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Western farmers
stood the test
of battle

CCR Ce

By KATE FOUNTAIN

CTOBER 6 midnight the non-delivery strike of Alberta
O farmers ceased. No organized body of workers ever
lightly resolve on direct action. So it was in this farm strike.
For not months, but years, the western farmer has been
trying to get his main grievance rectified.

The farmer doesn’t like hav—
ing to pay so much for the
things he can’t produce when
he has no guarantee of a fair
price for what he does produce.
Me knows this means that some-
where along the line between
producer and consumer, some—
body makes a rich profit at his
expense. He knows it is not the
consumer.

He doesn’t like the greedy
freight rates of the railroads
when he ships his wheat to the
east, or the equally high rates
he pays on the goods and ma-
chinery he must buy from east-
ern manufacturers.

The farmer wants the federal
government to guarantee him <4
fioor price on all his products,
and that floor price must bear
some relation to the goods that
the farmer has to buy. _

First biq strike

@Q one can say the farmer
is not a patient and reason-
able man. Why, this is the
first strike’ involving the major-—
ity of farmers that Alberta has

ever experienced. Year after
year, in addition to the never-
ending struggle with the un-

certainty of weather conditions,
he goes on producing the na-
tion’s food, in the face of cal-
lous neglect by the government
and amid much abuse for his so-
called perpetual complaining.

Im the course of this long
drawn-out struggle the farmer
has learned to organize and take
collective action with his neigh-
bors for the things they all
need. He has learned, too, that
organization alone is not enough
te win demands; that some
times direct action is necessary.
Therefore, through the Albertu
Harmers’ Union, he decided to
go on strike.

The wonderful spirit of unity
and courage maintained through-
out the strike by the farmers—
and their wives, many of whom
took their turn on the picket
lines—cut clear across all politi-
cal party lines. The main issue

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 10

was kept clear by the farmers
—to win the 10 demands put
forward by the AKU in behalf of
all. There was but oie division
— those with the

who were

KATE FOUNTAIN
Provincial Sec’y, LPP, Alberta
who were

strike and those

against it.

Farmer-Labor unity

Alberta farmer has long
expressed a desire for greater
farmer-labor unity. Once on the
picket line himself, the full
meaning of this became clearer.

He suddenly found himself more
personally concerned ‘with the
wage struggles of the industrial
workers. He discovered the real
relationship between the worker
in the factory and the farmer
in the field. He saw that both
are exploited by the same group
interests. And he
Saw workers and farmers as
allies in a common struggle for

of financial

6

a greater measure of security
for the future.

This bond between workers
and farmers grew closer as the
messages of support came pour-
ing in from the trade unions
Farmer-labor unity took on a
greater reality at the two con-
ventions of the Canadian trade
union movement. Both conven=
tions, AFI, and CCl, represent-
ing 700,000 organized Canadian
workers, passed unanimous reso-
lutions in support of striking
western farmers.

The farm strike was a testing
ground for all professed cham-
pions of the common people of
Alberta. All stood revealed, by
their attitude toward the strike,
as either friend or foe of the
farmer. =

Social Credit role

QM# illusions were shattered
as a consequence. Probably
the most serious came from the

attitude toward the strike of
the Social Credit government
and its premier. The farmers

had a right to expect the sup-
port of the government they
had been mainly responsible in
electing, and which has continu-
ally stated that it is the one
and only real champion of the
Alberta farmer.

Right from the day the strike
started, Mr. Manning and his
government opposed it, describ-
ing it as ill-advised, attempting
to create a split between the

leaders and members of the
farm organization conducting
the strike- attempting also to

create a division between work-
ers and farmers so as to pre-
vent united action around the
strike. Moreover, right from the
first day of the strike, the Man-

~ ning government used the police

force to protect strike breakers
and to intimidate strikers. Over
100 arrests were made during

the course of the farm strike.

What did the
MLA’s and MP’s do? As the
elected representatives of the
people, their. duty was to be in
the forefront of the strike, lead-
ing the farmers. Instead, they
disappeared for the duration of
the strike.

Social Credit

The official paper of the Social
Credit party, The Social Credit-
er, viciously attacked the strik-
ers in

its columns. Everyone

TLNEODUN TEN CATT LTCC TTT

decent standard of living and

judges the its
deeds, not its words. The opposi-
tion and evasion of Social Credit
leaders in the strike makes their
Bill of Rights little
hollow to the farmer who went
out and made F
Sacrifices in the strike.

government by

sound a

great personal

Passing the buck to Ottawa is
not good enough. Led by Pre—
mier Manning and the Social
Credit MP’s at Ottawa, it could
have been possible to wring
more concessions from Ottawa.
Gallous and indifferent as the
King government is, it can be
compelled under sufficient mass
pressure, to grant some demands

of the people.

Fact-finding board ?

OME people who did not want
to openly oppose the strike

-took refuge behind the demand

for a fact-finding board. It was
used to evade discussion on the
real
farmers.
mand

economic demands of the
As a long-range de-
it was correct. However,
it was the other
that would
lot of the farmer.

nine demands

really improve the

The farmer already has plenty
of facts on his position. The
increase in the price of farm
machinery is 2 fact. So is the
increase in the price of gaso-
line. The tax on cooperatives
is a fact. Lifting of price con-
another.
wheat prices is

trols is Imequality in
a fact. High

freight rates are a fact.

of the federal
government to remedy the in-
these facts which
needs to be examined, and that
is what the farmers are after.

The strike was .ae_e testing
ground for the farmers’ own
organizations. ‘There, too, were
some betrayals and § evasions.
The official position of the Al-
berta Federation of Agriculture
was anti-strike. But the fact of
the matter was that the vast
majority of farmers in the org-
anizations affiliated with the
AFA were on strike. The AFA
leadership is a mere skeleton
organization—a group of gener-
als without an army. It is a
small minority group of wealthy

It is failure

justices in

’

LE Ce OH A

S

conservative -minded individuais
who have nothing
with the struggles of the dirt
farmer. a

in= common

The UPA, which is composed
largely of the cooperatives, aise
did not play the full part its
members had a right to expect
While the majority of its” mem=
bers were on the picket lines,
some AFU leaders were oppos— 5
ing the strike. ‘

LPP backed strike

IGHT the

Labor Party
championed ‘the demands of the
farmers. Ours was the only po
litical party which gave all its
support to all of the farmers’
demands. We did everything
we could to rally the farmers,
on the picket lines, and behind
the strike leadership.

from the § start
Progressive

At the same time,
sponsible ‘political
workers and farmers,
a progranf designed to meet the
needs of western farmers. We
believe their security depends
upon the following:

as a Ye
party of
we have

i. A guaranteed floor price
for wheat of $1.55 a bushel fer
five years; 2. The domestic price
of wheat to be raised to $1.55 a
bushel; 3, The full world price
to the Canadian farmer on all
export wheat; 4. Abolition of
the Winnipeg Grain Exchange
and the Wheat Board to take.
all grains; 5. Participation pay-
ments to be made yearly; 6. Re-
moval of the tax on coopera-
tives; 7. lower freight rates;
8 Income tax on farmers to be
based
with exemption on incomes of
Single persons up to $1200 per
year, and on incomes of married
persons, exemptions up to $2,
Q00 a year; 9. Guaranteed prices
for all farm produce; 10. The
re-establishment of strict “price
controls to prevent further in-
crease in the cost of living and
in the cost of production on the

on a five-year average,

_ farm; 11. An expansion of Ga-

nadian agricultural production
to meet the needs of a starving
world.

The strike has been called off
in a spirit of militancy and
unity never before experienced

among Canadian farmers. To
their everlasting credit and
honor, Alberta farmers have

written one of the most inspit
ing pages in the history of the
Candian common people. They
can go back to their daily tasks
proud and undiscouraged. They
stood the test of battle. There
will be further battles, which
must be prepared for now.

=

We call upon the Alberta far-
mers to go forward, in united
strength, and determination, in
the sure knowledge that ‘they
can and will win.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1946