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THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

PUBLICATION SCORED:

IWA HISTORY CALLED ANTI-COMMUNIST GARBAGE

The Editor:

Having read the January
1971 issue of the Lumber
Worker, which features the
article entitled, ‘I.W.A.
Salutes Past — Challenges
Future,” as an active member
of the I.W.A., since 1943, my
conscience does not permit me
to remain silent, when
responsible officers of our
union use the Lumber Worker
to publish such inaccuracies,
distortions of fact, and
deliberate lies in the form of an
historic document. Surely such
a publication could contain
some honesty and objectivity
and give credit where credit is
due, instead of the cheap anti-

communist garbage that
permeates the entire
publication.

An example of distortion of
fact can be seen in the failure
to mention the leadership role
played by individuals until
after 1948, when Alsbury,
Fieber and Morris are
presented as saviours of the
union, while Dalskog, Pritchett
and Morgan, are the villains-as
though it were a Hollywood
movie. The truth of the matter
of course is, that it was largely
an active minority of militants
both communist and non
communists alike who were
the real leaders and builders of

,the union on the job. They
subsequently were the people
that formed the core of the

Labor and the cause of free
speech suffered setbacks in
March when the Supreme
Court of Canada ruled that
demonstrators on shopping
plazas can be charged with
trespassing.

“Woodworkers Industrial
Union of Canada,” not as a plot
as the article. alleges, but
rather as a result of in-
terference in the internal af-
fairs of the union by the U.S.
State Department. The In-
ternational Union did not
object to this interference as
its leaders below the border
were supporters of the political
party that implemented this
policy. This dispute came to a
head when the Canadian
Delegation was stopped at the
border from attending an
I.W.A., Convention in Por-
tland.

Looking at this period in

retrospect it is quite un-.

derstandable why USS.
Capitalists exerted pressure on
the unions to get rid of the
Communists, as it is the
Communists that are the most
vociferous opponents of foreign
investment and control of our
economy.

Any objective criticism of
the leadership at that time
must be that they panicked,
and failed to take the question
of Canadian Unionism to the
membership; suggesting that
it was a Communist plot is a
cheap political lie reminiscent
of the cold war.

Typical of the ivory tower
mentality of the writer, the
article makes reference only to
the activities of the top
echelons of the union in 1949, no

The court dismissed an
appeal from Jim Peters,
president of the Brampton,
Ont., United Auto Workers
Local 1285. He was convicted of
trespassing in 1969 after his
arrest while passing out

leaflets outside a store that

mention is made of what was
taking place on the job.

The I.W.A., would not have
been as successful in
reorganizing had it not been for
two important factors that are
not mentioned, which are (1)
The W.I.U.C. leadership
having failed to form a unified
Canadian Union and
recognizing the futility of dual
unionism, decided to fold up
and did so, except for a small
group in the Interior. (2) The
employers, government and
news media threw their sup-
port behind the I.W.A., the
employers saw the I.W.A., as
the lesser of the two evils. The
result was that many of the
union activists withheld their
activity, causing the ef-
fectiveness. of the Camp
Committees to go into decline;
a decline from which we have
never recovered, as there are
still camps were the com-
mittees exist in name only.

The real crime of which the
post 1949 leadership is guilty, is
that many woodworkers who
were the builders of the union
were barred from membership
through guilt by association,
during the anti - communist
hysteria, the remains of which
are still present. Not one
barred member had an op-
portunity to present his case to
a fair union trial jury or the

sold California table grapes
during the grape boycott.
Toronto civil rights lawyer
Aubrey Golden argued un-
successfully that the Ontario
Petty Trespass Act violated

WHALEN

Th’ differenc

trade...over here he just picks up!

eis...in the’ old country ... where you come from an apprentice picks upa

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membership at large. Today,
twenty-two years after the
event there are still workers
who have not had the op-
portunity of a fair hearing.

In the light of these facts how
does the Administration of the
I.W.A., dare speak of injustice
elsewhere?

Attempts, indeed were made
by Officers of the I.W.A., to
bring back into the union, such
barred members by ex-
tortionist means, while others
were brought back through the
back door, instead of the
proper constitutional
procedures.

In condemnation of the pre
1948 leadership the article
accuses them of arrogance. It
is not my intention to defend
them on that score, however as
an active member who has had
the experience of being sub-
jected to arrogance by both
groups, I can assure you that
the pre 1948 group could not
even hold a candle for what we
have to contend with today.

In conclusion I would suggest
that Saluting The Past, without
proper recognition of the
sacrifices made, is
meaningless. The Challenge of
the Future must include the
restoration of honesty and
integrity into the organization.

I would request that this
communication be published in

Mr. Peters’ freedom of speech
and expression. Although the
shopping centre is private
property, he argued,
trespassing laws can’t be used
against peaceful demon-
strators because the public is
invited onto the property.
Property rights prevailed,
however.

Unionists or anyone else with
a cause should be allowed to
approach the public on
shopping centres, Mr. Golden
said. The case would have
provided a back-door way to
operate a secondary boycott
had the court agreed with Mr.
Golden.

Mr. Golden declared that the
shopping centre owners did not
possess enough control or
ownership over easements
granted to the public on
sidewalks and parking lots to
use the trespass act against
demonstrators. The court
disagreed.

He also asserted that the act
is criminal law, something
provinces can’t legislate,
according to the British North
America Act. At Mr. Peters
first trial, the case was
dismissed when the judge
ruled, basically, that what’s
legal on the street is legal on
the shopping centre. But a
higher court imposed a $10
fine.

LIGHTER SIDE

Kamloops Katie says her
girl friend has been marri
so many times she’s the only
girl in town with a wash-and-
wear bridal gown.

the next issue of the Lumber
Worker.
Fraternally yours,
Nick Chernoff

Editor's note:

Brother Chernoff in accusing
the officers of distorting facts,
deliberate lies, and anti-
Communist garbage, skips
over one fact hard to ignore.
The people he is defending
were kicked out of office by the
IWA membership in 1948, for
attempting to control the Union
for their own purposes.

To kindly suggest that out of
panic, the Communist leaders
failed to allow the membership
the right of vote on disaf-
filiating with the International
Union, is naive. It wasn’t out of
panic that these leaders
siphoned IWA funds to the
Communist Party nor was it
out of panic that they were
fully committed to follow any
policy the Communist Party
dictated.

In light of this it is difficult to
hold any brief for them.

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