“In the Canadian labour
movement’s long and contin-
uing history of struggle to est-
ablish its trade-union rights, no
episode was more spectacular,
explosive or meaningful than
ge ee General Strike of

1 2 -

In these words Norman Pen-
ner of York University sets the
tone for the new book, Winni-
peg 1919: The Strikers’ Own
History of the Winnipeg Gener-
al Strike. The strikers’ history
was one of several pamphlets
put out after the strike by the
Winnipeg Defence Committee
to help pay for the defence of
their teadeérs awaiting trial in
Canadian prisons. Penner, who
edited and introduces this
book, points out that the ac-
count of the strike by the stri-
kers themselves has been
largely ignored by other wri-
ters on the Winnipeg strike.

Much of the fascination of
the book lies, not in its account
of the major episodes of the
strike, but in the minor details.
A fake telegram calling for an
end to the strike and allegedly
signed by a labour leader was
sent out to the workers. Copies
of a telegram referring to ‘Bol-
shevik’ money were seized on
by the press as proof that the

strikers were tools of outside -

interests when, in fact, the
term had been used sarcasti-
cally by a labour leader sick
and tired of reading that he
was supported by ‘Bolsheviks’.

Some incidents were despi-
cable. While most of the re-
turning soldiers supported the
strikers, there were some who
did not and who were rallied
into opposing factions by the
notorious Committee of 1000.
Several soldiers sympathetic
to the strikers were deliberate-
ly misled into attending rallies
against the strike.

The villains to emerge from
the strikers’ history were the
Committee of 1000, the politi-
cians and the press. In the first
place, the Committee of 1000
were no ordinary citizens and
were certainly not in the least
representative of the citizenry
of Winnipeg. As the strikers
themselves asked, ‘‘Who are
they? Who is their chairman?
Who gave them the power over
the city council and the parlia-
ments?”

Whoever they were, they ob-
viously had the money to buy
the press and the influence to
control the politicians. Only the
Toronto Star came out in sup-
port of the strikers. In Winni-
peg, the Tribune consistently
presented the worst possible

——————eeeeeeeed

LIGHTER SIDE

Sam the super has a real
swinging neighbor: he is so
fond of the sauce that he
waters his garden with gin so
that he can have stewed

_ tomatoes.

x x
Hillbilly logger’s son: “‘Pa, I
want to get married.” _
Logger: “Why, you’re just a
baby!”
Son: “But Pa. I’m 42 years

oe Never mind
Logger: “‘Never minc. . .
you Batt till you finish high

school.”

BOOK REVIEW

THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

view of the strikers and allegea
that aliens and foreigners
made up the worst elements
among them. Winnipeg dailies
carried full page ads calling
for the ousting of all ‘“‘foreign’”’
elements from the city.

The politicians seemed con-
sistently to favour breaking the
strike instead of settling it.
Their arrest and detention of
labour leaders, the orders to
carry out wholesale deporta-
tions, the secret shipment of
large quantities of arms to
Winnipeg: All illustrate the di-
lemma of the politician unable
to see his mandate as anything
beyond the protection of the in-
terests of the wealthy and the
influential.

This is perhaps the most cru-
cial aspect of the Winnipeg
strike — the total acceptance
of the privileged classes, up-
held by the press, that their

(withdrawal) card.

of your application.

way of life was the only possi-
ble way of life and that socia-
lism, bolshevism and unionism
were all alien and hateful ele-
ments brought into a peaceful
Canada by disruptive out-

. Siders.

‘The book includes the ad-
dress to the House of Commons
on June 2, 1926, in which Peter
Heenan, MP for Kenora-Rainy
River, detailed the provocative
role of the federal government,
and an abridged version of
W.A. Pritchard’s address to his
trial jury on March 23 and 24,
1920.

Although Pritchard was not
directly involved in the strike,
he was a well-known labour

DELAY COSTS MONEY

If you are leaving the woodworking industry, apply IMMEDIATELY for a retirement =
The IWA Consitution requires that dues and assessments must be paid up to the date

Delay in applying can cost you money!
By obtaining a retirement card, you will avoid re-paying initiation fees.

leader and socialist and was
arrested for addressing meet-
ings during the strike. His ad-
dress was more an appeal for
the jurors’ understanding of
the workers’ view of the world
and the legality of their efforts
to change it through social and
political action than a defence
of himself.

Reading this book stirs many
feelings. How much have
things changed? Of course, la-
bour has many achievemnts
since 1919, but has the press
changed that much? Or are

Canadians still fed a largely

anti-labour line by newspapers
funded by the advertising of
the rich and influential sec-

JACK WASSERMAN CALLS
RAIDING TACTICS “LIKE IT

a

Sun columnist Jack Wasser-
man called it like it is in his co-
lumn of May 19 when he went
after organizations like the
PPWC who use the guise of
Canadianism in an attempt tc
win power. Here is what Mr.
Wasserman had to say about
the PPWC’s abortive raid at
the Somass Division in Local I-
85 IWA.

INSIDER’S OUTLOOK — No
union, international or other-
wise, deserves a perpetual lock
on its membership. When they

’ get fat and complacent they

deserve a kick. The Pulp and
Paper Workers of Canada got
their first toe-hold in B.C. be-
cause the entrenched interna-
tional union was dead from the
neck both ways at the time.
The Canadian union bumped
off Steel in Kitimat because the
giant international got sloppy
about the ethnic concerns in
the community, among other
things. Steel has serious trou-
ble in Trail, despite a legal re-
prieve, because its contracts
don’t stand close comparison
with other agreements in the
area. But that’s where the is-
sue should be at, and not in the
spurious patriotism of so-cal-
led Canadian unions for Cana-
dians. The self-serving stupidi-
ty of the ‘Canada First”
policy, being promoted in some
quarters, has never been bet-
ter demonstrated than in the
PPWC’s marvelously inept
raid on the IWA local at M&B’s
Somass division in Port Alber-
ni. The move unmasked the
power play by the “‘outs” to get
‘n,” under the guise of Cana-
dianism. It’s true that the IWA
qualifies as one of those nasty
international unions that are
the target for the flag-wavers.
It’s “headquarters” is in Port-
land and some dues are sent to
the U.S. The IWA has 102,000
members. Of that total the
largest single bloc, 45,000, are
in Western Canada. Another
10,000 are in Eastern Canada.

The remainder, less than 50
percent are in the U.S., in
Washington, Oregon and Cali-
fornia, with 15,000 in the deep
south. While the president is
American, the two vice-presi-
dents are Canadians. Canadian
funds assigned to the interna-

late

FLOATING LOGGING CAMPS, YES, :
now-closed Nalos Sawmill squeezing throug h &
Vancouver's False Creek. It’s on its way from old False Creek location to Port Kells, on the Fraser

River near Surrey. Shot was taken from Granville Bridge. Giant moving job April 11 saw building

eased back ashore at Port Kells onto foundation, prepared by new owners, S& R Sawmills Ltd. The
Nalos mill, owned by BCFP, was closed permanently last summer. The 150-foot long
weighed a cool 350 tons, including machinery still in place on its upper floor.

tional are banked in Canada.
It’s one international that has
clean skirts in any argument
about ‘foreign domination.”
Can you see Syd Thompson
“dominated” by a mere Yank!
If the all-Canadian crowd
wants to splinter the trade

tions of our society? Is soci
ism still as much a dirty wo
as it was then? Do we now wel.
come our “aliens’’ as wh
they are — first class citizens
in the ethnic mosaic of Canad;
or does the hatred of “foreig-
ners” and ‘‘strangers’’ still
linger? Can such legislation a:
was used during the Winnipeg
strike happen again to deprive:
people, overnight, of their bas
ic liberties?

In answer to the last question
we have only to remember th
1970 invocation of the Wa
Measures Act, which Q
our streets with soldiers and
removed once again our mosf{
basic rights as citizens.

union movement that’s be
tween them and the work
in the forest industry. The da
may come that the “Cana-
dian” unions dominate in B.C.
But let’s not have any more
talk that ‘patriotism’ is the
reason. - |

but floating sawmills? That’s the main mill building of the
h the swing span of the Kitsilano railway trestle in

—B.C.F.P. Timberline f
‘$s