George Armstrong (Manitoba politician)
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George Armstrong | |
---|---|
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba | |
In office 1921–1922 | |
Constituency | Winnipeg |
Personal details | |
Born | Helen | April 17, 1870
Occupation | labour organizer, politician |
George Armstrong (April 17, 1870 – February 13, 1956) was a politician and labour activist in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1920 to 1922, and is notable as the only member of the Socialist Party of Canada ever to serve in that institution.[1]
History
Armstrong was born in
He first ran for the Manitoba legislature in the
In the
Armstrong ran against Dixon again in the 1915 election, and again lost by a significant margin.
Winnipeg General Strike
The
Even as the Socialist Party was declining in the rest of the country, the spirit of labour unity generated by the strike and the arrests brought the SPC in Winnipeg into a temporary alliance with the city's other labour parties. Armstrong, previously an opponent of "popular front" strategies, became the SPC's star candidate on Winnipeg's united labour list for the 1920 provincial election.
Election
For this election, following a change in the province's electoral laws, Winnipeg became a single constituency which elected ten members to the legislature by single transferable vote (STV). Labour and the SPC joined with two other parties for a slate of ten candidates, and ran a united campaign. Armstrong, still serving his prison sentence, finished third on the first count and was declared elected to the city's eighth position on the final count. He served in the legislature with the labour group under F. J. Dixon's leadership. Despite their philosophical differences, Dixon and Armstrong were able to cooperate with one another in this period.
The Socialist Party of Canada split in 1921, with many of its members joining the newly formed
Socialist Party of Canada (WSM)
Armstrong ran for the Manitoba legislature again in the 1932 provincial election as the candidate of the Socialist Party of Canada (WSM). He was unsuccessful, finishing nineteenth on the first count and being eliminated on the tenth.
Armstrong was also a popular figure in his carpenter's union, even though his views were to left most other members. In his later years, he relocated from Manitoba to California.