Name Robert Johns | Role Political figure | |
Robert J. Johns was a labour organizer in Manitoba, Canada. He was a prominent figure in Canada's early movement for the One Big Union.
Johns was a member of the Socialist Party of Canada, and was a prominent spokesman for the SPC in Winnipeg during the 1910s. In 1918, he argued that it was futile for labour representatives to seek election to capitalist legislatures, and called for more direct action. The following year, he attended the Western Labour Conference in Calgary, Alberta, and brought forward a series of resolutions which provided for the creation of the One Big Union in Canada. Later in the year, he participated in the Winnipeg General Strike.
After the strike was suppressed, the various labour parties in the city formed a temporary alliance in the interests of labour unity. Johns, despite his previous comments about electoral politics, agreed to run for the SPC in the Winnipeg constituency in the 1920 provincial election. At the time, Winnipeg elected ten members via a single transferable ballot. Johns was not a prominent candidate on the united labour list, and finished 40th on the first count with only 52 votes. He was eliminated on the ninth count.