Review

Secession of WIUC
divided membership,
isolated left leaders

Continued from page 23

At the District Council meeting, after a
lengthy discussion, the delegates adopted a
resolution instructing the officers to “take
any and all steps which in their discretion
they deem necessary to fully protect and
Preserve the assets, funds, and property of
the membership at present contained in B.C.
District Council No. 1 IWA.” Following
that, the delegates decided by a unanimous
standing vote to disaffiliate from the Inter-
national and establish the Woodworkers In-
dustrial Union of Canada.

It soon became clear that they had made
a serious mistake. Locals that affiliated to
the WIUC soon found that many obstacles
were placed in their way by the state and
employers, and returned to the IWA. Cer-
tifications were denied by the Labour Rela-
tions Board. Many employers came out
against the WIUC and announced they
would only honour the contract with the
IWA. The White Bloc, which now was in
control of the IWA, applied for court injunc-
tions which tied up the top leadership of the
WIUC in court actions and injunctions.
Emie Dalskog served a one-month prison
sentence for refusing to obey an injunction
to turn over property to the [WA.

The communist and left leadership had
seriously miscalculated the situation. They
overestimated the preparedness of the mem-
bership to form a new union even though the
sentiment for a Canadian union was high.
Their precipitate action confused and divi-
ded the workers. Large numbers of wood-
workers, who only two years before had
joined the TWA during the 1946 strike, and
many others who had struggled for years to
build the IWA, were not now prepared to
forma new union. The leadership of the
union were out of touch with the real senti-
ment among the rank and file and what their
reaction would be to the action that was
taken.

They also underestimated the role of the
State and its agencies and the commitment
to an anti-communist policy. They underes-
timated the power of the big forest com-
panies to put pressure on the membership,
and government, to oust the militant leader-
ship of the IWA. The employers preferred to
deal with a new leadership which would be
more co-operative, less militant, and who
would collaborate with the employers. The
left leadership of the TWA and the com-
munist leadership in B.C. underestimated
the role of the right wing leadership of the
CCL and the right wing social democrats
who were able to mobilize many CCF sup-
porters to back the White Bloc. A major
share of the responsibility for the mistake
and miscalculation of the real situation must
Test on the provincial executive of the
Labour Progressive Party which supported
the breakaway.

Looking back, from the vantage point of
hindsight, the question must be posed: was
there any other alternative course the left
leadership of the [WA could have taken to
defeat the right wing attack on the leadership
and policies of the B.C. district? The authors
of the book “One Union in Wood” draw the
conclusion: ..."it is difficult to see that the
district’s leaders had any choice. Had they
waited for the trap to close tighter, their
defeat would have been even more certain."

Still, I think their conclusion that there
was no alternative is not correct. Other left-
led unions in Canada and B.C. faced right
wing attacks, including suspensions, expul-
sions from central labour bodies and raids,
and were able to fight them off, notably

Mine-Mill, the United Electrical Workers
(UE) in Ontario, and the Vancouver Civic
Outside Workers. In each case, they faced
different problems, but the key to their suc-
cessful struggle was that they adopted tactics
which kept them in close contact with the
rank and file, and kept the rank and file
directly involved in the struggle against right
wing attacks.

The alternative to secession was to adopt
a broad strategy to fight for democracy and
the right of B.C. woodworkers to run their
own affairs. If the international had moved
in over the democratic wishes of the mem-
bership and imposed a trusteeship, the left in
the union would have been in a stronger
position to fight for the restoration of dem-
ocracy and membership rights. While the
left wing may have suffered temporary set-
backs they would have retained their contact
with the rank and file and been able to
continue the struggle against the right wing
policies of the White Bloc. By deciding to
secede, they cut themselves off from the
rank and file and isolated the left in the
union, leading to the expulsion of many of
the former leaders for life.

The above are some conclustons which
can be drawn from the experience of the
IWA breakaway. The left has learned many
lessons from the mistake made in 1948.
Many years have passed since the above
events took place. Since then B.C. wood-
workers have succeeded in establishing a
Canadian wood union — IWA-Canada.
Today, B.C. woodworkers are faced with
new problems: mass unemployment, shut-
downs, demands from employers for con-
cessions, new attacks by provincial and
federal governments on their standard of
living and labour rights. These problems
demand maximum unity of all wood-
workers. However, it is important to draw
lessons from the past, and to correctly assess
the history of the union. It is toward that end
that this article is dedicated.

When Harold Pritchett passed away
many years after the breakaway, a memorial
meeting was held in Vancouver attended by
hundreds of people. Speakers at the mem-
orial were Jack Munro and myself. In his
remarks Munro, who had been sent by the
IWA District Council, paid tribute to Prit-
chett’s great contribution to organizing and
winning better conditions for B.C. wood-
workers. That same tribute could have been
extended to scores of communist and mili-
tant workers who were Pritchett’s brothers
and sisters in the struggle to build a powerful
union of woodworkers and to win major
gains which benefited all working people in
B.C.

AEMEN ’S é
yo Wg

OS

©)
Nawasne™.

INTERNATIONAL Lop

NOINN S.

Best Wishes

for a peaceful

New Year

fo our supporters
and friends
from the membership
of the

UKRAINIAN SENIORS

CLUB

Best Wishes
and Peace

for 1991.

United Fishermen and
Allied Workers Union. ~
Steveston Shoreworkers|

Seasons Greetings

To the friends of labour
from the members and staff of

Carpenters
Shop
Local
1928

(Industrial)

On behalf of our members
and staff we extend
Seasen's Greetings
Canadian Area
International Longshoremen’s &
Warehousemen’s Union
020, 1880 Triumph St., Vancouver, B.C. V5L 1K3

Pacific Tribune, December 17, 1990 « 23