=— — i {i 4 mo t \ ie a ns a FEATURE Mackenzie remembered By MARK FRANK Canadians! Do you love freedom? I know you do... Then buckle on your armour, and put down the villains who oppress and enslave our country ... We have humbled ourselves to the Pharoah of England. They will neither rule us justly nor let us go. We are determined never to rest until independence is ours. . . Up then, brave Canadians! Get ready your rifles and make short work of it. : — From leaflet Independence! issued by Mackenzie on the eve of the Rebellion August 28, 1986 marks the 125th anniversary of the death of William Lyon Mackenzie, leader of the Rebel- lion of 1837-38 and first Mayor of Toronto. Four days after his passing a funeral cortege a half-mile long wound its way to the Necropolis in east end Toronto where his tombstone overlooks the throbbing traffic of the Don Valley Parkway. Will local officials note this anniversary? One won- ders. However there has been some recognition to his memory shown in little-publicized markers in the city. One is the plaque on the west lawn of the New City Hall. Another, the magnificent Walter S. Allwan sculptural ensemble erected on the 100th anniversary of the Rebel- lion in an out of the way spot west of the Ontario Legisla- ture Building. Z The draft of the new constitution included free public education; the separation of church and state; banking reform and an end to monopolization; calls for world peace; and the declaration that labor was the source of all wealth. Finally there are the restored C.W. Jefferys-Emanuel Hahn panels in the garden of Mackenzie House on Bond St. These were among the remaining stones and invalu- able sculptures that were rescued from a Niagara Parks Commission dump, after the scandalous dismantling of the famous Pioneer Memorial Arch that once overlooked the Niagara gorge. Currently a long-taken Toronto Historical Board deci- sion to put up a plaque at 160 Frederick St. near the former site of Mackenzie’s Colonial Advocate offices, where high-placed Family Compact hooligans in 1826 destroyed his typé and press, still awaits implementa- tion. Reform Movements of 1830s Mackenzie was part of a broad reform movement of the 1830s seeking to air the grievances of settlers and a rising merchant class, hampered by feudal restrictions, the plundering of the public purse (shades of Sinclair’ Stevens!), entrenched family privileges and domination of Bishop Strachan’s Church of England. The Rebellion while arising out of specific Canadian conditions took place in the context and aftermath of the French Revolution of 1789; the European-wide upsurge against autocracy including the Decembrists in Russian of 1825; the 1830 revolutions in West and Central Europe; the Chartist struggles in Britain itself and later the 1848 revolutions in Europe. To the Tory argument that those who took part in the Rebellion were bent on violence per se to achieve their ends, the truth is that for years on end every existing peaceful alternative was attempted to forward the grie- vances of the colonists. Characteristically when this: movement was attended by a degree of success and mounting massive popular support, the dominating class driven into a corner responded with outright brute force. The reform forces were inevitably divided by this assault. Some wavered but Mackenzie and others moved to the left emerging as representatives of the more consistent radical wing of the bourgeois demo- cratic reform movement. Mackenzie’s meetings became larger than ever and he launched a new political form of organization to better organize his forces and reflect the new situation. Mobs- ter assaults were made on his gatherings. The elections of 1836 were a scene of raging violence on the hustings. 10 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 3, 1986 PHOTO — MARK FRANK Mackenzie who drafted many of the reform docu- ments and is chiefly known for the changes he sought in the area of political democracy and ‘‘responsible government’’ was also associated with a wide-ranging series of reform demands. Draft Constitution They included early demands for free public educa- tion; civil liberties; an end to Black slavery; the abolition of the clergy reserves, huge land holdings; the separation of church and state; banking reform and an end to mono- polization; calls for world peace; and the declaration that labor was the source of all wealth. A study of the 81-point draft Constitution published Nov. 15, 1837 on the eve of the Rebellion attests to the broad scope of the Reform program. The spring of 1837 witnessed growing actions and solidarity of the Upper Canada Reformers with the Pat- riotes led by Papineau in Lower Canada. When imperial orders called on the colonial executive to freeze all re- venues in Lower Canada, Mackenzie and his followers immediately rallied to the Patriote cause and at an April 17, 1837 meeting of the Toronto Alliance Society adopt- ed urgent resolutions of support. At the close of July 1837 an historic decision of the Reformers called for joint talks and formal delegations ‘‘to make common cause with their fellow-citizens of Lower Canada.”’ The example of the militancy of the Patriotes in Lower Canada and the need for converging strategy and tactics often figured in the councils of the Reformers at this critical stage of their struggle. While the desired cohe- sion and tactical unity eluded both contingents, as did other problems of leadership of a successful revolution, the twin-starred flag of Upper Canadian independence was finally hoisted on Navy Island reflecting the joint struggle of the two Canadas. It was the first time in Canadian history that the banner of a provisional government proclaiming an independent republic had been hoisted. It was shortlived, beset by grave difficul- ties, errors of judgment and tactics and inexperience and ~ overwhelmed by superior colonial forces and ideological confusion and division among the Reformers. Next year marks the 150th anniversary of the Rebel- lion. Those who downplay the significance of this _ remarkable page in Canadian history (“* . . . it was more.a comedy of errors than an epic drama’’ — Historian J.M.S. Careless) are hard at work denigrating the Mac- kenzie and others who took part, either seeking to ignore the coming anniversary or distort its meaning for Cana- dians today. Progressive historians should meet this challenge. The striking fact is that people like Mackenzie with all their limitations of temperament and experience did emerge in colonial Upper Canada and played a signi- ficant progressive role. Some lived before their time and _the emergence of mature classes and forms of organiza- tion that could realize more completely the advanced Machenzie shown presenting Seventh Report of Grievances to the Commons, House of Assembly, Upper can 1835. This is one of the restored sculptural panels by C.W. Jefferys and Emanuel Hahn enshrined at Macken” | House on Bond Street in Toronto. Facing Mackenzie, on the garden’s north wail, the reconstructed panels cary say 7 portrait sculptures of Peter Mathews and Samuel Lount who met their deaths on the gallows in Toronto. r names of those executed in Niagara, London, Kingston, and Montreal districts bring to 31 those who met marty!® in the Rebellion of 1837-38 in Upper and Lower Canada. ’ ade zie aims they set out in their many speeches and docu s} Modern-day working-class militants and activist : learn a great deal from their life and work. ‘*Something approaching gangsterism was introde into the politics of Upper Canada,”’ writes historia?” 9 Clark (Movements of Political Protest in Canada 10 a ‘tand mob violence came increasingly to be reli¢ fs fe the two years before the Rebellion as a means pressing efforts to secure by free and open discU solution of public questions.” ssio") Earlier there were expulsions from the legislate ! Mackenzie; stealing of elections; use of the © fabricate libel charges; imprisonment of critics; 48 del sination attempt on Mackenzie — all figured in ey Pe | erate actions of the Family Compact to block Pj} change. | - Poem and counter poem Dennis Lee’s poem William Lyon Macken2” |] from his book Jelly Belly, is quoted ... a} | “William Lyon Mackenzie Came to town in a frenzy — He shot off his gun And made himself run, William Lyon Mackenzie.”’ May I suggest a more positive version. William Lyon Mackenzie — Rode to town on a Wednesday He fought for what's fair, So they made him the mayor, William Lyon Mackenzie Writer Mark Frank questioned well-know2 pot! Dennis Lee’s interpretation of Mackenzie apP® | ing in his bestseller Jelly Belly book of nurs?” | rhymes. It took the form of a counter-rhyme 12. a Globe and Mail (above). The poet responded ” personal note, which read in part: ‘‘Thanks for writing. And I believe you're rig Mind you, from the relatively little I know ! aa believe that Mackenzie had a streak of mani, | him. But so have lots of other people. And yoU he a} | right; unless a person is simply a case for | asylum, that is a long way from any sort of 12 | judgement on them. Mackenzie was anything u case for the asylum, and it was unjust of me make that the crux of the poem — and, to bool: ignore his whole struggle for social and politi@ justice.”’ a o ||