousand. • In 1914, veteran pensions would account for 0.5% of Federal

revenue. • By 1920, it would spike upwards of 20%

• Initial planning that focused on the care and reintegration of disabled veterans expanded to include:

• Long-term disability issues• Pension administration• Re-settlement of several hundred thousand personnel.

• Veterans could not be given too little by a proud, grateful nation, but they should also not be given too much.

Russian Revolution – Bolshevik Revolution

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvoEFKZqT44

Era of the Car• The car revolutionized how people lived and worked.

• Traveling distances around 50-100 kilometers was not a large trip anymore. Rural farmers/families could start sourcing supplies based on price rather than proximity of distance.

• Freed people from the limitation of their geography

• Ford Motor Company had developed the Model T, a relatively inexpensive, easy to reproduce car.

• By 1920 over a million were sold in the United States.

• The Model T had first entered as a toy for the rich. Eventually with higher production ability, the car would be marketed to the middle class.

• Ford would price the car to be as affordable as possible.• Paid his workers enough so that they could earn enough to

purchase a car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqd1Q0FFeocModel T Documentary 25:00

Consumerism, Urbanization, Industrialism and Electrification

1. The 1920s saw a strong economy and time of prosperity. The result of the middle class having increased income was that it became disposable. • Disposable income for the thousands of new and innovative

products (Refrigerators, icebox, radio, car, appliances, etc.) 2. Canada was best described as half urban, half rural.

• Massive movement of people into urban centres 3. Urban citizens would change jobs from:

• Agriculturalists, who could rely on subsistence if the economy went down; to

• Industrial workers, who relied on the system to support their livelihoods.

4. All cities had an fully functioning electrical grid; rural communities would soon have the norm of electricity as well.

Great Depression - The Dirty Thirties• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mANT5W6giZ8

• 18:00

• The panic of the New York stock market crash in October 1929 resulted in no new investments in the Western world.

• Monopolization of large companies meant a reduction in economic flexibility; when one goes down, it all goes down.

• Growing urbanization and industrial workers were a large part of the economy, meaning that many could not support themselves from subsistence production and bartering like farmers could.

• Wheat prices plunged from over $1.00 a bushel to $0.30 • 1933, nearly 20% of the labour force was officially classified as

unemployed.

Environmental Catastrophe

• Southern Saskatchewan, southeastern Alberta, southwestern Manitoba experienced “Dust-bowl Effect.”

• Farmers attempted to grow cereal crops, but were destroyed by drought, dust and wind.

• Monoculture (one-crop farming) dried out soil and didn’t provide protection from wind, which would blow topsoil away.

• Grasshoppers, hail storms

• Farmers looked for short-term financial gain rather than long-term security (with diversified fields)

• In Saskatchewan between 1911 – 1931, 57% of farmers were forced to abandon their land.

Immigration • Immigration reduced dramatically during the Great

Depression• Government inability to support immigrants• 1929, immigration at nearly 169,000 per year. • 1935, immigration at 12,000 per year.

• Nearly all Jews fleeing Nazi Germany as refugees were denied entry in Canada

• Many arrived immigrants were deported due to sickness or unemployment

Rise of Nazi Germany & Adolf Hitler

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/timeline_2/