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By MAURICE RUSH ditor, Pacific Tribune

ada’s Pacific coast province will Ederation years since it entered Con- tillio al July 20. Nowhere in the official words pouring out from . al Centennial Committees, ; the a or from public officials Ought ee ea tions of 1871 being <8 entry in i 4 Wa Ty into Confederation was noted in B.C.’s history and an that the vent for Canada. It ensured thetoh ens Canadian nation would © the Pacific Coast. It was € bourgeois democratic re- ght out in each part of the alf of the continent between The out Of reaction and progress. tish Coly Come of the struggle in Bri- Tee between the entrenched 8ed classes and progressive Thether “ joined around the issue leration not B.C. should enter Con- Victome” The decision to do so was ida "Y for democracy and for Can- bitte, cosa only after long and

Yoluti ty 10n fo

the forces

Mua th, the establishment in B.C. ttions Rp: to obliterate the real tra- ‘un oa 1871. They are, trying to Peyrbp into a circus and B to turn bing affair. They are try- boty of their backs on the real his- Xaditions at Period and to destroy the Roy, men the fight for responsible te Y et against annexation to Muggie ; Ch was at the heart of the , today 1871. big aM Socred government and muties a backers continue the lua of iat reactionary ruling ‘Y are ¢ 1871 in new conditions. wotraey, = ing to destroy popular de- 1 big Stablish the unbridled rule Vinee to noPolies, and sell out our - Monopolie new annexationists, the ty ets, The 1€s and their Canadian Cans’, Breat Y have sacrificed the fight Doe €r British Columbia and ws €ir new God: maximum athens. te to gees Such as these it is not noe Xious aay the powers that be lytic avoid recalling the de- ti? revi Patriotic traditions of ods Pula Public pride in ‘these V's rulers, be embarrassing to t ; ing Hat it Catliest days of settlement DOE the °w B.C.—from the grant- Hudson Bay monopoly

River. This

i thercld

ol RS kos SP gai, The wd Painting depicts a typical miner panning fo

s Miners spearheaded the fight, for respons! ‘>. annexationists which led to B.C. joining Con

SCOTT CC

right up to 1871—two major issues do- minated the territory: the fight for re- sponsible government and whether

the U.S. would succeed in annexing ‘

the territory. The struggle around these issues divided the people politi- cally and came to a climax in the deci- sion whether or not to join Confede- ration.

The reactionary social .classes in B.C. before Confederation were the Victoria merchants and the colonial ruling’ clique. Victoria was then the largest city and the main trading centre as well as the seat of power of the colonial clique. The merchants pro- fited from extensive trade with San Francisco and other U.S. seaports.

They wanted B.C. to be taken over by the U.S. so that their profitable trade could continue. They took an active part in promoting their econo- mic and political interests, sponsoring petitions favoring annexation, and played an active role in the election campaigns of the day to defeat candi- dates who opposed annexation and who stood for responsible government. (Elections were held for assemblies in which appointed members were the majority.) The merchants heavily financed the campaign for annexation to the U.S.

In July, 1867 the merchants of Vic- toria circulated a petition to the Bri- tish government demanding that it “assume the debts of the colony, or permit the colony to become a portion of the United States.” Again in 1869 a petition was circulated by the mer- chants which opposed union with Can- ada because “it cannot open to us a market for the produce of our lands, or forests or our waters.” The petition was officially presented to U.S. presi- dent Grant on December 29, 1867.

The threat of annexation was a real one with which the colony lived from its earliest days. The U.S. slogan of “54-40 or fiight” and other outspoken annexationist demands heard in the U.S. caused grave misgivings among settlers and later gold miners who flocked to the mainland with the dis- covery of gold in the Cariboo.

It is interesting to note that when the mainland was declared a colony the choice of Fort Langley as capital was rejected because it lay on the south side of the Fraser River and could not be defended in the event of a US. attack. The city of New West-

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r gold on the Fraser ible government and federation in 1871.

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minster was -subsequently chosen as the capital for the mainland colony because it lay on _ the north side of the’ Fraser _ river could be more easily defended. By 1867 the U.S. had purchased Alaska and this gave a spurt to the annexa- tionists to step up their campaign. The Victoria merchants were allied with the reactionary colonial ruling clique in their opposition to Confede- ration. The colonial clique opposed Confederation because they were

against granting responsible govern- ©

ment to the people whom they consi- dered a mob and not yet ‘ready for self-government. They fought bitterly to retain their privileged position and right up to the time the colony joined Confederation, they opposed granting the people the right to a fully elective assembly.

(The Legislative Council of B.C. was made up of 23 members, nine elected

‘and 14 appointed by the governor.)

A description of the two reactionary

classes. which constituted the major block to progress in the colony came at the time from a public meeting held in Victoria on January 9, 1868. One of the organizers of this meeting was Amor de Cosmos who best expressed the progressive and social demands of his day. The meeting elected a com- mittee of six to send a “memorial” to the Canadian government in which they said that public opinion in the colony was ovewhelmingly. in favor of Confederation and there was only “a small party in favor of annexation to the United States” and another small party, other. than annexationists, to which “nearly all the office-holders of this colony are allied.” ’ Popular resistance to the annexa- tionists and the swelling demand for responsible government united the overwhelming majority- of the people against the two reactionary forces, who often found common cause in op- posing the settlers, gold miners, and rising small capitalist elements. The merging of these two issues doomed the annexationists and the colonial clique to defeat.

The main driving force for represen- tative government and against annex- ation to the U.S. were the Cariboo miners who organized a spirited cam- paign to have the colony join the rest of Canada in Confederation. A resolu- tion adopted at a mass rally of miners in Barkerville on July 1, 1868 con- demned the conduct of the -colonial government in seeking to block Con- federation and charged that its policy was contrary to “the declared wishes of the people of this colony.”

The popular forces in the colony, made up of the Cariboo miners, set- tlers and small capitalists, convened a representative convention at Yale on September 14, 1868, which brought to- gether 26 delegates elected by mass meetings in all parts of the colony. This gathering was organized by the newly-formed Confederation League, which in effect became the main poli- tical organization of the progressive forces in the colony. The conference affirmed that “the government of B.C. does not exist by the free and just consent of the governed and is there- fore a despotism.” In another resolu- tion they demanded that “representa- tive institutions and responsible gov- ernment be inaugurated forthwith.”

Despite all their maneouvers, the Victoria merchants and the colonial ruling clique were unable to frustrate the popular demand for responsible government and for joining Confede-

ration. The progressive social forces ‘united in the Confederation League

were similar to the social forces in Eastern Canada whose struggle led to the 1837 rebellions, and to the Metis and settlers on the prairies whose struggle for democracy led to the Riel Rebellions. s

Despite all the imperfections and reactionary compromises contained in Confederation, and the fact that today these reactionary features are. being challenged with popular demands for a new Canadian constitution, the’ suc- cess of the colonists in B.C. to join Confederation in 1871 represented a decision of historic importance.

B.C.’s. entry into Confederation de- feated the reactionary classes, blocked annexation to the U.S., and broadened the. base of responsible government. It opened the .way for the economic development of the province an strengthened the fight to build Canada from coast to coast.

Following the defeat of the Victoria merchants and the colonial clique the

. Confederation League disintegrated

and new class relationships camé into being. After construction of the rail- way B.C. expanded rapidly with- the growth of capitalist industry and the growth of a mass working class. Some who were former supporters of the Confederation League now merged with other capitalist elements to be- come. the forerunners of the monopoly capitalist cla3s exploiting the province today in -partnership with foreign monopolies.

The hundred years of capitalist rule since Confederation have been marked by intensive exploitation of the work- ing class, gigantic giveaways of the province’s resources, and in recent years, the U.S. takeover of a large part of B.C.’s economy. The new class contradictions called into being by events after B.C. Confederation has been, and still is, the struggle between the capitalist class and the working class. The outcome of that struggle in B.C. and Canada for a socialist society is a task that must be resolved in the present historic period.

Today the working class of B.C. is the driving force for progressive change in the province. The struggle they wage today for democracy and against foreign domination is a con- tinuation of the struggle of the gold miners and settlers of 1871 in the con- ditions of 1971. :

Fragile-seed,. implanted in the gravel wern from mountains when the race was young, ne. with. the rhythm _ of the moon and tides, the circling of the earth, sun,

‘the wheeling of the. galaley:

inyou we see the cycle.of ourselves.

Upthrust with green of ‘spring, “eyed protoplasm grown

to substance

sentient silver in the stream, drawn by-the magnet of the sea to wander ‘in salt pastures

set by boundaries

as vast :

as orbits in the solitudes

of space,

moved by what chemistry

at last to seek : the source from which you came.

No barriers,

not walls of water reared on polished rock, not torrents weaving nets of tangled roots, can stay the need

that two and two return of thousands spent

to consummate anew the ritual of rebirth; only man

exulting in your grace, your strength,

threatens your race — and.his.,.... -

_HAL-ORIFEIN'

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, JUNE 11, 1971—PAGE 7.

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