Quebec General Strike (1972)

The Quebec General Strike of 1972 was a massive general strike in Quebec, Canada in 1972.

Background

The general strike came on the heels of the “Quiet Revolution” of the 1960s, which saw French-speaking Quebec transformed from a church-dominated backwater to a modern, self-conscious and largely secular society. While a new francophone bourgeoisie began to displace the English overlords, layers of the working class and student youth underwent a significant radicalization. This was fueled in large part by opposition to national oppression, which saw workers told to “speak white” if they did not address the foreman in English.

These developments produced a chauvinist reaction in English Canada, leading to the October 1970 “October Crisis” when Liberal prime minister Pierre Trudeau sent the army to occupy Quebec and arrest hundreds of leftist and union militants. Trudeau claimed he was crushing an “insurrection” by the left-nationalist Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ), which had kidnapped two government representatives, but his real purpose was to put an end to the widespread social turmoil in Quebec. He was seconded in this by provincial Liberal premier Robert Bourassa, whose government provoked the general strike a year and a half later by jailing Quebec’s top union leaders.

In 1971, a local left-wing newspaper had been bought and the owner planned to fire all anti-capitalist journalists. This led to a small strike that lasted for five months, ended blocking the building and the street with cars. Soon 15,000 trade unionists showed up in solidarity marches and battled in the streets with the police, the police continued to attack the unionists as they brought their wounded to nearby hospitals. Soon, an organisation called the Common Front was formed, demanding an 8% wage increase (to match inflation), job security, limited workplace democracy, a higher minimum wage and equal pay for equal work regardless of gender or ethnicity.

Events

On the 11th of April, 1972, over 210,000 public sector workers struck against the government. The state first targeted hospital workers, jailing 13 of them and fining them $5000 (a years worth of pay). Soon, "Bill 19" was passed which forced the strikers back to work and restricted union activity for the next two years. After an initial pledge of civil disobedience, and a hurried vote that over half of the workers didn't participate in, the trade union leadership of the common front recommended that their members return to work.

However, after several unions were arrested, the strike exploded, led by dock workers followed by teachers, maintenance workers and nurses. Striking workers fought police in the street and popular assemblies were held in the streets. The workers' of Sept-Iles called a general strike idling all industry in the iron-ore port, taking control of the town, and seizing the local radio station.

In St. Jerome, an industrial area north of Montreal, 400 textile workers walked off the job and soon found themselves joined by bus drivers, metal plant workers, teachers, and white-collar workers. At the request of workers at the CKJL radio station, the strike committee seized the airwaves and broadcast union statements and revolutionary music. In Chibougamau the walkout was sparked by angry wives, some of them teachers and hospital workers, who marched to one of the mines to pull their husbands off the job. By May 12, the fourth day of the strike, nine towns had been occupied by striking workers, over 80,000 construction workers were out across the province, teachers and hospital workers continued to walk out (occupying one Montreal hospital), transit mechanics and 8,000 municipal workers had struck in Montreal. And this was only the tip of the iceberg; the number of factories, hospitals, schools and towns shut down was impossible to keep track of as wave after wave of angry workers stormed out.

Workers seized control of 22 radio stations across the province while forcing the anti-union capitalist newspapers to stop publishing. The battle for control of information was important, and the workers showed astuteness, creativity and militancy. As the news from the striking workers spread, so did the strike itself.

Over 300,000 workers had self-organised the largest general strike in North American history. The revolt was so widespread that the Quebec police knew they could not contain or repress it, and took a position of non-intervention in order not to provoke a decisive clash that they predicted they would lose.

Results

The strike led to the releasing of all jailed strikers in exchange for its ending. The strike also served as a key inspiration for the Canadian General Strike in 1976. The strike serves as a key lesson in being anti-racist, not trusting undemocratic trade unions and to never stop fighting for a better world.

References

1972: The Quebec general strike at libcom.org

Lessons of the 1972 Quebec General Strike at the International Communist League website