George Armstrong (1870-1956)

Union leader, radical, MLA (1921-1922).

Born on 17 April 1870 at Scarborough, Ontario, Armstrong came to Winnipeg in 1905. A member of the Carpenters’ Union, he was a one-time organizer of that union, as well as a founding member of the Socialist Party in Winnipeg. He ran against F. W. Dixon for the provincial legislature in 1914, gaining 953 votes. A prominent exponent of Marxism and regarded as one of Canada’s leading soap-box orators, Armstrong was highly critical of the Canadian government for its repressive policies toward dissent. He was married to Helen Armstrong.

One of the leaders of the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, he was arrested on 17 June, tried on seven counts of seditious conspiracy, found guilty, and sentenced to one year in prison. In 1920 he won election to the provincial legislature as a Socialist Party of Canada candidate. Armstrong and his family left Canada for Chicago in 1922, depriving Manitoba of two of its most influential radical leaders. He died in Concord, California.

More information:

Profiles in Dissent: The Shaping of Radical Thought in the Canadian West by Harry Gutkin and Mildred Gutkin, 1997, pages 181-192.

Sources:

Who’s Who in Western Canada: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of Western Canada, Volume 1, 1911. C. W. Parker, editor. Canadian Press Association, Vancouver.

Profile revised: 24 January 2010

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