FIGHTING EVICTIONS Continued from page 7 May, although notices to evict could be issued at any time. In early 1944 it suddenly became apparent that there were hundreds of evic- tion notices pending when the evic- tion freeze came off. The labor movement responded to the new crisis with the same energy as the unemployed did in 1932. Only now, with the mainstream of the labor movement under left and Communist leader- ship, the demand for solutions to the crisis was more powerful. The Vancouver Labor Council, the Dock and Shipyard Workers: Union, and the Labor Progressive Party (LPP) spearheaded a dynamic and demonstrative hous- ing campaign aimed at the federal government and Vancouver city council. In March of 1944, 50 organizations met in a conference sponsored by the LPP led Con- sumers’ Council and founded the **5,000 Homes Now Committee’, headed by an outspoken and able LPP organizer John McPeake. The CCF initially joined in the 5,000 Homes Now Committee, but soon pulled out when the commit- tee refused to adopt CCF policy. Ironically, the issue on which the CCF broke was the first breakthrough in the troubled hous- ing scene: the federal government’s National Housing Act which of- fered loans to builders and in- troduced programs for low rental and co-op housing. The CCF found it expedient to oppose the Liberal plan, calling it a subsidy to private developers The federal ple plan, however, re- quired local partners to provide land and the labor movement turn- ed its heat on Vancouver city coun- cil, which was less than enthusiastic to the idea of a major housing pro- gram which would “undermine property values.” As the months of 1944 passed by the crisis only worsened, com- pounded by the return of veterans, and by the influx of additional soldiers and workers as the war front shifted to the Pacific. Month by month the eviction toll mounted, adding to the thousands on the urgent list of the Emergency Shelter Administra- tion. Most victims were families of servicemen still overseas. And in answer to their desperation, the housing pickets re-appeared on Vancouver streets. It was the Communists who began the picketing in July, draw- ing on the tactics many of them had helped devise in the depression. But they soon had help from others. In August the Pacific Command of the Canadian Legion blasted the evictions of servicemen’s families “‘while their husbands died on the beaches of Normandy”’ and labell- ed it “black treachery.’’ “T may be called a red, but sooner that than not act at all,” said the Legion’s B.C. president Jack Henderson. Legion pickets appeared at evictions on East Pender, Kingsway.and in Burnaby. The eviction cycle was repeated in the spring and summer of 1945, but by then the labor movement was better prepared. In July, 200 LPP members blocked the eviction of Pat Walsh at a mass meeting in front of Walsh’s home addressed by union leaders and LPP city secretary Elgin Ruddell who head- ed a new committee, the Citizen’s . Emergency Housing Committee. The trade union movement was also poised to take action and July 19 pickets from the Vancouver Labor Council successfully stop- ped the eviction of a woman whose husband was overseas. The Van- couver Sun reported that day: “Sheriff Frank Keill lost a battle on the eviction front . . . as his helpers carried furniture from the home of Mrs. William Poutney, 1984 W. 6 Ave., pickets carried it back in. Sheriff’s men took it out’the front door and as fast as they did, the May Day Greetings Lower Mainland Yugoslav Pensioners Club | 1944 PICKET . Vet -erede sinloniebe and neighbors at eviction of Mrs. Bowman, August 19, 1944. In the middle is B.C. Federation of Labor secretary and IWA president Harold Pritchett. pickets returned it through the back door.”’ Ed Leary, president of the Van- couver Labor Council, told reporters that the council ‘‘is right behind all evictees until houses are provided for them.’’ George Brown of the Shipwrights Union called on unionists to “hold them- selves in readiness for picket duty.”’ “‘Vancouver’s growing picket army has been on duty at four homes for over 1,500 hours since the current eviction wave began 10 days ago,”’ the Sun said July 23, 1945. The actions had caught the at- tention not only of the city, but across Canada. Vancouver city council finally joined in the call for a freeze on the evictions and a delegation was dispatched to Ot- tawa. July 25, the Wartime Prices Control Board made its startling announcement. that all eviction notices in the country were suspended, and a freeze placed on further evictions. With the announcement of the freeze on evictions, federal finance minister J. L. Isley also authorized construction of 10,000 low rental homes, of which 1,200 were later allotted to Vancouver. In August the city provided 150 lots east and west of Fraser St., between 34 Ave. and 38 Ave., and work finally began on ‘solving a 15-year old housing crisis. However before the federal housing program brought this era of housing struggles to a close in the post war years, there would be one more eviction fight which showed vividly the potential conflict when the “‘right”’ to profit from a basic need like housing is counterposed to the right of people for secure shelter. And it showed which rights this economic and polince! system upholds. The federal eviction order allow- ed landlords recourse to the courts, - and lawyer Drew Pratt, president of the Civic Non Partisan Associa- tion, secured an eviction notice on behalf of a landlord to force a Chi- nese family to vacate their home at 540 Gore Ave. The Grandview club of the LPP had been picketing the home of ‘Gee Yet Laurence Chen, a Chinese painter, and his family since July when on Nov. 2, 1945 city Sheriff Frank Keill came to put the family , Out. Also suporting the Chen family was the Tenants and Owners League and its firebrand president Effie Jones. The League later charged the judge who ordered the eviction with racism and demanded his removal from the bench, but that charge was overshadowed by the ugly scene at the Chen home. . Keill, once called by the Van- - couver Sun, ‘‘the most benevolent evictor in Canada’, was drunk when he arrived at the Chen’s about 11 a.m. Several members of the Dock and Shipyard Workers Union were prepared to testify that they had witnessed him drinking that morning. Inside the house, the Chens and supporters locked the doors and prepared to sit in. One of the Chen’s four children, an 11 year old girl, was seriously ill with in- fluenza and the family were afraid to move her. Moreover, there was nowhere to go. As the sheriff and his men ap- proached the house, one ‘‘burly assistant pushed aside a bystander, who flew a fist,’’ witnessed a Sun May Day Greetings on the 90th anniversary of Ukrainian settlement in Canada 1891-1981. Association of United Ukrainian Canadians Contributing to the unity and progress of our country and helping to achieve univer- sal peace and brotherhood. SZC PET Banquet 6:30 p.m. MAY DAY GREETINGS to our Members and Supporters FEDERATION OF RUSSIAN-CANADIANS 600 Campbell Ave. CELEBRATE MAY DAY WITH US Sat., May 2 Dance 8:30 PACIFIC TRIBUNEMAY 1,).3981—Page 8 reporter. Several others were drawn into the fight and three Chen supporters were arrested. Keill proceeded to the back door and unable to pry it open, a heavy boot kicked in the lower door panel. As the door opened up an empty bottle soared through the opening past him. According to the Sun reporter, “the burly law of- ficer splintered another panel with his fist, seized the iron bar and broke the door to kindling wood.” Before he could enter ‘‘a sheet of cold water sailed through the door and caught him in the face.” Keill then “‘ran in, bar raised’’ only to be hurled back moments later. Keill left, his assistants and the pickets stalemated, to. return with the police who were greeted with jeers and insults as they crossed the street. But it was over for the Chens. Caroline MacFarlan, LPP Grandview club organizer, had badly bruised legs, and Walter Gawrycki, another LPP member, had been hit several times on the arms and body by the iron bar. While the attack on the Chen - home was in progress, LPP provin- cial leader Nigel Morgan led a delegation of trade unionists to. protest the incident to mayor J. W. Cornett, but there was no sym- pathy at cityhall. — . Three days later Effie Jones stormed into a meeting of the city’s social service committee and hurled the crow bar which had been wield- ed by Keill down on the city hall board table, and demanded the im- mediate firing of Keill. William White, president of the Boilermakers Union, added this account of Keill’s conduct: ‘‘With all the amusement and pleasure of 4 sadistic Nazi storm trooper, he took the crow. bar and said, ‘Watch the fun.’ “The. stove was wrecked, fur- niture and clothing carried on to the street and left in the rain. We ask city council to condemn this ac- tion.” Cornett, however, was more concerned with the impact of the crow bar on his board room table, than on the property of the Chenis, or the ribs of Gawrycki. “If this isn’t stopped, not a working class family will be safe in their homes,’’ LPP provincial organizer Tom McEwen told the Sun outside the Chenhome Nov. 2. - The Chen eviction was not stop- — ped, but more than a decade of struggle had aready proven that a working class family is only as safe in their home as they are strong in organization.