Walter Wiggins—one of the pioneers

By J. B.

Walter Wiggins was born on
a farm in Owen Sound, Ontario,
in 1890. He came to the Prairies
at the age of 16 with his widow-
ed mother and a younger bro-
ther and took up homesteading
at Strongfield. After serving
overseas in World War I, he
obtained his own farm at Stur-
gis, where he was first attracted
_to the ideas of socialism. He
participated in the building of
the West from a raw, undevelop-
ed, roadless land, without elec-
tricity or running water, to what
it is today. Such pioneers, men
and women of great courage,
had supreme confidence in the
people of their country to meet
and solve all problems.

Walter Wiggins was not satis-
fied with just farming. He asked
many questions, and found pro-
found answers.

In a letter to a friend, he
quoted these lines: “Since the
time of Joseph down in Egypt
right to the present day, some-
one else has taken all the cream
of the farm, and left us the milk
and whey.”

“Those plaintive words,” he
wrote, “were the opening lines
of a song we heard here and
there across the Prairies some
45 years ago as the harassed
grain growers set about organ-
izing the three provincial wheat
pools in the hope of heading off
some of the thieves... :

“After 2,500 years of progress
Canadian farmers, up there near
the top in scientific know-how,
having the best of seed and us-
ing the most modern equipment
on farms valued at $50,000 and
up, may well ask how far have
we progressed?”

In 1921-22 — The. Farmers
Union of Canada came into be-
ing. It represented the more
radical among the farmers. In
1921, the Progressive Party
elected members to the provin-
cial legislatures and to Ottawa.
Aaron Shapiro, a California co-
op marketing expert, was per-
suaded in 1923 by the auspices
of the Farmers Union to come
and organize the Saskatchewan
Wheat Pool. By June 1924 the
Pool had over six million acres
under contract, and its first ma-
jor job was to market the farm-
ers’ wheat through annual pools,
bypassing as much as possible
the trading on the speculative
market. It was against this back-
ground that the young veteran
and farmer, Walter Wiggins, de-
veloped.

“The first great war ‘to save

t
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PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 1971—PAGE 10

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Com-
munist Party of Canada, as we review the policies and actions of the
Party throughout the five decades and today, we keep in mind the men
and women who map out those policies and carry out those actions.

They were and are people of various backgrounds and gifts; making
varying contributions. The history of each one is specific. What unites
them is their devotion to the interests of the working people, dedica-
tion to the cause of liberating our own people and humanity from ages-
old exploitation, oppression and war, a firm belief in the glorious future
for Canada and Man in a communist society, adherence to the scientific
—Marxist-Leninist—outlook and loyalty to the Party based on it.

While each one is unique and precious, we can only select a few to be
presented as the personification of the men and women, past and pres-
ent, who form the Communist movement in Canada. By every rule, the
late Walter Wiggins deserves to be in that number.

He was a modest and yet a resolute man, a thinker and doer, a political
worker and a fine human being. He did not live to take part in celebrat-
ing the 50th anniversary of the Party he loved and helped to build and
lead. But by his life and deeds he will be very much with us and of us as
we mark the half-century.

democracy’ had almost run its
course,” he wrote, “bringing un-
precedented death and destruc-
tion to millions of victims and,
incidentally, profitable prices to
Prairie farmers forthe first time
since the first furrow was turn-
ed in the virgin sod, when a
man with the Irish name of
Shannon took a job with a strug-
gling young half-section farmer
in north-east Saskatchewan. An
outspoken socialist, the seeds he
planted in the minds of his em+
ployer — a recent arrival from
conservative New Brunswick —
and a few of the neighbors have
over the years resulted in a
crop that cannot be measured in
bushels or tons. With the help
of the first Western Clarion and
later the B.C. Federationist, he
brought the idea of socialism

. and class struggle to a group of

people who saw in that idea the
answers to questions never
satisfactorily settled before .

“This was when a militant
movement began to take shape
among the Prairie farmers. The
post-war depression was at its
lowest point. The phantom ‘pros-
perity’ of 1919 had gone with
the wind, leaving only the grim
reality of ruinously low prices
for products, while costs of pro-
duction remained all too high,
and the easy loans and credit ar-
rangements of the boom period
were now a millstone around the
neck. ;

“There had been a number of
farmer organizations in the
West long before then, and
many a hard battle fought by
them. Not many people today

even know about those early
struggles.

“The Farmers Union of Can-
ada grew rapidly, especially dur-
ing 1923 and 1924, until it be-
came the major farm organiza-
tion in Saskatchewan. The first

printed constitution of the
Farmers Union of Canada was
headed by a preamble which be-
gan with the words: ‘Modern in-
dustrial society is divided into
two classes, those who possess
and do not produce, and those

who produce’.

“So far as I know,” wrote
Walter Wiggins, “there were no
farmers among the _ original
members of the Communist Par-
ty of Canada. But by 1922 there
was a sprinkling of restive spir-
its who had made a beginning
in the study of Marxism and
were ready to support the Com-
munist Party’s position and even
join it. In 1924 an agrarian club
was organized at Sturgis. There
were seven members, all farm-
ers at first, later increased by
one grain buyer, a few more
farmers and the wives of some
of the members.

“The Farmers’ Union local at
Sturgis had been organized one
year earlier and was a going
concern, with Communists as
chairman and secretary .. .”

Walter Wiggins’ own notes
are vivid pages of the history
of the Canadian working people.
He has written eloquently about
the founding of The Furrow, in
Saskatoon, which helped to
unite various groups of farmers
in the struggle for their inter-
ests.

Together with Tom McEwen,
Leslie Morris and others he
elaborated the farm policy of
the Communist Party. And for
many years he sat on its Cen-
tral Committee and participated
in its conventions.

Referring to the crash of 1929,
Walter’s notes tell us that with

the help and guidance of the Na-
tional Executive of the Com-
munist Party, a number of the
more progressive members of
the Farmers Union of Canada
launched the Farmers’ Unity
League at Saskatoon during the
winter of 1930-31. Walter was
its president during the five
years of its existence. “In less
than three years,” he wrote, “its
membership had spread across
the country from Vancouver Is-
land and the farthest points in
the Peace River district, to
Windsor, Ontario; very thinly
scattered, it is true, but deliver-
ing punches and getting things
done when other farmer organ-
izations marked time . . .”

He described the oppressive
collection of debt, the struggle
against sheriff sales, campaigns
for protective legislation, hun-
ger marches, non-delivery
strikes, delegations of the desti-
tute for seed grain, fodder, and
relief groceriés and clothing for
their families. The organizers
hitch-hiked or travelled by
freight to answer the call for
help, or to organize new locals
of the League. The sugar beet
workers in Alberta and Ontario
were organized in struggles for
better wages and working con-
ditions. The youth section of the
Farmers’ Unity League was or-
ganized; May Day meetings and
,anti-war demonstrations were
held. The Farmers Unity League
helped to collect food and sup-
plies for the young men who
trekked to Ottawa—and were
stopped by police bullets in Re-
gina in 1935. None of the Lea-

the songs of people.

gue’s organizers ever Te
any stated rate of pay, bul?
from day to day, in.a life as
certain as the lives of the fe
ers among whom they W®

Those were heroic abe
the history of our county)
names of many of the Pe
pants have been forgotteli
what we have today, we ™,
their early efforts, courage
militancy. |

Walter Wiggins neve 4
sight of the fact that the ©
ing people were basic 1 “Gf
thing in life, the motive
of social change. All his ol
ing and writing was af!
first of all, to the causé af
exploited and downtrodd@,
played a tremendous role i
peace movement. He fi
pamphlet for the peace it?
ment in Saskatchewan ua
war in Korea, which bé ‘ft
prominent weapon in the %
gle for peace. When a '
years his hesith } revent af
from playing as active

the struggle for a bettel
corresponded with
across the country am +.
United States, has writ ig
erous pamphlets an
and his letters appearé pot
ly in the columns of suc (
as the Sun and The
Producer. er W
As a Communist, waa p
gins rejected the idea nv
ery is the natural hum iy
He saw socialism as 4 ool
that would make man hay
granting him freedom soit
oppression and XP 0c
granting him broad d&g
rights, ensuring him ° ent
sibility of living in 0° og
cumstances, giving de yell
dence in tomorrow, d!
his personal abilities at
ents, and making a yt
stand that all his com nd"
to life were necessary — ui
ful for the progress of Madi)
Someday, when t er
have advanced to mi ef
way of living, we ™ saqi
monuments across OUf @ hey
its pioneers—to all thes jn!
who dedicated their IV
service of their fellO” iy
Walter Wiggins’ name jot
inscribed as one wh0 } gif
in the most glorious ® soci ‘
gles—the strugge for iter
Because of the W& pe
ginses, Canada will rite
great, a greener 1an% 4
with laughter and

On April 14,1872, 10,000 workers and other :
citizens met in Queen's Park, Torortto, in support @S=
of the Frinlers’ Strike. 13 Unions took part inthe
parade to the Park, led by two bands.

(4 Wf
TaPoanapHical UN aa
iweluding william’
next day. Mas

5 ee
released them: wt)