pNSPORTa,,

May Day march, rally set —

“end the depression’’ _ is in the offing, the rally willtake the Un Fe es
theme will gue the send an- bag at King George School, at Shee Oh ee
nu ay Day march this Sun- the corner of Denman and 7: ,,
day, May 1,inwhichhundredsof Barclay streets. Free Daycare will ae? 1] nited if ansportation i, Wien
trade unionists are expected to _ be provided. This is the second annual
participate. The rally will feature speakers | March since the event was cancell-

The march will proceed from from the B.C. Federation of ¢d 21 years ago in favor of a rally
Robson Square, where marchers Labor, the Vancouver Status of Only. It is organized by the Van-
are asked to assemble at 1 p.m.It Women, the New Democratic couver Trade Union May Day

will wind upat an outdoor rallyat Party, the Communist Party Committee, and proceeds are to Gr eet i ngs f r Oo m

Lumberman’s Arch in Stanley (Maurice Rush), the Palestinian 0 to the unemployed and na-

Park, weather permitting. If rain Movement (Hanna Kawas) and __ tional liberation movements. Vancou ve r Local 7 01

‘Organize, unite in action’
4 : e MAY DAY |
_ message from 30s jobless i ePOES

Continued from page 12 compel government to accept gram of work and wages — or
1930s. As was conceded even Tesponsibility for hundreds of resign. That same night, 30,000 from
by the MacDonald Com- jobless, homeless men. people thronged the entrance to the
mission, inquiring into the relief | “We were frequently marching CPR dock to send off a delegation
camps in the wake of the RCWU Ound the city in demonstrations _ to Victoria. :
strike, “A growing conviction 2dwhen,onMay20,wemarched — There were continuing actions Vancouver, New Westminster
seems to have entered the minds of Outtotakeoverthe ArtGallery,the bythe unemployed through the end . re es
most of the “men that they are a pci fa ge a a Sse of the decade but the post office and District
forgotten group . . . that they are [Police ai Ink toomuch Of — sitdown was the last major erup- ‘Idi °
Sent een for aie it,’’ Ewing recalls. ““Atleastnotun- _ tion as the depression ground to its Building and Constr uction
mento oe til we took over the buildings.”’ end in World War II. That the Trades Council

Their slogan “condemned to _ There were 1,100 unemployed unemployed struggle left a lasting
starve, compelled to act’? Men marching, in five disciplined legacy is unquestionable. With on-
dramatized the plight of a genera- COlumns. ly their own skills, they maintained

tion. Within two days, their point effective unified organizations that
The year following the Tory ™ade, they vacated the hotel after were able to win concessions from Mi AY. D AY G R i ETI N G S
government’s defeat in the federal the city agreed to provide relief to governments and relief authorities. )
election of 1935—aresult brought C@Ty the men over the next Through education and action, from the
about in no small part by the weekend, by which time Ottawa they set an example for working

organized unemployed — the relief WS Supposed to act. __ people with their unity and their il]
replaced by forestry camps, ad- SUPPOrt and even editorial discrimination. And they had a

Beene by ae ices ‘demands for a program of public profound effect on the political pee Ca rpente rs
government, in which the WOrks, the official response, the direction of the province, as their
unemployed would be employed S@me one that had brought police _ struggle led many people to reject
seasonally. clubs down on the unemployed at _ the old-line political parties.

The change necessitated yet Powell Street Groundsin January, _In a sense, the lesson of the 30s
another adjustment in the /930andin Regina five yearslater, was put by a “‘worker correspon-
unemployed organization and the WS already being framed. — dent” writing from Extension in
creation of the Relief Project pee eoeste coe = ue ge = 1935 age of the B. o ;
Workers’ Union whose members © € ery with tear orkers’ News on the successfu 2 s
coe ches closely linked =p gas, RCMP fired the gas canisters campaign to win relief for an Workin g for one united

Single Unemployed Protective into the post office andthenclubb- unemployed miner. ‘‘This is : .
Meee ate pise ot the ed the men as they fled out the definite proof,” he reported, “that labor movement in Canada
seasonal work. door. Earlier attempts by the with constant vigilance and

After a lull in unemployed unemployed to place themselves organized struggle, embracing as a eee
organization in 1937 — in apart as Willingly under arrest wereignored. many workers and sympathetic
a result of hundreds of single __ !he brutal police action brought people as possible, we can change
unemployed volunteering to fight 15,000 people to a mass rally at- conditions and make them more
in the International Brigades in Powell Street Grounds and the tolerable for all of us.”

Spain — there was again an up- UNanimous demand that the — Inthedepressionof the ‘80s, that
surge in 1938 as the provincial Patullo government provide apro- message has a new resonance.

government, arguing that more
work was available, cut off relief
aid to municipalities. In May, the
federal government announced
that hundreds of men from the
prairies would be denied further
relief. The RP WU office at 60 Cor-
dova Street (now. the Woodward’s
parking lot) was alive with activity.

“Once most of the men were out
of camp about April, we were

Tw U

MAY DAY
GREETINGS! |

Serving workers im the telecormmunications industry since 1.949. f

—

Sy sab Rae 5261 Lane Street, Burnaby 437-8601 |
As relief -authorities became W.G. (Bill) Clark D.E. Bremneét |

more adamant in refusing aid and GREE [ INGS President Secretary-Treasuré!

as the methods of the unemployed H

— tincanning, demonstrations to GRRE SEE OO GOES

city hall — became increasingly dif-
ficult to maintain, the unemployed
devised the tactic of occupying
public buildings. It was a tactic
designed to force the issue — to

PACIFIC

RIBUNE

Published weekly at Suite 101 — 1416 Commercial Drive,
Vancouver, B.C. V5L 3X9. Phone 251-1186.

Read the paper that fights for labor

from the officers of the

B.C. FEDERATION

OF LABOR
(CLC)

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PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 29, 1983—

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