Saher

_ other world’,

Rankin and Rankin's Law

A few years ago when I was back
working in the fabricating plant, I
remember one lunch break when,
after we’d silenced the pounding
punch press for half an hour, one of
the men in the plant came to us to
air his problem.

Several houses in his block were
being expropriated in order to
make room for some development
but since the cost of supporting his
family of five didn’t leave any
money left for legal fees, he was
being offered something less than
market value for his home.

The problem was a familiar one
and his solution was also familiar.
“As soon as I get off shift,” he

-announced after the lunch break

was over, ‘I’m goin’ down to see
Harry Rankin.”

Harry Rankin:'the name, too iS
familiar — to working people too
hard-pressed to afford a lawyer; to
Native people for whom justice is a
white magistrate blinded by
prejudice; to militant trade
unionists ever the victim of
punitive legislation. E

And now for them, as° for
thousands of others, there is a book
of and by the man -who has
defended their interests — both in
court and on the political platform

so eloquently.

Fittingly entitled Rankin’s Law
and. published in Vancouver ~by
November House,- it is Harry’s
autobiography, spanning the years
between his start at 14 in Gold’s
Bakery and his appearance nearly
forty years later before the
inquisatorial Benchers of the Law
Society who had called him to
account for his statements about.
the nature of justice in the Fred
Quilt case.

It began, in fact, with that case
and Harry explains in his in-
troduction, “while I was trying to
put down the details of the case and
of my own role in it, I found that the
beginnings of it all went much
further back into my own life. ~

“T wondered how I had become

involved. Perhaps it was when the
first Indian client came through
the door of my office twenty years
before I ever heard of Fred Quilt.
When did I first learn that justice
wasn’t the same for everyone in
this country? Maybe when I
watched waterfront strikers being
beaten with police clubs in the
thirties. When was it that I realized
my place in the battle was with the’
underdog? That may have been in
the army. Or when I had to fight
the Establishment.for the right to
practice law.”

Harry goes into some of those
questions, highlighting. the events
of his life with writing that is as
immediate and personal as con-
versation. There are the years at
Gold’s and in the army. where his
refusal to be ‘pushed around”’
occasionally brought the wrath of
officers down about his head; his
first appearance before the Law
Society’s inquisition upon his
application for entry in the Bar
Association; the formative years

in court and his entry into civic ~

politics, crowned in 1967 with his

- election to Vancouver city council.

Like Harry’s speech, the
language of Rankin’s Law is as
colorful as it effective. And from it,
the unmistakeable personality of a
man who is passionately partisan.
to the underdog, whether ‘he ‘is a
trade unionist er a Native Indian,
emerges clearly.

But perhaps the. greatest
strength of Rankin’s Law — and of
Harry Rankin himself — is the
understanding that is apparent
throughout. the book of the history
of which he was - and is - a part.

“T am a socialist.” Harry
declares in his introduction. And
just as his and his wife Jonnie’s
convictions brought to their home
scores of people like Earl Robin-
son, Cheddi Jagan and™ the
Rosenberg’s lawyer, Emmanuel
Bloch, it also brought him to his
incisive conclusions about the
issues aes the case of Fred

= the process:-<

Quilt — which, incidentally,
comprises what is perhaps the best
chapter of the book.

“In that-sense, Rankin’s Law is
more than an autobiography; it is
political education. Harry. not only
writes of his experiences but also

imparts the lessons of them as this

excerpt from the chapter ‘Unions
in Court’’ demonstrates: __
“Tabor cases, of course, have a
unique set of rules. These rules
may be described more easily by
saying that no rules apply and as a
result, class warfare breaks out in
the courts. To ignore or avoid the
truth of this statement is to have
the wrong perspective of what

labor is and what management is.

A labor case in court means that a
working man faces criminal
consequences for defying his boss,
because when the court enters the
fray, it does so on the side of the
employer. So it-no longer is an
economic struggle; court in-
terference means that it has
become class warfare.” :

And elsewhere,’ in answer to
those .who accuse him of com-.
promising his socialist principles
by running for city council:

“T have two choices — wait for
the capitalist system to die of its
own accord, or help to accelerate ‘
but I can’t count on
living long enough... . and I believe
too thoroughly .in the necessity for -
change to be content with waiting,
so I choose the second course —
helping to accelerate the process.
How is this done? By taking those
issues which are not yet on the
agenda and thrusting them for-—
ward. By taking those issues that
others do not sée as important and
making them a real issue. By
chipping away at the weak points
of the present system.”

For that, Rankin’s Law will be a
book to be read by generations to
come. But in the meantime, as
Harry says,” . .. as long as I’m
around a lot of reactionary people .
and.institutions are going to havea

HARRY RANKIN ...

great deal more trouble with

Harry!”

A@ailable at the People’s Co-op
Bookstore, it’s worth every penny
and more of its $7.95 price tag. And

—Sean Griffin photo |
making a point at city hall. a

if you renew your sub to the |
Tribune or get a: new one, you can —
knock the best part of two dollars

off that price. j
Sean Grif il ‘

.

Notes from a journey through Portugal

In late September of this year,
Eric Waugh ‘travelled through
Portugal.

Although travelling as a tourist,
with only his union card and
passport for identification, he
managed to be present at some
major political events and held
interviews with some important

_people in the country.

Eric.-is_ well known to many
Tribune readers as an executive
member of the Marine and
Boilermakers Union and as the

federal candidate of .the Com- *

munist Party in Burnaby Seynigur
constituency. :

Here are some of his recollec-
tions as told to us:

“Getting off the train in Lisbon,
youfirst enter the poorer section of
the city. The sight is an immediate
surprise because Lisbon has a
reputation for being a very clean
city. What impresses you, though
is the amount of dirt in the streets

‘and the immense poverty of the

people.

“The second impression you get
is the numbers of political posters
in the streets. There are so many-

posters that they have devised a -

new roller ona very long handle to
paste up posters over 20 feet in the
air. Banks are covered, schools are
covered, churches are covered.
“As we proceeded through the
‘barrios’ (or the slums, but in
Portuguese terms it means ‘the
and that is exactly
what it looks like, another world)
and into the central section of the

COMICIO

BANG SEL AS Zin>

CoM 2 POP
EM DEF
DA REVOLUGAO

COM A PRESENCA DE ALVARO CUNHAL 2
E OUTROS DIRIGENTES b0 PARTIDO COMUNISTA PORTUGUES

This small poster, in red, yellow and black, covered Lisbon streets in
the days previous to the September 16 rally of the Communist Party

which drew 35,000 people.
city-we noticed large groups of
people in the public squares. At
closer examination we could see
that they were refugees from the
former colonies.

“As we passed one group of
refugees we could see a small
bunch right in the middle-causing a

scene. Suddenly they raised their

fists in the air, shouting ‘death to
the fascists’, while they stood in the
midst of the fascists. They were
Maoists, and of course were at-
tempting to provoke bloodshed.
But the soldiers from the Armed
Forces “Movement appeared im-
mediately with a ‘bun*wagon’ and

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 31, 1975—Page 10

fired these Maoists into the wagon
and away. That was the end of that,
but it was the closest that we came
to seeing violence.

‘“‘The Communist Party had been
working for several days to
organize a meeting at a place
called ‘Campo Pequeno’, which
means small ring. In fact if was a
bullfighting stadium.

“We arrived at the meeting an
hour early on September 16 and
there were already about 10,000
people seated. The music started
over the loudspeakers, and the
people would break into song and
chant slogans. It seemed the

_bullring,

‘follow

favorite song was.‘Avante Populo’,
but done in &slightly different tune
and, of course, in Portuguese.

“By the time the meeting started
there were 35,000 people in the
with many _ thousands
more outside who could not get in.

“Alvaro Cunhal was the speaker
at the meeting which was to ex-
plain the Communist Party
program. Although I could not
the. proceedings, one
noticeable feature. was _ that
whenever Soares’ name was
mentioned there would be one roar
of disapproval. The meeting ended
with singing, the last song being
the ‘Internationale’.

- “We soon left Lisbon and
travelled south to the fishing town
of Lagos.

“There, through the Communist
Party newspaper ‘Avante’, it was
arranged for me to _ interview
someone who could speak English.
As it turned out, the only English
speaking person was the secretary

‘of the CP and perhaps the busiest

man in southern Portugal.

“He could give me just 15
minutes but offered to continue the
interview two days later at mid-
night. You can see the extent of the
tasks before them. They have no
time for talk, just for action. ©

“One of the. first questions I
asked was of the relations between
the Communist Party and. the
social democrats. .

“T should -add here, while
speaking of the social democrats,
that in Lisbon among the profusion

of political posters there is not 4 |

poster of Soares to be found in the ~
working class sections. You havé

_to travel to the middle class sec —

tions to find them. Among, the

working class areas the Socialists”

posters are either torn down OF —
covered up by either Communist —
Party or Maoist posters. q
“The Party secretary told me —
that there is a far greater unity —
between rank and file communists
and socialists than there is at the —
top. He said there is good workin® —

relationships on the job sights. - |

‘“T asked if fascism had con —
tinuing influence. He pointed oul
that some 300,000 -fornig ;
colonialists had come to Portugal:
These people are in the mail, |
fascists or fascist supporters. O! —
these, 300,000 are out of work, hav
time on their hands and are

potentially dangerous right-win8 |

forces. .

“Because of the sensationalis™
of Canadian newspapers i?
reporting violence, I could not helP
but ask about the level of violenc®
and the number .of deaths. ‘Cet
tainly there have been deaths,’ was
his reply, but he said, ‘can you tel
me where else fascism has bee?
overthrown with only 20 to 30
deaths. in total?’

.“As an aside I sheds what
Canada’s political role should be i?
regard to Portugal. ‘The best role
you can play,’ he said, ‘the, pest
help that you can. give to our
revolution, is to go ahead with you!”
own revolution.’ ”