WHEN FREEDOM WAS LOST. By Lorne Brown. Black Rose Books, 1987. Paper $14.95. Available at People’s Co-op Book- Store. It was an event that, Perhaps more than any Other, changed the Course of politics in Canada and left an indelible mark on the Participants. But as Tecently as 15 years ago, the 1935 On to Ottawa Trek was still barely more than a footnote in history — and often a derisively written one at that. Aside from passing references in official his- tories, only Ronald Liversedge’s personal Memoir, published as a hand-bound, typewritten booklet in 1960, told the story of an epic event in the labor history of Canada. But that has changed significantly over the last several years. In 1973, historian Vic- tor Hoar brought Liversedge’s memoir into Mainstream history with the Carleton library edition of his recollections which - also included a detailed (and largely sympa- thetic) introduction as well as valuable doc- Uumentary materials. Ben Swankey and Jean Evans Shiels published their Work and Wages in 1977 and that was followed in 1985 by Fighting Heritage, published by the tibune, and another work by Hoar, We Were the Salt of the Earth, written under his Own name, Victor Howard. Now Black Rose has joined the list of Publishers bringing out works on the trek with its February, 1987 release of Lorne Brown’s When Freedom Was Lost. And it Is a welcome, and particularly timely. con- tribution to the growing body of material about a crucial period in Canadian history. In a sense, When Freedom was Lost complements the accounts already pub- lished. Brown deals fairly briefly with the events of the trek and the relief camp strike, drawing on Liversedge’s recollections when there is a need to fill in details. He concen- trates more on creating the political context of the trek and the decade-long struggle against unemployment. ‘4 quit SAUTUUUnevneyeauuUUuenen44uuueneee44UUUeeee44QOUUEOUGOQOUUEONOEUUUUUCEUEOOUUUUUSEOGUOUUCOEEOEQOUUOEOOOGUUUrooeGOOUOuoqneQduGuUeeeeeduaautntt MAY DAY GREE TINGS For Jobs & Peace ws Cee Z Pp a IML r At the centre, as he emphasizes through- out, was the role of the Tory government of R.B. Bennett —a government which, rather than develop a national program of work and wages, imposed a regime of relief camps on the unemployed. And when that camp system provoked a crisis, that government’s answer was to resort increas- ingly to state repression. Brown spent several years sifting the evi- dence in the archives in Regina and Ottawa as well as newspaper files and he uses it effectively to highlight Bennett’s “iron heel” policies. Those policies were relentless throughout the 1930s: the government used the weapon of deportation to rid itself of “political undesirables”, deporting 14,154 people in the two years between April, 1931 and March, 1933; it drew up plans for the mobil- ization of the militia should their interven- tion become necessary to put down the increasing tide of demonstrations and pro- tests; and it routinely used Section 98 of the Criminal Code to arrest and jail Commu- nists and trade union leaders. Even more draconian were some of the government’s plans drawn up under the “peace, order and good government” sec- tion of the Relief Act of 1933 — plans which the government turned to again and again although it was never able to imple- ment them. Among them was General A.G.L. McNaughton’s plan to establish what he called “camps of discipline” to which the unemployed would be sent as “vagrants” under the Criminal Code if they tefused to go to a relief camp. Although land was in some cases allocated for these camps, Brown points out they never were set up, partly because of landmark court case which ruled that the unemployed could not be forced into camps and partly because even federal authorities feared the explosive crisis that they might create. “Only a few government officials knew at the time that the machinery for Camps of Discipline was in place,” Brown notes. “Several times between early 1933 and mid- 1935, government authorities at either the federal or provincial level were recommend- ing the use of such camps to imprison large numbers of people for political purposes. But for the federal-provincial division of Finnish Organization of Canada Greetings to our members and supporters on this International Holiday of Workers. Our fraternal association h For information about what the Worke as been in existence for over 60 years serving the working people of Canada. rs’ Benevolent Association can do for you telephone: 277-0944. Workers’ Benevolent Association, Distric t Committee and Branch 33 805 East Pender Street, Vancouver, B.C. TT Relief camp strikers prepare to march down to the docks to thank longshoremen for their one-day strike in support, April, 1935. power and the vigilance of those members of the Canadian political community who could be counted on to vigorously defend liberty, we might have suffered similar oppressive measures to those which were common in several European dictatorships in the same period of history.” When the Trek ended in the police- provoked Regina Riot of July 1, 1935, it was the ultimate expression of the Tory government’s policy. But as Brown notes, it was partly because of the struggles of unemployed that profound political changes were brought about. “Those activists who built the Relief Camp Workers Union and provided its primary and secondary leadership had accomplished a great deal since the on- slaught of the Great Depression. They and their supporters agitated and organized first among the unemployed in the cities and then in the camps. They worked with hardly any financial support and against great odds. And until at least 1934 they worked with few allies and very little support of any kind from the mainstream trade union movement and other mainstream economic and political institutions. They withstood some of the most severe state repression ever seen in Canada during peacetime. “Perhaps most amazing of all, they had been one factor in changing the political psychology of the population from a public opinion which was generally reactionary and supportive of political repression in 1931 and 1932 to one which resisted that same repression in 1934 and 1935.” There are a few irritating errors in names in the text — Spender’s instead of Spencer’s store, Steve Broder rather than Steve Brodie _ and a photo of Helena Gutteridge from a 1938 rally wrongly captioned as Helena Guthridge speaking in 1935 — but they are minor. Otherwise meticulously documented, When Freedom was Lost is a book that anyone interested in the trek or in labor history should definitely add to their library. In an introduction Brown also reminds readers that history is more than just a read- ing of the past, a point that deserves empha- sis at a time when unemployment remains high and the labor movement again faces an increasingly repressive legislative regime. “The contemporary unemployed have begun to organize once again,” he notes. “... the specific issues of the struggle will differ from those of the 1930s because the circumstances and political culture have changed. What remains constant is that progressive social change will by necessity have to be preceded by agitation, organiza- tion and militant struggle.” — Sean Griffin Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion of the In memory of those who fell in the first anti-fascist war. Spain 1936-1939 Veterans of the MAY DAY GREETINGS on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the formation of the International Brigades. . Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion. PACIFIC TRIBUNE, APRIL 29, 1987 e 25 mcrmapemmerenrerteatestey cerita ninemsn rer serena "