Part II: The Booming Twenties (1918 - 1929)

The changes in Canadian recreation, culture and politics during the 1920s.

                The booming twenties symbolized the dawn of a new era. An age of prosperity, technology, fashion, recreational activities, and the rights of women. This report will cover fashion, technological advances, The Winnipeg General Strike, The Byng-King Crisis, prohibition, women’s rights, and art and culture.

                Fashion completely changed in the 1920’s. Although the older generation still stuck to the traditional long, turtleneck gowns, long, pinned-up hair, and “the old way of life”, the younger generation were proudly scandalizing their parents by wearing knee-high skirts, low cut tops, short hair, perfumes and cosmetics, and lots of jewellery, not to mention flamboyant colours. High heeled shoes also became huge. For men, not much changed except COLOURS!!!! Bright coloured shirts, pants, shoes and socks were all the rage among the young men in the 1920’s. Now that the war was over, and technological advances made life easier, practicality was no longer a necessity, and looking hot, sexy, attractive, and provocative became the new norm.

                There were many technological advances in the booming twenties. These advances made it possible for people (especially women) to have free time, hence the fashion industry, and new cultural activities. Some technological advances in the 1920’s were the radio, sewing machines, ovens, cars, and hair dryers. Radio affected people’s lives, because for the first time, Canada was connected to the rest of the world. Sewing machines changed the lives of married women’s lives because before, they had to sew everything by hand, and it was very hard and time consuming. This was a faster, easier way of making clothes for themselves and their families. Ovens affected married women’s lives, because it used to take all day to prepare, cook and serve one meal. Now, they could get their cooking done a lot faster and easier, leaving them with more free time to spend with their children. Cars affected people’s lives, because people used to be very isolated from other communities. Now they could go anywhere and not be under the eye of their parents all the time. Hair dryers had a big impact on a lot of people’s lives because before, when people would wash their hair then go outside in the winter, their hair would freeze. The hair dryer prevented this.

                The Winnipeg General Strike left strained relations between the government and workers for many years. After the war, veterans came home to find that they had no jobs and interest rates were skyrocketing (35%). They felt that they were being done a great injustice, and demanded higher wages and more jobs from the government. They were aware of the profit being made by factories selling their materials overseas at inflated prices. In May of 1918, metal workers from various factories demanded that the factory owners speak with their union. The owners refused and the workers went on strike. By May 17th, 35 000 people were participating in the strike. The strike soon started to become violent, and the government issued the Riot Act and sent 5000 militia to disperse the strike. They went in with their weapons drawn, and one man ended up being killed after throwing a brick at one of the soldiers. His incident ended The Winnipeg General Strike.

                The Byng-King Crisis is so important in Canadian history, because for the first time, a Governor General actually used their power. Wilfred Laurier had died, and Mackenzie King took over as the leader of the Liberal party. Robert Borden resigned and Arthur Meighan took over as the Canadian Prime Minister. In 1921, Meighan called an election, and the Liberal party won with a minority government with the Progressive party as the opposition. The Conservatives had lost their power. The Liberals had to please the Progressives or a bill may not be passed, leading to a vote of non-confidence. In the 1925 election, King’s government lost, and the Conservatives took over, however, the Progressive and Independent parties gave their support/votes to the Liberals, which meant that the Liberals again won with a minority government. Some of King’s party members had been accepting bribes from the mafia to allow the illegal smuggling of alcohol during prohibition. The Progressive and Independent parties found out and were no longer loyal to the Liberal government. King knew his government was in trouble and that Meighan would call a vote of non-confidence. He went to Lord Byng, The Governor General of Canada and told him to call another election. Instead of just doing as he was told, like he was supposed to, Byng refused, saying that they had just had an election, and it would cost too much money, and that technically, he didn’t win the last election. He told King to resign and let Meighan form the government, but the Conservatives only lasted 3 days when another vote of non-confidence was called, and the Liberals won with a majority government.

                In the 1920’s, many women and religious groups protested against alcohol, saying that it caused too many problems in society. They put so much pressure on the government that they passed prohibition. It was now illegal to sell alcohol. Some good things that happened because of this were street crime went down by 93%, so there was less need for so many police officers to uphold the law. Domestic abuse (reported) also went down drastically. Men were bringing their paycheques home instead of spending it in saloons, so families had roofs over their heads, clothes on their backs, and food to eat, and since the men now were no longer at the saloons getting drunk, they spent more quality time with their wives and children. However, some bad things that happened was the creation of organised crime. The Mafia gained money and power by selling illegal liquor. It got so bad that the Mafia actually had complete control over some provinces. Politicians became afraid for their families lives, so they started accepting bribes from the Mafia to allow them to sell the alcohol. Even police officers became corrupt in order to protect their families. The government realized they had made a huge mistake and ended prohibition.

                The 1920’s was the time of women. Women had earned the right to vote in 1917, and were now allowed jobs because of their amazing efforts during World War I. However, they were still not allowed in Parliament, because they were not considered “persons”. The Famous Five changed this when they went to Parliament who told them that only men were people. They then went to The Judicial Committee who overturned this and stated that women were people and could therefore hold office. Nellie McClung, a member of The Famous Five was the first female to be appointed to the Senate. Agnes Macphail was the first woman to be elected into the House of Commons.

                Art and culture changed dramatically in the 1920’s. The Group of Seven painted abstract interpretations of Canadian landscapes, which was a big change from the traditional realistic and detailed paintings which were seen before. Emily Carr had a similar style to that of The Group of Seven, except she incorporated Aboriginal themes in her work. Literature started to become more for pleasure than documentation. The Hardy Boys series, by Franklin W. Dixon became popular during this time and is still well-known today. The 20’s were also known as “Canada’s Golden Age of Sports”. Canadian athletes did extremely well all over the world, winning many medals and trophies. In Nova Scotia, 1921, the Bluenose racing schooner won The International Fisherman’s trophy for ten consecutive years. This schooner can still be seen today on the Canadian dime. Hockey grew in popularity until American teams started joining, like Boston, eventually forming the NHL. Some athletes who went to the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, Holland were Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld, who won gold and silver in the 100m 4 by 100 team relay. Percy Williams won 2 gold medals in the 100m and 200m dashes. He is still known as “The Greatest Sprinter The World Has Ever Seen” today. He even had a chocolate bar named after him, called “Our Percy”.

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Bibliography

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