‘DEATH LOSS TO ALL LABOR’ LPP pays tribute to Malcolm McLeod’s work Speaking for the provincial committee of the Labor-Progressive | Party, Nigel Morgan, LPP provincial leader, issued the following | statement in tribute to Malcolm McLeod, Industrial Union, who and Boilermakers Workers this week: secretary of the Marine | died suddenly “The Labor-Progressive Party mourns the passing of Com- rade Malcolm McLeod, outstanding leader of the labor movement and member of the provincial committee of the Labor-Progressive Party. Comrade McLeod’s untimely death will be deeply felt in the labor movement where he was widely and popularly known as an outstanding fighter of the working class—one who played a leading role in the organization and struggles of the unemployed during the depression, in the building of the militant and progressive union of shipyard workers—one of B.C.‘s most respegted labor stalwarts, who always held high the banner of our party. “Well known for his enthusiasm and self-sacrificing work for all that was progressive, Comrade Malcolm’s early death was un- doubtedly speeded up by his unceasing work for the labor move- ment. help his union plan a vigorous assault on current unemployment, and to open up jobs for members of the union, who knew him as their tried and proven champion. ; “To his wife, Ina, and his mother-in-law, Mrs... Hennie Bell, and other members of his family, the Labor-Progressive Party extends its deepest sympathy in their bereavement. Comrade Malcolm’s loss will be keenly felt by the entire labor movement. We must determine to close our ranks and intensify our efforts to reach that goal which Malcolm worked so faithfully and tirelessly to achieve. Kowing Malcolm, we kmow there is no greater monument we can build to his memory than a united labor movement with a strong Labor-Progressive Party leading the way forward to socialism.” Morgan also announced that at a meeting of the Labor-Progressive Party’s ‘Vancouver city membership to be held this coming Monday, Harvey Murphy, LPP national committee member, would deliver a memorial address. UNEMPLOYMENT 3. Extension of unemployment insurance benefits, so that those | whose coverage has run out will On the eve of his passing he was attending a meeting to) standards and working conditions. “The LPF calls on the trade un- | ion, farmer and veteran organiza- will continue to receive asistance until employment can be provid- ed again, 4 The immediate halting of further importation of DP’s, who ean only contribute under present conditions to swelling unemploy- tions to give vigorous support to the growing demand for immediate ac- tion. The pressure of wide public support, inspired and led by a un- ited labor movement can produce results. Action to end the hardship and humiliation of unemployment ment and to undermining living | js urgently needed now!” P Until the Southam Co. Negotiate and = Open the Door Why Read The Province? THE DAILY PROVINCE IS THE ONLY NEWSPAPER IN BRITISH COLUMBIA PRODUCED BEHIND A PICKET LINE. Vancouver Typographical Union No. 226 CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE have been sent to General, It’s not only a question of being able to walk the streets in peace. It’s also a question of being able to live in your own home. ‘I visited the home of Jack Hig- girs, WIUC director of organiza- tion. His wife told me how while she was alone with three small children two carloads of goons had paid her a visit. One carload arriv- ed at the back of the house and an- other carload came to the front. The “red button” boys came in the, house, asked pointed questions. WIUC auxiliary members relat- ed how they had been molested by the “vigilantes,” as IWA man Joe Madden openly calis his goons. One, Mrs. Ina Peterson, displayed a sandbag with which she had been struck. 4 When the strikebreakers paraded through Campbell River, strikers’ wives followed them in an Austin ear which carried a sign, ‘Join the scabs’ parade.” The car was followed by strike- breakers who eventually forced them off the road, dragged them out and threatened them with black- jacks and clubs. The hall at Campbell River was entered by breaking the door. The phone was torn off to prevent word getting out and the goons went to work. Blood was on the floor from the door to the toilet for days. Three blackjacks were left behind. “T sat down in Kay’s Confection- ery to eat,” said a slim logger, Carl Lidberg, “and they sat down on either side of me. They kicked my legs, elbowed me, threatened me and eventually poured hot coffee over me. The editor of the Comox Free Press came in just then—we’ll see if he writes up this story about the IWA.” “I was just leaving the Mayfair,” said his young freckled brother, Clarence, “when six of them gang- ed up on me because they claimed I was on the picket line. them breaking picket lines doesn’t go with workers and one of them swung at me. They tried to herd me down the alley but didn’t suc- ceed. “The police happened to come along and I told them, so this is the kind you support. They told me either side was free to lay charges but one of them said if I was smart I’d go home and for- get about it. I’ve lived here my whole life.” At least one woodworker was kidnapped. Martin Peterson told me how he was forced to pull off the road in Comox and told by the ! goons to come peaceably or come by force. They took him to IWA headquarters where Joe Madden tried unsuccéssfully to extract in- formation from him. The goons came when IWA ap- pointed president Stewart Alsbury, Tom Bradley and Sig Wessberg the Attorney- I told 2 $4.00 per couple Tickets at 211 Shelly Building LPP NEW YEAR'S EVE FROLIC KNIGHTS OF HARMONY ORCHESTRA ‘Pender Auditorium 339 Ww. PENDER Admission — ¥ PACIFIC TRIBUNE — had. been Aaregea after attacking pickets. Apparently something went wrong with IWA Officials’ timing. They attacked pickets just as a number of car headlights showed on the road. The cars ware full of strike sympathizers and police ar- rived four minutes later. Alsbury screamed for mercy when IWA local officers and scabs failed to come to his assistance. Police pro- mised that night that there would be “150” there next morning. The morning after Stewart Als- bury, Tom Bradley and Sig Wess- berg were beaten up there was a heavy snow and most pickets thought there would be no attempt to work the camp. Peterson, who was present, told me that fourteen men and three women did show up on. the picket line, and were con- fronted by 25 “fully equipped” po- lice and 150 goons. The pickets held their ground. Loggers are throwing away. IWA buttons in Island centers as the story of IWA scabherding’ reaches them. IWA organizer Tom Bradley and some of his scabherders got a hot reception in. downtown Lady- smith Saturday night. Is I left Courtenay, WIUC mem- bers were gathering to stage a leafiet raid on the downtown sec- tion to break through the barrage of lies from the IWA “house or- gans’’ the daily press and Island weeklies. The army of scabherders was as- sembled from all over the Island. At least two busloads came from Port Alberni. Others came from Duncan, Ladysmith and Cowichan Lake. Washington and Oregon li- cense plates were also to be seen. In the main, this is the force that was organized to break a 1948 strike if this summers’ contract negotiations should break down. It is the force that was used to break up meetings on disaffiliation au Oc- tober. ss It was planted in lhe manner by the bosses’ own agencies, working in close collusion with the CCF, Trotskyites, Moral Rearmament, top CCL and IWA officials. That it is part of a master plan is seen in that the scabherders did not just come from MacMillan op- erations (MacMillan owns Iron River) but also from such com- panies as Comox Logging and Rail- way, Bloedel’s, APL and Hilerest. The plan went into operation at Iron River, in one of the most militant sections of the industry, where 75 percent of the strikers were WIUC members and the 10 IWA members in the crew of 90 respected the picket line, because Tron River was a test of the IWA’s capacity to deliver for the boss. The strike issue is seniority versus discrimination and black- list. The company fired a set of fallers on grounds of “ineffic- iency”’ and refused to reinstate them even though their represen- tative was forced to agree with $2.50 Single Phone: TA. 2030 len IWA goons and one cop guard each scab at Iron River a erew committee that the men’s work was “excellent.” It is not a jurisdictional dispute. From the outset, IWA leaders, in close collusion with the company, tried to start a back-to-work move- ment. Finally they had the labor board rule it illegal, CCL secretary Bob Conroy called for the breaking of the picket line, and the initial attempt was made. Only 25 men were forced onto the job and some of these have now quit to be replaced by others. Thirty-five of the strikers have been fired, The camp is still “hot.” It is the only camp in the whole area still “working.” Some. strikers face evic- tion and foreclosure. The scabs are said to be getting a “Christmas” bonus of $125. The IWA has taken court action aimed at blocking use of the woodworkers’ strike fund and if they could get it, would un- doubtedly pay more goons. The strikers urgently need help and a Christmas cheer fund is being collected by the WIUC. Donations should be sent to J. Creelman, Iron River Strike Com- mittee, Campbell River, B.C. Action of Vancouver Labor Council (CCL) and IWA-CIO local 217 in each sending $1,000 to the scabherders fully confirms warn- ings in this paper that the top CCF-Trotskyite bureaucrats in the CCL are trying to convert the CCL itself into the chief boss-govern- ment “labor front.” But Iron River is proving to be “Operation Rathole” for the IWA- CCL. There were 280 goons up Is- land when I left. At a reputed $10 a day they would cost $2800 a day in wages alone—a month’s dues of 14006 members going down the drain every day. The bosses’ con- tribution has not yet been deter- mined. It is ‘a question how long ten goons can be maintained to force every scab to work, Scab security can at best be temporary. The unleashing of organized violence on the streets raises questions of fundamental import- ance for every unionist and every citizen. If this challenge to ele- mentary democracy is not smash- ed, then not only this but other goon armies will be used else- where—as, indeed, DP’s are al- ready being used across Canada. Brutal violence will be used to smash every striving for peace, every urge to defend bread and butter, every vestige of freedom. The events on the Island cannot be explained except as part of the drive for war, fascism, and the fastening of the burdens of devel- oping economic crisis on the work- ers—a drive in which the labor bureaucrats have been assigned a key role. Things have come to a _ pretty pass when women have to sit at home with loaded guns behind the door and when the Attorney-Gen- eral has to be notified that if police are unablé@to maintain order union members will have to take all ne- cessary steps to protect themselves. WIUC pickets George Stevens, Otto McDonald, A. Armilla and Mike Farkas, and organizer Lang Mackie have been arrested. War- rants are out for others. No IWA men have been arrested. The WIUC at Courtenay is not buckling under the attack—it is gaining strength. The strike is be- ing maintained. But the urgent job for British Columbians cannot be left to the Courtenay WIUC. And the de- mand has to be laid on the door- step of the Attorney-General for the law enforcement agencies to protect the people, not victimize them, for the Island to be cleared — of armed strikebreakers and the rights of the people of Courtenay and Campbel] River to be main- tained. The WIUC has already launched a province-wide campaign, In Van- couver a protest meeting at. the People’s Home _ (600 Campbell Avenue) at 7:30 p.m. Sunday night will be addressed by one of the strikers and WIUC president Har- old Pritchett. é DECEMBER 17, 1948 — PAGE 12