HISTORY OF THE |.W.A.

Union reorganizes in B.C. and northern Ontario

Article by Clay Perry

PART VIII

Left wing fades
as union turns
itself towards
social democracy

In our last article, we dealt with the
abrupt change in Canadian forest indus-
try leadership, from members of the Cana-
dian communist movement to advocates of
generally social democratic unionism.

he particular events and
casts of characters in both
B.C. and Northern Ontario
were unique and provide
worthwhile lessons for all
trade unionists. But it is
perhaps even more impor-
tant to place them in the
context of the western world’s post-war labour
history, for it is in that larger scene that the

most important lessons lie.”

The loss of the I.W.A., and later of Northern
Ontario’s Lumber and Saw, was a serious blow
to Communist labour organization in Canada,
and a major victory for the Leadership of the
Canadian Congress of Labour and the C.C.F,
but it was part of a much larger North Ameri-
can drama that made the overall results
inevitable.

lead oe

¢ In early 1950's, the International Woodworker of America’s B.C. District One was headed by Presi-

‘UBC Special Collections

dent Stewart Alsbury (second from right). To his right is Secretary Treasurer George Mitchell and

to his left is then vice president Joe Morris.

In both the U.S. and Canada, the largest
prizes, occasioning the most heated struggles,
were the United Auto Workers and United
Electrical Workers. In B.C. and Northern
Ontario, the fight between “Mine-Mill” and the
United Steelworkers of America over mine and
smelter unions was central, and involved some
of Canadian Labour's more colourful charac-
ters. H. Landon Ladd, who was to play a key
role in the I.W.A.’s organizing of Newfound-
land’s loggers, began as a Mine-Mill activist,
then switched to the Canadian Congress of
Labour and finally to the I.W.A., where he led
the Eastern Canadian Region for many years.

But the contest between communist and
social democratic labour leaders was in turn
only a part of a much larger post-war drama, a
process not unlike a giant set of negotiations

CSKEC. AL oe
PHI 6 9

Bs) NDpY's Theres,

union that never really got established.

¢ Harold Pritchett (left) long-time I.W.A. leader sp’

between labour on the one hand and capitalism
on the other, which yielded the so-called “post-
war consensus.” We will leave that story for
future articles.

In Northern Ontario, after officers of the
International Brotherhood of Carpenters and
Joiners placed the three locals under trustee-
ship in 1951, and deposed the top communist
leaders - Bruce Magnuson, A.T. Hill, Harry
Raketti, Jack Quinn, Marc Leclerc and Harry
Timchishin - there was an attempt, similar to
the one in B.C., to set up an independent, left-
wing rival organization, the Canadian Union of
Woodworkers. But, again as in B.C., it soon
became clear that was hopeless. The commu-
nist leaders had as little success with provin-

Continued on page twenty-seven

26/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1997