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Commentary

Eighth annual

May Day recognized

TERRACE — The
eighth annual May Day
recognizing May 1 as an
international working
class holiday will be
acknowledged by local
residents tomorrow.

by Paul Johnston
Member of the
Carpenter’s Union

The carpenters union
was chosen to lead strike
action for the shortened
work day on the first in-
ternational May Day in
1890. It was an action
that won shorter hours
for 55,000 carpenters in
North America.

May Day is now an in-

ternational day for
workers with its roots
traceable to 1886 in the
United States. On that
Saturday, 200,000
workers downed tools
and joined 150,000
others in mass
demonstrations in vir-
tually every major city.
The eight hour demand
was central to the action.

With the exception of
a few short years, the
1870s and 1880 were a
period of economc
depression. It was this
period that people in the
thirties referred to as the
‘great depression.

_ In’Europe, there was
continuing war and con-
flict. In Germany the
mass struggle that had
begun in 1848 continued.
In France, there was on-
going repression follow-
ing the defeat of the
Paris commune in 1871.
In Britain, social and
working conditions were
being challenged by
organization amongst
groups such as the gas
workers and dock
workers. The great dock
strike of 1889 proved to
be a watershed for the
British working class,

Immigrants to
Canada, attracted by the
opening of the west,
found a harsh life
whether they settled in
Montreal, Hamilton,
Toronto or on the
Prairies.

In British Columbia,
miners fought the
Dunsmuir empire in the
coal fields of Vancouver
Island, Our own Nor-
thwest was still basically
untouched by the emerg-
ing new system. For the
most part the economy
was still based upon
native self-sufficency.
This had been strengthed
by the introduction of
new trades and techni-
ques on a community
level in settlements such
as Metlakatla. The
regional gold rush of the
1880s had brought in a
few new residents.

The one major excep-
tion was in the fishing in-
dustry. A major cannery

gle.

was in operation at Port
Essington. It was sus-
tained by a native
workforce and native
fishermen. Low pay and
poor conditions led to
organization and strike
action on the Skeena in
1894, They were the first
here to form a union.

This was also the time
of the Northwest
rebellion and the execu-
tion of Louis Riel. It was
the time of the CPR, a
railroad built by the
Irish, Chinese and other
laborers.

In the United States, it
was also a time of strug-
The resistance
against ever-increasing
wage cuts and unrelieved
unemployment exploded
in 1877, as rail workers
and others spread in-
dustrial action across the
country.

Not all those in posi-
tions of power were as
unthinking. President
Grover Cleveland in his
message to Congress
stated: ‘“‘As we view the
achievements of ag-
gregated capital, we
discover the existence of
trusts, combinations and
monopolies, while the
citizen is struggling far in
the rear or is trampled to
death under the iron
heel. Corporations,
which should be careful-
ly restrained creatures of
the law and the servants
of the people, are fast
becoming the people’s
masters,..””

It was in this context
that the mass demonstra-
tions of May I, 1886
took place. This victory
did not, however, go
unanswered. Chicago
was the center of union
militancy. On May 3,
police attacked strikers
at McCormick
Harvester. Six were
reported killed; four shot
in the back.

A mass protest rally
was called for May 4 at
Haymarket Square. At
the end of the rally, as
the crowd dwindled, the
police attacked again.
someone tossed a bomb
into the police lines.
Eight were killed.

Although they were
not in the vicinity at the
time, eight anarchists
were charged with
murder. Eventually, four
were executed.

History has intimately
connected the
Haymarket massacre
and its aftermath with
May Day. Defence of the
innocents took on inter-
national proportions. It

was a rallying point for.

the eight hour movement
and deeply affected the
delegates to the 1889
convention of the Inter-
national Workingmen’s
Association.

Local residents Leanne Power (left),Su
mation about Pacific Tidewater Industr

arena on the weekend.

sie Munson, Jorgie Alexander,
ial Auto of Thornhill by Joe Sullivan (back, center),

"ey

Neil Downey and lan Hamilton (right) are given infor-
during the Trades Fair held at the

Terrace Review — Wednesday, April 30, 1986 13

Ee

Manager of Northern Computer Concepts In Terrace, Mike Schmiderer (jeft), explains some

of the computer techniques to Hennie Cook.

Daniele Berquis! photo

Workers get recognition

To the editor,
April 28 has bee
declared by the Cana-
dian Labour Congress as
the day to formally
recognize the hundreds
of Canadian workers
killed on the job each
year and the additional
tens of thousands of
workers who have been
injured or disabled, The
Canadian Labour Con-
gress urged all Cana-
dians to formally
recognize the day of

mourning.

The pain and suffering
and sacrifice made by
workers and their
families often goes
unrecognized by society.
The death of a
policeman killed on the
job rightfully if mourned
by society as a whole. It
receives national
coverage and the loss to

etter

society is acknowledged.
But the workplace death
of a hydro lineman or a
truck driver or an
assembly-line-worker or
a welfare worker — who
also serve society — goes
almost unreported and
few mourn except a
small circle of family,
friends and co-workers.
April 28 was the An-
nual National Day of

Mourning as it was on

this date that the first
Workers’ Compensation
legislation was enacted in
Canada (Ontario, 1914).
The Kitimat-Terrace &
District Labour Council
would like to thank those
organizations and in-
dividuals who have
shown support for
this first annual day of
recognition for those
workers who have
sacrificed their lives for
Canadian society.

Jim Lamb, President
Kitimat-Terrace &
District Labour Council

The Results from a Classified Adare...

Something To
Crow About

635-4339

e.

Local man
may be

1 millionth
Rotarian

TERRACE — A new
member of the Rotary
Club of Terrace may be
the world’s one millionth
Rotarian.

The names of: local
residents Bill Smith and
Stan Turner were admit-
ted to membership the
week of Feb. 17 when the
world’s first and most in-
ternational service club
association passed the
one millicn member
milestone.

The one millionth
Rotarian is being deter-
mined in a random draw-
ing by Rotary Interna-
tional President Edward
F, Cadman from the
names of all new
Rotarians worldwide ad-
mitted during the week.
He will be honored on
June 1 at the organiza-
tion’s international con-
vention in Las Vegas,
Nevada, U.S.A.

Feb. 23 marked the
anniversary of the
founding of Rotary in
Chicago, Illinois,
U.S.A., in 1905. Now, at
the beginning of
Rotary’s 82nd year,
there are more than one
million Rotarians in over
22,000 Rotary clubs to
be found in 160 different
countries and geo-
graphical regions.

Along with its growth
in numbers, Rotary has
broadened its service ac-
tivities to benefit youth,
the disabled, the elderly,
and the community as a
whole.

In Terrace, for exam-
ple, welcome signs have
been erected, tennis

continued on page 24