, By HAL marks acter so that you may trace has acquired a character that cities of Vancouver Island. It is more. than a matter of geography, more than an impres- sion created by streets that had their narrow beginnings in the _trails about the old Hudson’s Bay Company fort, more than an image evoked by old frame houses weary from decades of standing. Cities: are inseparable from the. people who have built them. They | are the sum of the wealth created by generations of workers, even though that wealth has been usurp- ed by others who own the indus- tries 4nd dominate their life. But more than that, they are the tra- ditions of their citizens and bear j Labor nas proud place as Nanaimo centenary GRIFFIN Over the long years of their growth cities acquire char- in their outline the rise and develypment of their industries, the change in their commer- cial fortunes and the social process of shaping their In the century that separates forest, the city of Nanaimo, this year celebrating its centenary, people. it from the vanished virgin sets it apart fom its kindred who have struggled to make ‘them the reflection of their own aspir- ations. Had Nanaimo received the full measure of the ‘wealth its working people have created over the cen- tury of their labors, it would be a vastly different city. It would have the theatres and libraries, the arenas and the museums it now lacks.’ Even when the city celebrated its diamond jubilee in 1934, the Nanaimo Free Press could record that more than one hundred million ‘tons of coal had been hewn from its now declining _ the imprint of the men and women mines. And to this must be added the even greater wealth, produced by its expanding forest industries. But, in this year that Nanaimo celebrates its centenary, there are capitalist cities in the old New World and socialist cities in the new Old World. ‘ There- are capitalist cities where duce socialist cities to ruins takes » the building of armaments to re-} A view of the new $19-million kraft pulp mill owned by the Macmillan interests at Nanaimo. precedence over the rebuilding of capitalist slums; capitalist cities where the old houses must con- tinue to stand, as in Nanaimo, because the better and newer houses are beyond’ the means of most working people and there is still rent to be extracted from the old houses. Yet there are also socialist cities, such as three gen- t NANAIMO DIRECTORY * IU ent et dt J WHERE FRIENDLY PEOPLE MEET AT THE . PATRICIA HOTEL TSU Chinatown, Nanaimo. GREETINGS TO LABOR DAY from PUSS-IN-BOOTS CAFE Opened 12 p.m. - 2 a.m. Phone 2422 Telephone 32 ‘ \ % Night Calls 885-L GREETINGS FROM MALASPINA FLORIST SHOPPE Jean Smith, Prop. Formal or Informal Fresh Flowers with Personal Attention 212 Commercial Street Nanaimo, B.C. _ Sr ) RT = Phone: 25 Comox Road | UM! Sige pL ULM UL OM I ee ee tt TTT Ue tn et nt 1) = WHEN YOU THINK OF : : COATS - HATS - -DRESSES ne Bing A : W.-H. ANDERSON — 2 4-10 Victoria Crescent Phones 515 - 2298 S ‘ . SENDS GREETINGS it DLO ULL ULUL IMEC it eit Tir it tit tt tt Tt Th r i. error DISTRIBUTORS 1EL POWER CHAIN SAWS Model Super Twin & Super Pioneer Bucking Saws Phone, Write or Wire Ira Becker & Son THE LARGEST DISTRIBUTORS : SAWS IN B.. : = 525 Haliburton Street | Nanaimo, B.C. ii mimi i tmnt! Speers i ULE TT 3 3 : COLLISTER-EVANS LID. ¢ : Vancouver Island Distributors for = MALL POWER SAWS : = MALL - MERCURY .- DISSTON : = Phone 1491 Terminal Avenue = E SENDS LABOR DAY GREETINGS = Hana AQLAeKreMi@vavneeavevAavasveuaveneiaueceieueteimiaiaimiaiaumiaraaiaiens LARDR: DAY GREETINGS CUE TE TT a TT TT | } From CARROLL'S BARBER SHOP UNION SHOP 97 Victoria Crescent Nanaimo, B.C. ume 1 PUM LEU UL MOCO OEE en Mee it ir tt tt Tih 660 Albert Street Phone 958 ALBERT ST. MEAT MARKET Gov, Aliman, Prop’r. | Local Fresh Meats, Pork Pies and Sausages, SENDS LABOR DAY GRPETINGS Nanaimo, B.C. Our Specialty 21 Church Street GREETINGS TO ALL WORKERS FROM BOB SHAW CON FECTIONERY Nanaimo, B.C. Haliburton Street LABOR DAY GREETINGS FROM -BALMORAL CAFE Enjoy Good Food at Reasonable Prices Nanaimo, B.C. Phone 25 GREETINGS FROM _ POWERS, DOYLE & BERRY, LTD. QUALITY MEN’S WEAR . ‘Nanaimo, B.C. 128 Commercial Street s (0) — (0) — tT Phone: 1066-X-2 ALEX PERRY Sends Greetings From CHASE RIVER GARAGE Nanaimo, B.C. . 50 Victoria Crescent GREETINGS FROM MOTAVE SNACK BAR Nanaimo, B.C. =0rm0r 1515 _ Nanaimo, B.C. OF POWER CHAIN ~ \ SHAS: TACA FE | 224 Commercial Street : : SPECIALIZING CHINESE DISHES NANAIMO, B.C. : PACIFIC TRIBUNE — AUGUST 31, 1951 — PAGE 10 erations of Nanaimo working peo ple have dreamed of constructing; where today new houses and ee thoroughfares are effacing all bu the few fine and historic buildings of the capitalist heritage. The realization of that dream in the old world is not without its affect on the working people of Naneiey They have seen the great coa and lumber monopolies grow from corrupt beginnings in the heritage that is rightfully ‘theirs, all in little more than the span of a lifetime. But they have received no more than scant part of the wealth they have produced. The first miners who came out from England to work the mines established at Nanaimo by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1852 found themselves exploited as ruth- lessly as ever they had been in the old country. They stood to- gether and they fought back, carrying forward the working class traditions of their native land. And in ten decades of organization and struggle they have created a new, Canadian tradition. The first strike in this province, when Vancouver Island was still a colony, was at Nanaimo in 1871 and it Jasted four months. Again in’ 1874 and 1876 the miners of Nanaimo and Wellington struck. In the strike of 1877 a British war- ship and the militia were used in a vain effort to break a strike. In 1890 an artillery battery was taken into Wellington and a year later, when the miners’ leaders were ar- ‘rested and hustled off to Victoria -to face a hostile jury, the miners wives and daughters carried on the picketing. The greatest strike of all, and one that lives in the memories of many an old-time resident, was that of 1912-18 when the miners of Vancouver Island stood out against scabs and police and mili- tia, maintained their picket lines: under martial law and held their ranks for two years against every government and company attempt to divide them. In a day when political corrup- tion was blatant and unconcealed, the workers of Nanaimo were the | first to give political expression to their organized trade union strength. Sixty-five years ago, in 1886, when Vancouver became a city there was already a Knights of Labor Assembly at Namaimo and that same year the Nanaimo and Victoria assemblies sponsored candidates of the Workingmen’s party in the federal election. In 1898, Nanaimo elected Ralph Smith as the first labor member to sit in the House of Commons. Infusing their political ‘organiza- tion with a socialist purpose, dele- gates from Nanaimo had an in- fluential voice in formation of the United Socialist Labor party which entered the first Socialist candi- dates in the provincial election of 1900. In succeéding years, Nanaimo, and neighboring Newcastle, con- ” sistently returned Socialist and Labor candidates to Victoria. Some of their names, J,. H. Hawthornth- waite, Parker Williams, John ‘Place, Sam Guthrie, have become part of labor history. There were defeats, betrayals, but throughout a turbulent century the struggle has gone forward and the tradition has been enriched, finding new leaders when the old have failed, and always the socialist dream of the pioneers has been brought closer.