© PAGFIC TRIBUNE FLASHBACK When labor fought for the 9-hour day ee an. First By CHARLES LIPTON T was Monday evening, April 15, 1872. From all parts of Toronto, working men were gathered at the Trades As- sembly Hall on King Street East. A great demonstration was to be held that night at Queen’s Park. The aim — to back the movement for the Nine-hour day (the working day then was generally 10 hours), and also to bring sup- port to the striking Printers and Bookbinders of Toronto. At 7:30 p.m. the parade be- came the Iron Moulders, then the Bricklayers and Masons, then the Cigar Makers, followed by the Coop- ers, the Coachmakers, Black- smiths and Machinists, the Bakers, the Varnishers and Polishers, the Knights of St. Crispin (shoeworkers), the Amalgamated Engineers Union, and in the rear the Typographical Union, the Bookbinders Union and the Toronto Trades Assembly, or- fanizer of the demonstration. In the procession also were the bands of the Tenth Royals, the Queen’s Own and the Young Irishmen. As the bands played stirring Strains the men marched four abreast. They marched west on King Street through to Yonge, from Yonge up to College! and along College Street to Queen’s Park. On the sidewalk thou- Sands of spectators cheered them on. Cheers came from More thousands in the win- dows above. As the parade neared the “platform on Queen’s| Park, the Marchers fanned off to either Side, giving the vanguard Position of honor to the march- Ing strikers of the Typograph- lcal and Bookbinders Union. They had been on strike ‘Since March 25. Theirs was the key battle in the Nine- our Movement which was Spreading through the country at centres like Hamilton, Guelph, St. Catharines, Osh- awa and Montreal. As these Strikers marched forward, there came loud cheers from their brothers. * As the meeting began 10,- 000 citizens massed in Queen’s ark. Speaker after speaker, €artened by cheers from the @ssembled thousands, pro- Claimed the principles of the ine-Hour Movement and call- _&d for the organization of the Working class throughout the Ominion. Said one speaker: “They are In the United States too, bitter struggles eight-hour day. This drawing shows the May eight-hour day was a major demand. bringing in labor-saving mach- inery. Who is to benefit by. it? The men or the masters?” Another worker said: “Let them double their police force. We are not,ashamed. We are fighting for a great principle and we are fighting in the light of , day. Fifty-four hours a week is enough for any man to work.” The speakers called for in- dependent labor political ac- tion, saying: “Let the working men select those who will go and fight their battles in parliament.” : This was the greatest demon- stration ever held: by the working men of Toronto. Its reverberations' were felt, throughout:the country. * The employers decided to fight back: Their answer came within 24 hours. On Tuesday morning, April 16, they secur- ed the arrest of the entire “vigilance” or strike commit- tee of the printers. The Nine-Hour Movement had entered its crisis. Tuesday was a hectic day. Strikers dashed. about, raising bail for the printers commit- teemen who were threatened with confinement in the Don Jail. The news spread like wild- fire. By eventide, thousands of indignant workers had. gather- ed for a mass meeting in the Market Square. Four thousand were present. Excitement ran hich, immense applause greeted the first speaker, a well-known Toronto working man, E. K. Dodds,.as he said: “The events of this day have proven that we need men in parliament ey 4 % were waged to win the nine and then the Day parade in New York in 1887, in which the who will stand by the work- ers!” There was more applause and cheers as John Hewitt, founder - chairman of the Toronto Trades Assembly and one of the ablest working class leaders and thinkers of the day said: “Fellow workers, the eyes of toiling millions throughout the world’ are on you. Gener- ations~ yet unborn shall rise up in condemnation of the deed that was done this day. This is a transaction that shall be recorded on the pages of Canadian history.” * In the days that followed, one massive event followed on another. Thursday, April 18, the court case opened. As the prisoners appeared: in the courtroom, a cheer went up. Magistrate McNab hastily ordered the court cleared. The charge was that the men had combined for a change in hours and wages and that this was a con- spiracy in restraint of trade. . But on this same day, as the trial proceeded in Toronto, great events were shaping in the House of Commons at Ot- tawa. Sir John A. MacDonald was in office at the head of the Conservative party.“ Sir John was a great political strategist, a man for swift decisive action. Federal elections were due to be held in several months. The government’s prospects were nof bright. The bold pro- gram of economic and political growth, laid down at Confeder- ation was being realized only slowly and hesitantly. In the key province of Ontario the Liberal party had won the provincial election a year. ear- lier. Public. sentiment was swinging against the govern- ment, As for the workers, they had always been traditionally attached to the Liberals. The Liberals still had the reputa- tion of being the party of re- form, the party which had blazed the trail in the fight for responsible government. But now one of the fore- most leaders of the Liberal party, George Brown, editor of the Globe, was heading the printer-employers in an at- tempt to destroy the labor movement. As a result the workers were beginning to think in terms of electing their own representatives to parliament. Here was a great chance to spike the Liberal guns, and at the same time head off the gathering movement for inde- pendent political action: Sir John moyed swiftly. On April 18, he introduced legislation modelled on the British act of 1871. The gist of this legislation was that the mere fact of combining to in- crease wages or lower hours was not to be considered a conspiracy. In the years that followed, this legislation, and the Crim- inal Law.Amendment Act that accompaniedsit, turned out to be far from satisfactory for labor. Nor did Sir John’s woo- ing of the labor vote save his party from the ignominy of the Canadian Pacific Railway election fund scandal that fol- lowed in 1873. Meanwhile, however, the immediate result of Sir John’s legislation was that it gave public, legal recognition for the first time to the strength of the trade union movement. Labor was jubilant. And now came the turn. of the employers. On that same Thursday as the case proceed- ed in court in Toronto, and the legislation was introduced at Ottawa, the employers gathered at the Agricultural Hall ‘ George Brown was the fore- most speaker. “Crush out the aspirations of the employees!” he cried. “Stamp out the movement. Ostracize the un- ion men and drive them from Canada.” And from the em- Continued on next page MAY 10, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE I!