Abstract
This work explores the uses of violence during the October Crisis of 1970 in Québec, Canada. The author questions the current state of historiographical approaches to the October Crisis and posits a new approach. Violence, seen as a language, permeates the events surrounding the kidnapping and later murder of Pierre Laporte. The reaction of the Québécois public at large is examine in response to the uses of violence by the belligerent parties. The work concludes that the FLQ did not possess the requisite capacity for violence to effectively compete with the Canadian Federal Government and other insights into the legacy of the Crisis itself.