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—Sean Griffin photo

‘Berna ; ?
Chile rdo Arrano discussing his deportation appeal with Maria McLeod from the Canadians for Democracy in

a By MAURICE RUSH

Working Voice in the B.C.
sti 2 Class movement was
12, et last Friday, April
Dass William (Bill) Stewart
Short i Way at the age of 61 after a
Wi ness. His death leaves us

ad
loss “°€P Sense of sorrow and

bie! Stewart's
§ 8ap in th

Cinada ist Movement in B.C. and
having grt 8S a national figure,
Mtiong] jueuished himself at

Stryp too? gatherings and in
Chant able for a Canadian mer-
leadin arine, for which he was a

It is diff; €sman.

Strong “ficult to believe that the
Which sjritant and clear voice
Wil not he > sade so much sense,
of labor. €ard again in the halls
i ~ €specially in these

ng ti
Movements for the working class

r

Sewareer® than 40 years Bill
Wi man Mame was associated
the won 0! the big struggles of
better life © People of B.C. for a
later 2 in S
is moved,

passing leaves a

- Andrews, his family
= ‘to Glasgow. At the age
Son af 7 petated to Canada and
he was invae wttival in Vancouver
Bahize Volved in the struggle to
Hote) ae bus boys at the old
abilitie ev ouver. His leadership
Carly Eye on him recognition at an
already busi eu He Was 22 he was
of tha wSiess agent of Local 28

e
Natkers te! and Restaurant
n

829 :
Union ian the youngest trade
ety Stites. Canada, Bill led
© union tussles which saw
largest on quickly into the
“OuVven 4 St affiliate of the Van-
cut Bill istrict Labor Council.
ities iene not limit his ac-
iecthe to Rae the Hungry Thirties
der, yy, Ution of which he was
ii me Tealized early in life
Cir stg of working people in
“OU of th gle was the heart and
Wag, ef Sht for a better life. He
&me, In all
te Hine of that generation: On
ietting faront of the workers
the basic ®t union organization in
® strug av Service industries, in
ahd in, Egles y
reainst fa Struggle for peace and
®nking “'S™ then threatening

the great

th

the eoreak of World War
ding ; ©XPansion of the ship-
Ustry on the coast, Bill

€ trade union and.

of the unemployed, .

Cc .
ommittee. (See story this page.)

TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM STEWART

‘A powerful voice st

went to work as a plate hanger and
joined the Boilermakers’ Union
which grew rapidly from less than
one hundred members to over
17,000. :

Bill’s. leadership’ abilities soon
rose to the surface, and when a new
executive was elected in

‘December, 1942 with Bill as

president and Malcolm McLeod as
secretary, the Canadian Congress
of Labor president A. R. Mosher
moved in and placed the union
under trusteeship. ;

The struggle of the shipyard
workers against the dictatorial
action of the Congress officials and
for trade union democracy shaped
the whole labor movement in B.C.
in the early months of World War
II. It culminated with an open alr
rally of 6,000 members at Athletic
Park and saw the workers win a
victory over bureaucracy. :

In 1947, the B.C. shipyard unions
united in the Shipyard and General
Workers’: Federation of B.C., and
elected him president, a position he
held until his death. A measure of
the high regard in which his fellow

‘workers held him: is to be seen in

the fact that at the time of his death
Bill was a vice president of the B.C.

Federation of Labor, and executive
member of the Vancouver and
District Labor Council and
chairman of its organizing com-
mittee, as well as holding the post
of secretary in his union, the
Marine Workers’ and Boiler-
makers’ Union.

The workers knew and trusted
Bill, a trust and respect they
learned in over 40 years of labor
struggle in B.C. They knew him as
a militant champion of trade union
unity, as a strong advocate of
autonomy and democracy and for
a sovereign and independent
Canadian trade union movement,
as a strong advocate of in-
ternational solidarity of all
working people regardless of
country. E

Bill grew up with a deep working
class consciousness. Early in life
he answered the question, “Which
side are you on?” He knew he was
a son of the working class and that
his lot was with the working class.

That deep class consciousness
was the outstanding feature of
Bill’s lifelong activities in the
labor movement. It was this that
enabled Bill to become a good
working class leader, able to see

4a

WILLIAM STEWART

Arrano‘s fate hangs
on May 15 decision

When the federal immigration
department announced some
weeks ago, only days after
agreement was reached to grant
asylum to Chilean refugees, its
intention to deport Bernardo
Arrano to his native Chile seemed
a decision without basis and
without explanation.

And now, after three im-
migration appeal board hearings
and entanglements of red tape,
there is still no logical explanation
for the immigration department
decision which, if carried out,
could mean death in fascist Chile
for Arrano. .

The Tribune, along with Maria
McLeod from the Canadians for
Democracy in Chile committee,
interviewed Arrano last Saturday
and although he seemed at ease as

illed’

and understand the class nature of
society. His understanding that the
enemy of the working class was the
capitalist class, and that workers
had to use tactics which would
defeat the bosses’ manoeuvres,
made him a master tactician in
labor’s struggles.

Over the years many groups of
workers and unions sought out his
advice and got his help in
negotiations and strikes to win
their struggle with employers.

* *

Bill Stewart saw beyond the
immediate economic struggles of
the workers. He realized that labor
had to wage a constant fight
against the boss for a decent living,
but that it also had to raise its
sights in the political struggle. It
was not enough, he often said, just
to fight against exploitation. It was
necessary to unite the workers and
to end the system of exploitation
itself.

It was this understanding that
brought Bill in his early years to
join the Communist Party and
work to end capitalist exploitation.
Throughout his active life in the
labor movement, Bill was a
member of the Communist Party,
often running for election on the
Communist ticket, and when he
died was a member of the Party’s
provincial: committee.

It was my good fortune to have
known Bill both as a comrade and
friend over the last 40 years. His
active mind, warm sense of humor,
and deep knowledge and ex-
perience made any association
with him a warm and rewarding
one. We shall miss him dearly.
Thousands of working people in
B.C. and across Canada will join in
expressing sympathy to his wife
Barbara and his sisters Chris
Stewart and Mrs. Margaret
Haynes.

Bill was proud of his Scottish
working class ancestry. But it was
no narrow pride. It was pride in the
contribution of his native Scotland
and its militant working class in
the world-wide struggle of labor for
a better life.

Bill’s philosophy was best
summed up in the lines of Robbie
Burns which Bill so often recited at
Robbie Burns nights. These lines
are a fitting memorial to. Bill
Stewart because they express the

we talked in the sunlit yard, the
thought of impending deportation
was always with him.

His fate is to be decided May 15
when the federal court will rule on

- the latest recommendation of the

immigration appeal board.

The appeal board’s recom-
mendation — to a large extent, the
result of resolutions and letters of
support for Arrano — represents a
compromise on the initial
deportation order but hardly
seems any more logical. Essen-
tially the recommendation is for
Arrano to go to a neutral country
and then reapply for entry into
Canada.

But it affords little consolation
for him. “If the government is
genuine in its intention to let me
stay. in Canada,” he asked, ‘“‘why is
it necessary to go first to another
country?”

The question is one that anyone
in similar circumstances would
ask — except the immigration
department. Legally, immigration
minister Andras argues, he has no
jurisdiction over the immigration
appeal board and its ruling must be
carried out before he can grant
readmission. The only alternative
is to attempt to have the im-
migration appeal board decision
overturned by the federal court,
the course which Arrano’s lawyer,
Don Rosenbloom, has taken.

A major problem plaguing the
immigration hearings has been
poor translation, a problem Arrano
hopes can be overcome in the
federal court case.

In the first two appeal board
hearings the translator assigned to
the case was only partially fluent
in Spanish and several inac-
curacies were recorded. In ex-
plaining the political orientation of
MAPU — one of the parties of
Popular Unity for whom Arrano
worked as a community volunteer
— Arrano was mistranslated and
recorded as having stated that it
was to the left of the Communist
Party and did not support Allende.
This in turn led to the impression
being left that Arrano was a
terrorist.

A new translator, hired first by
Rosenbloom and subsequently
assigned by the court for the May
15 hearing interpreted in the third
hearing and the greater clarity
may well have figured in the
modification of the immigration
department’s position.

But Arrano’s stay in Canada
depends largely on public support.
Already, hundreds of people have
voiced their protest over the
government’s bureaucratic ruling,
coming as it did after public
pressure had forced Canada to
open its doors to refugees. Several
organizations including the
Vancouver Area Council of the
NDP and the Canadians for
Democracy in Chile have sent
telegrams to Andras calling for the
deportation order to be rescinded.

FUNERAL SERVICE

Funeral services for William Stewart
is being held Wed., April 17 at 2:30
p.m. at the Legion Hall, 49th and
Fraser. The PT will carry a story on the
tributes next week.

great goal to which he devoted his
whole life.
Then let us pray that come it may,
As come it will for a’ that,
That sense and worth, o’er a’ the
earth,
May bear the gree and a’ that
For a’ that, and a’ that —
It’s comin’ yet, for a’ that,
When man to man, the warld o’er,
Shall brithers be for a’ that.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 1974—PAGE 3