from

Strike!

Act II Scene I

Read It Here
Project Bookmark Canada
places stories and poems in
the exact Canadian locations
where literary scenes are set.
A Canadian innovation, it is
the only national, site-specific
literary exhibit in the world.
This Bookmark was unveiled on
the Canadian Literary Trail on
Labour Day 2019. It is funded by
the Government of Canada,
the City of Winnipeg, and
individual donors.
Project Bookmark Canada is a
nationally registered charitable
organization. CRA #82725 7569 RR0001

Victoria Park. A crowd of thousands surrounds
a make-shift wooden stage.
CROWD
Hear us out! Hear us out!
A.J. ANDREWS, former mayor and leader of
the Citizens' Committee of One Thousand,
addresses the crowd.
ANDREWS
I will not be provoked.
The motive behind this strike is clearly the
overthrow of constitutional government.
HELEN ARMSTRONG, Winnipeg's staunch
activist for working class and women's rights,
ascends the stage.
HELEN ARMSTRONG (singing)
He won’t meet us
He won’t speak t’us
He’ll just improvise invective
Posturing with yammering
‘Bout quelling rebellious
Activity
ANDREWS (singing) I don’t bargain
I won’t pardon
I won’t recognize collective
Bargaining as anything
But tampering with governing
Authority
ALL & ANDREWS Ultimatum
My [His] words verbatim
Debate them
Mistake them? Best ye [we] not

by

Danny Schur and Rick Chafe

Ultimatum
Your [Our] jobs: vacate them
Negate them
Erase them, pensions gone
Ultimatum
Your [Our] hopes, I’ll [he’ll] break them
Deflate them
Replacements take your [our] jobs
The crowd screams insults at ANDREWS.
ANDREWS Disperse yourselves immediately.
I will not bargain with a mob.
The government of Canada will not
give in to the threat of a general strike.
(singing) You must yield first
Sign this deal first
This takes force immediately by
Severing your unioning,
Eliminating striking but
You’ll have jobs
HELEN ARMSTRONG (singing)
There’s no parting
From our starving
But he wounds our dignity with
Patronizing, taxing lies
Impeding us and feeding us straight
To the dogs
ALL & ANDREWS
Ultimatum
My [His] words verbatim

Debate them
Mistake them? Best ye [we] not
Ultimatum
Your [Our] jobs: vacate them
Negate them
Erase them, pensions gone
Ultimatum
Your [Our] hopes, I’ll [he’ll] break them
Deflate them
Replacements take your [our jobs]
ANDREWS exits. The strikers’ solidarity
is at a fever pitch and the whole group
is in no mood for compromise.
HELEN ARMSTRONG (shouting)
They demand we go back to work at 10:00
a.m. tomorrow! What do we say to that?
STRIKERS (shouting with defiant fists in the air)
NO!!
HELEN ARMSTRONG And they demand we
end our union affiliation—
STRIKERS
NO!!
HELEN ARMSTRONG And they demand we
never take part in a General Strike again—
STRIKERS
NO!! NO!! NO!!
ALL
(singing)
Ultimatum
Our hopes – can’t take ‘em
Or break ‘em
Forsake them we will not!

On May 15, 1919, 35,000 men, women and children walked off the job in a six-week long confrontation that brought life in Winnipeg to a standstill.
Fought by working class families for the right to union recognition, shorter hours of work, and a living wage, the strike drew the attention of much of
the industrialized world to Winnipeg. The strike ended in bloodshed when government authorities used military force to establish their control over
the city. Two workers died and many were injured in the events of “Bloody Saturday.” (Sharon Reilly and Nolan Reilly, 2007).
Danny Schur is a Juno Award-winning composer and music producer and Winnipeg's most successful composer, writer, and producer of new
musicals. Rick Chafe is a Governor General's Award for Drama finalist whose plays have been produced across the country. Strike! won the Kobzar
Literary Award and the Grant MacEwan College Kostash Award, and was adapted to the major motion picture Stand!
STRIKE!, a musical by Danny Schur and Rick Chafe was published by Playwrights Canada Press (The Canadian Drama Publisher) in 2007. This
excerpt is used with the kind permission of the publisher.

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