Ce

> the memory of Mary with love

» Mary Flanigan, be-
activists of the work-

movement all over
passed away during
hours of the morning

September 24. The
Ma’ Flanigan, as she
mn affectionatély, is a
ent for the working
vement as a_ whole.
3. one of its links with
d in which were forg-
of the most heroic tra-
f the Canadian work-

n Yorkshire, England,
7, 1888, in the old
Halifax, Mary started
in the textile mill at
of twelve. She was a
ss," working in the
ilk ‘until she emigrated
i Ri

nada, she married Jerry
| and. became dedicat-
t and soul, to his dream
orld «without want; a
rithout-war;. a world in
nan will be the master
environment. Our com-
1e late Jerry Flanigan,
revolutionary ‘syndicalist
generation which exert-
g influence in the Can-
vorking class movement
the‘second decade of this
. One of the band of re-
lary workers who fought
1 the unsuccessful at-
to establish the One Big
in the Toronto area, he
e of the first of that band
tants to realize that syn-
mn was not the path by
the working class can
about the revolutionary
rmation of society from
ism to socialism. Recog-
the fundamental advance
i syndicalism, that. was
sed in the program of the
rs’ Party of Canada,
and Mary Flanigan joined

world renowned flamenco
irist, Carlos Montoya, are

that ‘party and became commu-
nists.

They were foundation mem-
bers, “signing up” at the first
organizational meeting, held in
the Machinists Hall at 303 Bond
Street, Toronto, the Friday
evening following the Constitu-
ent Convention of the Workers
Party. They were active mem-
bers, bringing in many who had
been involved in the attempt to
establish the One Big Union.
Jerry, who was born in New-
foundland, went and worked in
Newfoundland for some time in
an attempt to put our small
scattered membership there on

an effective organizational foot-
ing.

Mary became known beyond
the immediate circle of the To-
ronto members of the Workers’
Party and then the Communist
Party, through her work in the
great Hunger March from
Southern Ontario to Ottawa in
1934. She and ‘Fred Collins
solved the problem of organiz-
ing a Commissariat by action.
Mary Flanigan accepted respon-
sibility. Volunteers were
for to help her. A truck was
secured to carry the cook stove,
pots and pans etc.—and a mat-
tress for Mary. She sent out a
group of volunteers in advance
of the main body of the Hunger
Marchers every day, to solicit
food and arrange for a camp
site. She -supervised the prepa-
ration and cooking and serving
of the meals, she administered
aspirin or epsom salts when
necessary and she was the re-
cipient of the doubts and fears
—and sometimes the gripes—of
sufferers. When the Hunger
March arrived in Ottawa, its
numbers having grown steadily
enroute and its morale tops,

Mary Flanigan was exhausted—
and famous. She had made her-

how available. Until October 1
the tickets are available exclu-
sively at Co-op Bookshop, 882
Main Street, Winnipeg.

FIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 4, 1968—Page 10

MARY FLANIGAN
1887 —

1968

self one of the very small group
of women, typified then by An-
nie Buller and Beckie Buhay,
whose roles in the mass strug-
gies of the workers evoked the

admiration of all democratic
Canadians.

. When the Communist party
established its National School
on Collier Street, Toronto, Mary
became housekeeper. After the
war, when the school was
moved up north, she went also
and was its housekeeper for
several years. Many a mature
communist in different parts of
the country can look back
warmly to the day when he or
she “cried on Ma Flanigan’s
shoulder” and then returned
strengthened to their studies.
The extent to which Ma Flan-
igan became an institution is
illustrated by a possession
which she treasured highly and,
because of that, passed on to
the writer. It is a wooden tray,
the first piece of really good
handicraft made by the anti-
fascist prisoners incarcerated at
Hull during the early years of
the Second World War. After it
was finished and duly admired=
by all; the question arose, “How
can we make the best use of
it?” The unanimous answer was,
“Dedicate it to Ma Flanigan and
send it to her, signed by each
of us.” That was done. Mary
showed the tray, with almost a
complete roster of the names of
the leaders of the Communist
Party of Canada, to thousands
of workers as she asked them

to sign the great petition for’
their release.

Ma Flanigan never flinched
from the struggle in her life-
time. It was fitting that her end
came easily, sitting in her chair,
as though she had simply fallen
asleep, May her memory be kept.
green forever. § —Tim Buck.

Sold out before the concert
two years ago, the Nov. 18 re-
turn engagement by this great
artist is expected to draw a
Capacity audience.

Carlos Montoya needs no in-
troduction to Winnipeg, having
appeared here sevveral times be-
fore and always to capacity
crowds. His mastery of the gui-
tar, his integration with his au-
dience, his capacity to originate
new sounds as he plays, makes
a concert different and excit-

g.

In the new setting of the Cen-
tennial Concert Hall, and per-
forming an almost completely
new program, the Noy. 18 reci-
tal should bea landmark in mu-
sical presentations in Winnipeg.

At ten minutes past mid-
night, August 7, Merrit David
Reid, a patient at Riverside
Hospital, Essondale, B.C.,
hanged himself with his
leather belt in the washroom
of the ward in which he was
confined.

Suicides in B.C. jails and
hospitals are not uncommon.
In Vancouver City jail they
are very common. So much

So that the provincial archives

in Victoria should be pretty
well loaded by now with the
verdicts and recommenda-
tions of coroners’ juries —
many of these with very
worthy proposals on the ne-
cessity of more attention,
care and supervision of the
poor unfortunates under such
administration.

In the main, however, such
verdicts are primarily aimed
at exonerating the Establish-
ment from all responsibility
for the tragic results of insti-
tutional neglect — a factor
which probably assists the
Establishment to pay little or
no heed to the jury recom-
mendations for improvement.

In a 1,700-word statement
signed by five surviving rela-
tives of: Merrit David Reid
and. forwarded to some 40
MP’s, MLA’s, leading church-
men, barristers and other
prominent Canadians, includ-
ing Prime Minister Pierre
Elliot Trudeau, the signatories
make clear that their state-
ment “is neither a vendetta
nor a plea for sympathy.”
They simply project the idea
that “this tragedy might have

been avoided under altered ©

circumstances and/or condi-
tions.”

idea.

Many poor unfortunates in
B.C. hospitals, jails and kin-
dred institutions here and
elsewhere suffering from men-
tal, nervous or other dis-
orders, condemned to an un-
ending sentence of human ne-
glect, have been driven de-
spairing and without hope to
a similar tragic end.

What it generally boils
down to in such cases is a
lack-of sufficient medical staff
and trained personnel on the
job, an overcrowded hospital
or prison, all adding up to a
work overload for an inade-
quate staff—and an ultimate
(if albeit unintentional) ne-
glect for the unfortunate hu-
mans under their care.

It follows that any “altered
circumstances and/or condi-
tions” from such a situation
is a government responsibility
at the federal and provincial
levels; a reassessment of their
so-called “economizing” pro-
grams, to the end that the
citizen in dire need of health

’ Riverside with something like

They are not alone in that:

care shall be the beneficiary
rather than the victim.

Merrit David Reid, a veteran
of World War II, his nerves
shattered and his mind some-
times unbalanced by long in-
tervals of time between any
psychiatric counsel, some-
times over two months before
he could even have the “privi-
lege” of seeing his doctor; all
hobbies he would have liked
to have taken up as a form of
“therapy” to quieten his dis-
turbed mind either slowed up
or denied outright. For Merrit
the old medieval ‘cure-all’ —
lock him up and leave him
with his own thoughts.

His relatives ask, “Is one
night-duty doctor sufficient
for a large complex such as

3,000 patients?” We'd like to
hear some “health minister”
in some government say “It
is.”

There is one agonizing
paragraph in this statement .
by Merrit David Reid’s rela-
tives which should be suit-
ably framed and hung in the
offices. of the ministries of
health in Ottawa and Victoria,
and perhaps as a reminder, in
nine other provincial offices,
all of which comprise Canada.
It might also help remind
Prime Minister Trudeau just
how damned unjust his “Just
Society” is — for some. ’

“There will be those who
say he was too sick, better off
where he is, R.I.P. There will
be those who say we are emo-
tional and bitter. To the for-
mer we Say, in this enlighten-
ed society a man has a birth-
right, part of which is to live
out his life to its natural con-
slusion and, as in our bro-
ther’s case, not to have to
provide as the cure for his
illness a_ lonely, agonizing
death at the end of his own
belt in a dingy washroom,
and more particularly for one
who spent three years of his
life in World War II defend-
ing a society which could not
cure him. To the latter we
would say, yes, we are emo-
tional and bitter. Why is it
the life of a cancer patient, in
excruciating pain, can be sus-
tained for years, yet little
seemingly done to expel from
the mind of a possible sui- -
cide some of the suggestive
circumstances contributing to
such a tragic decision?”

The plea of Merrit David
Reid’s relatives is not now
for him, but for others in a
similar unfortunate position
the first victims of an “econ-
omy” .which places profits
above human welfare. Reverse
that equation, even ever so
little, then “perhaps our bro-

ther Merrit did not die in
vaini-