50 YEARS AGO

By FRED WILSON

“We might as well settle this today,”
Chief of Police W. Foster thought to him-
self as he stood silent on the gently curving
road to Ballantyne Pier. He would not have
to wait long.

A few more minutes passed as he was
joined by about five others. Three of them
were Mounties dressed in their red tunics.
Small groups of newspapermen and
onlookers assembled along the roadside.

It was about a quarter past one in the
afternoon, Tuesday, June 18, 1935, when
the first voices could be heard. A chorus of
men’s voices singing old war songs. It grew
louder as they marched down Heatley
Avenue to Vancouver's waterfront.

As the parade crossed Alexander Street it
came into full view. They numbered in the
thousands — five thousand according to
the Vancouver Sun. At their head waved a
Union Jack and marching beside it, leading
the massive procession, was Mickey
O’Rourke. The Victoria Cross that he won
during the First World War hung over his
shoulder.

They were longshoremen. They had been
on strike for two weeks since their employ-
ers, the Shipping Federation had, on June 4,
declared the collective agreement at an end,
locking them out.

Across Alexander Street they came,
heading toward the railroad tracks that
crossed the road. With them were seamen,
lumberworkers and others who worked on
the waterfront. The Longshore Women’s
Auxiliary walked with the union men as
one.

The mission was to talk to the scabs on
the pier, to reason with them and call them
out on the picket lines. And as important,
they wanted to assert, the right of entry to
the waterfront so that pickets could be
placed on the docks. With this right denied

This story first appeared in the Apr. 25, 1975
issue of the Tribune.

16 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MAY,1, 1985

by armed police at strategic points, the
strike was suffering.

As the strikers approached, Foster led a
delegation over the tracks to meet them.
Well placed boxcars partially hid from view
the battalion of police behind. Some words
were exchanged. The men affirmed their
determination to carry on.

Suddenly, a shell fired into the column of
strikers...and another. O’Rourke put a
handerchief to his eyes as the tear gas fumes
descended on him.

he crowd pushed forward, knocking

F two mounties to the ground. Then

from behind the boxcars the horses

charged, mounted policemen swinging

clubs viciously. The charge continued
through the centre of the column.

It was the war veterans in the front lines
that were hit first and hardest. Many were
trampled under the galloping hoofs. The
““Cossacks,” as the B.C. Workers’ News
labelled them, rode up the dirt street crack-
ing skulls with batons. The column of strik-
ers broke ranks and fled in every direction.
Police cars were by then screaming down
Heatley toward Ballantyne. Shotguns,
blasted from the windows of the cars, felled
men as they ran from the scene. Police on
foot followed up to complete the operation.

In a matter of minutes the roadway had
been cleared. But the bloodletting went on
for more than four hours. As pockets of
strikers went in different directions they
were chased and clubbed down. The horses
continued the rampage along Alexander
Street, and up Heatley Avenue on to the
verandahs of homes, trampling men,
women and children — and still swinging
the bloody sticks.

“An orgy of sadism” the B.C. Workers’
News said. Two youths suffered gun
wounds. Scores more were hospitalized.
The Women’s Auxiliary set up a first aid
station at the union hall, about five blocks
away. Even there tear gas bombs were
hurled through the windows.

The gassing and fighting were unrelent-
ing. Raids were made on homes in the area
and bombs shot through windows of tene-

ment building. Until about five o’clock it
continued. Before it was over some ven-
geance had been reaped. The Sun reported
nine policemen in hospital.

It is remembered as the Battle of Ballan-
tyne Pier. It was truly as the Vancouver
Province commented “the bloodiest hours
in waterfront history.”

No one really expected the savagery of
the attack. No one except for the Shipping
Federation, the police and Mayor Gerry
McGeer. The longshoremen were set up at
Ballantyne, ambushed. It was not for some
time until the men, and their leaders,
acquired a clear picture of the much larger
ambush — the 1935 strike itself.

“Vancouver will no longer tolerate
communist agitators who incite to riot,”
tailed McGeer. The mayor ordered the
arrest of Ivan Emery, president of the Long-
shoremen and Water Transport Workers,
on charges of inciting to riot. Emery was
arrested by noon on Wednesday, June 19.
McGeer boasted to the Vancouver Sun,
“Communism has not taken control of
Canada yet.”

The well-orchestrated mop up brought in
24 men. Oscar Salonen, business agent for
the Vancouver and District Waterfront
Workers Association, also arrested for
alleged “inciting to riot,” gained release on
$3,000 bail, arranged by the Canadian
Labor Defence League (CLDL). The
CLDL secured the release of all those
arrested, excepting Emery who remained in
Oakalla prison until set free on $5,000 bail
on June 25. Thomas Nelson, district secre-
tary of the CLDL, was himself arrested for
his efforts in arranging bail and legal
defence.

On June 20, McGeer banned picketing
on the waterfront. “The city will not grant
relief to strike families,” he declared, “this
would only be subsidizing revolutionary
activity.”

Beaten up, their leaders arrested, and
then outlawed and starved, the strikers
remained solid. A massive unity conference
at the Orange Hall in Vancouver hosted
delegates from 30 unions. The conference

gust th

pledged “full financial and moral support
Strike bulletins were issued daily and!
“Central Relief Restaurant” for lon}
shoremen and seamen was established ©
Powell Street.

The spirit of solidarity steeled the strikef
to their cause. A membership meeting Ju?
26 in Vancouver’s Moose Hall recorded?
vote of 576 for and 66 against contin’
the strike. A similar meeting in New W
minster voted 236 for, 50 against rema
solid with Vancouver dockers. ;

As July began, the Seafarer’s Indus i
Union in Victoria went out in sympat) NY
Dockers in Victoria, Port Alberni, Chet
nus and Powell River likewise left their joe

American longshoremen, members *
the International Longshoremen’s Asso
tion (ILA), in Portland, Seattle, San F:
cisco and Tacoma voted to declare B:
cargo unfair.

By the end of the first week in July
Shipping Federation had completed ©
first phase of its plan — a coastwide stt®
The course of events was well planned. +”
bloody battle of Ballantyne was the prow
cation needed to unveil the full wa
the employers and their state machine. —

scar Salonen, writing in the

Workers’ News Aug. 9, cae

employers’ plot back to 1934 #
the victory of American ‘ongshorenil
the bitter strike which seized every port ®
the Pacific cost of the U.S. Under the
leadership of Harry Bridges, the ILA hat)
one fell swoop secured union recognitid
the union hiring hall, and a six-hour day

As Salonen related, this precipitate -@
conference of shipping magnates in
1935 and the hiring of a Mr. Hall who
commissioned to prepare a report “UP
when the crushing blow could be m@
upon longshoremen” and in so do!
thwart any similar development am
Canadian workers. A few months later B
was elevated to president of the Ship?”
Federation at a salary of $10,000 ee q
His plan had been approved. 4

The longshoremen, though, had pla

see 1935 page 17