@prefix vivo: . @prefix edm: . @prefix ns0: . @prefix dcterms: . @prefix skos: . vivo:departmentOrSchool "Arts, Faculty of"@en, "History, Department of"@en ; edm:dataProvider "DSpace"@en ; ns0:degreeCampus "UBCV"@en ; dcterms:creator "Loosmore, Thomas Robert"@en ; dcterms:issued "2012-03-28T22:36:01Z"@en, "1954"@en ; vivo:relatedDegree "Master of Arts - MA"@en ; ns0:degreeGrantor "University of British Columbia"@en ; dcterms:description """The period under study is the formative period of working-class political action in this province. The conditions and events of this time form the foundation upon which the Socialist Party of Canada, the Federated Labor Party, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, and the Labor Progressive Party grew to be important factors in British Columbia affairs. Consideration of this period is therefore highly relevant to any evaluation or assessment of these organizations. The wage-workers of British Columbia began to organize into unions in significant numbers in the 1880's. Being concerned with improving their lot as workers, some of the unionists turned toward the idea of taking class action on the political field in order to obtain favorable legislation. In the economic sphere, the main complaint of the workers during this period was that the many Chinese in the province worked long hours for low wages, and thus tended to lower the living standards of those who had to compete with them. Another complaint with economic as well as political aspects was that much of the land and resources of British Columbia had been alienated to such corporations as the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway Company and the Canadian Pacific Railway. In their political action the workers demanded a solution of these grievances, and in the case of the latter were strongly attracted to the doctrine of "single tax." They also expressed a wish for government-sponsored arbitration and conciliation procedures which would settle labor-management disputes in a peaceful manner. The demands for political reform were occasioned by the use of government in the interests of the wealthy element of the community, and were very much influenced by American and socialist ideas. The basic principle involved was that of “direct democracy”, including the initiative, referendum, and recall, and it persisted throughout the whole period in various forms. The first election to be contested by labor candidates was the provincial election of 1886. Pour candidates ran in Victoria and Nanaimo, and all were defeated. At this time the Knights of Labor was at the peak of its power. The organization soon declined, and its place was occupied in most cases by trade unions. In 1890 the Nanaimo miners' union succeeded in electing two members to the British Columbia legislature. Although these members were unable to carry through any of their own measures, their presence led to the passage of a mechanics' lien law and an arbitration and conciliation act. In 1894 the miners’ candidates were defeated but the Nationalist Party of Vancouver, a labor organization, succeeded in getting Robert Macpherson elected. Although not always strictly a labor representative, Macpherson was generally a protagonist of the cause of labor. In the 1896 federal election the Nationalists also initiated the successful candidature of Rev. George R. Maxwell, who remained in parliament until his death in 1902. In 1898 Nanaimo labor recovered part of the lost ground by electing Ralph Smith to Victoria. Smith changed to the federal field in 1900, was elected, and remained in parliament until 1911. However, he was very closely linked to the Liberal Party, and in 1902 was repudiated by the Nanaimo miners. The 1900 provincial election was the high point of labor political action in this period. Labor Candidates with reform programs appeared in Vancouver and Nanaimo. The Western Federation of Miners in the southern Interior supported non-labor candidates pledged to defend the new eight-hour law for metal-miners. All the W.F.M.-backed candidates and one Nanaimo labor man were elected. This election saw the first appearance of the term "Socialist” as the official designation of a candidate — Will MacClain. The period 1900-1906 witnessed the decline of reformist ”laborism” and the rise of socialism as a political force in the province, culminating in the capture of a Labor Party convention by members of the Socialist Party of Canada. A study of this period has a special relevance to the present political situation in British Columbia. We are now in a time of re-alignment and re-orientation of political forces, the understanding of which demands an appraisal of past political changes. The events and situations recounted and analyzed here, since they are concerned with a period of political experimentation, may afford us useful light on present changes."""@en ; edm:aggregatedCHO "https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/41847?expand=metadata"@en ; skos:note "THE BRITISH COLUMBIA LABOR MOVEMENT AND POLITICAL ACTION, 1879.1906 by THOMAS ROBERT LOOSMORE A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of HISTORY We accept this thesis as conforming to the standard required from candidates for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Members of the Department of HISTORY THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA October, 1954 i i LABOR POLITICAL ACTION in BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1879-1906 ABSTRACT The period under study i s the formative period of working-class p o l i t i c a l action in this province. The condi-tions and events of this time form the foundation upon which the Socialist Party of Canada, the Federated Labor Party, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, and the Labor Progressive Party grew to be important factors in British Columbia affair s . Consideration of this period i s therefore highly relevant to any evaluation or assessment of these organizations. The wage-workers of British Columbia began to or-ganize into unions i n significant numbers in the 1880's. Being concerned with improving their lot as workers, some of the unionists turned toward the idea of taking class action on the p o l i t i c a l f i e l d in order to obtain favorable legislation. In the economic sphere, the main complaint of the workers during this period was that the many Chinese in the province worked long hours for low wages, and thus tended to lower the l i v i n g standards of those who had to compete with them. Another complaint with economic as well as p o l i t i c a l aspects was that much of the land and resources of British Columbia had been alienated to such corporations as the Esqui-malt and Nanaimo Railway Company and the Canadian Pacific Railway. In their p o l i t i c a l action the workers demanded a solution of these grievances, and in the case of the latter were strongly attracted to the doctrine of \"single tax.\" They also expressed a wish for government-sponsored arbitration and conciliation procedures which would settle labor-management disputes in a peaceful manner. The demands for p o l i t i c a l reform were occasioned by the use of government i n the interests of the wealthy element of the community, and were very much influenced by American and socialist ideas. The basic principle involved was that of ^dir-ect democracy,1* including the i n i t i a t i v e , referendum, and re-c a l l , and i t persisted throughout the whole period in various forms. The f i r s t election to be contested by labor candi-dates was the provincial election of 1886. Pour candidates ran in Victoria and Nanaimo, and a l l were defeated. At this time the Knights of Labor was at the peak of i t s power. The organiza-tion soon declined, and i t s place was occupied in most cases by trade unions. In 1890 the Nanaimo miners' union succeeded in elect-ing two members to the British Columbia legislature. Although these members were unable to carry through any of their own measures, their presence led to the passage of a mechanics' lien law and an arbitration and conciliation act. In 1894 the miners* candidates were defeated but the Nationalist Party of Vancouver, a labor organization, succeeded in getting Robert Macpherson elected. Although not always s t r i c t l y a labor representative, Macpherson was generally a i i i protagonist of the cause of labor. In the 1896 federal election the Nationalists also initiated the successful candidature of Rev. George R. Maxwell, who remained in parliament until his death in 1902. In 1898 Nanaimo labor recovered part of the lost ground by electing Ralph Smith to Victoria. Smith changed to the federal f i e l d in 1900, was elected, and remained in parliament until 1911. However, he was very closely linked to the Liberal Party, and in 1902 was repudiated by the Nanaimo miners. The 1900 provincial election was the high point of labor p o l i t i c a l action in this-period. Labor Candidates with re-form programs appeared in Vancouver and Nanaimo. The Western Federation of Miners in the southern Interior supported non-labor candidates pledged to defend the new eight-hour law for metal-miners. A l l the W.F.M.-backed candidates and one Nanaimo labor man were elected. This election saw the f i r s t appearance of the term \"Socialist* as the o f f i c i a l designation of a candidate — Will MacClain. The period 1900-1906 witnessed the decline of re-formist Blaborism B and the rise of socialism as a p o l i t i c a l force in the province,culminating i n the capture of a Labor Party con-vention by members of the Socialist Party of Canada. A study of this period has a special relevance to the present p o l i t i c a l situation in British Columbia. We are now in a time of re-alignment and re-orientation of p o l i t i c a l forces, the understanding of which demands an appraisal of past p o l i t i c a l changes. The events and situations recounted and analyzed here, since they are concerned with a period of p o l i t i c a l experimenta-tion, may afford us useful light on present changes. CONTENTS CHAPTER Page INTRODUCTION . . . 1 I BACKGROUND OF THE BRITISH COLUMBIA LABOR MOVEMENT . . . . . 4 i Union Organization • 4 i i Techniques of Unions 7 i i i Development of the British Columbia Working Class . . . . . . . 12 II KNIGHTS IN POLITICS 19 i Labor Considers P o l i t i c a l Action, 1879-1882 . . . . . . . . 19 i i Knights of Labor and the Workingmen*s Party, 1886 23 i i i Other P o l i t i c a l Action by Labor, 1886: Decline of Knights of Labor 38 III MINERS AND »»NATIONALISTS» 42 i P o l i t i c a l Action i n Vancouver, 1890-1891 42 i i Labor Members of the Legislature, Nanaimo, 1890-1894 47 i i i Labor and P o l i t i c s , 1893-1894 59 i v Labor in the Provincial Election, 1894 . 66 v The Nationalist Party and Rev. George K. Maxwell, M.P. 78 vi Reflections on the Nationalist Party . • 85 CONTENTS (Continued) CHAPTER Page IV INDEPENDENT LABOR PARTIES. 1898-1906 88 Part 1. To the Kamloops Labor Convention. 1902 i Prelude to the Provincial Election of 1900 88 i i Labor i n the 1900 Provincial Election . . . 95 i i i Labor i n the 1900 Federal Election . . . . 124 i v Provincial By-elections, 1901 . . . . . . . 148 Part 2. The Kamloops Convention, 1902, and After < ^ i The Kamloops Labor Convention • . . . . . . 151 i i Federal By-Election i n Burrard, 1902-1903 . 164 i i i Labor-Socialist Split i n Nanaimo, 1902 . . 172 i v Labor i n the 1903 Provincial Election .. . 183 v Breakdown of Laborism in British Colombia . 1904-1906 . 194 V CONCLUSION AND REFLECTIONS . 198 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 210 APPENDICES: I Legislative Platforms and Resolutions. II Explanatory * * * ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Chart of .Labor P o l i t i c a l Action in Bri t i s h Columbia, 1879-1906 ... preceding page 1 2. (a) Robert Macpherson, M.L.A following page 41 (b) Rev. George R. Maxwell, M.P. (c) Vancouver in 1890. 3. (a) Ralph Smith, M.P. following page 87 (b) A Pithead at Nanaimo. 4. (a) James H. Hawthornthwaite, M.L.A. .. following page 171 (b) Parker Williams, M.L.A. 5. Sandon, British Columbia following page 187 {Photographs by courtesy of the Provincial Archives, Victoria, B r i t i s h Columbia.) A CHART OF LABOR POLITICAL ACTION IN BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1879-1906 VICTORIA NANAIMO VANCOUVER SOUTHERN INTERIOR 1886 h h 1889 T- 8 L-c- Organized 18 90 1894 1896 1898 1900 I 901 1902 1903 1904 1906 T L C C - Convention I i SOCIALIST PARTY 1 KNIGHTS OF LABOR WORKWOMEN'S PARTY H M-M-L-P-A- Organized THOS- Keith M.L.A.,S THOS- Forster NANAIMO REFORM CLUB ^-Candidates defeated (-Ralph Smith M-L-A-f-Smith- re-elected rNANAIMO LABOR 1 PAR TY ••Ralph Smith MP-REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST I- OF B«C« T , PARTY - . f-J-H- HawthornwaiteM-LA' T-8 LC-r~T- a L- C- Organized NATIONALIST PARTY !-Robt- Macpherson M-L-A-I Ijawthornwaite Williams M-L-A* S-! I I -Rev G-Maxwell M-P — Provincial candidates defeated UNITED SOCIALIST LABOR PARTY 1 Prov cund- defeated LABOR PARTY Maxwell re-elected CIALIST PARTY OF B-C- - H Federal candidate defeated CANADIAN LABOR PARTY Convention I • + WESTERN FEDERATION OF MINERS being organized -Supported Provincial candidates - LABOR PARTY (-Federal candidate ! defeated PARTY OF B-C Kamloops Labor Convention PROVINCIAL PROGRESSIVE RARTY -Wm-Davidson M-L-A-_ 0 A * 6, W-F-M-endorsed socialism THE BRITISH COLOMBIA LABOR MOVEMENT AND POLITICAL ACTION, 1879-1906 INTRODUCTION Since 1882 when the wage-workers of British Colombia were beginning to organize in significant numbers, no provincial election has passed without some manifestation of labor p o l i t i c a l action. Furthermore, since 1889 when the Vancouver Trades and Labor Council and the Vancouver Island Miners f and Mine Laborers * Protective Association were formed,1 a l l federal elections have witnessed the organized intervention of British Colombia labor. There has constantly been an element i n the local labor movement which has advocated a legislative solution to labor's problems and which has been active enough to take the p o l i t i c a l f i e l d . Consequently, Candidates claiming to represent the special i n t -erests of the wage-workers have been a normal feature of oar pol-i t i c a l l i f e . In the history of labor p o l i t i c a l action i n British Colombia there are foor major periods, distinguishable by the scope of the aims which predominated i n each period. Be i t noted that these periods are not hermetically sealed compartments; elements characteristic of one period are always to be found i n 1 William Bennett. Builders of British Colombia. Vancouver, 1937, p. 33. 2 other periods. The period!zation merely indicates a convenient generalization of the most prominent features of the labor p o l i -t i c a l movement in i t s development. The f i r s t period, which runs from 1879 to 1906, i s that of the development of p o l i t i c a l laborism. It takes i n the f i r s t appearance of a consciousness of group or class interest in p o l i t i c s , and i t i s characterized by the growth of p o l i t i c a l parties of labor devoted to the obtaining of specific l e g i s l a -tion. These parties did not aim at government power; their hope was to influence the major p o l i t i c a l groups to pass legis-lation favourable to labor. The second period was inaugurated i n 1900. For the f i r s t time in British Colombia the concept of socialism, of a complete overturn i n society through control of the government by the workers, was heard from a campaign platform. By 1906 the socialists in the labor movement were strong enough to take over an o f f i c i a l Labor Party convention, and for several years there-after the p o l i t i c a l energies of British Colombia labor were main-l y channelled into support of the Socialist Party. The Socialist Party was s p l i t by the issue of war in 1914 and the socceeding years. It was farther s p l i t over the Russian Revolution of 1917 and by the organization of the apoli-t i c a l syndicalist One Big Union i n 1919. Within this province there was a rebirth of laborism. Candidates pledged to defend and advance specific interests of the labor movement through pressure on government again became the main p o l i t i c a l spokes-men of labor. This period saw the election to the legislature of such men as Harry Neelands, Sam Guthrie, and Tom uphi l l . 3 The depression of the 1930's brought into being a new force i n Canada. A fusion of labor, farm and s o c i a l i s t i c ele-ments ereated the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, which aimed at governmental power i n order to bring about immediate r e l i e f of existing conditions and, ultimately, alter the nature of society. The new party soon came to occupy the center of the labor p o l i t i c a l stage i n British Columbia. Insofar as workers, qua workers, are p o l i t i c a l l y active today, they gener-a l l y direct their a c t i v i t i e s to the C.C.F. Of these four periods, the f i r s t w i l l be discussed in these pages. It has a unity based upon a \"pressure group\" atti= tude to p o l i t i c s and a concentration upon certain specific p o l i -t i c a l and economic demands. It i s also roughly coincident with that period of provincial p o l i t i c a l history before the introduc-tion of regular party lines. As the era of non-party government was closed by the rise of provincial Conservative and Liberal parties in 1900-1903, so was the f i r s t era of p o l i t i c a l laborism closed by the rise of the Socialist Party i n 1900-1906. In the light of these characteristics, i t i s amenable to study as a unit. CHAPTER I BACKGROUND OF THE BRITISH COLUMBIA LABOR MOVEMENT i . Nearly a l l anions may be classified into two types upon the basis of organizational structure. The older type, which was almost universal i n the United States u n t i l the late 1930's and i n Canada until the early 1940's, i s the craft onion — the \"trade* onion proper. The newer type, which at last seems to be solidly established after more than half a century of struggle, i s the industrial onion — the \"labor\" onion, in a broad sense. In craft anions the workers of any one trade are gath-ered into local anions, which are in torn a f f i l i a t e d with other \"locals\" of the same trade through national and international brotherhoods; the bond of unity i s that of the craft. In this way there arose the great unions of the Carpenters, Cigar Makers, Machinists and others, which in 1886 a l l i e d themselves to form the American Federation of Labor. The unifying factor here was that of training and tools; the members of these anions were sk i l l e d workers, usually owning their own tools. They tended to be exclusive in their attitude, standing apart from the less sk i l l e d workers; by virtue of their training and their organization they were able to demand higher wages than laborers or machine workers received, and they were reluctant to combine with lower-paid groups which might draw them into undesired and unprofitable conflicts. For many years the craftsmen were the \"aristocrats of labor,\" and enjoyed rela-5 tively aristocratic incomes* Very soon, however, the craft organization began to show signs of inadequacy: the increasing use of machine processes in production threatened the existence of many crafts, and there-fore of the unions of those crafts; moreover, as techniques and materials changed jurisdictional disputes became more frequent and more b i t t e r . 1 In addition, a single trade which was united across the continent but only loosely connected with other trades in i t s own area found i t d i f f i c u l t to deal with a business em-2 ploying members of many unions. The craft unions attempted to deal with these weaknesses by establishing bodies such as \"Building Trades Councils, 1 1 \"Metal Trades Councils,\" and the l i k e , within which delegates of the unions operating i n a given industry discussed common problems and planned common action. Such Councils, however, were not very effective in any serious dispute; they were merely delegate bod-ies, with no power to bind their constituent unions to definite policies or lines of action. Even before the end of the last century there appeared in certain mass industries a different answer to the problem of labor organization in modern industry — the industrial union. The structure and philosophy of the craft unions were based upon the small-scale production of the pre-industrial era, when the individual producer possessed the tools of his trade and usually For example, as metal replaces wood in home construction the metal-working unions claim jobs previously done by carpenters. o An example of this last d i f f i c u l t y i s the Vancouver Daily Province strike of 1946-48; some of the printing trades were \"out,\" others were \" i n , \" and members of the Teamsters Union continued to perform their contracted duties for the newspaper. 6 bad some control over his product; the new unions were organized according to the pattern of modern industry as a whole, i n which masses of workers performed various duties with tools and mater-i a l s supplied by one employer, thus co-operatively producing a single commodity owned by the employer. The basis of membership was not \"what job you do,\" but \"in what industry and which fac-tory or operation you work.\" Thus the United Mine Workers of America was organized i n the coalfields of the eastern United States i n 1890, and the Western Federation of Miners in the metal mines of the Mountain States in 1892, The tendency of ownership and management was to spread over the minefields and concentrate power over a l l operations connected with the mines; the miners reacted with a parallel organization. For many years the principle of industrial unionism did not make any solid gains outside the mining industries. There were ephemeral efforts to build industrial unions; notable examples were the American Railway Union (1894), led by Eugene V. Debs), the American Labor Union (ca. 1902, sponsored by the W.F.M.), the Industrial Workers of the World (1905), and in Canada the One Big Union (1919). A l l these efforts were n u l l i f i e d by the com-bined opposition of the employers and the conservative A.F. of L. When the depression of the 1930*3 came, only the U.M.W.A., some clothing unions, and a handful of \"nucleus\" organizations could be counted among the industrial unions of North America. The industrial workers of America were ripe for organ-ization; the A.F. of L. went in to organize them. It chartered federal unions to bring them within the fold, and planned to dis-7 tribute the new members among the existing craft anions when jurisdictional problems had been solved. The craft union leaders were more interested in enlarging their own unions than in making new unions which would limit their own jurisdictions. In protest the few industrial anions within the A.F. of L. pat on their own organizing campaign, and in 1S36 were read out of the Federation. The new Congress of Industrial Organization, as i t became known,, was soon well-established in a number of basic industries — automotive, rubber, steel, etc. Its membership momentarily over-topped that of the A.F. of L., and i t s more efficient organization gave i t s unions bargaining advantages over the more cumbersome craft locals. The Federation, however, was too well-entrenched in i t s old fiel d s for the upstart to take over completely, and the labor picture stabilized at an approximate balance, with constant f r i c t i o n along the edges of jurisdiction. i i . The labor movement developed not only different organiza-tional forms, but also various modes of action. H. A. Logan indicates three techniques whereby unions achieve their ends; shop rules, p o l i t i c a l action, and collective bargaining. 4 Although these techniques have not at any time been mutually Foster Rhea Dulles, Labor in America. New York, Crowell, 1949, p. 296. The main unions concerned in the formation of the Committee for Industrial Organization were the United Mine Workers, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, the International Ladies' Garment Workers, the United Textile Workers, the Mine, H i l l and Smelter Workers, and the Oil Field, Gas Well and Re-fining Workers. Ibid.. pp. 294-5. 4 Trade Unions in Canada. Toronto, Macmillan, 1948, p. 1. 8 exclusive i n the North American labor movement as a whole, each has at some time been the predominant procedure. The earliest of these techniques was the enforcement of shop rules by direct action, which did not necessitate any formal agreement between employer and employees. The union merely posted i t s rules as to wages and apprenticeship arrange* ments i n the shop or other place of work. If the employer did not observe these rules the union would protest or, i f necessary, c a l l a strike. This method was abandoned by most unions i n North America before the end of the last century, but was revived by the militantly syndicalist I.W.W. and (for a time) the W.P.M., both of which regarded the employing class as an implacable enemy and compromise as the f i r s t step towards surrender. As labor became more widely organized and as the res-t r i c t i v e effects of employer-inspired legislation became f u l l y evident, the unions developed the second technique. They began to work for legislation favorable to the workers and their or-ganizations. The more conservative unionists restricted them* selves to the Samuel Gompers policy of \"Reward our friends and punish our enemies\" (i.e . , support or oppose individual candi-dates of the regular parties as they support or oppose labor*s immediate demands). The socialists proposed that the workers, through their own elected representatives, should take over con* t r o l of society and abolish the employing class. Between these In the f i r s t i.W.W. convention (1905), W.D. Haywood said of the Western Federation of Miners that \"We have not got an agree-ment existing with any mine manager, superintendent, or opera-tor at the present time. We have got a minimum scale of wages ... (and) the eight-hour day, and we did not have a legislative lobby to accomplish i t . \" Quoted in Paul Brissenden, The I.W.W.. New Tork, Columbia University, 1920, p. 80. two extremes, many unionists advocated the election of labor rep-resentatives to the legislatures to press for advantageous laws and ward off hostile measures. P o l i t i c a l action did achieve a number of reforms de-g sired by the workers, but i t was not nearly so effective as i t s proponents had expected. The geographic distribution of wage-workers was such as to make them a minority in most of the elec-toral d i s t r i c t s of North America; they were largely concentrated in and around the towns, and p o l i t i c a l representation i s tradi-tionally weighted i n favor of rural d i s t r i c t s . In most consti-tuencies a candidate could not hope t o get elected on a straight labor platform; there were just not enough labor voters. Except when circumstances favored an agreement between labor and farmers, the p o l i t i c a l aspirations of labor seemed doomed to continuous 7 frustration by an unsympathetic farm vote. In British Columbia, for example, union-supported H.L.A.rs such as Smith Curtis of Rossland were largely instrumental i n obtaining and maintaining eight-hour day legislation for the metal-miners; labor and socialist members like J.H. Hawthorn-thwaite of Nanaimo, by exploiting a balance of power in the Leg-islature, were able to get a similar law for coal miners, a Workmen's Compensation Act, and other concessions. 7 Upon the defeat of the Labor Party candidate in Tale-Kootenay-Cariboo in the 1900 federal election, the Lardeau Eagle commented: Chris Foley's lead i n the Kootenay and Boundary amounts to 512, but the remaining portion of this world-wide con-stituency gives Galliner a plurality of 751. The farmers of Vernon made the result as i t i s . May Heaven forgive them; the Eagle can't. (December 3, 1900). In addition, a letter from J.C. Harris, few Denver, to Andy Shilland, Sandon, October 29, 1909, advised that the Canadian Socialist Party could not hope to win in Slocan owing to the pre-sence of new voters (farmers and settlers) i n the Arrow Lake d i s t r i c t . (Letter held by T. & D.S.W.U., T r a i l ) . 1 0 L e g i s l a t i o n , moreover , was not r e a d i l y adap t ab l e to the ever-p re sen t problem o f g e t t i n g the bes t p o s s i b l e terms f rom the i n d i v i d u a l employer . Consequent l y the t h i r d p o l i c y — tha t o f b a r g a i n i n g between the un ion and the employer •*« came i n t o wide u s e . I t i s a t p r e sen t a key f u n c t i o n o f n e a r l y a l l u n i o n s . I t d i d n o t , however, comp le t e l y d i s p l a c e p o l i t i c a l a c t i o n . A l though the A . F * o f L. has o n l y tw i ce broken i t s p o l -i c y o f p o l i t i c a l n e u t r a l i t y — once to suppor t L a F o l l e t t e as the P r o g r e s s i v e P a r t y c and ida t e f o r the P r e s i d e n c y i n 1 9 2 4 , and a g a i n to suppo r t S tevenson and the Democra t i c P a r t y i n 1 9 5 2 — i t has always ma in t a i ned an i n t e r e s t i n l e g i s l a t i o n a f f e c t i n g l a b o r , and i n the e l e c t i o n o r de fea t o f i n d i v i d u a l c a n d i d a t e s . The newer C . I . O . , which grew up under the f a v o r a b l e l e g i s l a t i o n o f the Rooseve l t e r a , has c o n s i s t e n t l y a l i g n e d i t s e l f w i th the Democra t i c P a r t y . Canadian l a b o r ' s p o l i t i c a l a c t i o n has been more p o s i -t i v e than t h a t o f the A . F . o f L . , but l e s s f i x e d i n one p a t h . The Trades and Labor Congress o f Canada, ana logous and l i n k e d t o the A . F . o f L . , has gone i n t o p o l i t i c s somewhat more than has i t s Q American c o u n t e r p a r t ; The Canadian Congress o f L a b o r , coun t e r-I t s h o u l d a l s o be no ted t h a t t n B r i t a i n the Trade Un ion C o n -g ress has p r e s e r v e d a c l o s e c o n n e c t i o n w i th t he Labour P a r t y s i n c e the b e g i n n i n g o f the c e n t u r y . Q In 1 8 9 4 the T.ft L . C . C . endorsed a r e s o l u t i o n f a v o r i n g p o l i -t i c a l a c t i o n \" l i k e tha t o f the S o c i a l i s t Wo rke r s ' P a r t y , 0 but d i d not pursue the m a t t e r . In 1 8 9 8 i t adopted a l e g i s l a t i v e p l a t f o r m c o n t a i n i n g f i f t e e n p l a n k s . In 1 8 9 9 i t took a s t a n d a g a i n s t l a b o r suppor t o f the o l d p o l i t i c a l p a r t i e s . I h 1 9 0 0 i t asked i t s P r e s -i d e n t , Ra lph Smi th o f Nanaimo, to g i v e up h i s p r o v i n c i a l s e a t and run f e d e r a l l y — which he d i d , s u c c e s s f u l l y . I n 1 9 0 6 Congress recommended the f o r m a t i o n o f a Canadian Labor P a r t y i n p r o v i n c i a l s e c t i o n s . T h i s p o l i c y was r e - a f f i r m e d i n 1 9 1 4 , and g i v e n a more c e n t r a l i z e d a spec t i n 1 9 1 7 . Logan , op . c i t . . p a s s i m . 11 p a r t o f the C . I . O . , has g i v en i t s app rova l to the C . C . F . Other o n i o n s , i n c l u d i n g the p r o v i n c i a l and l o c a l bod i e s o f the T . L . C . C . , e s p e c i a l l y i n B r i t i s h Co lomb i a , have o f t e n d i s p l a y e d g rea t a c t i -v i t y i n the e n d o r s a t i o n o r nomina t ion o f c a n d i d a t e s i n m u n i c i p a l , p r o v i n c i a l and f e d e r a l e l e c t i o n s . In t he e a r l y p e r i o d o f l a r g e - s c a l e Canadian l a b o r o r -g a n i z a t i o n (1873-1902), the un ions o f O n t a r i o and o f Mon t r ea l i n Quebec were v e r y a c t i v e p o l i t i c a l l y . F o r s e v e r a l y ea r s t h e i r e f f o r t s q u i t e overshadowed a n y t h i n g a t tempted i n the West , but about 1890 the p a t t e r n began t o change . As Logan p o t s i t , I t i s noteworthy t h a t the c e n t r e o f the p o l i t i c a l a c t i o n i s t s d a r i n g the l a t e r y ea r s o f the c e n t u r y s h i f t e d unmis takab l y to the new ly-organ ized West . B r i t i s h Co lumb ia , i n p a r t i c u l a r , d i s s a t i s f i e d w i th the f a i l u r e o f the Congress to get r e s u l t s a t Ottawa was c a l l i n g a t one t ime f o r an independent l a b o r p a r t y , a t ano the r f o r a \" p r o g r e s s i v e p a r t y \" to be composed o f l a b o u r u n i o n i s t s and r e f o r m e r s . 10 From 1886 t o 1900 the re were f i v e p r o v i n c i a l e l e c t i o n s i n B r i t i s h Co lomb ia ; l a b o r took p a r t i n a t l e a s t twenty-one c o n t e s t s i n these e l e c t i o n s , and seven t imes saw i t s nominees e l e c t e d . In 1896, a l a b o r p a r t y i n i t i a t e d the nomina t ion and e l e c t i o n o f Rev. George R, Maxwel l to the f e d e r a l House; i n the 1900 f e d e r a l e l e c t i o n l a b o r backed th ree c a n d i d a t e s i n B r i t i s h Co lumb ia , and a lmost r an a f o u r t h ; o f t h e s e , two were e l e c t e d , wh i l e the t h i r d came second i n a three-way c o n t e s t . The i n c r e a s e i n p o l i t i c a l i n t e r e s t was unmi s t akab l e , and pa t B r i t i s h Co lombia i n the f o r e f r o n t o f C a n -ad i an l a b o r * s p o l i t i c a l a c t i o n . lobitti. o n . c i t . . p. 31 . 12 i i i . T h i s s h i f t , the e f f e c t s o f which can s t i l l be f e l t i n Canadian p o l i t i c s , was not i n any n o t i c e a b l e degree due t o the i n f l u e n c e o f e a s t e r n Canadian un ion i sm upon the l a b o r move-* sen t o f the c o a s t p r o v i n c e . I t can be a s c r i b e d more to the i m -pac t o f s p e c i a l c o n d i t i o n s p e c u l i a r to B r i t i s h Co lumbia upon new s e t t l e r s , many o f whom brought r a d i c a l i d e a s wi th them. These s p e c i a l c o n d i t i o n s which shaped the l o c a l l a b o r movement d e r i v e d l a r g e l y f rom the geograph i c p o s i t i o n o f B r i t i s h Co lumb ia . U n t i l the comp le t i on o f the r a i l r o a d i n 1885 , the West Coast was a wor ld a p a r t f rom Canada. Ve r y l i t t l e t r a n s p o r t a t i o n was o v e r l a n d ; communicat ions were by s e a , w i th C a l i f o r n i a , B r i -t a i n and the O r i e n t . E a r l y s e t t l emen t came f rom those a r e a s . In 1789 C a p t a i n John Keares brought f i f t y Ch inese a r t i s a n s to the ha rbor a t N o o t k a ; * * t h e y , a l o n g w i th Cap t a i n Meares , were soon removed by the S p a n i s h , but t h e i r i m p o r t a t i o n was a fo reshadow-i n g o f f u t u r e e v e n t s . L a t e r , when the Hudson 's Bay Company s p o n -so red the c o l o n y o f Vancouver I s l a n d , the few f a r m e r s , t r a d e s -p e o p l e , a r t i s a n s and coa l -m ine r s who d i d come i n were a lmost e n t i r e l y B r i t i s h •« a g a i n , coming by sea and no t by l a n d . The d i s c o v e r y o f p l a c e r g o l d i n B r i t i s h Co lumbia i n 1858 brought a f l o o d of. immigrants f rom the d e p l e t e d g o l d f i e l d s o f A u s t r a l i a and C a l i f o r n i a . A cosmopo l i t an horde o f g o l d -seeke r s i n which B r i t i s h and Amer ican e lements predominated sp read over t he c o l o n y ; when the f l o o d receded a f t e r a few yea r s i t l e f t beh ind a l a y e r o f E n g l i s h - s p e a k i n g s e t t l e r s and many Ch inese — but few Canad i ans . 1 1 P.W. Howav and E .O . S . S c h o l e f i e l d . B r i t i s h Co lumb ia . T o r o n t o , S . J . C l a r k e , 1913 ( ? ) , I, 128. 13 When B r i t i s h Co lombia agreed i n 1871 to j o i n the Canadian C o n f e d e r a t i o n , the Dominion government promised tha t a t r a n s - c o n t i n e n t a l r a i l w a y would be b u i l t . The c o n s t r u c t i o n o f the B r i t i s h Co lombia s e c t i o n demanded more men than the s p a r s e l y -s e t t l e d p r o v i n c e c o o l d p r o v i d e , so the c o n t r a c t o r s tu rned t o the same source o f cheap human l a b o r tha t Heares had osed ove r e i g h t y y ea r s b e f o r e — the O r i e n t . S h i p l o a d s o f c o o l i e s f rom sou the rn Ch ina were impor ted to b u i l d the Canadian P a c i f i c Ra i lway . L a t e r r a i l w a y b u i l d e r s took the same c u e , and throughout the p e r i o d o f r a i l w a y b u i l d i n g the O r i e n t a l p o p u l a t i o n o f B r i t i s h Co lumbia i n -t o c r e a s e d r a p i d l y . From the r a i l w a y s the Ch inese moved i n t o o the r o c c u p a t i o n s , and by l o n g hours o f work and the accep tance o f low wages p r o v i d e d s e r i o u s c o m p e t i t i o n to the wh i te workers o f B r i t i s h C o l u m b i a . 1 3 The Ch inese p r o v i d e d the l a b o r f o r b u i l d i n g the C . P . R . , and the reby opened the way f o r l a r g e - s c a l e immig ra t i on f rom e a s t -e rn Canada. In the f o l l o w i n g y e a r s , a g rea t i n f l u x o f s e t t l e r s 14 and wage-workers came through the R o c k i e s . An impor tan t ocean p o r t began t o grow a t the r a i l h e a d wi th i n d u s t r i a l a s p e c t s based 1 2 In 1881 the re were 4,350 Ch inese i n t h i s p r o v i n c e ; by 1891 the f i g u r e had grown to 8 ,910 , and i n 1901 t he r e was a t o t a l o f 19,482 Ch inese and Japanese h e r e . (Canada, Government, Census o f Canada. Ottawa, Queen's P r i n t e r , 1881 , 1891 , 1901 ) . 1 3 The word \" w h i t e \" i s used here to d e s i g n a t e peop l e o f European o r i g i n , e i t h e r immediate o r remote ; i t i s a conven ien t t e r m , and i t i s r e g r e t t a b l e t ha t i t has become a s s o c i a t e d w i th r a c i a l p r e j u d i c e s . No o t h e r s i n g l e word a c c u r a t e l y r e f e r s to the c a t e g o r y o f peop le meant h e r e . 1 4 Canadian-born pe rsons i n B .C. ( o the r than B . C . - b o m ) 1881 1891 1901 2,782 20,150 40,023 (Census . 1881 , 1891, 1901) . 14 upon timber and fish — the more easily exploited natural re-sources of the province. In 1881 Vancouver did not exist; by 1891 i t had twice the population of Hew Westminster, or three times that of Nanaimo, and was rapidly overtaking Victoria. By 15 1901 i t had far surpassed Victoria in size and importance, and was the economic center of British Columbia. Previous to 1885 the ports of British Columbia had been l i t t l e more than termini, dealing in the limited trade of the North Pacific area; after 1885 Vancouver's hinterland became continent-wide, and the port a link in the system of world trade. The railroad made fea-sible the economic development of British Columbia, so long de-layed by geographic isolation. After making a good start in the late 1880's, this development was temporarily slowed by outside conditions; world trade went into a depression, the effects of which were f e l t in Vancouver from late i n the f i r s t half of 1893 until the middle of 1896. When i t had passed and money was released for new investment, the exploitation of the mineral resources of the southern Interior was commenced. Geographically an extension of the Mountain States, which had already been subjected to consider-able mining development, this area was naturally invaded by capi-t a l and techniques from the south. American money was invested; Am-erican prospectors and miners, some of whom had been operating in the area on a small scale for several years, arrived i n considerable •—is issi im. i96i Victoria 5,925 16,841 20,919 Vancouver — — 12,709 27,010 New Westminster 1,500 6,678 6,499 Nanaimo 1,645 4,595 6,130 (Census. 1911, I, 554) 1 fi — — — Vancouver World. June 20, 1896, p. 5. 15 numbers to c a r r y on t h e i r accustomed work, b r i n g i n g w i th them t h e i r o r g a n i z a t i o n — the Western F e d e r a t i o n o f M ine rs — and t h e i r p o l i t i c a l i d e a s . By the e a r l y 1 9 0 0 ' s , a rough c o r r e l a t i o n c o u l d be made between c e r t a i n o c c u p a t i o n s and n a t i o n a l g roups , e s p e c i a l l y i n the f i e l d of l a b o r o r g a n i z a t i o n . Many of the a t t i t u d e s and p o l i c i e s e v i den t i n the B r i t i s h Co lumbia l a b o r movement can be t r a c e d back to the n a t i o n a l o r i g i n s o f the predominant g roups . The most impor tan t element i n l a b o r o r g a n i z a t i o n i n the c o a l - f i e l d s was B r i t i s h . The Vancouver I s l a n d mines were f i r s t worked by S c o t t i s h m ine rs impor ted by the Hudson ' s Bay Company i n 1849. Subsequent a d d i t i o n s to the m i n i n g f o r c e came ma in l y f rom B r i t a i n , a l t hough m i n o r i t i e s o f F r e n c h , I t a l i a n s , 17 B e l g i a n s , Germans and F i n n s e x i s t e d as e a r l y as 1890, Large numbers o f Ch inese a n d , l a t e r , Japanese were employed, but these d i d not take p a r t i n l a b o r o r g a n i z a t i o n ; t h e i r p resence i n and around the mines was a cons tan t cause o f d i s p u t e s between the un ions and the management. I n the newer Crow's B e s t Pass m ines , opened toward the end o f the c e n t u r y , l a b o r o r g a n i z a t i o n was a t f i r s t c a r r i e d out m a i n l y by m ine rs f rom B r i t a i n . U k r a i n i a n and 18 I t a l i a n immigrants were numerous, but were s low to o r g a n i z e . 19 There were r e l a t i v e l y few e a s t e r n Canad i ans , and even fewer Amer i c ans , i n western c o a l - m i n i n g ; We l sh , S c o t t i s h and Northum--. Nanaimo F r e e P r e s s . May 2 8 , 1890, p. 4 . 18 A r e p o r t i n the Ross l and I n d u s t r i a l W o r l d . November 24 , 1900, s t a t e d t h a t o f 700 men a t F e r n i e , 550 were S c l a v o n i a n s ( S l a v s ) , and tha t t h i s s i t u a t i o n made the u n i o n ' s work ve r y d i f -f i c u l t . There were some f rom the Cape B re ton m ines , but they seem g e n e r a l l y t o have amalgamated w i th the k i n d r e d B r i t i s h e lement . 16 b e r l a n d m i n e r s , w i th an e s t a b l i s h e d t r a d i t i o n o f o r g a n i z a t i o n 20 2 1 and p o l i t i c a l a c t i o n , dominated the m i n e r s ' un ions* The p a t t e r n was q u i t e d i f f e r e n t i n m e t a l - m i n i n g ; t h e r e the dominant group was Amer ican o r A m e r i c a n - i n f l u e n c e d , a l t hough the m a j o r i t y o f the workers were B r i t i s h and C o n t i n e n t a l European . A t f i r s t , i n d e e d , a g rea t number o f the miners were Amer i cans . A l t hough t h e i r p r o p o r t i o n o f the t o t a l work ing f o r c e 2 2 d e c l i n e d r a p i d l y a round the end o f the c e n t u r y , the Amer ican i n f l u e n c e remained s t r o n g i n un ion a f f a i r s . I t a l i a n s and F i n n s , many o f whom had worked i n the U n i t e d S t a t e s f o r s e v e r a l y e a r s , and a s m a l l e r number o f B r i t i s h e r s ( o f t e n C o r n i s h , p o s s i b l y h e i r s to the t i n - m i n i n g t r a d i t i o n ) appeared d u r i n g the y e a r s about 1900; i t i s d o u b t f u l t ha t they added any s i g n i f i c a n t f e a t u r e s to the p h i l o s o p h y o r a t t i t u d e s o f the u n i o n . The Amer i can m e t a l -miners had a l r e a d y se t a p a t t e r n o f c l a s s - c o n s c i o u s r a d i c a l i s m i n c l a s h e s w i th s t a t e power a t Coeur d ' A l e n e , I daho , i n 1892, and a t C r i p p l e C r e e k , C o l o r a d o , i n 1894. The F i n n s , under the r u l e o f the Russ i an T s a r , were d e v e l o p i n g a s t r o n g s o c i a l - d e m o c r a t i c O A S idney & B e a t r i c e Webb, The H i s t o r y o f Trade U n i o n i s m . London, Longmans, 1950, pass im . Of the t h r ee groups men t i oned , the Welsh and S co t s appear t o have been much more a g g r e s s i v e than the Nor thumbr i ans . 2 1 Much o f t h i s m a t e r i a l on the coa l -m ine r s i n the e a r l y 1900 ' s comes f rom c o n v e r s a t i o n s w i th r e t i r e d m i n e r s , n o t a b l y D a i P h i l l i p s a t F e r n i e and Lew Lewis and Jimmy P h i l l i p s o n a t Nanaimo. oo As e a r l y as 1898 Ross l and was more Sco tch-Canad ian than Amer i can . (Vancouver W o r l d . June 1 4 , 1898, p. 4 ) . 2 3 £ £ • \"\".F.1I. \" A p p l i c a t i o n f o r Membership\" forms ( h e l d by T.& D .S .W .U . , T r a i l ) . The Sandon P a y s t r e a k r e p o r t e d tha t about 35# o f the Ross l and p a y r o l l was I t a l i a n ( A p r i l 1 3 , 1900) . movement whose i d e a s c o i n c i d e d i n many ways w i th the r a d i c a l -ism o f the Amer i c ans . The F i n n s seem to have suppor t ed the Amer icans i n l e a d i n g the B r i t i s h Co lumbia s e c t i o n ( D i s t r i c t A s s o c i a t i o n Ho . 6) o f the W.F .M. i n t o suppor t o f the S o c i a l i s t P a r t y ; no s p e c i f i c B r i t i s h o r I t a l i a n i n f l u e n c e s a r e o b s e r v a b l e . In the urban t r a d e s — those a s s o c i a t e d w i th c o n s t r u c -t i o n , commerce, and s e r v i c e s — the B r i t i s h p redomina ted . These workmen were ma in l y s k i l l e d c r a f t s m e n , b a s i c a l l y c o n s e r v a t i v e but c apab l e o f becoming r a d i c a l under p r e s s u r e . In t h e i r home 95 c o u n t r y they were on the verge o f t a k i n g p o l i t i c a l a c t i o n , but they were not ye t conv i n ced o f i t s va lue o r i t s most e f f e c t i v e f o rm . The r a t h e r e r r a t i c cou r se o f p o l i t i c a l a c t i o n pursued by the T.& L . C . un ions i n B r i t i s h Co lumbia may be t r a c e d to t h e i r u n c e r t a i n t y and to the A . F . o f L. p o l i c y o f \" p o l i t i c a l n e u t r a l -i t y . \" V e r y l i t t l e p a t t e r n can be d i s c e r n e d w i th r e g a r d t o n a t i o n a l groups i n the o t h e r two major i n d u s t r i e s o f the p r o v i n c e . Whi tes o r v a r i o u s o r i g i n s , O r i e n t a l s , and n a t i v e I nd i ans have been In 1907, when the f i r s t g ene r a l e l e c t i o n was h e l d under the l i b e r a l i z e d F i n n i s h c o n s t i t u t i o n , f o r t y pe r cen t o f t he r e p -r e s e n t a t i v e s e l e c t e d were S o c i a l - D e m o c r a t s . E n c y c l o p a e d i a B r i t a n -n i c a , 11th e d i t i o n , X , 385. The p o l i t i c a l bent o f many F i n n s i n B .C. i s e v idenced by the e x i s t e n c e o f a F i n n i s h - l a n g u a g e \" C o n -s t i t u t i o n and By- laws\" o f the S o c i a l i s t P a r t y . 25 The Independent Labor P a r t y was formed i n 1893, but r e -c e i v e d l i t t l e s u p p o r t ; the Labor R e p r e s e n t a t i o n Committee a p -pea red i n 1900, w i th the suppor t o f many t r ade u n i o n s , but d i d not r e c e i v e much r e c o g n i t i o n f rom l a b o r as a whole u n t i l 1902. (The Webbs, o p . c i t . . pp . 683 f f . ) . There was a d e f i n i t e l i n k between the L . K . c . and B r i t i s h Co lumb i a , i n t h a t the Amalgamated S o c i e t y o f Ca rpen te r s and J o i n e r s o f Vancouver (a branch o f a B r i t i s h un ion and a member o f the Vancouver T .& L . C ) , endorsed the L . R . C . as a model f o r Canada. ( Independent . Vancouve r , D e c . 7 , 1901, p . 8 ) . 18 a c t i v e i n f i s h i n g and l umber ing s i n c e the i n c e p t i o n o f those i n -d u s t r i e s . Labor o r g a n i z a t i o n i n these f i e l d s was f r agmen ta r y , and on the who le , t r a n s i t o r y u n t i l the 1 9 3 0 v s . P o s s i b l y r a c i a l and c u l t u r a l r i v a l r i e s , added t o the s e a s o n a l and m i g r a t o r y na tu re o f the i n d u s t r i e s , can be blamed f o r the d i f f i c u l t y o f b u i l d i n g comprehensive and l o n g - l a s t i n g un ions i n l umber ing and f i s h i n g . The work ing p o p u l a t i o n o f B r i t i s h Co lumb i a , mixed as i t was i n i t s o r i g i n s , c o u l d be d i v i d e d r o u g h l y i n t o two g rea t g roups : those i n the u l t i m a t e l y European t r a d i t i o n (more e x a c t l y , the western European t r a d i t i o n ) , f a m i l i a r w i th l a b o r o r g a n i z a -t i o n and demanding a r e l a t i v e l y h i g h s t a n d a r d o f l i v i n g , and the unorgan ized O r i e n t a l s , accustomed t o l i v i n g a t a bare s u b s i s t e n c e l e v e l . T h i s t h e s i s i s c en t e r ed upon the former g r o u p , s i n c e o r -gan ized a c t i v i t y i n the p e r i o d under d i s c u s s i o n was a lmost e n -t i r e l y c o n f i n e d t o the whi te workers ; the O r i e n t a l s were more o f t e n the i n v o l u n t a r y cause o f such a c t i v i t y than p a r t i c i p a n t s i n i t . CHAPTER I I KNIGHTS IN POLITICS i . By 1879 the main B r i t i s h Co lombia g o l d rashes were o v e r ; the p l a c e r miners had gone on to new f i e l d s , s e t t l e d on the l a n d , o r tu rned to wage l a b o r . Some o f the Ch inese who had f o l l o w e d the rush were l a b o r i o u s l y pann ing f o r the r ema in i ng specks o f g o l d , wh i l e o the r s had l ooked f o r new o c c u p a t i o n s . There were Ch inese g a r d e n e r s , house s e r v a n t s , l a u n d r y workers , c o o k s , and t a i l o r s , and i n a l l these f i e l d s t h e i r low c o s t o f l i v i n g and t h e i r a c c e p -tance o f l o n g hours o f l a b o r ga ined them f a v o r w i th emp loye r s , to the de t r iment o f o t h e r workers . The e f f e c t o f t h e i r c o m p e t i t i o n was a l s o f e l t i n o t h e r f i e l d s , as i t tended to f o r c e whi te workers out o f those o c c u p a t i o n s named on to the gene ra l l a b o r marke t . Other cha rges were made a g a i n s t them: t hey would not and c o u l d not be a s s i m i l a t e d to the r e s t o f the p o p u l a t i o n ; t h e i r customs and l i v i n g c o n d i t i o n s were u n h y g i e n i c ; they were d i s e a s e - r i d d e n ; they were s p r e a d i n g the p r a c t i c e o f op ium-smok ing . 1 T h e i r a ccep tance o f low wages and l o n g h o a r s , however, was the p o i n t which most c l o s e l y touched o t h e r workers and was the main cause o f the a n t i -Ch inese b i a s o f the B r i t i s h Co lumbia l a b o r movement. The e a r l i e s t s u g g e s t i o n o f l a b o r p o l i t i c a l a c t i o n i n B r i t i s h Columbia was, i n f a c t , connec ted w i th the O r i e n t a l p r o -b l em. Subsequent a c t i v i t y throughout the p e r i o d under d i s c u s -s i o n c o n t i n u e d t o h inge l a r g e l y upon the same m a t t e r . Indeed, 1 C f . contemporary newspapers; a l s o a b s t r a c t o f P a r t I, \" R e p o r T o f Roya l Commission on Ch inese & Japanese Immigra-t i o n , n Canada, Department o f L abou r , Labour G a z e t t e . Ottawa, K i n g ' s P r i n t e r , A p r i l , 1902, p p . 599-609. 20 i f the re was one p o i n t upon which o r g a n i z e d l a b o r i n B r i t i s h Columbia was unanimous, i t was the q u e s t i o n o f A s i a t i c c o m p e t i -t i o n f o r j o b s . In 1879 t h e r e e x i s t e d i n V i c t o r i a an o r g a n i z a t i o n known as the Workingmen's P r o t e c t i v e A s s o c i a t i o n . No r e c o r d e x i s t s o f i t s membership o r o b j e c t s ; i t s name ( c f . the s l i g h t l y l a t e r M i n e r s 1 and Mine L a b o r e r s ' P r o t e c t i v e A s s o c i a t i o n i n the Nanaimo d i s t r i c t ) sugges t s t ha t i t was a g e n e r a l un ion o f work-men, w i th the normal f u n c t i o n o f improv ing the l o t o f i t s members. L i k e many c r a f t u n i o n s , i t dep reca ted p o l i t i c a l d i s c u s s i o n w i t h -i n i t s r a n k s ; however, upon the i s s u e o f Ch inese l a b o r , t h i s shadowy o r g a n i z a t i o n hea rd the f i r s t s u g g e s t i o n t ha t worke rs , as -s u c h , s h o u l d take a c t i o n upon the p o l i t i c a l f i e l d . The W.P.A. o f 1879 was c e r t a i n l y concerned about the Ch inese q u e s t i o n ; i n F eb rua r y o f t h a t yea r i t h e l d two meet ings on the s u b j e c t . A t the f i r s t meet ing i t s p r e s i d e n t , a M r . Shake-s p e a r e , a d v i s e d those p r e sen t t ha t » . . . i t would be the d u t y o f the workingmen t o get t h e i r members to i n t r o d u c e measures to get r i d o f t h i s c l a s s ( the C h i n e s e ) . \" A t the second mee t ing C. Boo th , a guest speake r , wanted to go f u r t h e r . Shakespeare a p p a r e n t l y d i d not r e g a r d h i s own p r e v i o u s s tatement as hav i ng p o l i t i c a l i m p l i c a t i o n s ; Booth remarked tha t 2 V i c t o r i a C o l o n i s t . F eb rua r y 4 , 1879, p. 3. 3 There i s no f u r t h e r i d e n t i f i c a t i o n o f Shakespea re ; however, i n 1888 F r e d N .E . Shakespeare was s e c r e t a r y - t r e a s u r e r o f V i c -t o r i a T y p o g r a p h i c a l Un ion N o . 201 . (Geo. B a r t l e y , An O u t l i n e H i s t o r y o f T y p o g r a p h i c a l Un ion No . 226. Vancouver , Sun P u b l i s h -i n g C o . , 1938, p. 7 ) . T h i s may have been the same man. 4 V i c t o r i a C o l o n i s t , F e b r u a r y 4 , 1879, p. 3. 21 The P r e s i e n t o f t h i s a s s o c i a t i o n has t o l d as t h a t we shou ld no t t a l k p o l i t i c s h e r e . I d i f f e r w i th h im . T h i s i s a p o l i t i c a l q u e s t i o n and dese r ves the c o n s i d e r a t i o n o f the s t a t e s m a n . 5 T h e r e , so f a r a s i s known, the ma t t e r r e s t e d . The arguments had been made tha t the Ch inese q u e s t i o n c o u l d o n l y be s e t t l e d by l e g i s l a t i v e a c t i o n , and t h a t the workingmen s h o u l d exe r t themselves to i n f l u e n c e the e l e c t e d members;. Booth had made i t c l e a r t h a t the whole ma t t e r was p o l i t i c a l i n n a t u r e , and must be d e a l t w i th p o l i t i c a l l y . N o t h i n g , however, was done a t the t i m e ; the i m p l i e d ban on p o l i t i c s w i t h i n the W.P .A. may have p reven ted a c t i o n ; a l t e r n a t i v e l y , the r e l a t i v e o b s c u r i t y o f the o r g a n i z a t i o n may have c a s t the v e i l o f t ime ove r the appea l s o f i t s members. The f i r s t a t tempt o f a group o f workingmen to o b t a i n t h e i r own p o l i t i c a l r e p r e s e n t a t i o n came th r ee y ea r s l a t e r , when both p r o v i n c i a l and domin ion e l e c t i o n s were s c h e d u l e d . On June 27 , 1882, s e v e n t y - f i v e workmen assembled i n C e n t r a l H a l l i n V i c -t o r i a t o s e l e c t c a n d i d a t e s f o r both e l e c t i o n s . A speech was heard on the s u b j e c t o f Ch inese i m m i g r a t i o n , and a r e s o l u t i o n was passed by a vo te o f 20-6 t h a t n . . . no c a n d i d a t e not w i l l i n g to p r o t e c t the i n t e r e s t s o f the p r o v i n c e s h o u l d be e l e c t e d . 9 A Workingman's A s s o c i a t i o n was o r g a n i z e d , w i th R. N u t t a l l a s p r e s i d e n t and C . B . Brown as v i c e - p r e s i d e n t . N u t t a l l was then nominated as the A s s o c i a t i o n ' s c and ida t e f o r the l o c a l l e g i s -g l a t u r e , and the mee t ing ad jou rned . 5 I b i d . . F eb rua r y 2 7 , 1879. (Note ; Boo th ' s f i r s t name i s no-where g i v e n ) . 6 I b i d . . June 2 8 , 1882. No e x p l a n a t i o n i s o f f e r e d as t o why o n l y 26 out o f the 75 v o t e d , nor why s i x peop le vo ted a g a i n s t the r e s o l u t i o n . (No te : N u t t a l l ' s f i r s t name i s nowhere g i v e n ) . 22 When the group met aga in two days l a t e r , w i th N n t t a l l as cha i rman , the p o l i t i c a l e f f o r t d i s i n t e g r a t e d . There was f i r s t a wrangle ove r the minutes o f the p r e v i o u s mee t ing and the a c cu racy o f c e r t a i n s ta tements i n the preamble to the r e s o -l u t i o n passed a t tha t t i m e . The cha i rman used h i s p o s i t i o n some-what a u t o c r a t i c a l l y , and was p r e sen t ed w i th a mot ion t h a t h i s nomina t ion as c a n d i d a t e be r e s c i n d e d on the grounds t h a t he was 7 not a workingman. A l t hough the mot ion was l a t e r wi thdrawn, i t was p l a i n t h a t p e r s o n a l antagonisms had made the o r g a n i z a t i o n i n e f f e c t u a l . The meet ing was ad jou rned u n t i l the c h a i r s h o u l d c a l l i t a g a i n ; s i n c e no ment ion appears o f subsequent m e e t i n g s , i t i s p robab l e t h a t the A s s o c i a t i o n d i s s o l v e d . N u t t a l l a p -peared i n p u b l i c as a c and ida t e on a t l e a s t one o c c a s i o n , but h i s c a n d i d a t u r e was not r e g i s t e r e d on the o f f i c i a l nomina t ion day and he d i d not c o n t e s t the e l e c t i o n . From the s c a n t y r e p o r t s a v a i l a b l e , i t appears t ha t t h i s at tempt to e l e c t a l a b o r c a n d i d a t e was e s s e n t i a l l y a mat te r o f p e r s o n a l a m b i t i o n on the p a r t o f N u t t a l l , t a k i n g advantage o f the c u r r e n t d i s c o n t e n t o f the workers over Ch inese economic com-p e t i t i o n and l a c k o f e f f e c t i v e l e g i s l a t i o n t o c u r b i t . The qu i ck break-up o f the A s s o c i a t i o n i n d i c a t e s an u n w i l l i n g n e s s to s i n k p e r s o n a l d i f f e r e n c e s and amb i t i ons i n o rde r to get a c a n d i d a t e e l e c t e d on a l a b o r , a n t i - C h i n e s e t i c k e t . P e r s o n a l i t i e s counted f o r more than p r i n c i p l e s , and the movement c o l l a p s e d . Two t h i n g s were neces sa r y f o r the development o f a s e r i o u s p o l i t i c a l e f f o r t by l a b o r : a group o f economic and p o l i -I t was s t a t e d i n h i s de fence tha t he was a member o f the \" Labor L e a g u e ; \" ho c l a i m was made tha t he was a wage-worker. I b i d . . June 30 , 1882. E w \" » 23 t i c a l i s s u e s which c o u l d be f o rmu l a t ed as a campaign p l a t f o r m , and s t r o n g o r g a n i z a t i o n r e f l e c t i n g an i d e a o f community o f i n t e r e s t . By 1886, the y ea r o f the next e l e c t i o n , bo th these c o n d i t i o n s e x i s t e d . i i . The two b a s i c i s s u e s prompt ing l a b o r p o l i t i c a l a c t -i o n i n 1886 were not new. The Ch inese prob lem has been men-t i o n e d p r e v i o u s l y } the o t h e r — the q u e s t i o n o f l a n d g r a n t s —• has n o t . Of these two p rob l ems , tha t o f l a n d g r a n t s was the f i r s t t o cause c o m p l a i n t . As e a r l y a s 1850 Governor B l ansha rd o f Vancouver I s l a n d had o c c a s i o n t o ment ion i n a l e t t e r to E a r l Grey the l a n d s h e l d by the Hudson ' s Bay Company. He wrote tha t Some c o m p l a i n t s o f I nd i an out rages have r eached me f rom Sooke , . . . where a gent leman by the name o f Grant . . . has a s m a l l s e t t l e m e n t . He compla ins o f l a c k o f p r o t e c t i o n , wh i ch , owing t o the d i s t a n c e a t which he i s l o c a t e d c a n -not be a f f o r d e d h im; he i n fo rms me tha t he was anx ious to s e t t l e nea r V i c t o r i a , but was not a l l owed to do s o by the Hudson 's Bay Company, who have a p p r o p r i a t e d a l l the v a l -uab le l a n d i n the ne ighbourhood.8 In f a c t , the a r e a o f l a n d r e s e r v e d t o the Company was r a t h e r vague. The Company's c l a i m was based m a i n l y upon u s e , but i t put up a c e r t a i n p a r t o f i t s l a n d s f o r s a l e , e s p e c i a l l y to p e r -sons a s s o c i a t e d w i th the Company. The e x i s t e n c e o f the Hudson ' s Bay Company Reserve on Vancouver I s l a n d hampered f r e e s e t t l e m e n t , and was the s u b j e c t o f v i g o r o u s p r o t e s t by Amor de Cosmos and o the r s i n the l a t e 1850 ' s and the 1 8 6 0 ' s . The p o l i c y o f making l a r g e g r a n t s o f l a n d on f a v o r a b l e terms to r e t i r e d army o f f i c e r s 8 Howay and S c h o l e f i e l d . op , c i t . . I. 519-520. 24 was endorsed i n the period of representative government. For example, in 1860 Captain Edward Stamp received 15,000 acres ar-ound Barkley Sound for the establishment of a sawmill and other works.^ With the entry of British.Columbia into Confederation and the beginning of railway building in the province, land grants started to climb to enormous proportions. Lacking any immediate financial inducement to stimulate construction, the British Columbia government began to give large tracts to those who would undertake to build railways, roads, and other works. The f i r s t such grant passed through the legislature in 1880, implementing the agreement with the Dominion government concerning the building of the C.P.R. This measure o f f i c i a l l y gave to the company a forty mile wide s t r i p along i t s track, less such land as had already been alienated or was reserved. The deficiency was made up in 1883 by a grant to the Dominion govern-ment of 3,500,000 acres in the Peace River d i s t r i c t . 1 0 The C.P.R. grants, although large, were only a beginning. In 1883 the Smithe government took up the policy of land grants in earnest. In that year four grants were made: one of 750,000 acres in the Eootenay and Columbia country, including the future mining d i s t r i c t s of Nelson and Slocan, to assist i n building a railway and steamship line; one of 78,000 acres in Eootenay for a canal project; one of 60,000 acres in Yale and Kootenay for _ ; ; . : . . ; For a study of early land grants, vide Leonard A. Wrinch, \"Land Policy of the Colony of Vancouver Island, 1849-1366,» an un-published M.A. thesis, University of British Columbia, 1932. 1 0 British Columbia, Legislative Assembly, Statutes. Victoria, Queen's Printer, 1883, p. 39. 25 wagon road; and the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway grant of 200,000 acres on Vancouver Island to the Dunsmuir interests. The f i r s t of these grants was later canceled, owing to the f a i l -ure of the company to carry out i t s plans; the remainder became operative. Then, i n 1885, a smaller but very valuable grant was made of 6,000 acres near Burrard Inlet, plus some lots in the settlement of Granville, i n order to encourage the C.P.R. to 11 extend i t s line to Coal Harbor. In addition, the C.P.R. grant was to be untaxed for twenty years and the E.& N. grant (appar-ently) in perpetuity. It must have appeared to many people that this policy, although speeding the industrial development of the province, would leave no decent farm or timber land available to the individual settler. Moreover, i t deprived the government of tax revenue and placed great economic power in the hands of cor-porations. In 1886 the land grant policy was condemned as tend-12 ing toward \"the worst sort of feudalism;\" indeed, the economic and p o l i t i c a l situation which later developed in the \"company towns\" had much in common with feudalism. These two issues — land grants and Chinese immigra-tion — pressed not only upon the workingmen of British Columbia but also upon other social groups. Land grants threatened to make both wage-workers and farmers dependent upon the w i l l of the land-holding corporations; the Chinese were competing with white tailors, gardeners, grocers, laundrymen, restaurant-operators, 1 1 This l i s t of grants i s taken from Howay, & Scholefield, op. c i t . . II, 431-442, and Alexander Begg, History of British Columbia. Toronto, Briggs, 1894, pp. 431-2. 12 Victoria Workingmenvs Platform; vide Appendix, p. i . 26 and other small businessmen as well as with wage-earners. These were not s t r i c t l y working-class issues; they had a much wider application* However, they were the issues which most agitated the workingmen. The opening of the railway connecting British Columbia with the rest of the continent coincided with an outburst of labor organization that swept both Canada and the United States,; In the space of one year, 1885-6, a union known as the Knights of Labor grew from a membership of 104,066 to a total of 13 702,924, and temporarily dominated the labor scene. The Knights of Labor was neither craft nor industrial in structure. Formed i n Philadelphia in 1869 as a secret soc-iety of garment cutters, i t slowly built up locals of many trades. In 1881 i t dropped i t s cloak of secrecy and began a period of more rapid expansion in which the separation of trades was generally unrecognized; local assemblies took i n members of a l l accepted trades within a given area. A l l those who had at any time worked for wages, except only lawyers, doctors, bankers, and those engaged in the liquor trade, might join. The o f f i c i a l tone of the K. of L. was i d e a l i s t i c ; i t rejected the idea of a class struggle, and aimed at the improve-ment of the workers physically, mentally, and s p i r i t u a l l y by improving their conditions of l i f e . It opposed strikes, favor-ing co-operation between labor and capital, and took a strong 14 interest in p o l i t i c s in order to obtain reform legislation. Anthony Bimba, History of the American Working Class. New York, International Publishers, 1927, p. 174. 1 4 Ibid., pp. 173-5. 27 This was the organization to which the workers of Bri-tish Colombia flocked in the middle 1880's. Two assemblies were organized in the New Westminster d i s t r i c t , and two more i n Vic-15 toria and Nanaimo. The total membership of the K. of L. i n British Columbia, although nowhere exactly stated, must have been comparatively large; there were 600 members i n the infant 16 city of Vancouver alone, and the Assemblies in the older and more populous centers were almost certainly even greater. The Knights of Labor, with i t s idealism and i t s breadth of membership, was the f i r s t body to unite a large section of the British Colum-bia working class on the economic f i e l d and develop the organiz-ing techniques necessary for p o l i t i c a l action. Appropriately enough, the f i r s t serious attempt to elect labor representatives to the Legislature i s associated with the K. of L. The Workingmen*s Party which appeared in connection with the provincial election of 1886 ran candidates i n only two of the three main labor centers of British Columbia — Victoria and Nanaimo. For some undisclosed reason, the Lower Mainland 17 did not share in this p o l i t i c a l effort. Two candidates in Vic-toria and two in Nanaimo were a l l that the contemporary labor i g ' Bennett, op. c i t . . p. 25. 1 6 Vancouver People's Journal. Mar. 25, 1893, p. 3. 17 There i s a suggestion that the platform of the Working-men's Party may have been used i n New Westminster (Industrial News. Victoria, July 10, 1886). This, however, probably merely refers to the appeal of W. Norman Bole, Oppositionist, for labor support (British Columbian. New Westminster, July 3, 1886, p.2). The Industrial news approved the candidature of Hans Helgesen in Esquimalt and of John Grant in Cassiar (June 12, 1886) — both Conservative Oppositionists. This, however, i s hardly labor p o l i t i c a l action, although Bennett treats the approval of Helgesen as such (op. c i t . . p. 30). 28 movement c o u l d a f f o r d ; c o n s i d e r i n g t ha t each c a n d i d a t e r e p -r e s e n t e d a v e r y r i s k y investment o f $200 i n a d e p o s i t , the e f f o r t was not a minor one . So f a r a s can be a s c e r t a i n e d , the E. o f L. o r g a n i z a -t i o n took no p a r t i n the 1886 e l e c t i o n ; nowhere i s the re any 18 mention o f e n d o r s a t i o n o f the Workingmen's P a r t y by t ha t u n i o n . The p o l i t i c a l e f f o r t was o r g a n i z e d i n d e p e n d e n t l y o f the u n i o n , a l though i t a imed a t ends f a v o r a b l e to the l a b o r movement. Of the two l a b o r c a n d i d a t e s i n V i c t o r i a , n e i t h e r was a t the t ime a wage-worker. A . J . Smith had been a c a r p e n t e r , but had t u rned t o b u i l d i n g c o n t r a c t i n g ; he was a l r e a d y well-known i n p o l i t i c s , h a v i n g s e r ved s e v e r a l terms on the V i c t o r i a C i t y C o u n -c i l . J . M . D u v a l , f o r m e r l y a wood-turner , had been i n c a p a c i t a t e d 19 by an a c c i d e n t and gone i n t o the p r i n t i n g b u s i n e s s . T h e i r p r e -v i o u s s t a t u s as wage-earners made them e l i g i b l e f o r membership i n the E. o f L. The p o l i t i c a l campaign r e a l l y began w i th the i n t r o d u c -t o r y i s s u e o f the I n d u s t r i a l News. Duva l s t a t e d e d i t o r i a l l y tha t The o f f i c i a l r e c o r d s o f the K. o f L. seem to have d i s a p -pea red w i th the e x t i n c t i o n o f the u n i o n . Bennett i n t i m a t e s t h a t the K. o f L. d i d take a c t i o n by s t a t i n g t h a t the I n d u s t r i a l Hews. which was an a c t i v e element i n the e l e c t i o n campaign, was the o f-f i c i a l organ o f the E. o f L. (op. _ c i t . . p . 124) and t r e a t s i t s s ta tements as embodying o f f i c i a l K. o f L. p o l i c y . A c t u a l l y , t he I n d u s t r i a l News d i d not r e c e i v e the o f f i c i a l a p p r o v a l o f the K. o f L. u n t i l November 1886, some t ime a f t e r the e l e c t i o n ( I ndus - t r i a l News. November 6 and 20 , 1886) . 19 The f i l e s o f h i s newspaper, the I n d u s t r i a l News, cove r the p e r i o d f rom December 1885 t o December 1886, thus g i v i n g complete coverage o f t h i s ep i sode o f l a b o r p o l i t i c a l a c t i o n f rom the f i r s t h i n t o f independence o f e x i s t i n g p o l i t i c a l groups through the e l e c t i o n campaign t o the subsequent r e c a p i t u l a t i o n o f the cam-, p a i g n . 29 In pol i t i c s i t w i l l be thoroughly independent, devoted to no clique or party, but w i l l not hesitate at any time, whenever the interests of the workingmen and women require i t , to take sides and fearlessly advocate what we believe to be right.20 He soon followed this declaration by an indirect hint at direct p o l i t i c a l action, in the form of comment upon the success of the K. of L, in backing candidates for municipal office in 21 Whatcom City and in Toronto. Two weeks later, attention was directed to the local scene: This i s the last session of the present local parlia-ment..,. Any workingman f a i l i n g to see that his vote i s properly registered, w i l l have no right to complain i f the legislation of the next parliament i s inimical to the interest of the working classes. Workingmen see that your votes are recorded. Your power l i e s i n the Ballot.22 This warning to the discontented was soon followed by an even more pointed leading a r t i c l e : The time i s gone by for class government.... an educated and enfranchised democracy... w i l l become the arbiter of i t s own fate and destiny at the polls. It w i l l seek within i t s own ranks, and not in vain, for delegates pledged to reform, economy, and the investigation of recent jobberies — men, too, pledged to set aside aims of personal aggrandizement for that grander object, the recognition of the worker and the cause of labor.23 While the ground was thus being prepared in Victoria, organization was going ahead at Nanaimo. The origin of the p o l i t i c a l movement there i s unrecorded, but i t s connection with the Victoria group i s certain. The party bore the same name, Pi* 24 i t s platform was essentially the same, and Duval came from Industrial News, December 26, 1885. 2 1 Ibid.. January 16, 1886. 22 Ibid., January 30, 1886. 2 3 Ibid.. March 13, 1886. 2 4 cf. Nanaimo Free Press. June 2, 1886, p. 2. 25 Victoria to support the Nanaimo candidates in their campaign* In whatever way i t may have been started, by the middle of Kay the Nanaimo Workingmen>s Party was in existence and had nominated James Lewis,a.Gabriola Island farmer, and Samuel H. Myers, agent for the Industrial News, as i t s representatives in the coming 2 6 election. In Victoria, the platform of the Workingmen's Party 27 was adopted on May 27, at a meeting in the Theatre Comique. A strengthening of the class s p i r i t of the new party might be inferred from the comment of the Industrial News reporter: That platform every candidate wishing to present himself on the workingman's ticket w i l l be called upon to sign, and pledge himself to uphold.... But... what are required are not candidates pledged to carry out the views of the workingmen, but workingmen candidates.28 Despite this attitude, when nominations took place Duval and Smith ~ contractor and editor-publisher were recommended by a committee of fifteen and then endorsed at a public meeting as the Workingmen*s Party candidates. At this stage the campaign ran into d i f f i c u l t i e s which were not immediately made public. It appears that a \"saw-offn had been arranged between the Workingmen's Party and the Opposi-tion, led by Robert Beaven. In Victoria, each of these groups was to put up only two candidates in opposition to the four Gov-ernment candidates. As soon as Duval and Smith were nominated, 2 5 Ibid.. July 3, 1886, p. 3. 26 ™'\"*~\" Myers* regular occupation i s unstated in contemporary reports. 2 7 Industrial News. May 29, 1886. 2 8 Loc. c i t . the Opposition named a f u l l slate of four and l e f t the new party to fight alone. A letter was sent to the chairman of the Workingmen's Committee as follows: Victoria, June 11th 1886 Dear S i r , — Adverting to bur conversation last evening, I am authorized by the opposition delegates to state that they are unable to include Messrs. Smith and Duval, the gentlemen designated by you, in the opposition nomination. Yours truly, J. Roland Hett.29 It i s apparent that the Workingmen's Party, despite the rather fie r y tone of some pronouncements in the Industrial News, was willing to compromise. As a result, i t f e l l between two stools. To retain i t s raison d'ttre. i t had to be organizat-ionally separate from other p o l i t i c a l groups, free to name i t s own candidates and to c r i t i c i z e others; to win seats for i t s man, i t had to make an agreement with an existing group — and that depended upon i t s naming candidates acceptable to the senior party, and forfeiting i t s independence. Its offer to share the opposition ticket in Victoria was rejected, and i t was forced to be the independent party that i t claimed to be. There was more than one motive for this rejection of the overtures of the Workingmenvs Party. For one thing, the Opposition wanted a pledge that the Workingmen*s candidates would 30 unconditionally oppose the Government Party; this promise was not made, since the Workingmen*s Party intended to oppose or sup-port legislation upon i t s merits — not necessarily upon i t s origin. Again, some statements in the Industrial News may well 2 9 I b i d - • J u l y 17,-1886. 3 0 British Columbian. June 19, 1886. 32 have frightened the Opposition by their radical nature, and led i t to fear that an alliance with the new party might be more embarrassing than useful. Also, there was no shortage of straight Oppositionist aspirants for the seats at stake, and therefore no real desire to share the available nominations with an out-side group. Free of any obligation to another party, Smith and Duval carried on a f a i r l y vigorous campaign. Since i t was now clear that their party would f i e l d no more than four candidates in the province, they limited the party's current objectives to the independent criticism which Duval had promised in the f i r s t issue of his paper: The workingmen1s candidates simply stand i n the position of watchmen, to see that i f the opposition come to power they w i l l not do as they did before, but that they w i l l really and earnestly legislate in the interests of the working classes; to keep a sharp eye on the present gov-ernment i f they are continued in power, and make sure that they w i l l not revert to their old ways, but walk a straighter course in the future than they have done in the past.32 In Nanaimo, no such abortive agreement with the Oppo-sition was attempted; throughout the campaign, the Workingmen candidates retained their identity as a \"third force.\" At f i r s t they were favored by the Nanaimo Free Press, which declared edit-31 The Opposition slate did include workingmen. J. Wrigles-worth, a member of the Workingmen's Committee, was nominated as an Opposition candidate; of course, his association with the Workingmen's Party was immediately terminated (Industrial News, June 12, 1886). R.T. Williams, i n his election appeal, tDaily Standard, Victoria, June 21, 1886, p. 2) referred to himself as a worker and called for legislation in the interests of the workers, such as a l i e n law, payment of jurors, and simplifica-tion of the voting laws. 3 2 Industrial News. July 3, 1886. 33 or i a l l y that both capital and labor should be represented in the 33 legislature; as election day came closer i t s cordiality waned, and i t swung more closely to support of Dunsmuir and Raybould, the Government candidates. On the eve of the election the f o l -lowing squib appeared: Workingmen^ Our best friends are the Capitalists, who give us employ-ment, and pay us our wages regularly. Discard the hum-bugging alliance with adventurous fire-eaters, who have nothing to lose and only want to gain their own sel f i s h ends.34 To judge by their election appeal, however, Lewis and 35 Myers were hardly \"adventurous fire-eaters. n They made no re-ference to any clash of class interests, or need for the elec-tion of workers* representatives. Indeed, they went so far as to promise their \"... best endeavours to encourage a l l honest industries and promote the interest of Capital and Labor so that they may work harmoniously to develop the resources of the Prq-qg vince.\" Their campaign appears to have had a much milder tone than that of Smith and Duval in Victoria. Whether the approach were mild or strong, British Col-umbia was not yet ready to elect labor candidates to the legis-lature; the new party was snowed under in both c i t i e s . Drawing only a small fraction of the total vote, Lewis and Myers footed the Nanaimo polls. In Victoria Smith and Duval did somewhat 3T May 19, 1886, p. 2. 3 4 Ibid.. July 7, 1886, p. 3. 3 5 v i d e Appendix, p. i i i . 3 6 Loc. c i t . 34 better, but s t i l l lost their deposits. ' The f i r s t bid for working-class representation in po l i t i c s had been decisively rejected. The main issues of the Workingmen»s Party had been Chinese immigration and land grants; since these matters were of general interest, they were hardly sufficient to justify the formation of a \"labor 0 party except insofar as the non-labor sections of the community were taking no effective steps to deal with these problems. This was, indeed, the case; however, there qo were certain items in the Workingmen's Platform of 1886 which were peculiarly of interest to labor and which, in the light of later p o l i t i c a l development, serve to relate the Workingmen's Party to subsequent labor p o l i t i c a l action. The c a l l for working-class representation in govern-ment, expressed in the f i r s t clause of the 1886 platform, has certainly been very durable; i t i s s t i l l with us. Its signi-ficance in this platform comes from i t s being the f i r s t p o l i t i c a l The actual results were: Victoria Nanaimo .540) f ^ e l e c t e d ,366) 267) E.G. Prior Win. Raybould J.H. Turner Dr. 0«Brian 192 Theo. Davie 463) C.C. HcKenzie 134 S, Duck 456 G. Thomson 90 R.T. Williams 413 Jas. Lewis 78 R. Lipsett 362 S.H. Myers 30 J. Wriglesworth 321 A.J. Smith 208 J.H. Duval 127 J.W. Carey 53 elected (J.A. Gemmill, ed., The Canadian Parliamentary Companion, Ottawa. J. Durie & Son, 1887, pp.354-355. (Note:this source of contemporary information was published irregularly until 1898-99, when i t was succeeded by Arnott J . Magurn, The Canadian Parliamentary Guide. Subsequent references to this series w i l l be made as CPC or CPG.)) qo \"•\"\"*—\" vide Appendix, pp.l>»ii. 35 formulation in British Columbia of the idea that there i s a basic divergence of interests between the \"t o i l i n g masses\" and 39 the \"wealthier part of the community.\"*'0 The existence of such a conflict was never f u l l y accepted by the Knights of Labor as a whole; insofar as they did recognize i t they sought to diminish or overcome i t by improving the economic lot of the workers and encouraging their \"moral, intellectual and physical progress.\" 4 0 However, this early and limited recognition of class interests expressing themselves in poli t i c s may be regarded as the fore-runner of the Socialist Party doctrine of the class struggle. It spread the concept of conflicting classes in society, a l -though i t included the idea that the conflict could be resolved by compromise; when the idea of a relentless, uncompromising class struggle was propounded about the turn of the century, at least part of the idea was familiar to the workers of British Columbia. For this reason, the f i r s t clause of the 1886 Working-man's platform deserves to be regarded as a landmark i n British Columbia labor history. Another highly significant point in the platform i s the proposal which concludes the clause on land grants — \"lands held for speculative purposes to be taxed to their f u l l value.\" 4 1 This i s a limited application of the \"single tax\" principle for-35 Ibid.. p. i . 4 0 Ibid.. p. i i . 4 1 Ibid., p. i . 36 ululated by Henry George as the answer to exploitation. The early appearance of the idea in British Columbia can be a t t r i -buted to the existence of these great tracts of privately owned land, much of i t untaxed. It would continue to hold a prominent position in labor platforms until greater industrialization changed the relative importance of land and capital. The clause on Chinese exclusion also provides a link with later platforms. In various forms the demand would re-appear time after time, as successive candidates of a l l p o l i t i c a l faiths expressed themselves as anti-Chinese and succeeding pro-vincial governments found their efforts hampered or n u l l i f i e d by constitutional provisions and by the reluctance of some influen-t i a l employers, especially in the canning and coal industries, to dispense with cheap labor. The ineffectiveness of different administrations in this matter was certainly a prime factor in disillusioning many workers with the existing p o l i t i c a l groups, and leading them to demand their own representation. The sixth clause, i n calling for legislation to pro-tect the lives of miners, also foreshadowed future labor pres-sure on p o l i t i c s . The coal-miners, already a sizable group on Vancouver Island, would soon be joined by metal-miners in demand-ing protective legislation. AO Henry George: U.S.A., 1839-1897. His major work, Progress and Poverty.(1879) attributed poverty to the private ownership of land and the private appropriation of rent. George advo-cated public ownership of land, and as a means to that end the taxation of a l l land at i t s f u l l rental value — otherwise, the confiscation of rent. This, he calculated, would meet a l l costs of government and would make unnecessary a l l other taxes — hence the name, \"single tax.\" His economic ideas were based upon agrarian or small-scale production, not upon an industrial soc-iety. 37 Clauses seven and ten, which may be considered to-gether, were hardly labor planks; they are better regarded as appeals to the farming community for support. Such appeals have been very common i n the labor-political movements of this province, i f only because the p o l i t i c a l weight of British Colum-bia has always la i n in the non-industrial d i s t r i c t s . The ninth clause, an attempt to r e s t r i c t the liquor trade, was very characteristic Of the \"moral- u p l i f t \" attitude of the E. of L. Indeed, the \"temperance\" movement was contin-ental in scope in the latter years of the century, and was very active p o l i t i c a l l y . With the growth of trade unions this move-ment lost i t s hold on organized labor; the jobs of the brewery workers, bartenders, etc., had to be considered. The f i n a l clause i s of especial interest, both for i t s origin and i t s later development. An aspect of the principle of popular sovereignty, the \" r e c a l l \" i s not at a l l i n the line of British p o l i t i c a l development; rather, i t derives from the French and American revolutionary traditions. Its f i r s t appear-ance in British Columbia may safely be attributed to American influence, working through the Knights of Labor. The idea of direct democracy, expressed in demands for this and other p o l i -t i c a l reforms, would later receive strong reinforcement from another source. jg : — • In 1908 the United Brewery Workers of America circularized the various unions, asking for their support in the coming U.S. election in opposing the demand for prohibition. The Sandon Miners* Union was probably almost alone in advising the U.B.W.A. to pay no attention to side issues, and rather to study and work for Socialism. (Sandon M.U. to U.B.W.A., March 10,1908, held by T.& D.S.W.U., T r a i l ) . 38 The Nanaimo candidates of the Workingmenrs Party added l i t t l e of importance to this l i s t of demands. They did comple-ment the \" r e c a l l \" clause with a proposal for a referendum on a l l important issues; however, their most notable addition to the platform was in ca l l i n g for a \"lien law\" to protect the wages of workingmen. At this time a worker had no effective means of enforcing a claim to wages; he could only sue for debt — a slow and often costly process, and uncertain of success. A l i e n law would allow him to make a legal claim against the -product of his labor, and thus reserve a source of payment. i i i . Information on subsequent p o l i t i c a l activity by labor in this period i s somewhat sketchy. In November 1886 a \"Reform Party\" endeavored, without success, to bring out a candidate in A A the New Westminster d i s t r i c t for the House of Commons. This attempt was of some interest to labor, and was probably assoc-iated with the K. of L. It received no attention in the con-temporary press; even the Industrial News did not report i t . In the same period, labor invaded municipal p o l i t i c s . In the f i r s t Vancouver civi c elections (May, 1886), striking loggers financed and elected Malcolm MacLean, a real estate dealer, to be mayor. The motivation was largely persona).; R.H. Alexander, the employer against whom the strike was called, had been nominated for the mayoralty, and the loggers were deter-4 4 \"Twenty-five Years of the B.C. Labor Movement,\" B.C. Fed-eration! st. November 18, 1911, p. 4. Bennett, op. c i t . . p. 29. 39 mined not to allow him victory. Later in the year, after the provincial election, the Knights themselves took a hand in civ i c p o l i t i c s . On November 28, 1886, the. two Lower Mainland Assemblies issued a joint mani-festo on municipal aff a i r s and, we are told, A l i t t l e later an alliance between the K. of L. and the local Vintners* Association was formed to elect a ticket for the (Vancouver) city council.47 Rather a surprising move, in view of the Knights' o f f i c i a l at-titude toward the liquor trade! The manifesto, naturally enough, took cognizance of the Chinese question; i t called for the democratization of civic affairs by the payment of a l l public officers, and public dis-cussion and votes on a l l questions of increased taxation; i t de-manded city waterworks, a public library, and a c i t y hospital, and i t recommended \"... the encouragement of local industries 48 and their exemption from taxation. n Labor's demand for the exemption of industry from taxation would be repeated i n later years, with an indication of some close reasoning behind the demand; in 1886 i t was probably l i t t l e more than a desire for increased employment through industrial expansion, with an ele-ment of single tax being expressed in negative form. In this campaign not only Mayor MacLean and R.D. P i t t , (the l a t t e r a Master Workman of the K. of L. and candidate for cit y council) but also Alexander, again running for mayor, sup-4 6 Ibid., p. 25. The vote was 242 for MacLean, 225 for Alexander. (Howay & Scholefield, op. c i t . . II, 435). 47 \"Twenty-five Years &c,\" loc. c i t . 4 8 Loc. c i t . 40 49 ported labor's manifesto. MacLean, f i r s t elected by the loggers in May, was again successful; Alexander, despite his acceptance of the manifesto, was defeated, as was P i t t . The labor vote might be strong enough to defeat a candidate; i t was not strong enough to elect a labor man. In 1885-86 the Knights of Labor was at i t s peak of power, in British Columbia as elsewhere. It declined rapidly in the following years. In 1886 i t had around 600 members in 50 Vancouver alone. Early in 1891 Shaftesbury (mixed) Assembly in Vancouver reported a membership of thirteen, and in October 1893 i t dissolved. The other Assembly in Vancouver, composed of 51 stevedores, seceded from the K. of L. in December 1896. The concepts and organizational form of the union were too broad for i t s time; i t disintegrated under pressure, and i t s place was taken by the trade unions with their stronger appeal to i n d i v i -dual bread-and-butter interests. In Vancouver, Shaftesbury Assembly was only kept in existence by the efforts of a few very active members such as Thomas Hallam, George Pollay, and 52 G.F. Leaper. The Vancouver T. & L.C., to which the Assemblies adhered in their later years, supported their efforts; the mixed 4 9 Loc. c i t . 5 0 v. sup.. p. 27, n. 16. Definite figures on the K. of L. are hard to find, since i t did not believe in making i t s affairs overly public. 5 1 Vancouver T.& L.C. \"Minutes,\" 1889-1896, passim, (here-after referred to as \"VTLCM\".) C O A l l three were delegates to the Vancouver T.& L.C. in the period 1889-1896, and took part in the work of that body. Pollay was also active i n the Single Tax Club, and Leaper edited the People's Journal (1893). 41 Assembly was a means of organizing the unskilled laborers. The other Assembly was practically a trade union of steve-dores, and was held together by i t s internal unity of occupa-tion. As an effective organization, however, the K. of L. in British Columbia was a spent force by 1890. It may be said that the p o l i t i c a l efforts associated with the Knights of Labor accomplished almost nothing; no labor candidates were elected, although the loggers did back a winner in the Vancouver mayoralty contest of Hay 1886, The importance of these efforts l i e s in their being the f i r s t move of labor into p o l i t i c s ; they broke the ground and sowed the f i r s t seeds. The campaign experiences would provide lessons for future use, and the Workingmen's Platform of 1886 would influence later formulations of labor's demands. The score was not entirely on the debit side. (to follow page 41) Member of the L e g i s l a t i v e Assembly, 1894-1900 (Nationalist-Opposition) REV. G. R. MAXWELL, (Burrard.) Member of Parliament, 1896-1902 (Liberal-Labor) s CHAPTER III MINERS AND \"NATIONALISTS** i . The late 1880's show no signs of labor interest in po l i t i c s . The Knights of Labor was fading into oblivion, and the craft onions were very much occupied in re-forming the ranks of labor along their own lines. Moreover, there were no general elections to stimulate interest and provide an immed-iate outlet for politically-expressed energies. P o l i t i c a l i n t -erest only appeared in petitions to the senior governments and in such pressure as could be brought to bear on municipal af-fa i r s . Noticeable activity did not return until 1890 — a pro-vincial election year, with a federal election expected to follow closely. The revival of interest that occurred then was to run, with only a minor setback i n 1898, into the new cen-tury; i n a variety of forms i t has persisted to our own times. Labor's p o l i t i c a l efforts in the 1890*s were concen-trated in two areas -- the Vancouver d i s t r i c t , where the Trades and Labor Council was the central body, and Nanaimo, where the Miners* and Mine-Laborers* Protective Association (M.M.L.P.A.) was the dominant influence. Although the labor organizations of the two c i t i e s were in touch with each other and sometimes worked together, their environments, organizational structures, and specific problems led them to act separately i n most cases. Vancouver was already becoming a commercial and industrial center, with no one predominating industry or employer, whereas in Nanaimo a l l things hinged upon the coal mines and the Duns-* muir interests; the Vancouver labor movement was an agglomera-tion of trade unions, while most of the Nanaimo unionists were miners in an industrial union; the workers of both places were interested in shorter hours, a lien law, and limitation of Chinese labor, but while the Vancouver tradesmen busied them-selves with the union label, public ownership, and municipal reform, the Nanaimo men found that such matters as land grants, monopolies, accident prevention, and arbitration of industrial disputes were of more immediate concern. Not until the turn of the century did co-operation between the two centers become at a l l close. The Vancouver T.& L.C. was very hesitant about taking part in p o l i t i c s , to judge from i t s minutes in connection with the 1890 provincial election. A few of i t s member unions were pressing for action: on February 7 the Typographical Union unan-imously passed a resolution calling for the adoption of a labor platform or for other measures whereby the unions could obtain \"the most disinterested representation 1* in both the federal and provincial Houses, and then presented the resolution to Council; this move was supported by Shaftesbury Assembly, K. of L., in a similar resolution. Two weeks later, the matter was thor-oughly discussed in Council: 1 \"VTLCM,\" February 14, 1890.vide Appendix, p. v, for resolution. 2 i P i d . . February 28, 1890. 44 The question of a working Kan's Candidate on a platform suitable to working men was then taken up, Mr. Dixon thought the best way was to co-operate with the business men. Mr. Iryin considered that the working men held the balance of power. After further discussion Mr. Walker moved seed, (sic) by Hallam that this subject be l a i d over with a view to having the matter brought by the delegates in the various unions,3 A month later, the matter was carried further; pre-sumably the member unions had favored p o l i t i c a l action. The secretary was to write to the Toronto T.& L,C. for \"Copies of P o l i t i c a l Platform suitable for such Councils,\" while a local committee was named to draw up a platform. 4 However, so far as the minutes go, nothing resulted from these instructions; no-thing i s said as to any reply being received from Toronto, and there i s no mention of a report from the \"Platform Committee.\" Council did, later, pass a motion that \"Each union be requested to send one representative to take into consideration the com-5 ing Provincial elections,\" but there i s no record of any action having been taken by the individual unions. The whole a f f a i r gives the impression of a few activists being frustrated in their aims by a membership which agreed with them, but was unwilling to commit i t s e l f to action. As the drive within the T.& L.C. for action in the provincial election was being slowed down, the federal election of 1891 began to arouse attention. The Workingmen1s League of New Westminster — apparently a class organization for the pur-3 \"VTLCM,\" March 14, 1890. 4 i P i d . . April 11, 1890. 5 Ibid.. April 25, 1890. 45 poses of p o l i t i c a l action — requested a delegate conference with the Vancouver T.& L.C. in connection with the coming dominion contest. The T.& L.C. accepted the invitation, and 6 set up a committee to meet with the Hew Westminster people. No report was ever made of this meeting — i f , indeed, i t took place ~ but later in the year George Bartley (Typographical Union) brought i n a report on p o l i t i c s , from which resolutions were passed recommending pressure on both provincial and federal governments to institute (1) manhood suffrage in municipal elec-tions, (2) the abolition of property qualifications for muni-cipal office, (3) a legal half-holiday on election, (4) an effective Sunday Observance Act, (5) provincial franchise to a l l persons receiving a salary of $300 per year (as a step to-ward manhood suffrage), (6) legislation against intemperance, and (7) election of the Governor-General. These resolutions may be regarded as the f i r s t at-tempt at formulation of a labor platform in Vancouver, and i t i s worth noting that a l l i t s items except the fourth and sixth are demands for the liberalization of p o l i t i c s . Although the Knights of Labor formed but a small minority of the Council, a l l the resolutions reflect the \"moral u p l i f t \" principle and the general approach of the K. of L. rather than the atomistic attitude characteristic of trade unions. The organization of 6 \"VTLCM,\" April 25, 1890. It i s interesting to note that the K. of L., although shorn of most of i t s membership, was one of the more active bodies in demanding p o l i t i c a l action. It presented resolutions of a p o l i t i c a l nature to the T.& L.C. (Ibid.. February 28, March 14, August 22, 1890, September 9, 1892) and i t s delegates were usually placed upon p o l i t i c a l com-mittees. 7 Ibid., October 3, 1890. 46 the Knights might be disintegrating, but their attitude was fastening i t s e l f upon their successors. At the end of October, a Provincial Labor Congress was held in Nanaimo. There a new demand was made: labor wanted an eight-hour day in a l l federal, provincial, and municipal g works. In addition, to put strength behind labor's demands, the Congress gave i t s executive committee permission \"to de-vise ways and means of putting labor candidates in the f i e l d at 9 the coming federal election.\" Thus the British Columbia labor movement as a whole approved the principle of independent labor p o l i t i c a l action, although leaving i t s form and implementation indefinite. Those persons in the Vancouver T.& L.C. who favored the p o l i t i c a l approach, however, appear to have had their posi-tion reinforced by the decision of the Congress. The matter of i o nominating a labor candidate was again brought up, and \"the parliamentary committee was instructed to obtain an interview with a certain New Westminster gentleman with reference to the coming e l e c t i o n . \" 1 1 The candidature of E.S. Scoullar, a Liberal, 12 was f i n a l l y endorsed by the Council. At last the trade union T \"VTLCM,\" November 6, 1890. This demand for the eight-hour d y was part of a continental movement initi ted by he A.F. fL., beginning with a general strike of carpenters on May 1, 1890. It was thus not entirely of local origin, cf. Bimba, op. c i t . , pp. 210 f f . 9 Loc. c i t . 1 0 Ibid., January 9, 1891. 1 1 Ibid., February 13, 1891. 12 Ibid., February 27, 1891. The report of the interviewing committee was made verbally, and the terms of endorsation were not recorded. 47 movement in Vancouver had taken a definite step into the f i e l d of p o l i t i c a l action. It does not seem that the T.& L.C. took any steps other than this to aid Scoullar in his campaign. The minutes are singularly barren of any reference to the election campaign after the endorsation was agreed upon. Certainly the results of the voting were not li k e l y to encourage future endorsation; 13 Scoullar was beaten, three to one. i i . In contrast to the hesitancy, inactivity and failure of the Vancouver trade unions during the elections of 1890-91, the industrial M.M.L.P.A. of Nanaimo showed a picture of energy 14 and decision, crowned with success, in at least the provincial contest. The miners seem to have had no doubts about their en-gaging in p o l i t i c s ; they nominated two candidates, endorsed a third, paid their election expenses, and saw a l l three returned to the legislature. The immediate causes of the miners' interest in uni-fied p o l i t i c a l action are not d i f f i c u l t to find; the conditions under which the miners worked and lived were not of the best. 1 3 G.E. COrbould (Cons.)1694 E.S. Scoullar (Lib.) 532 (CPC, 1891, p. 191). 1 4 It seems f a i r to generalize that, on the whole, industrial unions have been more willing to engage in p o l i t i c s than have trade unions, and their efforts have been more successful. The K. of L., the coal and metal miners' unions, and the Canadian Congress of Labor unions a l l have a record of p o l i t i c a l action unmatched by their contemporary \"trade*1 unions. This may pos-sibly be ascribed to their being more \"class\" than \"trade\" or-ganizations, to their more unified structure, and to their wider interests. 48 Tully Boyce, president of the M.M.L.P.A. , 1 5 reported that at the Union Mines the average wage was not over $2.00 per day, many Chinese were employed, some of them underground,16 the Company store was charging highly inflated prices, and the miners were forced to sign notes empowering the Company to 17 stop store b i l l s out of their wages. Moreover, coal-mining was a hazardous occupation, to say the least, and on the Is-18 land more so than elsewhere. Many of the miners f e l t that the desire of the owners for profit led them to neglect the safety of the workers. To this situation, legislation appeared as the only practical answer; major strikes in 1871, 1874, 1876, 19 and 1877 had not remedied a f f a i r s , and had, in some cases, been countered by m i l i t i a and police action. It was plain to the miners that the government was not on their side. In addi-tion, the Dunsmuir interests were based upon government grants, and Robert Dunsmuir himself had thought i t worthwhile in 1886 I B Tully Boyce i s the exception (and a notable one) to the general rule that the coal-miners' organizations were dominated by Britishers. He was from Pennsylvania; he l e f t there i n 1875, worked in the mines of Wyoming and other places, and came to Wellington i n 1888. He was instrumental in forming the M.M.L. P.A., and was for a few years i t s leading figure. 16 A major complaint against the Chinese in .the mines was that they did not observe necessary safety preoptions, and that their command of English was not sufficient for them to under-stand v i t a l instructions and warnings, cf. \"Arbitration Hear-ings,\" Nanaimo Herald, November 17, 1899 and succeeding issues. 1 7 Nanaimo Free Press. May 23, 1890, p. 4. 18 Bennett (op. c i t . . p.68) quotes from a report in the Labor Gazette. April 1902, stating that the death-rate for miners in British Columbia was over three times that for the British Empire as a whole. 19 Bennett, op. c i t . . pp. 66-67. 49 to become an M.L.A. The natural conclusion was that the miners, in their turn, should go into politics with the aim of influenc-ing or controlling the government. Nanaimo labor o f f i c i a l l y opened i t s 1890 election cam-paign with a union-sponsored parade and mass meeting at Welling-20 ton, attracting over 800 miners. The opening speeches dealt with matters not s t r i c t l y p o l i t i c a l — demands upon the employer 21 for an eight-hour day bank-to-bank, and for union recognition. Then the meeting got down to p o l i t i c a l a f f a i r s . No platform of specific demands was advanced at this time; the central idea was to get labor candidates in the f i e l d , and elect them. It i s possible that there was enough agreement among the miners as to their needs, so that no special enumera-tion of demands was necessary. It was f i r s t made known that the union had decided to co-operate with the farmers in an effort to win the two seats 22 of the Nanaimo Di s t r i c t . A representative of the farmers, ( i t Unless otherwise stated, information on this meeting i s taken from the Nanaimo Free Press. May 17, 1890. 21 It was the custom for the men coming on shift to arrive before time; they would be taken down in the l i f t immediately, and were expected to start work forthwith. In this way, a l l members of the sh i f t would be at work by the time the s h i f t o f f i c i a l l y began. Similarly, the men were expected to remain at work after the shift's end until they could be taken above ground. The miners wanted the work period made into a definite eight hours at the coal-face. (Interview with Lew Lewis, Nanaimo, July, 1954). 22 The District took in eastern and central Vancouver Island from the north edge of Chemainus to the Qualicum River, except for Nanaimo City. In such an area, the assistance of the farmers would be necessary for success. Fortunately for the miners, many farmers were discontented over the land grant system and distrustful of the promises of both Government and Opposition factions. 50 i s not stated whether or not he spoke for an organization) re-commended C.C. McKenzie, an Opposition candidate in the 1886 election, as the farmers' choice for one District seat. The meeting accepted the recommendation. Dr. W^ W, Walkem, an independent aspirant for the legislature, then requested that the meeting likewise endorse him; his bid was neither accepted nor refused — i t was i g -23 nored. The miners were determined to put up their own candi-dates. Two men were nominated, and both were accepted by the meeting: Thomas Keith, a Belfast-born miner, for Nanaimo City, and as HcKenzie's running-mate in Nanaimo District Thomas Forster, a Northumbrian who had worked in the Nanaimo mines be-fore settling on a farm near New Westminster.**54 As the \"farmer\" part of the second Farmer-Labor ticket*; McKenzie does not properly come into this study. He endorsed the labor platform, and he received the support of the labor movement. He must be regarded, however, as an a l l y rather than as a representative of labor. The miners supported him i n order to gain his support for their candidate, not for what he himself might do for them in the legislature. . . . — — — • • : ~ The way in which Walkem was brushed aside, and in fact the smooth running of the whole meeting, gives the impression that the choice of candidates had been made earlier by the group which organized the demonstration; the lack of opposition to the proceedings indicates that the organizers had the confidence of the miners. 2 4 CPC, 1891, and letter signed \"X\" in Nanaimo Free Press. May 26,\"1590, p. 4. Lewis and Myers, in 1886, formed the f i r s t such actual combination, although i t s coalition nature was not stressed explicitly',. 51 26 Although committed to a single platform, Porster and Keith displayed very different approaches to the problem of labor and p o l i t i c s . Forster, as befitted a miner-turned-farmer running i n a largely rural constituency, was mainly i n -terested i n the land question; this he saw, as did Henry George, as the basis of a l l social evils. He told the miners' meeting: You talk about the wrongs under which you labor but that wi l l not remove the e v i l , I think you w i l l find there i s an e v i l that l i e s far deeper and that i s you have lost the power over the land.27 He advocated government control of railroads, and the cessation of land gifts for individual profit. Keith, on the other hand, the working miner in an urban constituency, showed less concern with the question of land ownership; indeed, his cam-paign was not based upon any specific issues. The miners were discontented; he did not feel i t necessary to recapitulate their grievances, but merely recommended working-class represen-tation in the legislature as a general remedy: ... you are misrepresented and that has occurred simply because you have not sent in the right man as a represent-ative to look after your interests. You should have sent the workingman there. He would have understood your wants and he has the same feelings.... Do not believe the cap-i t a l i s t w i l l advance your interests and wants. The only man who w i l l do this i s the workingman.29 The idea of class conflict, hinted at in the 1886 Victoria Workingmen's Platform, was now being expressed more clearly; the ground was being thoroughly prepared for the appearance of vide Appendix, p. v i . 27 Nanaimo Free Press. May 17, 1890. 2 8 Loc. c i t . 29 LOC. C i t . 52 s o c i a l i s m i n B r i t i s h Co lomb ia . The t a x a t i o n i d e a s of Henry George, a l s o i m p l i e d i n 1886, became a v e r y l i v e i s s u e i n the 1890 e l e c t i o n . F o r s t e r ' s 30 remarks on the b a s i s o f s o c i a l e v i l s a re a re-s ta tement o f the c e n t r a l i d e a beh ind \" s i n g l e t a x ; \" the p l a t f o r m upon which K e i t h and F o r s t e r r an c a l l e d f o r a l l l a n d h e l d by c o r p o r a t i o n s 31 o r s p e c u l a t o r s \" t o be taxed to i t s f u l l r e n t a l v a l u e . \" In V i c t o r i a , O p p o s i t i o n i s t s Robert Beaven and John Grant s a i d a t a S i n g l e Tax meet ing tha t the i d e a was good i n p r i n c i p l e , but would have to be worked o u t , and the reby provoked a s to rm o f 32 e d i t o r i a l c r i t i c i s m . The f u l l s i n g l e tax d o c t r i n e , i n v o l v i n g the a b s o r p t i o n o f a l l r e n t i n t a x a t i o n , was i ndeed r e v o l u t i o n a r y f o r tha t t i m e ; i t i s comparable to a modern p r o p o s a l to put a 100# tax on a l l p r o f i t s . T h i s was the d o c t r i n e t h a t , i n some form o r o t h e r , was permeat ing the thought o f the urban workers ; i t would be o n l y a s h o r t s t e p f rom the i d e a o f a b o l i s h i n g r e n t to the i d e a o f a b o l i s h i n g p r o f i t . The th ree c a n d i d a t e s suppor ted by the m ine rs i n t h i s e l e c t i o n had no d i f f i c u l t y i n b e i n g e l e c t e d . F o r some r e a s o n , n e i t h e r Government nor O p p o s i t i o n r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s appeared In _ v . s u p . . p. 51 . 3 1 v * d e Append ix , p. v i . 32 V i c t o r i a C o l o n i s t . June 1, 1890. The C o l o n i s t be ra t ed Beaven and Grant f o r t h i s s tatement much a s a Conse r va t i v e newspaper o f today might a t t a c k an i n c a u t i o u s L i b e r a l who, a t e l e c t i o n t i m e , made a s i m i l a r remark about Communism. 53 33 the two constituencies. Keith was returned unopposed in Nanaimo City, while in the Nanaimo District Porster and Mc-Kenzie edged out the hopeful Dr. Walkem. The miners had elected the f i r s t labor M.L.A.»s to s i t i n the B.C. Legislature. The measures demanded by the miners in 1890 may be d i -vided, historically, into two sections: repetitions of demands 35 made in the previous .election, and new demands. Clauses one, six and seven repeated the earlier protest against large grants of land, and were inspired by recent railway land grants in the qg Southern Interior, Clause two reiterated the demand for safety measures in mining, expanded to Include a l l industry. Clause four i s not parallelled in the Victoria platform, but does cor-— • . Due to the absence of real party lines or discipline, candidates usually appeared either independently or in groups, and ran their campaigns without a provincial organization. The strong appearance presented by the miners' mass meeting may have discouraged prospective opponents. 34 The vote was: Porster 160 McKenzie .... 157 Walkem 154 (CPC, 1891, p. 377). 35 \"\"\"*\"* A comparison of the Nanaimo Workingmen*s Platform of 1890 with the Victoria Workingmen*s platform of 1886 shows some st r i k -ing similarities in phrasing, suggesting that the writers of the 1890 document used the, older one for guidance. For example, the f i r s t sentence of the later platform i s almost identical with the opening of the earlier one. Clauses one and seven in the 1890 platform are the operative parts of clauses two and three in the 1886 platform; the originals have merely been stripped of their specific references and their excess wordage. qg In 1889 the Robson administration granted up to 20,000 acres per mile of track for a proposed line from Tete Jaune to Bute Inlet; in 1890 i t empowered the Lieutenant-Governor to grant the same amount to four other lines: Crows Nest & Kootenay Lake, Ashcroft & Cariboo, Okanagan Valley & Kootenay, and C.P.R. (this last for a ReveIstoke-Nelson-Lower Kootenay l i n e ) . (British Columbia, Statutes. 1889, 1890, passim. 54 respond to a demand in the Nanaimo \"Election Appeal1* of 1886 for a l i e n law to protect workers' wages. Clause five was a modification of the previous c a l l for anti-Chinese l e g i s l a -tion: to reduce Chinese competition on the labor market, pro-vincial charters should in future prohibit the employment of Chinese. This move was an attempt to circumvent the consti-tutional provision whereby aliens came under the jurisdiction of the federal government, and the province could not legis-late directly against the Chinese; i t was hoped that charter prohibitions would be legal. Clause nine merely repeated the c a l l for a shorter work-day. New demands were few, being restricted to arbitration, taxation, and school administration. The last of these appears to have been prompted by a dispute between the Wellington school trustees and the Department of Education over the hiring of a 37 certain teacher. The other two demands are more significant. The c a l l for arbitration of labor disputes with en-forceable awards should be noted, as i t marks the beginning of a long argument within the B.C. labor movement over the rela-tive merits of compulsory arbitration as against government non-interference. The reason for the demand, as i t was put forward in 1890, i s not hard to see: the miners had gone on strike re-peatedly i n order to improve their conditions, but their griev-ances s t i l l remained. The strikes had been expensive, and vio-lence had occurred. The miners wanted a less unpleasant way of obtaining their immediate demands, and this was their sug-3 7£f. British Columbia. Legislative Assembly. Journals\"] Victoria, Queen's Printer, 1890, \"Appendices,\" p. i , for cor-respondence. 55 gestion. However, the objections to compulsory features in arbitration would not become obvious until the beginning of the new century. The clause on taxation i s somewhat puzzling; the pre-vailing taxation ideas of the period, among the workers at least, were those of Henry George, and Thomas Forster seems to have been influenced strongly by \"single tax. t t On the other hand, very l i t t l e was heard in British Columbia about an income tax. Britain, had a small income tax; the United States had intro-duced one during the C i v i l War, but had subsequently abolished i t . In neither country, however, had i t significantly equated taxes with a b i l i t y to pay and thus possibly recommended i t s e l f to the Nanaimo miners. There is a stronger possibility that i t indicates the f i r s t direct influence of so c i a l i s t thought upon the B.C. labor movement. In 1848 Marx and Engels had re-commended as a primary measure in the building of socialism 38 Ba heavy progressive or graduated income tax;1* this idea was taken up by the European socialists, and may well have been brought to Nanaimo by the European miners. It i s , at least, reasonable that this idea should ap-pear f i r s t among the miners, the most industrialized workers of British Columbia. Farmers and independent artisans were more l i k e l y to be paying rent than to be directly producing profits for others; rent occupied their thoughts more than did profit, and they were consequently attracted to single tax. Miners, employed by a large corporation to dig coal for immediate sale, The Communist Manifesto. Kerr, Chicago, 1915, p. 41 56 could clearly see profits accruing to the corporation from their work, and were receptive to the idea of a tax which would reduce those profits. Thus they were ready to endorse the principle of an income tax. The accomplishments of the f i r s t labor representatives in the British Columbia Legislature were few, and small. There was no balance of power -» the dream of small p o l i t i c a l groups — to exploit; the Government had a solid majority, and needed to make no concessions to remain in power. Despite Keith's insistence upon p o l i t i c a l independence, the l i t t l e group from Nanaimo found i t s e l f aligned with the Opposition on nearly a l l issues. The Labor members had been elected to c r i t i c i z e the actions of both the other groups; since only the Government party could take any effective action, i t was the real target of labor's attacks. The Opposition was also c r i t i c i z i n g the Government, and was in no position to implement measures which would arouse the h o s t i l i t y of Keith and Porster. Over the four years until the next election the Labor members became more and more identified with the Opposition group, and ceased to be a recognizable independent factor in the House. In presenting labor matters to the House, Keith was much more aggressive than Porster. In every session from 1891 to 1894 he introduced a b i l l to amend the Coal Mines Regula-tion Act in the interests of the miners. On the f i r s t occa-sion his b i l l was voted down 14-13; the second time i t was tabled for six months, thus being k i l l e d , by a vote of 17-12; the third time i t was defeated 16-12; his fourth and f i n a l attempt at amendment was ruled out of order by the Speaker 57 because i t would impose indirect and unequal taxation on the mine-owners. Keith challenged the Speaker's ruling, but was again defeated by the Bouse. He also initiated resolutions in the 1891, 1892, and 1893 sessions appealing to the domin-ion government to further restrict the immigration of Chin-ese; the f i r s t resolution was endorsed by the House, but the others were rejected. Then, in 1894, Ottawa replied to Keith's resolution and similar requests by others, to the effect that \"In view of the commercial relations of Canada with China and i t s possible extension, i t i s not expedient ...tt to introduce _QQ any measures which might antagonize the government of China. In addition to these moves, Keith also introduced a b i l l to abolish the garnisheeing of wages; this was \"talked out\" by both sides of the House. 4 0 In 1891, with the support of Porster, he called for a committee of the Legislature to investigate the 1890 strike or lockout at Wellington, during which the m i l i t i a had again been brought into action. The re-quest was granted, and Keith became chairman of the committee; the committee found that the trouble was based in the refusal of the mine-owners to recognize the union. This might have been considered a victory for the labor members, except that the matter died with the presentation of the committee's report. No concrete action was taken. - s a — : • : \" : 13 British Columbia, Legislative Assembly, Sessional Papers. 1894, p. 1004. 40 Garnishees were especially obnoxious to the miners i n the smaller centers, where they could only buy from the Com-pany stores. In such places a man whose wages were garnisheed would find i t very d i f f i c u l t to get clear of debt. 58 Although Keith was frustrated in his attempts to get measures passed in the interests of the miners and of labor generallyj the very election of himself and Porster appears to have awakened the Government and Opposition groups to the fact that a new force was moving in provincial p o l l -t i c s . Certainly the Opposition attempted to win labor to i t s side; the Beaven faction in the House f a i r l y consistently supported Keith's b i l l s and resolutions, and introduced cer-tain motions along the lines of labor's expressed desires. In 1891 the Opposition attempted to insert anti-Chinese clauses i n a l l railway charters which were presented; in 1891 and 1893 an Opposition member moved endorsation of the principle of the eight-hour day in provincial works. These moves were defeated, the f i r s t time by referral to a committee which did not report back and the second time by a straight vote. An 1893 move by Beaven for regular payment in cash of workers in provincial works was rendered innocuous by an amendment which turned the resolution into pure gibberish. For i t s part, the Government remedied a standing grievance of the workers by introducing a Mechanics Lien Law in 1891; this was passed without division. In 1893 i t appeared to meet the demand of the miners for arbitration machinery by bringing i n \"An Act to provide for the establishment of a Bur-eau of Labor Statistics, and also of Councils of Conciliation and Arbitration for the settlement of Industrial Disputes;* 59 this, too, was passed unanimously. Of the two measures, only the f i r s t was put into op-eration; the second was never f u l l y implemented. A survey of the unions in British Columbia was initiated, without too much success; the unions appear to have been rather unwilling to divulge their \" v i t a l s t a t i s t i c s \" to a government agency. The conciliation and arbitration clauses of the Act were never invoked. On the surface, the election of labor M.L.A.rs from Nanaimo did not bring about any results beneficial to the labor movement; Keith's motions were brushed aside by the Gov-ernment majority. Prom that point of view labor p o l i t i c a l action was a failure, and probably appeared as such to many workers. In fact, however, the appearance of labor on the p o l i t i c a l scene led the older-established groups to make certain concessions called for by the unions, in an effort to break up this intrusive force and attach i t s elements to their own ranks. i i i . Although they had been so successful in the provin-c i a l election, the miners did not follow up their victory by running a candidate in the federal election of 1891. Their organization had been severely weakened by the Wellington 42 strike and lockout of 1890, and was mainly concerned with problems of recovery. However, in 1893 there was a by-election 4 1 The foregoing data on Keith's activities in the Assembly comes entirely from the Legislative Journals, Sessional Papers, and Statutes. 1891-94 inclusive. The references are not i n d i v i -dually footnoted, since the indexing and arrangement of these volumes makes reference a simple matter. 4 2 Jas. Young, \"Tully Boyce as Unionist,\" Nanaimo Free Press. October 23, 1900, p. 3. 60 following the death of the s i t t i n g Member of Parliament, D.W. Gordon (Cons.). The M.M.L.P.A. met to consider the ex-isting p o l i t i c a l conditions, and to look for a suitable fed-eral candidate. The main speech was given by Thomas Keith, M.L.A., and i t certainly was not encouraging to the p o l i t i c a l action-is ts. His story was one of frustration. He had tried, unsuc-cessfully, to get the Chinese excluded from underground work in the mines; he had twice been defeated by a margin of one vote in attempts to have Chinese immigration restricted; he had introduced a copy of the English law on garnishees, only to have i t rejected by both sides of the House — even Porster 44 had opposed i t . The Cabinet members had told him that such a b i l l was merely a protection for rogues, and he had received the impression that \"those who did manual labor were looked down upon in the Provincial House.\" Keith closed with an appeal for more p o l i t i c a l action by the Nanaimo miners. His previous remarks, however, did not lend support to the belief that such action would be of any immediate value; Nanaimo ap-peared to stand alone in electing labor members, and could, by his own admission, do l i t t l e or nothing alone. Possibly because of Keith's dampening r e c i t a l of 1. Information on this meeting i s taken from the Nanaimo Free Press. March 4, 1893. 4 4 Forster later explained that he had voted to exempt wages up to $40 for married men, and $25 for single men, from garnishee; he had hot voted for the abolition of the garnishee, and had therefore been censured by a meeting of Northfield miners. (Nanaimo Free Press. April 9, 1894, pp. 1-2). 61 failure, the meeting showed l i t t l e enthusiasm. The cost of electing and maintaining a federal member was mentioned, and Tully Boyce intimated that the miners would be very reluctant to assume this cost. He suggested that they support a man able to finance himself, such as Mayor Haslam of Nanaimo. To this Keith, despite his earlier remarks as to the necessity of elec-45 ting a workingman, assented. Joseph Hunter, superintendent of the Island Railway and provincial member for Comox, was already in the f i e l d and i t was f e l t that no straight labor candidate could defeat him. On Keith's motion, the M.M.L.P.A. decided to support Haslam i f he would endorse the principles of Reciprocity and Chinese Restriction. The motion carried with only small support, although there was but one negative vote; most of the miners present were passive. In this campaign, restricted though the role and aims of the Miners' Union may have been, there were signs of the dev-elopment of a broad labor unity. The Nanaimo T.& L.C. co-operated AC with the miners, and the Vancouver T.& L.C. pledged i t s moral 47 support. There was as yet no concerted action by the Island and Mainland labor centers, but there was a recognition of com-mon interests. Hunter, closely identified with the Dunsmuir inter-ests through his position with the Railway, was defeated, and -fg v. sup.. p. 51. 4 6 People's Journal, March 11, 1893, p. 1. 4 7 \"VTLCM,\" March 10, 1893. 62 the miners could regard this as a victory. Haslam, however, was in no way a labor member; he was merely a Liberal pledged to two principles which did not really set him apart from other British Colombia Liberals. The miners' victory was nega-tive, not a positive gain. In the meantime, the Vancouver labor movement was coming closer to active participation i n p o l i t i c s . Immed-iately following i t s hesitant endorsation of Scoullar in the federal election, the T.& L.C. started looking toward the next provincial contest. Consideration was given to getting union-ists on the voters' l i s t , and the member unions of the T.&L.C. ASK were invited to suggest suitable candidates. However, i n t -erest in p o l i t i c s was not easily sustained, probably because the next elections were too far in the future. A year later the matter was brought up again, and concrete action was re-commended. It was agreed that a \"responsible person\" should be paid to make sure that a l l unionists were oh the voters' l i s t , and that ways and means should be devised to finance AQ the election of an \"eligible workingman\" to Ottawa. It i s not recorded that these resolutions were implemented. Even though there was no election campaign to s t i -mulate action, the T.& L.C. continued to show i t s interest in po l i t i c s through resolutions on p o l i t i c a l matters. It passed a motion of want of confidence in the provincial government, 4 8 \"VTLCM,\" May 8, 1891. 4 9 Ibid., May 6 and June 3, 1892. 63 centered upon three points: a lack of beneficial legislation, lack of action on the Chinese question, and the governments SO projected scheme for deep-sea fishing by crofter immigrants. Later in the same month i t petitioned the dominion government to restrict Chinese immigration and employment by the same mea-51 sures advocated by Keith and Forster in Victoria. It took a stand against militarism by endorsing a resolution from Shaftes-bury Assembly, K, of L., \"most strongly and emphatically\" ob-jecting to the establishing or enlarging of any armed forces 52 in Canada. A letter from the Toronto T.& L.C. approving of the i n i t i a t i v e and referendum was circulated among the Van-53 couver unions, and was endorsed by several of them. In turn, the British Columbia unions impressed the seriousness of the Chinese question upon the T.& L.C. of Canada, so that the nat-ional Congress prepared a petition to Ottawa asking that the entry tax upon Chinese be raised from $50 to $500, and that an annual $100 tax be levied on a l l resident Chinese. 5 4 g?j , Loc. c i t . The only \"labor\" b i l l of the 1892 session was a proposed amendment to the Coal Mines Regulation Act, moved by Keith; i t was rejected 17-12. A b i l l by Keith and Forster, repeating an 1891 request of the Assembly for the Lieutenant-Governor to ask the federal government to further restrict Chinese immigration, was voted down 14-13; Opposition attempts to have anti-Chinese clauses inserted in provincial charters were regularly lost. (British Columbia, Legislative Assembly, Journals, 1891, passim. 5 1 \"VTLCM,\" May 20, 1892. 52 The immediate cause of this resolution was the establish-ment of a battalion of volunteer riflemen in Vancouver. The basic cause was the use of the armed forces to protect strike-breakers during labor disputes. (Ibid.. September 9, 1892). 5 3 Ibid.. June 3, 1892. 5 4 Ibid.. January 27, 1893. 64 While thus engaged in making resolutions and peti-tions, the Vancouver T.& L.C. kept in touch with affairs at Victoria through two of the members of the legislature. P.J. Carter-Cotton, editor of the Daily News-Advertiser and member for Vancouver, sent the T.& L.C. information on current legislation and presented i t s communications to the governmentf5 Thomas Keith also endeavored to attend to the legislative de-sires of the Council. The years 1893 and 1894 were marked by a growth of labor p o l i t i c a l organization wider in scope than anything re-corded previously. Early i n March 1893 a meeting called by the president of the New Westminster T.& L.C. decided to organize a Workingmen's P o l i t i c a l Club, and set up a committee to draft a 57 constitution and by-laws. The aims of this club were not pub-lished, but i t may be suspected from i t s only recorded action 58 that i t s scope was very limited. Just over a year later i t was followed and eclipsed by the appearance of the f i r s t real \"labor party\" in British Columbia — the Nationalist Party. Before this time, labor p o l i t i c a l action had been con-ducted either by the unions themselves, as in the case of the M.M.L.P.A. and the Vancouver T.& L.C, or by \"Workingmen's Parties.\" These latter had tended to be impermanent and very 55* wvTLCM,\" February 10 and 24, 1893. For several years around the turn of the century-Carter-Cotton was a well-known fig-ure in p o l i t i c a l l i f e . At f i r s t considered somewhat radical, in later years he became more conservative and lost the sympathy of the unions. 5 6 Ibid., February 2, 1894. 9 1 People's Journal, March 11, 1893, p. 1. CO It sent a delegation to the City Council to press that body into endorsing an extension of the municipal franchise; i t s demand was refused. (Ibid., March 18, 1893, p. 1). 65 personal organizations, in that they had appeared at election time in connection with the candidatures of certain individuals. After the election they had dissolved, their work completed. Although the Nationalist Party was personal, in that i t was associated with the candidatures of two men, i t was a continu-ing organization in that i t lasted for at least two, and pos-sibly more, years. The exact date of formation of the new party cannot be 59 determined exactly; i t was in late March or early A p r i l , 1894. According to one statement, i t was \"recruited from the ranks of 60 the Knights of Labor. B This may have been true in part, but the K. of L. alone, i n i t s current state of disrepair, could hardly have provided the bulk of the membership necessary to such an organization. It i s known that i t s f i r s t permanent officers were W.M. Wilson, president, of whom nothing more i s heard, and Rev. George R. Maxwell, vice-president, later a well-known p o l i t i c a l figure in British Columbia. There appears to have been no direct relationship between the Nationalist Party and the unions, nor was member-ship in the unions confined to workers — the latter point being confirmed by the membership of Maxwell. From available refer-ences i t s claim to being a labor party rests on i t s having a pre-ponderance of workers as members, including some influential mem-bers of the T.& L.C, and upon i t s platform, which was based upon the p o l i t i c a l and economic problems of the workers. 5 9 Nanaimo Free Press. April 7, 1894. 6 0 Ibid.. April 21, 1894. 61 For the Nationalist Platform, vide Appendix, p. v i i i . 66 i v . The Nationalist Party was formed in preparation for the provincial general election of 1894. At the same time'labor in Nanaimo was also making p o l i t i c a l preparations, in the hope that the success of 1890 could be repeated. This time, how-ever, the miners tried a different tactic; instead of reject-ing a l l alliances except that with the farmers, they joined forces with the Opposition group. At least three reasons present themselves i n explana-tion of this action. F i r s t , as Keith had made plain the previous year, one or two members could accomplish l i t t l e in the House, and i t seemed that labor was unlikely to elect more than a hand-f u l of representatives for many years yet. Second, in the past few sessions of the legislature the Opposition had generally supported the measures desired by labor, and had thus somewhat redeemed i t s e l f in the eyes of the miners. Third, the M.M.L.P.A. was no longer the powerful force that i t had been in 1890. Then i t had consisted of four lodges covering the Nanaimo d i s t r i c t ; now i t was reduced to one lodge in Nanaimo i t s e l f . The more active among the miners were s t i l l determined to get p o l i t i c a l representation and favorable legislation, and under the c i r -cumstances an agreement with the Opposition seemed to be the best way to attain this end. As a result of this policy, the campaign machinery i n this election was not as direct as i t had been in 1890, when the M.M.L.P.A. had organized, financed and run the campaigns of Keith and Forster. This time a meeting called by the Opposition set up British Columbia, Legislative Assembly, Sessional Papers. 1894, pp. 1007-8. the Nanaimo Reform Club, to which the Miners* Union, the c i t y 63 trade unions, and the temperance societies sent delegates. The objects of this club or party were as varied as i t s consti-tuent parts; i t s nature was best expressed by T.R. Mclnnes, who hoped that i t would be a new and vigorous Liberal party. However, the main interest which i t had for the M.M.L.P.A. was that i t could be a means of attracting support to workingmen candidates in the coming election. The newspapers appear to have been somewhat confused by the labor-reform movement at Nanaimo. The News-Advertiser 65 referred to the nomination of a \"Liberal\" candidate; i t also 66 mentioned an \"Opposition\" nomination, as did the Nanaimo Free Press. ' Actually the Reform Club was dominated by the Min-ers* Union, and the regular Opposition and Liberal elements were, locally, auxiliaries. The weight of the M.M.L.P.A. in the com-bination may be judged by the fact that a l l three Reform Club candidates in the re-distributed Nanaimo area were miners, and prominent members of the union. It was a labor ticket on a labor platform, but with outside support. Of the three Labor-Opposition candidates in this elec-tion, only one had sat in the last House. The Nanaimo Di s t r i c t , formerly held by Forster and McKenzie, had been s p l i t up; there were now three separate Nanaimo seats, City, North, and South. 6 3 Nanaimo Free Press. March 5. 1894. p. 3. and March 7. p. 1. 64. Ibid., March 13, 1894, p. 1. This is presumably the later Lieutenant-Governor; less probably, i t might refer to his son, Tom Mclnnes. W.W.B. Mclnnes was also a prominent member of the Reform Club. ® 5 April 29, 1894, p. 6. 6 6 June 3, 1894, p. 1. 6 7 May 14, 1894, p. 2. 68 Forster, possibly because the Northfield miners had c r i t i c i z e d g o his voting record, did not seek re-nomination in Nanaimo but contested his home d i s t r i c t in the Fraser Valley. McKenzie, the Farmer a l l y of the miners in 1890, was able to run in a pre-dominantly rural d i s t r i c t and was of no further concern to the miners. Keith, however, was nominated in Nanaimo City at a fusion meeting of those opposed to the recent government. The two new candidates were Tully Boyce, president of the M.M.L.P.A., and Ralph Smith, a Northumberland miner newly arrived in the dist r i c t who was already becoming known for his oratorical powers. The Nanaimo Workingmen*s Platform of 1890 was drawn up by workingmen. Its language was direct and forceful: i t made \"demands\" upon the government; i t referred to existing legis-lation as \"unjust,\" and i t \"condemned\" a policy imputed to the 69 government. Its clauses were not presented in parallel or s t r i c t l y grammatical form, but i t carried conviction and a sense of rough determination. 70 In the 1894 platform a l l this was changed. Instead of \"demands,\" \"measures\" were advocated; no uncomplimentary adjectives were used to describe existing laws; the form of the platform was impeccable both in arrangement and in grammar; careful qualifying clauses were inserted, and in general the BT V. sup.. p. 65, n. 60. v i d e Appendix, p. v i . 70 vide Appendix, p. x i . whole document assumed a highly legal or parliamentary form. It was almost certainly put into i t s f i n a l form by a lawyer — possibly W.W.B. Mclnnes — and in the process i t lost a l l traces of the v i t a l i t y or appeal of the earlier platform. It was no longer a c a l l to action but a cold statement of proposed legis-lative measures and policies. As such, i t s a b i l i t y to attract the support of the miners was doubtless greatly reduced. The matters enumerated in the 1894 platform as requir-ing attention were, on the whole, very similar to those l i s t e d in previous platforms. Five of the clauses referred to r a i l -roads and their land holdings; there was the usual demand for a cessation of such land grants and for the taxation of unused land at i t s f u l l rental value, and there was a specific proposal that the government purchase the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railroad and i t s lands. The c a l l for a shorter work-day was made more exact than before: i t was suggested that the eight-hour day be adopted on a l l public contracts. Two clauses dealt with the exclusion of Orientals from public works and from operations chartered by the provincial government. Another enunciated a principle which would later be invoked to exclude Orientals from the coal mines; i t called for the examination of a l l underground workers on their duties and the necessary precautions against 71 For example, compare the following clauses: 5.(1890) That a clause be inserted in a l l Charters granted by the Provincial Government, prohibiting the employment of Chinese. 10.(1894) That a clause be inserted in a l l charters granted by the Government prohibiting the employment of any per-son of the Chinese or Japanese race in any capacity for any of the purposes for which the charter be granted. 70 the dangers of coal-mining. There was also a protest against the importation of foreign labor under contract. These were enunciations of the grievances expressed in earlier labor platforms; they were accompanied by other demands which had less connection with the immediate concerns of labor. For example, removal of the tax on mortgages might assist some workers to purchase property, but i t would have l i t t l e effect on the miners who lived in Company houses or dwellings of their own construction. The temperance clause may have reflected a lingering influence of the Knights of Labor, but i t was more li k e l y a bid for the votes of the members of the local temper-ance societies. The clause calling for more government control of schools i s unexplained, but i t might represent an early at-tempt to cope with the problem of school finance. It should at least be noted that i t was a complete reversal of labor's 1890 clause on schools. The two clauses on p o l i t i c a l liberalization were both new to labor platforms, and would both be enacted into law in the future. However, the demand for woman suffrage cannot be regarded as a distinctively labor issue. It had been proposed in the House by the Opposition during the last session, and was generally associated with l i b e r a l p o l i t i c a l thinking. The c a l l for abolition of candidates* deposits, on the other hand, has hi s t o r i c a l l y been associated with labor movements. Established p o l i t i c a l parties with adequate funds tend to regard such deposits as a protection against invasion of their f i e l d of action by new parties; labor and socialist parties, seldom having 71 an abundance of funds, tend to interpret such deposits similarly — and resent their existence. It w i l l be noticed that three matters dealt with in the 1890 Workingmen^ Platform did not reappear in 1894. The demand for a Lien Law and that for arbitration of industrial disputes had been covered by the legislation of 1891 and 1893. As for the third demand (protection of the health and safety of workers in industry), despite the failure of Keith»s efforts to have the Coal Mines Regulation Act amended, i t could be hoped that protection would be realized through the workings of con-c i l i a t i o n and arbitration. It remains for a few words to be said about the con-trast between the taxation proposals of the 1890 and 18944plat-forms. When the miners ran their own campaign and made their own platform, they demanded a graduated income tax in place of the prevailing tax structure; single tax was relegated to a minor position, as a deterrent to land speculation. In 1894, when the miners united with l i b e r a l and reform elements, the income tax proposal disappeared and i t was suggested that the scope of single tax be somewhat extended. The indications are that some of the reformers — f a i r l y prosperous men, such as the Mclnnes family — would be personally affected by an income tax, while the single tax would be borne by the non-reformist land-holding corporations and individuals. The Nanaimo Reform Club platform of 1894 was to a large extent economic, and dealt with specific legislation. The contemporary platform of the Nationalist Party i n Vancouver 72 emphasized p o l i t i c a l reforms and was couched in more general terms. If the Nanaimo platform shows the touch of a p o l i t i c a l l y -minded lawyer, the Vancouver platform shows the i d e a l i s t i c and \"absolute\" attitude of a theologically-trained reformer --almost certainly Maxwell. Both platforms are carefully l a i d out and are expressed in good English, but while the Nanaimo platform carefully qualifies most of i t s general proposals in legal style the Vancouver platform makes great use of the word \" a l l \" and other such absolutes and tends to leave i t s prin-ciples in general terms. The economic sections of the Nationalist platform, on the whole, run very close to the Nanaimo proposals. The eight-hour day, cessation of the importation of contract labor, and the ending of the land grant policy appear in both documents. The Nationalists, however, did not include an anti-Oriental clause in their platform. They went beyond the Nanaimo reform-ers in calling for useful public works in the interests of the unemployed, and the abolition of the contract system on public works. On the f i s c a l side, the Nationalists embraced single tax in i t s entirety. In no other labor platform do we find such a blanket endorsement of the tax on land values, and rejection of a l l other taxes. The incorporation of this clause in the Nationalist platform was the high-water mark of \"Georgeism\" i n British Columbia. 73 Closely linked with the idea of a single tax was that of government ownership of public u t i l i t i e s . It was included in the scheme of Henry George as a necessary social reform. It was also gaining currency from two other sources: the rapid expansion of the German economy through a policy of state owner-ship and control, and the s o c i a l i s t i c argument that only social ownership could curb abuse of economic and p o l i t i c a l power by monopolies. The Nationalists included in their platform a l i s t of seven widely-used services which they considered ripe for public ownership; in addition, they called for nationalization of the banking system. Their six demands for p o l i t i c a l reform could be summed up in a few words: complete adult p o l i t i c a l democracy. They wanted the r e c a l l , i n i t i a t i v e and referendum, enfranchisement of a l l adults, and legal holidays for voting. It w i l l be noted that none of these demands has yet been achieved in f u l l . The most indefinite clause in the whole platform was undoubtedly the f i r s t , demanding \"the f u l l product of their labor\" for the workers. This might mean anything from a flexible \" f a i r wage\" to the total of a l l social production, according to the economic ideas of the individual. However, i t served i t s purpose; i t was eminently moral, and a more definite statement would certainly have created dissension within the party. Like the miners in Nanaimo, the Vancouver unionists worked in co-operation with the Opposition faction. The Nat-ionalists f i r s t named their candidate for the provincial House — Robert Macpherson, a carpenter. This done, his name was pre-74 sented to the Opposition nominating convention, where he was 72 welcomed as a member of the Opposition team of candidates. It appears that the radical platform of the Nation-a l i s t Party was not taken too seriously by either the Opposi-tion or by Macpherson; the former made no public objection to i t , and the latter did not campaign upon i t . The Vancouver World, which supported the Government, accused the Nationalist-Opposition combination of attempting to conceal this platform from the public, and remedied the omission by printing the entire Nationalist platform — together with some very caustic 73 comments — on i t s editorial page. Certainly the double nom-ination of Macpherson, by both Nationalist and Opposition con-ventions, indicated that he was not expected to work actively for the immediate implementation of a l l the clauses in the plat-form; the Opposition could hardly have endorsed him, had that been the case. Finally, in answer to a current story that the Nationalists were going to \"plump*1 for Macpherson, A. Grant, secretary of the Nationalist Party, stated f l a t l y that the Nat-ionalists had decided to support the whole Opposition ticket i n T A. Vancouver. If the party were willing to do this, i t certainly was not taking i t s o f f i c i a l platform very seriously. The Vancouver T.& L.C. remained o f f i c i a l l y passive in this election. Although Macpherson was a workingman and his ** News-Advertiser, May 10, 1894, p. 1. 7 3 Vancouver Dally World. May 14, 1894. 7 4 News-Advertiser, June 8, 1894, p. 1. (Grant's f i r s t name i s not recorded). 75 o f f i c i a l platform contained many planks coincident with the expressed legislative demands of the Council, no endorsation of his candidature appeared in the minutes or in the press. He was ignored, and no reason was given for this attitude. It may be suggested that, since the Nationalist Party acted inde-pendently of the T.& L.C. in i t s nomination of Macpherson, the Council f e l t no obligation to support i t s candidate. This, how-ever, i s only one of a number of possibilities and should not be regarded as a complete explanation. Despite the passivity of the local T.& L.C., Macpher-75 son was elected.: His success cannot be ascribed to his Nat-ionalist a f f i l i a t i o n , since his vote was essentially the same as that of his running-mates. If any benefit were gained by such a f f i l i a t i o n i t must have extended almost equally to Wil-liams and Carter-Cotton, who also had the o f f i c i a l support of the Nationalist Party. Although the Labor-Opposition alliance achieved suc-cess in Vancouver, i t met with disaster in Nanaimo. The Gov-ernment swept the three seats, even to the point of causing Ralph Smith to lose his deposit. Only in Nanaimo City, where Keith was defending his seat and the remaining M.M.L.P.A. lodge was located, did a miner's candidate even come within sight of 75 Results of the voting in Vancouver weres A. Williams ....1911) R. Macpherson 1766)elected F. Carter-Cotton 1736) R.A. Anderson 920 R.J. Tatlow 979 E. Odium 607 S. Greer 208 (CPC, 1897, p. 380). 76 victory. No doubt a prime factor in the defeat of the miners' candidates in 1894 was the decline of their union, stemming from the strike and lockout at Wellington in 1890. The dispute had been over union recognition, and the men had f i n a l l y gone 77 back to work without gaining their point. The defeat had caused three lodges of the newly-formed union to disintegrate, leaving only the Nanaimo lodge. Thus in 1894 there was no strong organization to finance the candidates and carry on the campaign. The continual frustration of Keith's legislative moves could well have been another source of weakness; i t was obviously use-less to send minority members to the legislature i f their de-mands were constantly ignored. Prom the other side, the Gov-ernment-sponsored Lien Law and Conciliation Act of the past legislature undoubtedly led many workers to support the Govern-ment faction in the hope that i t would bring in more such legis-lation. Finally, i t i s very probable that the alliance with the Opposition cooled the enthusiasm of some workers who bel-ieved in independent p o l i t i c a l action; certainly, the mild tone of the 1894 platform would repel any worker with even a slightly militant attitude. Macpherson, the only labor candidate elected in 1894, Nanaimo City Nanaimo North Nanaimo South J. McGregor....431 J. Bryden....411 W.W. Walkem...146 Thos. Keith.... 411 R. Smith 139 T. Boyce..... .120 (Loc. c i t . ) . 77 vide \"Report of Select Committee on Wellington Strike or Lockout,\" British Columbia, Legislative Assembly, Journals, 1891, pp. ccxH. 77 did not prove to be a particularly active proponent of labor's interests in the House. In 1895 he moved an amendment to the Elections Act designed to protect the secrecy of the ballot; 78 i t went to a committee, and was never reported out. In 1896 he voted with the majority to hoist for six months a Mechanics' Lien b i l l introduced by Helmcken, only to have a similar b i l l of his own ruled out of order as \"substantially the same\" as 79 Helmcken's b i l l . In 1897 he introduced no measures, but i n 1898 he succeeded in having passed an act which voided a l l 80 labor contracts made outside British Columbia. Such a measure had long been desired by organized labor in order to curb the immigration of \"contracted\" Chinese, and to discourage the importation of strikebreakers. Apart from these efforts, Mac-pherson behaved much as any other back-bench member of the Opposition. While Vancouver and Nanaimo labor men were thus tak-ing an increasing part in p o l i t i c s , Victoria labor was becom-ing less active. After providing a lead for the rest of the British Columbia labor movement in 1886, i t did nothing in the 1890 election. Bennett claims that in 1894 the Nationalist Party put up a candidate in Victoria, but that he lost his 81 deposit. Since such a candidate cannot be identified in the • a 1 B.C., Journals. 1895, B i l l 41, and Independent. Feb-ruary 16, 1901, p. 1. 7 9 B.C., Journals, 1896, B i l l s 10, 76. 8 0 i P l d . , 1898, B i l l 30. 8 1 OP. c i t . . p. 135. 78 press reports of the election campaign, i t must be concluded that the Nationalist-Opposition alliance was even closer in Victoria than in Vancouver. Whatever the Nationalists may have been doing, at least the Victoria T.& L.C. was considering the p o l i t i c a l s i t -uation. In concert with the Single Tax Association i t formu-lated a platform which demanded (1) a f a i r wage based upon pro-duction, (2) no tax on the products of industry, (3) more equal legislative representation, and the abolition of candidates* deposits, (4) an eight-hour day law, (5) Chinese exclusion from government works, prohibition of Asiatic immigration, and no employment of Asiatics by companies enjoying government p r i -vileges, and (6) nationalization of telegraphs, railways and 82 coal mines. Although no positive action resulted from this agreement, i t s existence indicates that an influential section of the Victoria labor movement was thinking along lines similar to those of the Nationalist Party in Vancouver. With the excep-tion of the anti-Asiatic clause and the demand for nationaliza-tion of the coal mines, a l l the Victoria demands are to be found in the Nationalist platform. v. The Nationalist Party continued to be active after the provincial election, and soon began to prepare for the coming federal election. In the spring of 1895, i t called a meeting, which was endorsed by the Vancouver T.& L.C, for the 83 purpose of nominating a federal candidate. Rev. George R. * z News-Advertiser. May 5, 1894, p. 1 83 «VTLCM,B March 1, 1895. 79 Maxwell was mentioned as a l i k e l y choice. However, the meeting was premature, since the election was not called until the following year. At that time the question of labor's p o l i t i c a l position was revived. By now the T.& L.C. had clearly become used to the idea of taking a stand in p o l i t i c s , and had moreover accepted the idea of working with the Nationalists. It expressed i t s interest in this election by appointing a committee \"... to wait upon the executive of the Nationalists and see what can be done OA with regard to running a Labor Candidate.\" The Nationalists advised the committee that a l l interested unionists should attend ward meetings on April 24 and endeavor to elect delegates favor-able to the nomination of a man who would represent the inter-ests of labor. Upon the recommendation of the committee, Co an-85 c i l accepted this suggestion. These ward meetings were not being called by either of the major p o l i t i c a l parties. They were sponsored by a combina-tion of groups which had in common only opposition to S i r Charles H. Tupper's Conservative administration and which formed, in effect, \"... a fusion party of McCarthyites, Nat-ionalists (labor) and Liberals.\" This anti-Tupper fusion was brought about by three 8 4 \"VTLCM,\" April 10, 1896. 8 5 Ibid., April 21, 1896. It was the general practice at that time for primary meetings of interested voters to be called in the wards. These meetings would name delegates to a secondary meeting at which a candidate pledged to a certain principle or program would be chosen. 8 6 Independent. October 20, 1900, p. 2. issues, two of which were national and the third confined to British Columbia. The Conservative policy on the Catholic schools i n Manitoba had led many Conservatives, under the lea-dership of D'Alton McCarthy, to break with the party and form their own organization. The \"National Policy\" of protective t a r i f f s was considered by many people to be an important cause of the existing trade depression. The Conservative Party was closely associated with the railway-building program in Canada, and the mass importation of Chinese had been undertaken mainly for railway-building. On these three issues — Catholic schools, t a r i f f s , and the Chinese in British Columbia — the Conservative administration was subjected to wide-spread c r i -ticism. Ih this situation, i t was clearly the better strategy for the Liberals not to nominate a candidate. The anti-Tupper elements, taken as a whole, were strong enough to elect a man whose program was essentially that of the Liberal Party. On the other hand, an o f f i c i a l Liberal candidate might not be able to draw the votes of the discontented Conservatives who were s t i l l anti-Liberal. It was almost certainly these reasons which persuaded the Liberal Party not to contest Burrard (Van-couver and the lower Coast) in this election. Having decided to run a candidate, the fusionists looked about for a suitable man. Their choice f e l l upon Rev. George R. Maxwell, a Presbyterian minister, the central figure of the Nationalist Party, and a man well-known for his inter-est in p o l i t i c a l and social reform. At f i r s t Maxwell refused 81 the offer, saying that he was committed to continue in the ser-vice of his congregation; then, being pressed by \"... a number of Liberals, McCarthyites, Conservatives, and the Trades and Labor unions,\" he allowed his name to go before the nominating convention, and was chosen as Independent candidate for Bur-r a r d . 8 7 Maxwell was an early representative of that group of ministers who came to be identified with the p o l i t i c a l side of the Canadian labor movement. Of these, James S. Woodsworth is the best-known; other notable examples are A.E. Smith, William Ivens, and T.C. Douglas. Imbued with humanitarian sentiments and a great amount of idealism, they interested themselves in social problems; trained in vocal and l i t e r a r y expression, they became the accepted spokesmen of large sections of the labor movement and expounded the needs and desires of labor to the rest of the community. Maxwell was a good example of the minister-turned-politician. Born i n Lanarkshire, Scotland, he had worked in the Scottish coal mines and had there become fami-l i a r with labor organization. He had received a thorough clas-s i c a l and theological education, after that coming to Canada. Prom the time of his arrival in Vancouver in 1890 he had busied himself with the labor and reform questions of that city. His classical oratory and his f l o r i d , sometimes ( i t must be stated) obscure style of writing gained him attention to the point where he was the most li k e l y person to receive the support of both °' News-Advertiser. April 27, 1896, p. 6, and June 13, P. 2. liberal and labor elements. Maxwell put forward no platform for his campaign. His aims and objects were expressed only in speeches, and were not . committed to print. On the whole, he adhered to the main gen-eral issues of the campaign. He supported secular education in the public schools, he wished to restrict Chinese immigration and employment, and he favored freer trade, especially with oo Britain. In addition, he condemned p o l i t i c a l corruption, and promised to support Laurier and McCarthy as long as they kept faith with the people. 8 9 Another candidate besides Maxwell was bidding for the dissident Conservative votes: W.J. Bowser, later to be premier of British Columbia, was making his debut in p o l i t i c s as an Independent Conservative. The effect of his candidature upon the result of the election i s d i f f i c u l t to estimate. The votes he received would probably have favored Maxwell slightly, but i t i s unlikely that his presence altered the outcome of the elect-ion. Although the Nationalist Party may be regarded as the vehicle by which Maxwell became the Opposition candidate in Bur-rard, the press made no mention of i t s acti v i t i e s or i t s plat-form in the campaign reports. The most li k e l y explanation i s that the fusion of elements behind Maxwell was so complete as to absorb the Nationalists temporarily. This effacement fur-ther strengthens the impression that the Nationalist platform News-Advertiser. May 6, 1896, p. 5, and May 19, p. 1. 8 9 Ibid.. June 9, 1896, p. 5. 83 was not regarded by i t s supporters as a basis for immediate action. The voting showed an unqualified victory for the anti-Tupper forces, and a qualified victory for the l i b e r a l -reform elements. Maxwell was returned with a good plurality over Cowan, the o f f i c i a l Conservative, but with a minority of 90 the total vote. For the f i r s t time, labor had played an im-portant role in the election of an Independent member of the Federal House. Maxwell»s work in Ottawa during the next four years was not spectacular. Technically he was an Independent, but in actuality he voted steadily with the Liberals and defended 91 the actions of the Laurier government. He did voice the grievance f e l t by British Columbia labor with regard to Chin-ese immigration, twice asking that the $50 entry tax on Chin-92 ese be raised to $500. He also supported a b i l l to give trade-mark status to the union label; on two occasions this was passed 93 by the Commons and rejected by the Senate. His efforts were credited with the f i n a l establishment of a Royal Commission on ^ G . R . Maxwell (Ind. ) 1512 G.H. Cowan (Cons.) 1214 W.J. Bowser (Ind.Cons.)... 410 (CPC,1897, p. 194). 9 1 Canada, Parliament, House of Commons, O f f i c i a l Report of Debates. 1898, I, 1527, and 1899, I, 1022, for his defences of the Liberal administration. 92 Independent, April 13, 1901, p. 3. Ibid.. 1896 (second session) 893, and 1898, I, 1163. 93 94 Chinese and Japanese Immigration i n 1900. He d i d make an endeavor to carry out the wishes of the workingmen who had i n i t i a t e d and supported his e l e c t i o n campaign. After Maxwell's vi c t o r y , the N a t i o n a l i s t Party went into a decline. The sparse reports on i t indicate l i t t l e a c t i v i t y and small membership; i t was probably s u f f e r i n g from the absence of Maxwell, i t s guiding s p i r i t . Toward the end of 1896 i t was planning a c t i v i t y . I t asked the T.& L.C. f o r assis-tance i n i t s work, and requested that a l l members of labor un-95 ions be n o t i f i e d of i t s organization meeting. The Council acknowledged receipt of the request, and a copy of i t was or-96 dered to be published. The l a s t reference to the existence of the N a t i o n a l i s t Party i s i n 1898, when the World noted that the N a t i o n a l i s t s and S o c i a l Reformers had decided to take part i n the p r o v i n c i a l e l e c t i o n of that year on a basis of \" d i r e c t 97 l e g i s l a t i o n . \" The decision, however, seems to have been more hopeful than r e a l i z a b l e . No action which the N a t i o n a l i s t s may have taken received any p u b l i c i t y , and c e r t a i n l y no candidate was nominated by the group. In addition to supporting federal and p r o v i n c i a l can-didates, the N a t i o n a l i s t Party also took an i n t e r e s t i n c i v i c p o l i t i c s . In l a t e 1895, i n conjunction with the Vancouver T.& L . C , i t prepared a platform f o r the coming c i v i c e l e c t i o n . _ — = — i Independent, November 22, 1902. 9 5 «VTLCM, W November 20, 1896. qg Loc. cit.(Presumably f o r c i r c u l a t i o n to the various unions). 9 7 June 10, 1898, p. 2. 85 In this i t stressed an extension of democracy, the eight-hour 98 day, single tax, and public ownership. This platform was endorsed by the Ratepayers' Association, and was supported by 99 the candidates of that group. A portion of this platform, containing those clauses of most immediate importance to the labor movement, was re-endorsed by the T.& L.C. a year later for the next civ i c c o n t e s t . 1 0 0 v i . The Nationalist Party presents two conflicting as-pects. On the one hand, i t s platform was highly i d e a l i s t i c and radical; i t should be noted that not more than four of i t s proposals have even yet been adopted in British Columbia. On the other hand, the party was willing — even eager — to a l l y i t s e l f with p o l i t i c a l groups which were quite unsympathetic to i t s o f f i c i a l objectives. Apparently the members of the party saw the inconsistency of their position, since they did not attempt to publicize their platform in 1894 or 1896. One member explained in an open letter that the Nationalists' work was basically of an educational nature, dealing with the 101 \"new\" p o l i t i c a l economy. Thus the party would be agitating for immediate reforms and forming alliances to achieve those reforms, while at the same time i t was educating for the i n s t i -tution of what i t saw as a new society characterized by public ownership, single tax, and direct democracy. 9 8 v. Appendix, p. x. 9 9 \"VTLCM,\" December 6, 1895. 1 0 0 Ihid., December 18, 1896. (It does not appear that the Nationalists were consulted with regard to this revision). 1 0 1 \"Nationalistj\" News-Advertiser. May 23, 1894, p. 2. 86 In this, the Nationalist Party resembled the parties of the Second International and the Socialist Party of Canada before the f i r s t World War. Those parties too had both \"imme-diate demands\" and \"ultimate objectives,\" insofar as they preached social revolution but gained support as a result of the reforms 102 they advocated. Such a policy might not appear inconsistent, but occasions can and do arise when the measures advocated in order to gain electoral success are not consonant with the gen-eral principles of the party. When this happens, discord arises and may destroy the party. Such was the fate of the Socialist Party of Canada in the years following 1917, when the choice had to be made between Bolshevik action and the slower process of socialist education. The reasons for the decline and disappearance of the Nationalist Party are unrecorded, and can only be surmised from the nature of the party and i t s known history. It was formed in 1894 in a period of economic depression, and was no doubt in part a protest against current conditions. It was centered largely about one man, Rev. George R. Maxwell; other members of the party, with the exception of Robert Macpherson, were rela-tively unknown. Its leader regarded existing c a p i t a l i s t i c soc-103 iety as beyond redemption, yet devoted his parliamentary 1 0 2 After 1902 the Socialist Party in British Columbia had no o f f i c i a l platform of \"palliatives;\" however, i t s candidates in elections often advocated specific reform measures, (cf. Appendix, pp. xxx, x x x i i i . 1 0 3 In 1901, Maswell wrote: \"Our system i s wrong. Prom top to bottom, radically, everlastingly wrong. We need a new system under which our pre-sent hideous pursuit for money wil l be deemed a criminal offence, 87 career to attempts to repair i t . To judge from these circum-stances, i t s decline could well have been due to a combina-tion of three things: the improvement of economic conditions, the absence of i t s leading members in Ottawa and Victoria, and internal disagreement between those of i t s members who believed in education and those who demanded immediate action. Although longer-lived than i t s predecessors, the Nationalist Party can hardly be termed an unqualified success. It initiated the successful candidature of two p o l i t i c a l rep-resentatives, both pledged to support the interests of labor. It did not, however, succeed in building a consistent labor vote of noticeable proportions; Macpherson*s vote was compar-able with that of his Oppositionist runningmates, and Maxwell was elected by an anti-Conservative combination. Neither man acted as a distinctively \"labor\" member. Maxwell was generally classified as an independent Liberal and was a loyal supporter of the Laurier government, while Macpherson was very closely identified with the Opposition. The traditional parties had temporarily headed off the threat of an independent \"labor party\" challenging their established position by taking the Nationalists into a subordinate alliance. when the massing of i t w i l l be a criminal offence, and when man's needs w i l l be the only sane consideration i n to i l i n g and spinning.\" (\"What i s Man?,\" Independent, October 12, 1901, p. 3). (to follow page 87) Ralph Smith Member of the L e g i s l a t i v e Assembly, 1898-1900 (Labor-Reform) Nanaimo Member of Parliament, 1900-1911 (Liberal-Labor) Vancouver D i s t r i c t Western Fuel Company, Mine No. 1, Nanaimo. CHAPTER IV INDEPENDENT LABOR PARTIES, 1893*1906 Pa r t I. To, the Kamloops Labor C o n v e n t i o n , 1902 i . The d e c l i n e and d i sappea rance o f the N a t i o n a l i s t P a r t y d i d no t mean t h a t the B r i t i s h Co lombia l a b o r movement was d i s i l l u s i o n e d w i th p o l i t i c a l a c t i o n , o r t ha t the c o n d i t i o n s which f i r s t c a l l e d f o r t h p o l i t i c a l a c t i o n had d i s a p p e a r e d . I t d i d mean tha t the N a t i o n a l i s t P a r t y was u n s a t i s f a c t o r y t o those who b e l i e v e d tha t l a b o r s h o u l d take an a c t i v e p a r t i n p o l i t i c s . The yea r s 1898*1900 saw the development o f a new fo rm o f p o l i -t i c a l a c t i o n . In the 1898 p r o v i n c i a l e l e c t i o n t he r e was a s l a c k e n * i n g o f the t i d e o f l a b o r p o l i t i c a l a c t i o n . On ly one l a b o r c a n -d i d a t e appeared i n the whole p r o v i n c e — Ra lph Smi th i n Nanaimo, making h i s second t r y f o r a l e g i s l a t i v e s e a t . Macpherson , f o r -m e r l y the N a t i o n a l i s t nominee i n Vancouve r , was r u n n i n g a g a i n , bot t h i s t ime as a s t r a i g h t O p p o s i t i o n i s t ; h i s 1898 campa ign , t h e r e f o r e , i s not r e l e v a n t t o t h i s t o p i c . In 1894 Ra lph Smith was c o n s i d e r e d as a newcomer i n the Nanaimo a r e a , and t h i s c e r t a i n l y counted a g a i n s t h im i n the campaign o f tha t y e a r . By 1898 he had not o n l y e s t a b l i s h e d h i m -s e l f , bot he had a l s o become a prominent f i g u r e . He was s e c r e -t a r y o f the M . M . L . P . A . , and had se r ved a te rm as a v i c e - p r e s i d e n t 89 o f the T.& L . C . o f Canada. H i s o r a t o r i c a l powers had no doubt deve loped c o n s i d e r a b l y d u r i n g t h i s p e r i o d , and he was t o be r ega rded as a f o r m i d a b l e c a n d i d a t e . Moreover , the M .M.L .P .A . had somewhat r e - e s t a b l i s h e d i t s e l f , and had en t e r ed i n t o an agreement w i th the mine-owners f o r a check-o f f o f un ion dues o f rom a l l underground workers . Wi th the suppor t o f the u n i o n , which he undoubted ly had , he would be v e r y hard t o d e f e a t . In a d d i t i o n , Thomas F o r s t e r had secu red the passage , i n the 1898 s e s s i o n , o f an amendment t o the E l e c t i o n s Ac t which guaranteed the s e c r e c y of the b a l l o t . P r e v i o u s l y , a c c o r d i n g t o the Nanaimo F r ee P r e s s , any pe r son who had access to the b a l l o t s and books a f t e r an e l e c t i o n c o u l d e a s i l y a s c e r t a i n how eve ry e l e c t o r had 3 v o t e d . Now the employee need no l o n g e r f e a r d i s c r i m i n a t i o n because o f h i s v o t e . The p rocess whereby Smith was nominated i s o b s c u r e ; i n d e e d , the Nanaimo F r e e P r e s s had v e r y l i t t l e to s a y about the whole 1898 e l e c t i o n c a m p a i g n . 4 T u l l y Boyce , i n the neat o f a Repor ts of h i s speeches convey the i m p r e s s i o n tha t he was a smooth and p e r s u a s i v e s p e a k e r , not too s c r u p u l o u s i n deba te . T h i s i m p r e s s i o n i s con f i rmed by c o n v e r s a t i o n s w i th some persons who hea rd h i s speeches : e . g . , Jimmy P h i l l i p s o n o f Nanaimo. 2 From the v a r i o u s r e f e r e n c e s , i t appears t h a t t h i s c h e c k -o f f was i n e f f e c t w i th both the New Vancouver Coa l Company (Nan-aimo) and the Dunsmuir m ines . C o n c l u s i o n o f the agreement was sometimes c r e d i t e d to Ra lph Sm i th ; T u l l y Boyce , however, c l a imed i t as the work o f A r t h u r W i l s o n , b e f o r e Smith came i n t o p r o m i n -ence . (Nanaimo F r ee P r e s s . Oc tober 2 3 , 1900, p. 3 ) . A l though t h i s agreement ensured the f i n a n c i a l s o l v e n c y o f the u n i o n , i t a l s o made the un ion l e a d e r s h i p l a r g e l y dependent upon the com-p a n i e s . 3 E d i t o r i a l , March 14 , 1894, p. 2. v i de a l s o Independent , Feb rua ry 1 6 , 1901, p. 1. 4 J u s t a t t h i s t ime the Span ish-Amer ican War was a t i t s h e i g h t , and the news columns were devoted to war r e p o r t s . 90 l a t e r e l e c t i o n , r e f e r r e d to the \" s n e a k i n g \" manner i n which Smith 5 secured the Sonth Nanaimo n o m i n a t i o n ; t h i s c o u l d p o s s i b l y mean tha t Boyce , who had run i n South Nanaimo i n 1894, a l s o wished to be a c and ida te but was f o r e s t a l l e d by Sm i th . At l e a s t i t can be e s t a b l i s h e d tha t Smith appeared w i th the b a c k i n g o f the p r o v i n -c i a l O p p o s i t i o n , and tha t he was c l o s e l y a s s o c i a t e d w i th D r . R.E. HcKechn i e , O p p o s i t i o n c and ida t e i n Nanaimo C i t y , and W.W.B. Mc l nnes , Independent L i b e r a l M.P. f o r Vancouver ( I s l a n d ) ; 1 He was c e r t a i n l y not a \" s t r a i g h t l a b o r \" c a n d i d a t e , as K e i t h had been i n 1890. S m i t h ' s l a b o r b a c k i n g i s a lmost as obscure as h i s b e -coming the r e c o g n i z e d O p p o s i t i o n c a n d i d a t e . I t i s p r a c t i c a l l y c e r t a i n tha t the M.M.L.P.A. gave h im o f f i c i a l s u p p o r t . I t had backed the l a b o r - r e f o r m c a n d i d a t e s i n 1894, i t would endorse S m i t h ' s c and ida tu r e i n 1900, and t h e r e i s no r eason to b e l i e v e t ha t i t a c t e d d i f f e r e n t l y i n 1898. Other Nanaimo un ions p r o -b a b l y a l s o gave him t h e i r s u p p o r t , but the o n l y ex tant r e c o r d o f o f f i c i a l l a b o r e n d o r s a t i o n f o r a c and ida t e i n 1898 i s a l e t -7 t e r f rom the S o s s l a n d T.& L . C . s t r o n g l y s u p p o r t i n g Sm i th . S m i t h ' s p l a t f o r m as \" l a b o r and O p p o s i t i o n \" c a n d i d a t e , 8 as he was known, d i d not appear i n the l o c a l newspaper; i n a 5 ' Nanaimo F ree P r e s s . October 1 7 , 1900, p. 2. 6 I b i d . , June 20 , 1898, p p . 4 , 2 . In the 1896 f e d e r a l e l e c -t i o n SmlthTTad been o f f e r e d the L i b e r a l nomina t ion b u t , f o r p e r -s o n a l r e a s o n s , had d e c l i n e d i n f a v o r o f W.W.B. Mc l nnes . Mc lnnes had been a s s o c i a t e d w i th him i n the Nanaimo Reform C lub o f 1894. (Nanaimo H e r a l d . A p r i l 1 7 , 1900, pp . 1 ,5 . ) 7 Nanaimo F r e e P r e s s . June 2 8 , 1898, p. 1. 8 News-Adve r t i s e r . J u l y 6 , 1898, p. 6 . 91 speech he r e f e r r e d t o h i s \" l e t t e r t o the e l e c t o r s , \" presumably a l e a f l e t which was d i s t r i b u t e d . The f u l l c o n t e n t s of t h i s l e a f l e t a re not a v a i l a b l e , but i n the above-mentioned speech he enumerated c e r t a i n p o i n t s o f h i s program. These were (1) p r o -v i s i o n o f a p u b l i c market i n Nanaimo f o r the f a r m e r s , (2) oppo -s i t i o n t o l a n d g r a n t s t o r a i l r o a d c o r p o r a t i o n s o r any compan ies , (8) o p p o s i t i o n to the mortgage t ax and the t ax on l a b o r e r s i n meta l m ines , and (4) suppor t o f s q u a t t e r s ' r i g h t s . 1 0 The r e s t o f h i s program was p r o b a b l y v e r y s i m i l a r to the Reform C l u b p l a t f o r m o f 1 8 9 4 ; 1 1 t he re i s no s t r o n g r eason t o expec t any r a d i c a l changes . So f a r as Smith was conce rned , the campaign o f 1898 was a s imp l e m a t t e r . H i s opponent was D r . W.W. Walkem, who had r eques t ed the l a b o r nomina t ion i n 1890 and a s a Government s u p -p o r t e r had beaten T u l l y Boyce i n 1894. In the l a s t House Walkem had vo ted a g a i n s t a measure t o cu rb i m p o r t a t i o n o f l a b o r under c o n t r a c t . Smith a t t a c k e d him on t h i s p o i n t , and a l s o put Walkem's s i n c e r i t y i n q u e s t i o n by a s k i n g why he opposed the employment o f Ch inese around the Texada meta l-mines , but remained s i l e n t about Ch inese i n the coa l -m ines . Such p o i n t s , put fo rward i n S m i t h ' s expe r t manner, were h i g h l y e f f e c t i v e . Wage-workers g e n e r a l l y f e a r e d the i m -p o r t a t i o n o f o the r workers t i e d to a ( u s u a l l y ) low-wage c o n -t r a c t , and the coa l -m ine r s were e s p e c i a l l y e x e r c i s e d i n the mat te r o f employment o f Ch inese i n the m ines . On p o l l i n g day 9 L o c . c i t . 1 1 v i d e Append ix , p. xxi. 92 the re was a l a n d s l i d e vo te f o r S m i t h . 1 2 Whi le Ra lph Smith was thus b e i n g e l e c t e d to h i s f i r s t l e g i s l a t i v e t e rm, Rober t Macpherson was w inn ing h i s second e l e c -t i o n i n Vancouver . A l though he was d e s i g n a t e d as an O p p o s i t i o n -i s t and had no d i s t i n c t i v e p l a t f o r m o r — so f a r as i s known — any l a b o r o r g a n i z a t i o n beh ind h i m , he c o n t i n u e d to ma in t a i n a c e r t a i n b i a s f o r l a b o r i n t e r e s t s and was l a t e r to be aga in o f f i c i a l l y i d e n t i f i e d wi th the l a b o r movement. F o r t h i s r e a s o n , i t s h o u l d a t l e a s t be no ted tha t he was r e - e l e c t e d i n 1898 as an O p p o s i t i o n i s t , w i th a lmost e x a c t l y the same vo t e he had r e -c e i v e d i n 1 8 9 4 . 1 3 Thus 1898, a year o f t r a n s i t i o n i n the h i s t o r y o f l a b o r p o l i t i c a l a c t i o n i n B r i t i s h Co lumb ia , passed by ; o n l y one cand ida te appeared w i th any c l a i m t o the name o f \" l a b o r . \" 1 4 F o r the moment, the l a b o r movement appeared to be a spent f o r c e so f a r as p o l i t i c a l i n f l u e n c e was conce rned . In the s h o r t p e r i o d i n t e r v e n i n g between the 1898 and 1900 e l e c t i o n s t he r e was a g rea t awakening o f p o l i t i c a l i n t -e r e s t i n the l a b o r movement. S e v e r a l r easons may be advanced 33 Smith 193 Walkem 53 (CFG, 1898-99, p. 248 ) . 13 ~™~ In 1894 he came second on the p o l l wi th 1766 v o t e s ; i n 1898 he aga in came se cond , w i th 1795 v o t e s . I t would seem tha t the N a t i o n a l i s t P a r t y , which backed him i n 1894, was no t much o f a v o t e - g e t t e r . 1 4 In 1900, the Nanaimo H e r a l d s t a t e d e d i t o r i a l l y t h a t a l a b o r c and ida te had opposed James Dunsmuir i n Comox i n 1898. (May 1 9 , 1900, p. 2 ) . T h i s would r e f e r to M . J . M c A l l a n , the O p p o s i t i o n nominee. He i s ment ioned i n the Nanaimo F r e e P r ess o f 1898 (pass im) but t h e r e i s no i n d i c a t i o n tha t he was o the r than an or thodox O p p o s i t i o n i s t . 93 f o r t h i s ; two r easons o f b a s i c impor tance shou ld be c o n s i d e r e d h e r e . The f i r s t o f these was p o l i t i c a l . The 1898 e l e c t i o n had r e s u l t e d i n a p r a c t i c a l s t a n d - o f f between the Government and the O p p o s i t i o n . When the v o t i n g c l o s e d o n l y seventeen Gov-ernment members had been e l e c t e d as a g a i n s t n i ne t een O p p o s i t i o n -i s t s , and t he r e were s t i l l two s e a t s f rom C a s s i a r to be dec ided 1 : C . A . Seml in formed a new Cab ine t o f fo rmer O p p o s i t i o n i s t s , w i th a p r e c a r i o u s m a j o r i t y i n the House. With p a r t y d i s c i p l i n e p r a c -t i c a l l y n o n - e x i s t e n t \" f r i n g e 1 * members had to be c o n c i l i a t e d ; t h i s meant t ha t the l o n e l a b o r member and h i s a l l i e s were i n a p o s i t i o n o f c o n s i d e r a b l e power. S m i t h , h i s a s s o c i a t e McKechn ie , and Macpherson a l l suppor ted the Seml in m i n i s t r y and e x t r a c t e d f rom i t a number o f r e f o r m s . F i v e measures o f i n t e r e s t to l a b o r were passed i n the 1899 s e s s i o n . An amendment t o the Mas te r and Se rvant A c t , moved by Macpherson, p r o t e c t e d deduc t i ons f rom wages made f o r the purpose o f med i ca l c a r e . Two amendments t o the C o a l M ines R e g u l a t i o n A c t , moved by D r . McKechnie , i n c l u d e d Japanese i n the e x i s t i n g p r o h i b i t i o n oh Ch inese work ing underground , and p r o v i d e d tha t payment f o r c o a l dug shou ld be by weight be fo re s c r e e n i n g . 1 7 An a c t r e p e a l i n g some o f the Ra i lway A i d S t a -18 t u t e s was i n t r o d u c e d by Joseph M a r t i n and was p a s s e d . F i n -a l l y , a measure i n t r o d u c e d by F r a n c i s C a r t e r - C o t t o n p r e s c r i b e d the e i gh t-hou r day and c e r t a i n p r o t e c t i v e r e g u l a t i o n s i n m e t a l -^ Hanaimb F r ee P r e s s . J u l y 1 3 . 1898. p. 4 . 1 6 B.C. J o u r n a l s . 1899, B i l l 10 . 1 7 I b i d - - B l l l s 4 3 a n d 4 4 • 1 8 I b i d . . B i l l 7 5 . 94 19 m i n i n g . In a d d i t i o n , a b i l l i n t r o d u c e d by Ra lph Smith i n f a v o r o f female s u f f r a g e was d e f e a t e d by the narrow margin o f 17=15, and Smith was made chai rman o f a S e l e c t Committee e n q u i r -i n g i n t o work ing c o n d i t i o n s under the V i c t o r i a and E squ ima l t Te lephone Company. Such a f l o o d o f l e g i s l a t i v e concern w i th l a b o r p r o -b lems, o b v i o u s l y connected w i th the f a v o r a b l e p o s i t i o n o f Smith and h i s a l l i e s , c o u l d not f a i l to impress a c t i v e u n i o n i s t s wi th the v a l ue o f p o l i t i c a l a c t i o n . I f so much c o u l d be accomp l i shed by so few, what might not s e v e r a l l a b o r members be a b l e to do? The r e a c t i o n o f the mine-owners to the e i g h t - h o u r law a l s o tended to draw the l a b o r movement i n t o p o l i t i c s . A c c o r d i n g to Benne t t , To de fea t the law the mine-owners i n the S l o c a n formed an a s s o c i a t i o n t o keep the mines c l o s e d t i l l the ac t was r e p e a l e d . E v e r y mine-owner i n the d i s t r i c t put up a $2,500 f o r f e i t not to r e c o g n i z e any un ion o r l a b o r o r g a n i z a t i o n and not t o pay more than $3 .00 f o r e i g h t hours o r $3 .50 f o r ten h o u r s . 2 0 i n a d d i t i o n , they p e t i t i o n e d the p r o v i n c i a l government to r e p e a l the l a w . 2 1 I t was p l a i n t h a t the law would have t o be defended i n the House , i f i t were to become an e f f e c t i v e and permanent measure. T h i s was the p o l i t i c a l a s p e c t ; the o the r a spec t was the r e c e n t geograph i c sp read o f l a b o r o r g a n i z a t i o n i n the p ro-I b i d . , B i l l 80 . The d e t a i l s o f these measures may be found i n B . C . , S t a t u t e s . 1899, pass im . 2 0 Op. c i t . . p. 136. 21 V ide r e p r o d u c t i o n o f p e t i t i o n i n Nanaimo H e r a l d . J anuary 2 6 , 1900*7\"?. 1. 95 vince. The development of metal-mining i n the southern moon-tain area had resulted in a sodden growth of unionism among the incoming workers. Miners, carpenters, printers, railroad men, and many other workers were organized into their res-22 pective unions, and set up local Trades and Labor Councils. Organized labor was no longer confined to a handful of consti-tuencies on the Island and Lower Mainland, but could now exert i t s e l f p o l i t i c a l l y i n a significant number of centers. i i . The 1900 election, in which labor was for the f i r s t 23 time a really serious factor, was a confused episode. As has been noted previously, the Government and Opposition groups were f a i r l y well balanced after the 1898 election. In 1900 the Government group s p l i t , and the administration was defeated. Lieutenant-Governor T.R. Mclnnes then called upon Joseph Martin, leader of the dissident Government faction, to form a new admin-istration. This Martin attempted to do, but was repudiated by the House, which included the Lieutenant-Governor in i t s dis-approval. An election was at last called, in which six groups » • ; ' There was a Knights of Labor Assembly in Rossland i n late 1897 — probably the last i n British Columbia (\"VTLCM,\" Nov-ember 5, 1897). W.F.M. locals were appearing throughout the area from 1896 onward (cf. Sandon Paystreak. Rossland Industrial World, etc., passim). By early 1900 Dis t r i c t Association No. 6, W.F.M. comprised eleven unions with 3,000 members. (Ferguson Eagle. February 14, 1900). 23 For a detailed study of the issues involved i n this elec-tion, vide John T. Saywell, \"The Mclnnes Incident in British Colombia.\" British Columbia Historical Quarterly. Archives of British Columbia, Victoria, July 1905, pp. 141-166. 96 O A two Government and four Opposition — took part. The Independent Labor Parties which entered the 1900 election as the successors to the Nationalist Party of Vancouver and the Reform Club of Nanaimo had very l i t t l e organizational unity. Their appearance in different centers seems to have been, at f i r s t , quite spontaneous; for example, a \"Reform and Labor Association\" was organized at Revelstoke as early as 25 February 29, 1899, with p o l i t i c a l aims and apparently without outside assistance or guidance. Similar groups incorporating the word \"labor* i n their names appeared in other towns and c i t i e s . An attempt was made by organized labor to co-ordinate this growth of p o l i t i c a l activity. A convention with delegates from Victoria and Nanaimo was held i n Vancouver, and an inclusive Labor Party was organized. Its platform called for the eight-hour day, arbitration of labor disputes, public ownership, single tax, government control of the medium of exchange, and cessa-27 tion of Asiatic immigration. The platform, so far as the con-The Independent identified thirty Martin candidates and two Liberals on the Government side, and nineteen Conservatives, eighteen Provincial Party men, eighteen Turner!tes, and six Independent Laborites on the Opposition (June 9, 1900, p. 4 ) . The scene was further complicated by a lack of firm divisions between these groups, and the presence of factions within the groups. 2 5 British Columbia Workman. Victoria, June 10, 1899, p. 7. 2 6 Bennett, op. c i t . . p. 136. Cf. Nanaimo Herald. December 27, 1899, p. 1. 2 7 Bennett, op. c i t . . p. 137. This platform i s not dis-cussed here, since i t s items a l l appear in operative platforms and can be considered more effectively in that context. 97 temporary records show, was not used in any election. However, i t s provisions undoubtedly were used as a basis for the var-ious labor platforms which appeared i n the 1900 election. During the January, 1900 session of the legislature, as the rupture between the Martin and Semlin factions was plainly leading to defeat of the Government, a feeling of deep concern began to make i t s e l f evident within the British Colum-bia labor movement. The concessions made by the Semlin adminis-tration in the previous session were f e l t to be endangered by the p o l i t i c a l ambitions of Martin. A mass meeting at Nanaimo unanimously passed a resolution stating that \"the labor organi-zations of the c i t y of Nanaimo* condemned Martin for attempting to wreck the provincial government and for allying himself with 28 James Dunsmuir, thus deserting the cause of labor. Upon the assumption of the premiership by Martin, i t was followed by other resolutions asking McKechnie and Smith to withdraw their 29 support from the Government. If Joseph Martin did not obtain the support of labor in the ensuing election, i t was not for lack of trying. His platform included a number of proposed measures which labor had been demanding for some time. He promised, i f his group were victorious, to abolish the candidates* deposit, to re-distribute the electoral seats, to re-enact any disallowed anti-Oriental statutes, to stop the spread of Oriental cheap labor, to have '\"W • \"' . 1 * Nanaimo Herald. January 9, 1900, p. 1. 2 9 Ibid.. January 19, 1900. 98 places of work o f f i c i a l l y inspected, to have a referendum on the eight-hour law, to make no land grants to railways but inaugurate a policy of government construction and operation of railways, and to remove a l l legislative power from the 30 Lieutenant-Governor. What more could labor desire? It was even rumored for a while that he had offered Ralph Smith a 31 cabinet position, and i t was considered possible that the offer might be accepted. But however much labor liked Martin's promises, i t generally distrusted Martin. The Independent quoted an a r t i c l e from the s o c i a l i s t i c Citizen and Country, to the effect that If i t i s true that Ralph Smith i s going into Joe Martin's cabinet, and i f that means that the labor people of Br i -tish Columbia have decided to work with him, Joe w i l l be a l l right. His platform contains many radical planks that deserve the support of the people, but Joe has been very erratic in many ways, and has not been so trustworthy as his friends could have desired.32 In an editorial, the Independent conceded'that ... looking over the situation in a general way and includ-ing even Mr. Martin's past career we are forced to the con-clusion that there i s no public man in British Columbia that can compare with him as an opponent of corporate aggression and at least incidentally as the friend of labor.33 However, this was not good enough. The editor immediately made i t clear that he was not endorsing Martin, by advising his rea-ders to Independent. June 9, 1900, p. 4, and other newspapers. 31 Nanaimo Herald. March 6, 1900. 3 2 Independent. April 14, 1900, p. 3. 3 3 Ibid.. April 21, 1900, p. 2. Nominate and elect a straight independent labor man in every possible constituency. Do this by means of a pro-perly called convention and do not allow the candidates to lean either to one side or the other — but come out straight as a labor group, prepared to support in the new legislature any party which goes direct for the reform wanted by the labor party.34 Organized labor was beginning to feel confident of i t s strength and therefore was less willing than formerly to trust i t s fate to non-labor politicians. It especially distrusted Martin, to judge from the attitude of the labor press during the elec-35 tion period. No such bitterness was directed against the other competing groups, possibly because i t was f e l t that the \"radical 1* Martin platform was more l i k e l y to attract labor voters than were the more orthodox platforms of the Conserva-tives, Turnerites, and the Provincial Party. As had been the case in the 1898 election, a certain amount of obscurity attended the nomination of Ralph Smith. As the s i t t i n g member for South Nanaimo, he was generally ex-pected to contest that constituency again. Indeed, when the candidature of James Dunsmuir was announced for South Nanaimo, the Herald informed the public that the \"present member wil l oppose Mr. Dunsmuir on the stump.\" Such a contest, however, was not to be. There would be no elimination of one of these public figures by the other. There would be no conflict, even on the electoral f i e l d , which would necessarily end i n the 34 L o e > ' = — — - — - — 36 April 13, 1900, p. 1. 100 defeat of Dunsmuir by Smith or vice versa. A few days later i t was announced that Ralph Smith would be the \"People's Party\" candidate in Nanaimo City, held during the last legislature by his associate, Dr. McKechnie. Moreover, he would be supported 37 by Dr. McKechnie i n this contest. This sudden shift l e f t Dunsmuir unopposed in South Nanaimo, but the local labor and reform elements were deter-mined to run a candidate. A meeting was held at Cedar on April 24, at which certain telegrams from W.W.B. Mclnnes were read. Mclnnes had tired of federal p o l i t i c s , and was deter-38 mined to enter the provincial f i e l d . He was especially insistent upon running against Dunsmuir, claiming that \"his 39 defeat i s imperative.\" His one condition was complete indep= endence of any party. Upon this basis his candidature was endorsed by the meeting. This, however, did not settle the matter. Upon arriv-ing in Vancouver from the East, Mclnnes expressed his approval of the Martin program and stated that i t should carry the pro-vince. This was not to the taste of the voters who had nomin-ated him, and a second meeting took place at Extension Mines, °' Nanimo Herald. April 17, 1900, p. 8. Also Sandon Paystreak, April 28, 1900. He had entertained the idea i n 1898, and was then pledged the support of McKechnie, Smith, Hawthornthwaite, and others. However, he f i n a l l y decided to complete his term i n Ottawa. (Nanaimo Free Press. May 25, 1898, p. 1, and June 14, p. 2). a \" Nanaimo Herald. April 27, 1900, p. 1. 101 40 attended largely by miners. J. Lewis of Gabriola Island (possibly the James Lewis who had been a Workingmen's candi-date in 1886) explained that, in view of Mclnnes' remarks in Vancouver, the convention should not be bound to i t s previous nomination. The meeting concurred i n this and proceeded to nominate John Rat c l i f f , a miner who.had been very active in a recent strike at Extension. However, the door was not entirely shut on Mclnnes. A committee was named to confer with him and offer him a chance to contest the nomination with Rat-4 1 c l i f f at a future convention. Such a procedure was not acceptable to Mclnnes, des-pite his earlier eagerness to confront Dunsmuir. He withdrew 4 2 from South Nanaimo, and a new convention was called in that constituency. It met May 5 with Ralph Smith as chairman to stake a f i n a l choice of a candidate and to adopt a platform. The platform placed before the meeting had already been adopted by Ralph Smith's supporters in Nanaimo C i t y . 4 9 It was accepted with the minor alteration that clause 12 (b), which referred specifically to the E.& N. Railway Belt, was changed to read \"Taxation of a l l lands held by corporations.\" Ratcliff was re-nominated as candidate over Rev. George Taylor, 4 0 Loc. c i t . This was reported as a Provincial Party meet-ing. Although the earlier meeting had apparently accepted Mclnnes' proviso of complete independence, there was a contin-uity of business which j u s t i f i e s regarding the two meetings as being of the same organization. 4 1 Ibid. t April 27, 1900, p. 1, and May 1, p. 1. 4 2 Ibid., May 4, 1900, p. 1. 4 3 vide Appendix, p. xxvlH. 102 his only competitor for the honor, and the question of Dunsmuir's 44 opponent was f i n a l l y settled. The confusion over the South Nanaimo candidature hav-ing been resolved, new conflict — centered again upon W.W.B. 45 Mclnnes — broke out i n North Nanaimo, On Apri l 29 a conven-tion, probably of the Provincial Party as i n South Nanaimo, 46 nominated an old-time resident, one Dixon, upon the under-47 standing that Mclnnes was running i n South Nanaimo. Then V Mclnnes announced his av a i l a b i l i t y as an Independent Liberal, and was hastily nominated by the same group which had already put up Dixon. Dixon, however, was unwilling to ret i r e under 48 these conditions, and remained in the contest. Thus there were three candidates in North Nanaimo: John Bryden, represent-ing the Dunsmuir interests, the s i t t i n g member; W.W.B. Mclnnes, the Independent Liberal; and Dixon, supporting the platform of 49 the Nanaimo Labor Party (Smith's group). Of the three Nanaimo labor candidates, Ralph Smith had by far the easiest task. His labor support was so l i d . I T Nanaimo Herald. M y 8, 1900, pp. 1,2. AC Very l i t t l e of a solidly factual nature about th s dis-pute appeared i n the press, especially i n the early stages. More has to be inferred than in the South Nanaimo nomination. 46 He was referred to in the press as \"Dixon\" or \"Mr. Dix-on;\" CPC gives no i n i t i a l s or f i r s t name. 47 Nanaimo Herald. June 1, 1900, p. 1. 4 8 Ibid.. May 15, 1900, p. 1, and June 1, p. 1. 4 9 Ibid., May 29, 1900, p. 1. 103 He was agent for the M.M.L.P.A., and now had the added prestige of being president of the T.& L.C. of Canada. The Nanaimo T.& L.C. unanimously approved his candidature. 5 0 In addition, his only opponent was the Martinite J.S. Tates, a Victoria man who was also contesting a seat i n the capital c i t y . Being an outsider, Yates' chances were slim. To make matters worse, he did l i t t l e or no active campaigning in Nanaimo. The only prac-t i c a l result of his being on the Nanaimo ballot was that i t forced a vote. The vote i t s e l f gave the impression that Smith 51 had the solid support of Nanaimo. Being practically unopposed in Nanaimo, Smith was able to give considerable attention to the promotion of labor candidates in other parts of the province. He attempted, with-52 out success, to have a labor man nominated in Alberni. He was chairman at the nominating convention of the Vancouver 53 Labor Party. He toured the Interior, helping to organize local Labor P a r t i e s . 5 4 U t i l i z i n g his influence and connections as president of the T.L.C.C. and as M.L.A., he provided the liaison between and was adviser to the scattered labor p o l i t i c a l actionists of British Columbia. o u Nanaimo Herald, May 4, 1900, p. 1. 5 1 Smith 763 Yates 86 (CPG, 1901, p. 409). ** Nanaimo Herald, May 8, 1900, p. 1. 5 3 Independent. May 19, 1900, p. 1. 54; *'Ibid., p. 2. 104 The p o l i t i c a l action of Vancouver labor, which Smith helped to organize, was quite a different proposition to that of labor i n Nanaimo. The electoral tactic i n Nanaimo generally seems to have been that unionists entered into an agreement with an existing party, whereby that party locally endorsed a labor candidate and a labor platform. In Vancouver, in 1900, the T.& L.C. i t s e l f acted as a p o l i t i c a l party, convening the organiza-tion and nominating meetings and providing the campaign plat-form. There was no real labor party i n Nanaimo; what did exist was a grouping of reformers and unionists about the figure of Ralph Smith, with no firm organization. Moreover, Ralph Smith had a close relationship with one of the non-labor p o l i t i c a l parties. On one occasion \"... he was asked i f he would come out straight i n favor of the party that represented the old Semlin 55 Government. He ... replied \"Yes.\"\"v As i f to justify his stand, the Herald (a staunch supporter of Smith) ran in the same issue which reported this statement an a r t i c l e e n t i t l e d \"Pro-eg vincial Party Initiated Workingmen's Rights.\" The Vancouver labor movement was slow to take positive action i n regard to the election. When the matter was broached in the T.& L.C., ... i t was resolved after much discussion, that the Trades and Labor Council completely ignore the different p o l i t i c a l parties and request union men to act up to the resolution framed at the 11899) Dominion Trades and Labor Congress.57 „ . [ — \" 9 . Nanaimo Herald, April 17, 1900, p. 8. 5 6 Ibid., p. 5. The Provincial Party, of which the leading s p i r i t was Carter-Cotton, was the heir to the Semlin administra-tion. 5 7 Independent. April 21, 1900, p. 1, In other words, do not vote for any labor man who stands on the platform of an old-line party. This directive was merely a stop-gap. Already a questionnaire had been submitted to the member unions of the Vancouver T.& L.C. asking for their opinions on taking p o l i -t i c a l action i n this election, and enquiring what financial support they would be prepared to give labor candidates. The response was not tabulated until May 4 ; i t was then found that out of thirty-two unions fourteen had expressed themselves in favor of running independent labor candidates. The remainder 58 had not committed themselves to any policy. Despite this somewhat discouraging response, the T.& L.C. decided to hold a special meeting and pursue the matter further. The f i f t y delegates present at this meeting 59 voted unanimously to nominate two independent candidates. At the actual nominating convention 127 delegates from twenty-five unions named the president of the Vancouver T.& L.C, Joseph Dixon, a carpenter, and Treasurer Francis Williams, a 60 t a i l o r , as their candidates. Others, however, were also bidding for the votes of the workers of Vancouver, and two of these come definitely within the f i e l d of labor p o l i t i c a l action. Robert Macpherson was running in his third election, this time as a supporter of S T Indepe dent. May 5, 1900, p. 1, and Nanaimo Herald. Independent, May 11, i960, p. 2. 59 Independent. May 12, 1900, p. 1. 6 0 Ibid.. May 19, 1900, p. 1. 106 Joseph Martin's platform, and Will MacClain was i n the contest as \"the f i r s t Socialist candidate in a Canadian e l e c t i o n . \" 6 1 Both men were connected with the trade onion movement, and both based their campaigns upon what they conceived to be the needs of the working-class. Therefore they are to be regarded as labor candidates, although they were not the o f f i c i a l nominees (\" of the T.& L.C. unions. It seems that Macpherson made no effort to obtain the support of the T.& L.C* In any case, organized labor's anti-pathy to Martinism made i t certain that such an effort would f a i l . Insofar as the o f f i c i a l l y recognized labor candidates had ties, they were with the predominantly Conservative Pro-vincial Party. Macpherson joined the Martin group some time in April because, he said, John C. Brown, \"an honest man,\" had 62 been taken into Martin's cabinet. The f i n a l word on the a t t i -tude of the T.& L.C. to Macpherson was pronounced by J.H. Watson, an executive member of the Council. He stated that Macpherson was unlikely to get the support of the labor party, since he had 6 q deliberately gone over to Martin after promising not to do so. Macpherson's nomination was rather different from the usual type. A meeting of from two hundred to three hundred 6 1 Bennett, op. c i t . . p. 137. 62 Independent, June 2, 1900, p. 2. Macpherson also stated that he l e f t the Labor Party at the same time, a statement that seems d i f f i c u l t to reconcile with the fact that the Vancouver Labor Party was not organized until July Of that year. A possible explanation i s that Macpherson was associated with the rather tenuous provincial Labor Party organized in Decem-ber 1899. (v. sup.-. p. 96). 6 3 Nanaimo Herald. May 11, 1900, p. 2. 107 unorganized laborers took place in the City H a l l , with Macpher-son as chairman and Sam Gothard, a prominent member of the local T.& L.C,, as secretary. Ralph Smith was also present, but took no part in the proceedings. Three proposals were debated: to support the Government (Martin) platform, to adopt the reform platform generally accepted in Canada, or to com-bine the two. Upon a vote being taken the Martin platform was endorsed — but with the reservation that this did not mean endorsation of Martin himself. Then delegates were named rep-65 resenting different wards, to hold a nominating convention. As a result Macpherson came before the voters as the nominee of unorganized labor, supporting the platform of Joseph Martin but giving only conditional support to Martin. The nomination of Will MacClain by the United Social-i s t Labor Party injected a new element into British Columbia po l i t i c s which was to bring about a great division within the labor movement and would, for a time, absorb practically a l l the p o l i t i c a l energies of labor. Until this time, labor's interest i n p o l i t i c s had been almost completely restricted to curbing the power of big capital, as represented by the railway and mining interests, and to obtaining the passage of specific measures dealing with the grievances of labor in general and of the trades unionists in particular. Now there was a group which proposed — even i f only as an \"ultimate objective\" — that £-|—— \" — ..'' \"• . — * 1 '•—' \"the platform presented under this designation was almost identical to that later accepted by the Vancouver T.& L.C. 6*5 Information on this meeting i s derived from the Inde-pendent. April 28, 1900, and the Nanaimo Herald. May 1, 1900. 108 labor's problems could only be solved by the abolition of p r i -vate ownership in the means of production and the substitution gg for i t of collective ownership. Soci a l i s t i c ideas were not new in British Columbia. The principles of direct democracy commended by Marx in his 67 defence of the Paris Commune had f i r s t been advocated in British Columbia in connection with the K. of L. i n 1886. deriv-ing then from the American frontier tradition. The idea of a class struggle carried into p l i t i c s h d bee enunciat d by69 68 Thomas Keith i n 1890. Government ownership of public ser-vices was a long-standing demand of British Columbia labor. The single-taxers had long attacked rent as the basic cause of poverty; the socialists would say the same of \"surplus value\" as a whole, of which rent was only a part. A l l these ideas were preparing the way for a movement and a social philosophy which would f i t them into a unified pattern and advance an over-all solution to the problems of labor. Far from finding \"virgin, yet f e r t i l e , ground* i n British Columbia, as Saywell puts i t , 7 0 socialism found f e r t i l e s o i l w e l l - t i l l e d and developed by i t s gg1 - i . . ... . I I . . vide Appendix, pp. xx. 67 Karl Marx, C i v i l War in France, International Publishers, New York, 1940, pp. 57, 58. 68 v. sup., p. 51. 6 9 vide Appendix, passim. 70 John T. Saywell, \"Labour and Socialism i n British Colum-bia: A Survey of Historical Development before 1903,\" British Columbia Historical Quarterly. Archives of British Columbia, Victoria, July-October, 1951, p. 137. 109 predecessors. The f i r s t appearance of organized Socialism i n British Colombia was in December 1898, when Arthur Spencer 71 initiated the Socialist Labor Party in Vancouver. The S.L.P. was at this time under the leadership of Daniel DeLeon i n the United States; i t had repudiated the orthodox trades unions, and was organizing the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance in opposition to the A.F. of L. in order to achieve the early 72 abolition of capitalism. The S.L.P., however, was too ad-vanced for the times; some of i t s members s p l i t off and formed, with other s o c i a l i s t i c a l l y minded people, the United Socialist Labor Party, which coupled with i t s general indictment of capit-73 alism a program of immediate reforms. The U.S.L.P. candidate, Will MacClain, was, like most other early labor and radical candidates, neither a native-born British Columbian nor an Eastern Canadian; he was an Englishman 74 who had been i n the navy and had \"jumped ship1* i n Seattle. As delegate from the Machinists' union to the Vancouver T.& L.C. and as an organizer in the 1900 fishermen's strike on the Fraser, he was an active and well-known figure in labor c i r c l e s . His connection with the T.& L.C, no doubt, was the 75 means of his getting endorsement of his candidacy by that body. _ i ; 1 , 1 Bennett, op. c i t . . p. 135. 7 2 Bimba, op. c i t . . pp. 201, 202. vide Appendix, pp. xx. 7 4 Bennett, op. c i t . . p. 137. mc \"\"\"\"\"~ Independent. June 2, 1900, p. 2. This newspaper, des-pite theHF7&T\"TcTTS endorsation of MacClain, did not advise i t s readers to support him as i t advised them to support Dixon and Williams. It did, however, give his speeches f a i r l y f u l l cover-age. 110 The latent conflict between the \"pure and simple\" unionists and the socialists was not yet in evidence, as may be judged by the appearance of s o c i a l i s t i c news items and short art-icles in the columns of the orthodox unionist Independent. Possibly the trades unionists did not yet recognize the im-plied challenge to their own attitudes and policies; more pos-sibly, they saw i n MacClain an added means of taking votes away from Macpherson and the other Martinite candidates without 76 weakening their own nominees. It appears that another s o c i a l i s t i c group besides the U.S.L.P. had a finger in the 1900 election — and in a rather peculiar way. The newspaper Citizen and Country, of Toronto, stated in a post-election a r t i c l e that Richard HcBride, M.P.P. for Dewdney, B.C., Minister of Mines, endorsed the platform of the Canadian So c i a l i s t i c League, and was supported by the socia l i s t s . He gave a written pledge, but afterwards denied doing so. This caused Organizer Cameron to make affidavit and circulate photographed copies of McBride's written pledge and sig-nature. He pledged himself i n favor of a, referendum on Later in the year Tully Boyce, i n a dispute carried on in the Nanaimo newspapers, accused Ralph Smith of encouraging his \"stool pigeons,\" Dixon and Williams, to run in Vancouver for the express purpose of defeating Macpherson. (Nanaimo Free Press. October 17, 1900, p. 2). No previous ri v a l r y appears to have existed between Smith and Macpherson, but the alliance of the two men with opposing factions could be ad-vanced as a cause for such action. It i s a fact that Ralph Smith was involved In the nomination of the two I.L.P. can-didates i n Vancouver, and i t i s practically certain that the votes drawn by Dixon, Williams and MacClain were the cause of Macpherson's being defeated. It should also be noted that there was only one Provincial Party candidate i n Vancouver — Carter-Cotton; this would make a complete labor-favored slate of two I.L.P., one U.S.L.P., and one P.P. candidate. Beyond this point, any definite statement would be unwarrantedly speculative. I l l woman suffrage, employment for unemployed, eight-hour day, and union label on Government work, public owner-ship, free school books, and exemption of improve-ments from taxation. As Mr. McBride i s now Minister of Mines his course w i l l be watched with interest.77 It i s possible, of course, that McBride may have signed such a pledge without realizing i t s f u l l nature. The story, however, i s not incredible, and receives' a certain amount of circumstantial support from McBride's later co-operation with the socialist members in the legislature. Following the lead of Nanaimo and Vancouver labor, the workers of the southern mountain area of British Columbia stirred themselves to take a hand in p o l i t i c s . This was the metal-mining area, where feelings were now running high over the mine-owners* opposition to the new eight-hour law. The miners were determined to retain the law, despite a l l opposi-ng tion. It was obvious that a law passed i n Victoria could be repealed in the same place, and they realized that their best move would be to return members who would fight to keep the eight-hour law on the books. To this end the local miners' unions and T.& L.C.'s adopted the standard tactic of the A.F. of L. They canvassed the existing candidates, and gave their support to those who promised to vote in the interests of labor on measures affecting labor. Carrying out this policy, the miners' unions of San-don, Silverton, Whitewater, New Denver and Kaslo gave their 7 7 Independent, June 30, 1900, p. 3. 78 The W.F.M. protested that the law must stand, even i f i t closed a l l the mines. (Rossland Industrial World. January 20, 1900). 112 endorsation to R.F. Green, an independent candidate associated 79 with the Provincial Party, in Slocan. Although Green was a Conservative in federal p o l i t i c s , his campaign platform included public ownership and eontrol of railways and other public u t i -l i t i e s where desirable, the eight-hour law and compulsory arbi-tration of labor disputes, as well as reasonable re-distribution of seats, the restriction of Asiatic labor, and an improved edu-80 cational system. In Nelson the local T.& L.C. a f f i l i a t e s , comprising ten unions with 800 members, named John Houston, an editor and a supporter of the Provincial Party, as their chosen 81 candidate. In Revelstoke, where Ralph Smith took a hand i n the nomination, matters became somewhat confused. Frank Craig, a carpenter, was entered as a labor candidate; the local T.& L.C, however, endorsed Archie HcRae, an independent Martinite. Ralph Smith persuaded Craig to reti r e , and got the Council to rescind i t s endorsation of HcRae. Council then endorsed Thomas Taylor, a Conservative, as i t s choice for the Legis-82 lature. In Rossland, matters were somewhat more straight-forward. F i r s t , a mass meeting of workers discussed p o l i t i c a l 7 9 Independent, June 2, 1900, p. 4. 8 0 Sandon Paystreak, May 12, 1900. 81 Independent. supplement, June 2, 1900, p. 2. 8 2 This interpretation was pieced together from apparently conflicting reports in the Nanaimo Herald, May 25, 1900, p. 1, the Independent, May 26, 1900, p. 1, and the Lardeau Eagle, May 30, 1900. 113 a c t i o n , and vo ted to put up an independent c a n d i d a t e . The I n d u s t r i a l Wor ld , organ o f the W . F .M . , f e a r e d tha t t h i s might r e s u l t i n the e l e c t i o n o f an a n t i - l a b o r man, and a meet ing o f t r ades u n i o n i s t s took p l a c e on May 1. T h i s meet ing endorsed Smith C u r t i s , who was g e n e r a l l y r ega rded as a f r i e n d o f l a b o r ; i t was f e l t t ha t a t a l l c o s t s C . H . M a c k i n t o s h , the C o n s e r v a t i v e c a n d i d a t e , must be d e f e a t e d , and i t was thought t ha t a s t r a i g h t 84 l a b o r c and ida t e c o u l d not do t h i s . Smith C u r t i s , i n c i d e n t a l l y , was somewhat o f an anomaly i n the ranks o f l abo r-sponso red c a n -d i d a t e s ; he was the o n l y one, a p a r t f rom Macpherson, to run upon the M a r t i n i t e p l a t f o r m . 8 5 V i c t o r i a l a b o r j i t s h o u l d be no ted h e r e , was s t i l l p o l i t i c a l l y i n a c t i v e . E a r l y i n A p r i l the l o c a l T .& L . C . c o n s i d -86 e red the m a t t e r , and d e c i d e d t o run a c a n d i d a t e . Three o f the a f f i l i a t e d u n i o n s , however, opposed the i d e a , and n o t h i n g was 87 done. One ep i sode i n V i c t o r i a a t t h i s t ime a l s o dese rves men t ion . A mee t ing o f unorgan ized workers took p l a c e , and endorsed Joseph M a r t i n and h i s p a r t y ; i t a l s o d e p l o r e d the 88 appearance i n the f i e l d o f Independent Labor c a n d i d a t e s . The r e p o r t o f the mee t ing e l i c i t e d a prompt l e t t e r f rom the p r e s i d e n t ; ,., ., , . . —— -J. •Apr i l 2 1 , 1900. 8 4 I n d u s t r i a l W o r l d . May 5, 1900. 8 5 I b i d . . June 7, 1900. 8fi Independent , 7 A p r . 1900, p. 1. 8 7 I b i d . . May 5, 1900, p. 1. 8 8 Ibid. , June 2, 1900, p. 1. 114 of the Victoria T.& L.C, explaining that organized labor had nothing to do with the matter, and that the only unionists 89 present were the chairman and the seconder of the resolution. The Labor Party platforms which appeared in d i f f e r -ent centers in 1900 display a certain uniformity of approach, 90 although the emphasis varies according to local conditions. A l l of them contained anti-Kongolian demands; the Nanaimo plat-form was the most sweeping in this regard, while the Vancouver platform, i n i t s original form, merely demanded that a minimum wage be paid on a l l public works. (The intent of the latt e r was later c l a r i f i e d by the addition of an extra clause almost as sweeping as the Nanaimo demand). A l l the platforms called for the general recognition of the eight-hour day, while Nanaimo added a rider demanding the maintenance of the existing eight-hour law. They a l l called for a degree of government ownership in communications and transportation services. Three of them — the United Labor platform and the Vancouver and Victoria plat-forms — wanted government inspection of mines especially, and of places of work generally, in the interests of health and safety. Demands for a f a i r or minimum wage on public works appeared in the Vancouver, Victoria, and Nanaimo platforms. Victoria called for a Compensation Act, while Vancouver demanded recognition of l i a b i l i t y of employers for injuries suffered by workmen. Arbitration of disputes, a l l i e d with the implementa-i i i Independent. June 9, 1900, p. 2. Presumably from the unions whicn bad blocked the nomination of labor candidates by the T.& L.C. vide Appendix, pp. xv-xv i i i . tion of the 1894 law setting up a Labor Bureau, appeared in a l l platforms except the Victoria one. Besides these basically economic demands, there were others of a p o l i t i c a l and a general nature. Two programs — the United Labor and the Vancouver platforms — called for direct democracy i n the form of the i n i t i a t i v e and referendum. Victoria, Vancouver, and Nanaimo wanted the candidate's dep-osit abolished. Nanaimo wanted the secret election of road foremen locally, in order to end p o l i t i c a l appointments. It also wanted re-distribution of constituencies — a continual demand in the under-represented urban d i s t r i c t s . Vancouver called for free compulsory education, and continued to uphold the banner of single tax;; It i s noticeable, i n comparing the labor platforms of 1900, how the Nanaimo program differed from the others. The Nanaimo I.L.P. standard-bearer was Ralph Smith, member of the past Legislature and a man with considerable p o l i t i c a l ex-perience; his familiarity with the procedures and immediate pos s i b i l i t i e s of legislative action i s shown in his platform. Whereas the other platforms were couched in general terms, ex-pressing principles which should be enacted into legislation, the Nanaimo platform suggested detailed measures — for instance a minimum wage of $2.50 per day on public works, and the spe-c i f i c duties of a Minister of Labor. In addition, whereas labor generally was interested in bettering i t s own position and letting the capitalists attend to their concerns, Smith's plat-form contained a definite proposal for the attraction of more 116 capital to British Columbia by means of advertising. In addi-tion, i t made no mention of i n i t i a t i v e or referendum, as did the United and Vancouver platforms. Smith's platform was that of the established and experienced p o l i t i c i a n , aimed to conciliate as many groups as possible in order to get certain definite measures passed. The other platforms were those of labor men who knew what they wanted, i n general terms, and were stating their wants to the public — not conciliating or man-oeuvring, but merely making known the demands of labor. The program of immediate demands put forward by the 91 United S.L.P. i n Vancouver was a different matter. Although many of the suggested measures were materially the same as those in the Labor platforms, a different s p i r i t lay within \\ them. The c a l l for government ownership of the means of trans-portation and communication included a proviso for actual \"worker control* of the operation of these services. The U.S.L.P.'s f i s c a l proposal was not single tax, but a progres-sive income tax and an inheritance tax. Instead of an eight-hour day, i t wanted hours of work reduced in proportion to increased production. It called for free use of inventions. Host noticeable of a l l , i t included no anti-Oriental clause; i t \\ made no allusion to the problem of cheap Asiatic labor, no doubt upon the basis that this could only be solved through the emancipation of labor as a whole. Along with the usual demand for compulsory, free education to the age of fourteen i t made the necessary concomitant proposal for prohibition of employ-117 meat of children under fourteen. Where previous labor H.L.A.'s had tried to get equal p o l i t i c a l rights for women, the U.S.L.P. added a c a l l for economic equality in the form of equal pay. Indeed, the p o l i t i c a l demands i n the program envisioned a com-pletely democratic system such as nowhere exists even yet. Some of the ideas enunciated in these platforms were by now acquiring a certain venerability; they had been in Br i -tish Columbia labor platforms since 1886. The anti-Chinese attitude, now broadened to include the Japanese, was stronger than ever. The \"direct democracy0 planks were put forward more clearly now than i n the past, as legislatures continued to pass measures which labor f e l t were against the interests and desires of the public. Opposition to the land grants and the great companies built thereon s t i l l existed, but was now crystallizing into a demand for nationalization of monopolies, especially in transportation and communication. Single tax was s t i l l advocated, i f not so strongly as in former years. The old demand for an eight-hour day, far from being allayed by i t s partial realization i n 1899, had grown in force; i t was especially stimulated by the mine-owners' attempts to have the measure reversed. A l l these points had by now become thor-oughly acclimatized in the province; they were recognized and accepted as the regular demands of labor. A number of the newer demands in the Labor platforms bear evidence of inspiration, directly or otherwise, by the A.F. of L. That organization had, during the years 1893 to 1895, considered a number of legislative measures; in 1894 i t s 118 convention signified approval of these measures separately, and in 1895 voted to regard them as the ttlegislative demands'* of 92 the A.F. of L. In 1898 the T.L.C.C. also adopted a legis-lative platform, which parallelled in many of i t s aspects the 93 A.F. of L. formulation. Common features, which were no doubt suggested to the Canadian organization by familiarity with the American l i s t of demands, were compulsory education, inspection of places of work, and public ownership of services generally used. These three points, be i t noted, were not publicly pro-claimed by British Columbia labor until the late 1890»s; the last of them — public ownership — had been adopted by the Nationalists in 1894, but was not publicized by them. The influence of the A.F. of L. \"platform\" on British Columbia labor's p o l i t i c a l demands was exerted not only indir-ectly through the T.L.C.C., but also directly. On several occa-sions in the early part of 1900 the Independent published the American l i s t of demands for the consideration of the local labor movement. Items which appeared there and in the 1900 Labor Party platforms, without any apparent connection through the T.L.C.C. platform, included demands for the abolition of the contract system on public works, and employers* l i a b i l i t y for injury; this latter found i t s way unchanged from the A.F. of L. \"platform\" into the Victoria T.& L.C. platform. The United S.L.P. manifesto, platform and resolutions J.R. Commons et a l . , History of Labour in the United States. Macmillan, New York 1926, II, 509,510. For the \"legis-lative demands,\" vide Appendix, p. x i i i . Vide Appendix, p. xiv. 119 show a mixed origin. The Manifesto section i s practically pure Marxist; the Platform appears as an attempt to convey the Marxian analysis of capitalist society i n the traditional terms of American p o l i t i c a l radicalism, even unto \"the inalienable right of a l l men to l i f e , liberty and the pursuit of happiness;\" the Resolutions are in substance very similar to those cur-rently put forward by the Independent Labor candidates, but they have a flavor of p o l i t i c a l and economic theory not found i n the pragmatic demands of the \"pure and simple\" unionists. The material basis for the appearance of a socialist party existed in British Columbia, in the grievances expressed in labor plat-forms from 1886 onwards. In a contemporary comment, the New York Sun said of the spread of Socialism i n British Columbia: It i s , i n the f i r s t place, largely a development of the single-tax movement, which i t s e l f grew out of the acqui-sition, largely by non-resident speculators, of much of the best land about the coast and Vancouver Island c i t i e s . Then there i s no doubt that a lack of sympathy between too many large employers and their white workmen i n Bri-tish Columbia i s responsible for the revolt of labor, which there, as elsewhere, labels i t s e l f Socialism. This lack of sympathy i t s e l f mainly results from the undue dispossession of white labor by Mongolians in such i n -dustries as lumbering, salmon canning, fishing,tailoring and some departments of shipping, mining and railroad work.94 Single tax, as a doctrine, had not the same overall appeal to the industrial workers that Socialism was able to exert; for a time i t attracted the more radical workers, but lost i t s hold when challenged by the more complete economic, p o l i t i c a l and philosophical socialist theory. Although swallowed up, single Prom B.C. Workman, August 12, 1899, p. 7. 120 tax contributed part of the American tinge which was noticeable in the Marxism of the Socialist Party of Canada. Once the candidates were nominated, nothing unusual or significant occurred in the course of the election. The Independent Labor candidates made the usual speeches based upon their platforms — with the exception of Dixon i n North Nanaimo, who, to judge by the reports in the Nanaimo Herald, restricted his speech-making to the reading of a five-minute talk at one 95 meeting. The U.S.L.P. candidate, Will MacClain, however, did succeed in injecting two new items into British Columbia p o l i -t i c s . He pointed to the reform and labor legislation of New 96 Zealand as an example of social justice, and he advocated the use of non-interest-bearing scrip for financing public works such as railways, pointing to the Channel Islands as an instance 97 where this principle had been put into practice. The f i r s t item has been used extensively in recent years by the C.C.F., which has tended to make extensive reference to the experiences of New Zealand in the f i e l d of social legislation; the second i s go a central tenet of Social Credit theory. 1 \"\"\"95 In connection with the North Nanaimo contest, i t should be mentioned that the Herald, always closely identified with the cause of Ralph Smith, supported Dixon and was markedly cool to-wards Mclnnes. This may have been due to Mclnnes' refusal to commit himself firmly to an anti-Martin line. It marks the end of several years of co-operation between Smith and Mclnnes, and the beginning of a short riva l r y between them. 96 Independent. June 9, 1900, p. 4. 97 Ibid.. p. 1. 9 8 The writer heard Mr. Noel Murphy of the Social Credit Party use the same example from the Channel Islands as a demon-stration of Social Credit in operation, i n a speech at the Uni-versity of British Columbia i n the winter of 1952-53. 121 The results of the election were very mixed, but on go the whole were favorable to labor. Although the inarticulate Dixon trailed badly behind the eloquent Mclnnes and Dunsmuir*s son-in-law, Bryden, in North Nanaimo, in South Nanaimo Rat-e l i f f put up a remarkably strong fight and lost to Dunsmuir by only a few votes. However, i n Nanaimo City Smith won a smashing victory over his absentee opponent. The score on the Island was not too discouraging from the standpoint of future contests; at least, one candidate had been elected. In Vancouver, a l l the labor men took a beating. Mac-pherson was edged out by twenty-six votes, while Dixon, Williams and MacClain shared the bottom of the poll with their a l l y , BB— - • — ' ' Provincial election, 1900; results in constituencies contested by labor-supported candidates. Vancouver Garden (Cons.) 1787) Martin (Martin) 1787) Tatlow (Cons.) 1645) Gilmour (Martin) 1465) Wilson (Cons.) 1457 Macpherson (Martin) 1435 McQueen (Martin) TMI Wood (Cons.) 1344 Dixon (Ind.Lab.) 853 Carter-Cotton (Prov.) 802 Williams (Ind.Lab.) 716 MacClain (U.S.L.P.) 683 Slocan Green (Prov.) 342 Keen (Cons.) 234 Kane (Martin) 170 Revelstoke Taylor (Prov.) 513 McRae (Martin) 368 Nanaimo City Smith (Lab.) .... 753 Tates (Martin) 86 North Nanaimo Mclnnes (Lib.) ...238 Bryden (Turner) 195 Dixon (Lab.) 73 South Nanaimo Dunsmuir (Turner) 249 Ratcliff (Lab.) 225 Nelson Houston (Prov.) 747 H a i n L i b . ) 293 Fletcher (Cons.) 508 Rossland Curtis (Martin) 1353 Mackintosh(Cons.)1287 (CPG 1901, pp. 409, 410). (Classification according to table in Independent. June 9, 1900, p. 4). 122 Carter-Cotton. Carter-Cotton remarked In his newspaper, the News-Advertiser. that the labor candidates had reduced the Mar-tini t e vote and thus allowed the election of two Conservatives. 1 0 0 This must have pleased at least \"Parmn Pettipiece, editor of the Lardeau Eagle, who had stated that \"the most sincere and influen-t i a l friends of labor in B.C. today are Conservatives, taking the party's actions as a whole.\" 1 0 1 In the metal-mining d i s t r i c t s , the policy of support-ing friendly candidates met with complete success, SmithjCurtis, Green, Houston, and Taylor were elected — a l l men pledged to 102 retain the existing eight-hour law on the statute books. The miners and their a l l i e s in the local T.& L.C.'s might well be satisfied with the results of their efforts. On the other hand, their success might tempt them to become more ambitious. In the legislative session immediately following the election, James Dunsmuir was called upon to be Premier. No legislation had been passed in the previous winter session, so twenty-five members agreed to support the Dunsmuir government for one session i n order to transact the necessary business of the province. Smith, Green, and Taylor were included in this group; however, Smith and Green at least reserved their 103 right to take independent action i f they saw f i t . Quoted in Independent. June 10, 1900, p. 1. 1 0 1 Eagle. May 30, 1900. (The Conservatives had endorsed the eight-hour law). 1 0 2 The election results certainly do not support Saywell's statement that the eight-hour law \"alienated the majority of the people in the mining areas.\" i n B.C. Hist. Quarterly. July 1950, p. 151. 1°3 independent. June 23, 1900, p. 1. 1 2 3 This session of the legislature saw the introduction ^ of many measures which were of interest to l a b o r . 1 0 4 Mclnnes, elected on a platform which contained several labor planks, twice attempted to bring i n a Labor Act restricting shop hours and the hours of work of young persons therein ( B i l l s 9 and 4 4 ) . The f i r s t attempt was ruled out of order, and the second was subjected to a six month's hoist. Smith,Curtis succeeded in getting the Mechanics' Lien Act made more exact i n meaning ( B i l l 3 2 ) , but f a i l e d to get a measure dealing with the decep-tion of workmen through the House ( B i l l 4 0 ) . A b i l l concerned with conditions of employment on works under government fran-chise, ( B i l l 4 2 ) introduced by Dr. Helmcken, was passed. So was a joint resolution by Helmcken and Smith condemning abuses in the sub-letting of government contracts and insisting on the payment of current wage-rates i n a l l such works. An attempt by Mclnnes and Curtis to add an anti-Oriental clause to this reso-lution was defeated. Probably the strangest vote of the session resulted from a motion by Smith Curtis, that the House re-affirm i t s belief in the existing eight-hour law for metalliferous mining. If the House voted in favor of the motion, i t would signify to the mine-owners that they could not expect the law to be res-cinded by this legislature. I f , however, the vote went against the motion, the eight-hour law would seem to be i n an ambiguous position. Would a refusal to re-affirm imply rejection of the 1 0 4 Details of the introduction and passage of these mea-sures may be found i n B.C. Journals. 1 9 0 0 , passim. The text of the measures may be found i n B.C. Statutes. 1 9 0 0 . passim. law, or merely- refusal to re-consider the matter? The question was o f f i c i a l l y settled in favor of the latter interpretation, and although the House refused to re-affirm the law the metal-miners' eight-hour day was preserved. i i i . Hardly had the excitement of the unscheduled provin-c i a l election died down, when British Columbia p o l i t i c a l circles were again involved in a contest. This time i t was a federal election, i n which party lines were drawn and erstwhile bedfellows suddenly became bad fellows.' 1' 0 5 Labor's tacit alliance with the predominantly Conservative Provincial Party was quietly shelved and was replaced, to a certain extent, by an alliance with the Liberals. British Columbia labor's interest in federal p o l i -t i c s was not new; i t had been building up for several years. Four years previously, the nationalists had initiated the suc-cessful candidature of Rev. George R. Maxwell. In the inter-vening years several matters had drawn the attention of the labor movement more closely to Ottawa. In 1900 the Laurier government had enacted an Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 106 a f a i r wage measure, and had arranged for the publication of a labor gazette and created a Department of Labour to super-vise the operations of these laws. Labor M.P.'s would be able ~~ 1 0 5 For a recent parallel consider the campaigns of 1948, when British Columbia Liberals and Conservatives contested the provincial election as a united coalition, then divided to oppose each other in the federal election. 106 Canada, Government, Department of Labour, Labour Legis-lation i n Canada. Ottawa, 1945, p. 10. 125 to press for the active implementation of these measures when necessary, and see that they were f u l l y u t i l i z e d . The Liberal administration had also raised the entry tax on Chinese from $50 to $100. On the other hand, i t had disallowed certain anti-Oriental measures passed by the British Columbia l e g i s l a -108 ture. It was plain that the battle over Oriental labor had 109 to be decided at Ottawa, not Victoria. Although Smith and others took part i n federal p o l i -tics in order to support Liberal legislation, some persons favored the election of independent labor men to the federal House for opposite reasons. Their viewpoint was expressed by William McAdams, editor of the Sandon Paystreak. who wrote: The last election ... hinged largely on the school ques-tion, a pure case of racial and religious prejudice. The other issues were the t a r i f f , the railway policy, and in B.C. the Chinese question of Oriental immigration ... The liberals promised to do a number of things, while the conservatives promised that they would not do the things which the liberals said they would do. ... the separate schools are s t i l l there. The t a r i f f i s in healthy condition.... The railway policy has not been altered.... the Chinese and Japs are with us yet. In brief, you have your choice between a party in power that w i l l do nothing and a party i n opposition that w i l l promise nothing. HO In addition to wishing to send representatives to Ottawa, British Columbia labor was encouraged to take action by _ ' Independent. July 28, 1900, p. 3. For a general dis-cussion of Laurier's labor legislation, vide \"Maxwell Inter-viewed.\" Ibid.. July 21, July 28, AugusT~4*7 1900. 1 Oft Labor Regulation Act, 1898, and discriminatory labor clauses in the legislation of 1899; c|\\ Victoria T.& L.C. plat-form, Appendix, p. xvi. ^09 T h e s e reasons were advanced by Ralph Smith i n the Nanaimo Herald, October 3, 1900, p. 1. 1 1 0 Paystreak. September 8, 1900.-126 the success of Ralph Smith and of the labor-supported Koot-enay M.L.A.'s in the provincial contest. These victories had almost certainly engendered a feeling of power among the union-i s t s , and the feeling was intensified when this success was coupled with the election of Arthur W. Puttee, an Independent Labor candidate, i n a federal by-election i n Winnipeg earlier in the year. The way to Ottawa appeared wide open. The f i r s t move i n connection with labor action i n the new election was made in Vancouver, by the Parliamentary Com-mittee of the T.& L.C. It called a convention for July 4th, 111 1900 to discuss the formation of an Independent Labor Party. The T.& L.C. had conducted the campaign of Williams and Dixon, and obviously wished to relieve i t s e l f of the controversial bur-den of p o l i t i c a l action by setting up an autonomous body which would maintain labor's interests in the p o l i t i c a l f i e l d . A hearty debate took place within this meeting; Will MacClain, the so c i a l i s t , was strongly opposed to the formation of a competitor to the United S.L.P.; Robert Macpherson, ex-M.L.A., also voiced his opposition. On the other side, Francis Williams, the recent candidate of the T.& L.C, and Harry Cowan, chairman of the meeting, argued from the success of the Winnipeg I.L.P. i n electing Puttee that Vancouver should follow the \"- 112 example of Winnipeg, in forming a Labor Party independent of 1 1 1 Independent, July 7, 1900, p. 1. — In this period the influence of Winnipeg was much f e l t in the Vancouver labor movement. The Independent was publishing many short items from Puttee's paper, the Voice', and on several occasions published the constitution and platform of the Winni-peg I.L.P. for the consideration of i t s readers. 127 i i q both the Tories and the Grits. The arguments of Williams and Cowan prevailed, and a motion for the immediate formation | of the Vancouver I.L.P. was carried. The Vancouver Labor Party, as the organization became known, was formed within the month at a mass meeting of \" a l l citizens i n sympathy with and willing to join the labor p a r t y . \" 1 1 4 Its constitution, aims and objects were copied almost verbatim from those of the Winnipeg Labor Party; only minor alterations ^ were made to suit local conditions. 1 1 5 Like the Nationalist Party, the Vancouver Labor Party was organized to f i l l a dual role; i t was supposed both to educate and to campaign. Its objects, as set forth i n i t s con-stitution, were: To study economic subjects affecting the welfare of Labor and the promulgation of information regarding same; and also to secure for Labor a just share of the wealth i t produces by such means as the obtaining (of) represen-tation from our own ranks in the parliamentary and muni-cipal bodies of the country.116 It i s very unlikely, however, that the Vancouver L.P. did much in the way of study or economic propaganda. Born on the eve of an election, i t was either occupied with electoral campaigns or suffering from lack of interest; i t s major acti v i t y was cer-tainly that of campaigning for votes. « _ . . — Independent. July 7, 1900, p. 1. 1 1 4 Ibid.. July 25, 1900, p. 1. 1 1 5 cf. Independent. July 21; 1900, p. 4, and July 28, p. 1, for the Two documents mentioned. 1 1 6 Ibid.. July 28, 1900, p. 1. 128 Section 1 of the \"Qualifications for Membership\" i s worth noting; i t stated that Any person may become a member of this Party who i s i n sympathy with our principles, and who i s willing to for-swear allegiance to a l l other existing p o l i t i c a l par-ties; Provided: that three-fourths of the members of the Party shall be wage-earners; but this restriction shall not apply to farmers.117 The four points enunciated are significant: they mark off the Vancouver L.P. --» theoretically, at least -.- from other p o l i -118 t i c a l parties, including the Nanaimo Labor Party. Although -desiring a broad base of membership, i t insisted that voting control should be held by wage-earners — or by farmers, who would not be very numerous in the geographic area covered by the Party; to that extent, i t was definitely a class party. It also took i t s e l f seriously; rejecting a subordinate position as a pressure group working upon and assisting established parties, i t proclaimed i t s distinction from other parties and i t s equality with them by refusing to allow dual membership. Such an attitude i s normal in modern p o l i t i c a l parties; in the loosely-organized p o l i t i c a l world of 1900 i t was unusual, to say the least. Two months after i t s organization, the Vancouver Labor Party began electoral a c t i v i t i e s . The expected federal election had been called, and candidates were being nominated. 1 1 7 Loc. c i t . 1 1 8 As late as January, 1902, the Nanaimo L.P. had neither constitution nor by-laws; moreover, Dr. McKechnie was president of both the Liberal Association and the Labor Party i n Nanaimo. Independent. January 4, 1902, p. 1 and January 11, p. 8/ The party received an invitation from T.S. Baxter, secretary of the Liberal Association, to nominate a candidate jointly with the Liberals. The invitation was accepted, and twenty-one delegates were selected to take part i n the convention with instructions to put forward the name of Robert Macpher-9 n n 1.19 son. It i s significant that the i n i t i a t i v e for this joint convention came in the form of an invitation from the Liberals and not a request from the Labor Party. It indicates that the Labor Party was regarded as a valuable and effective vote-getter, despite the defeat of the Vancouver T.& L.C. candi-dates in the recent provincial elections. It also indicated a Liberal hope of containing the growth of independent radical ism by attaching that movement to the Liberal party. The \"fusion\" convention resulted in a compromise, the Labor delegates could not secure the nomination of Mac-pherson, and accepted the Liberal suggestion that Rev. George R. Maxwell be their candidate. In return, an understanding was reached that Maxwell should accept the Labor Party plat-form. 1 2 0 As might be expected, this compromise by the Van-couver Labor Party provoked some criticism. Opposition to i t s action was most clearly expressed by Arthur W. Puttee's Winnipeg Voice. Puttee himself had only recently been elec-ted over the opposition of both older parties, and Winnipeg Independent. September 29, 1900, p. 1. 1 2 0 Independent. September 29, 1900, p.2. For the plat-form, vide Appendix, p. x x i i i . 130 labor circles were correspondingly somewhat impatient of com-promise. The Voice accused the Vancouver Labor Party of being composed of \"schemers\" who were \"beating the drum and tooting the horn for the Liberal Party,\" and stated that \"the Vancouver Labor men s t u l t i f i e d themselves in a party conven-121 tion.\" To this the Independent. as the o f f i c i a l organ of - 122 the Vancouver L.P., replied that fusion was to be regarded as only a temporary expedient; labor could not possibly win alone, but by joining forces with the Liberals i t could send a man to Ottawa who would support the straight labor members on labor matters. In addition, i t took pride i n being invited to 123 fuse with the Liberals; i t s growth was being recognized. The nomination of Ralph Smith for the seat of Van-couver (Island), recently vacated by W.W.B. Mclnnes, was a far more spectacular a f f a i r than the Vancouver nomination. For one thing, i t was not initiated in British Columbia but in Ontario. The annual convention of the T.& L.C. of Canada, meeting i n Ottawa September 18, considered the labor l e g i s l a -tion of the Laurier administration and concluded that an o f f i -c i a l representative of Labor should be present in Ottawa to 1 24 watch over the implementation of that legislation. The Con-gress then requested Ralph Smith, i t s president, to transfer Quoted in Independent. October 13, 1900, p. 2. 1 2 2 Ibid., September 15, 1900, p. 1. 19°. Ibid.. October 6, 1900, p. 1, and October 13, p. 2. 1 2 4 Nanaimo Herald. October 3, 1900, p. 1. 131 his p o l i t i c a l a c t i v i t i e s from the provincial to the federal 125 f i e l d , and obtain a seat at Ottawa. This he agreed to do, and returned to British Columbia to prepare his election as the \"new leader of the Independent labor party of the Dominion.*2*5 While Smith was in Ontario, however, the p o l i t i c a l pot had begun to boil in Nanaimo. A William Sloan, of Liberal senti-127 ments, announced his candidature as an independent. He f o l -lowed this by securing the endorsement of a Liberal convention, and could therefore appear as the candidate of an established 128 party, yet was not bound to that party. He was opposed in the convention by Dr. R.E. HcKechnie, Ralph Smith's a l l y , Hc-Kechnie, however, apparently had no real hope of blocking Sloan's nomination, and confined his activity to proposing motions de-signed to show that the convention was not properly a Liberal one. Having demonstrated to his own satisfaction that the con-vention was not loyal to the Liberal Party, HcKechnie and his 129 supporters l e f t the meeting. Sloan's acceptance by the Liberal convention was a 130 blow to Smith; he had hoped to receive that nomination himself. In fact, Smith would have liked both Liberal and Conservative >rsa^ T5F 131 endorsation; he even went so far as to ask for the latter, but Vancouver Province, September 19, 1900, p. 9. 1 2 6 Independent, September 29, 1900, p. 1. 1 2 7 Nanaimo Free Press, September 13, 1900, p. 1. 1 2 8 Nanaimo Herald, September 22, 1900, p. 1. 1 2 9 Loc. c i t . 1 3 0 Ibid., October 30, 1900, p. 1. 1 3 1 Loc. c i t . 132 i t was refused him. He was forced to appear as an Independent without any party a f f i l i a t i o n s or party support. This incident illustrates the basic policy of Ralph Smith, and goes far towards explaining his other actions. He was a conciliator, not a fighter, and he used his not inconsid-erable talents for conciliation and for oratory i n order to obtain whatever concessions those in power might be prepared to allow. He would not take a firm stand against the Dunsmuir int-erests or the Hew Vancouver Coal Company. By discussion he achieved certain concessions involving the observance of some 132 provincial labor laws, but he would never press demands beyond the point of negotiation. He was instrumental i n settling a major labor dispute at Rossland, early i n 1900, upon the basis of a com-promise; Hawthornthwaite later c r i t i c i z e d him for abandoning the wage principle in the settlement and accepting a contract sys-In p o l i t i c a l l i f e , he successively supported Semlin, Martin (for a brief time) and Dunsmuir, in return for real or promised concessions to labor. In the 1900 provincial elec-tion he vacated the South Nanaimo seat when Dunsmuir's candida-ture there was announced. In the federal election of the same year he claimed to be on friendly terms with both Liberals and Conservatives at Ottawa, and therefore able to get the most for 132\" Nanaimo Herald. October 26, 1900, p. 1. 134 1 3 3 Ibid., January 21, 1902, p. 1. Ibid.. April 17, 1900, p. 8. Independent. supplement, May 29, 1900, pp. 1,2, and June 23, 1900, p. 1. 133 1 OB the riding whichever party won. °\" Only two p o l i t i c a l elements excited his open opposition: Hartinisra in the 1900 provincial election, and socialism. The latter was especially obnoxious to him in that i t s theories challenged his policy of conciliation, and i t s practice threatened his own position in the labor move-ment and i n p o l i t i c a l l i f e . To him, socialism involved the risk of losing a l l the concessions which had been granted the labor movement, the cessation of further concessions, and the negation of his l i f e work. Although sponsored by the T.L.C.C., Smith's nomination was hardly a \"labor\" convention. No local labor body called i t or took an o f f i c i a l part i n i t , nor were workingmen especially invited to i t . It was openly called by Smith for his p o l i t i c a l 1 36 friends and supporters, in order to advance his candidature. In contrast, the nomination of a labor candidate in 137 the Yale-Kootenay-Cariboo riding was a spontaneous development. The success of the labor-supported candidates in the Kootenay and Slocan areas had encouraged the labor people, and especially the miners, to go a step further with p o l i t i c a l action. They appear to have had no federal grievances apart from those of British Columbia labor in general, their main complaint being x o Nanaimo Herald. October 23, 1900, p. 1. 1 3 6 Ibid.. October 3, 1900, p. 1. Tully Boyce i n Nanaimo Free Press. November i , 1900, p. 1. 137 It did have an international flavor. In the previous month 225 delegates representing 700 labor organizations had met in Butte, Montana, to form a \"Labor Party.\" (Rossland Industrial World. August 25, 1900). This large meeting was no doubt an encouragement to the Kootenay miners. 134 that neither Liberals nor Conservatives were taking seriously labor's demands. They f e l t that the legislation which the Liberals had introduced did not deal with labor's basic pro-138 blems, but was only of minor importance. The i n i t i a t i v e in this campaign was taken by the Ross-land unionists, who held a mass meeting i n the middle of Sept-ember to discuss p o l i t i c a l issues. The meeting decided unani-mously to cut loose from existing parties and put up an inde-139 pendent candidate. The unions themselves were concerned in the meeting. The secretary of the local T.& L.C. was i n -structed to notify a l l the Trades Councils and labor unions in the riding of the meeting's decision, and D.A. No.6, W.F.H. was requested to c a l l a convention of \"accredited representatives of labor organizations, independent p o l i t i c a l clubs and s o c i a l i s t i c bodies\" for the purpose of naming an I.L.P. candidate. 1 4 0 To make the work more effective, i t was decided that p o l i t i c a l clubs centered on the idea of rejection of the two old parties should be formed throughout the riding, with a membership broader than that of the unions. \"While the movement w i l l be fathered by labor organizations, every effort w i l l be made to make i t thoroly (sic) representative.\" 1 4 1 The projected convention was held October 3 and 4, in Nelson, with 43 delegates representing every miners' union Sandon Paystreak, September 15, 1900. Rossland Indus- t r i a l World. September 26, 1900. 139 Sandon Paystreak, September 22, 1900. 1 4 0 Loc. c i t . 1 4 1 Loc. c i t . 135 142 In the riding and many other labor organizations. On the f i r s t day the idea of nominating a candidate was endorsed by a vote of 40-10; a resolution to form an Independent Party was passed, and then made unanimous. Then the platform was drawn 143 up. The main business of the second day was the nomination of a candidate. Four names were suggested: Chris Foley, of the Rossland M.U. executive committee; Arthur Ferris, president of the Rossland T.& L.C; James Wilks, secretary of the Nelson M.U.; 144 and John MeLaren, president of the Rossland Carpenters* Union. McLaren and Ferris withdrew their names from nomination; a vote was taken, and Wilks was declared elected. Upon being informed of the vote he immediately declined to stand, and the meeting gave the nomination to Foley. Chris Foley was in many ways typical of the metal miners of the day. Born i n Toronto, he had worked on a farm until the age of fourteen. He had then begun traveling. After a few years in the Southern States he moved into the mountain country and mined and prospected from Mexico City to British Columbia. An attempt at building contracting in Vancouver was ruined by the panic of 1893. He then moved to Rossland, and — — . , Ibid., October 6, 1900. Towns represented were Ross-land, Greenwood, Sandon, New Denver, Kimberley, Slocan City, Silverton, Whitewater, Ymir, Easlo, Nelson. There was no rep-resentation from the agricultural or ranching sections of the riding or from the railway towns. 1 4 3 vide Appendix, p. xxiv. Loc. c i t . The influence of Rossland and of the miners in this p o l i t i c a l movement i s plain; of the four candidates, three were from Rossland and three were miners. 136 settled down to mining in that town. 1 4 5 Indeed, he was at his work in the mine when nominated by the Nelson convention. When the matter of independent p o l i -t i c a l action was broached in Rossland he had opposed i t on the basis that i t might result in the election of a Conservative, and he personally favored the Liberal cause. Upon being over-ruled he had cheerfully accepted the decision of the meeting. However, he had not been sent to the convention, and had not given his consent to nomination. He was brought word of the nomination, and gave his assent to i t , \"in a d r i f t on the 400 foot level of the Centre Star mine, standing beside his machine 146 d r i l l , chuck wrench in hand.\" Only three candidates backed by labor took part in the 1900 federal election in British Columbia. Another, how-ever, was almost nominated — Will MacClain. There had been a big fishermen*s strike on the Fraser River in the summer of 1900, centered on the price of salmon. Considerable bitterness had been expressed, and the m i l i t i a had been sent from Van-couver to Steveston, ostensibly to keep order. In the course of the strike a considerable amount of organizing had been done, largely by W i l l MacClain, Ernest Burns, and Frank Rogers, who were a l l sympathetic to the cause of socialism. Consequently, many of the fishermen were willing to express their grievances 1 4 5 Independent, November 10, 1900, p. 2. 1 4 6 Ibid.. October 13, 1900, p. 1., from the Industrial World. This passage was reprinted in a number of newspapers sympathetic to labor, to emphasize the genuineness of this labor candidate. 1 137 by supporting a socialist — preferably one of their champions -• in an electoral contest. The one to claim this potential support was Will Mac-Clain, the most flamboyant of the three. When the Steveston fishermen endorsed the request of the Port Guichon and Canoe Pass fishermen that MacClain stand for the New Westminster federal seat, he immediately accepted. 1 4 7 Upon the basis of his recent a c t i v i t i e s as a provincial candidate and in the fishermen^ strike, he began to appear on public platforms as a representative of the socialist wing of the labor movement. He took part in the Nanaimo Labor Day celebrations, and a month later returned to that c i t y i n order to lecture on socialism. MacClain 1s speeches, to judge by the newspaper reports and quotations, were characterized more by f i r e and vivacity than by logic or diffidence. Besides explaining his conception of socialism, which embodied elements of both the Marxian sys-tem and American radicalism, he became embroiled in a dispute over the leadership of the trade union movement i n Canada. He \"declaimed strongly\" against the labor leaders who opposed socialism, saying that they did so out of pure ignorance. He remarked that It was a favorite phrase with pretended labor leaders that the interests of labor and capital were the same and that they had to go hand i n hand .... Their inter-ests were diametrically opposed to each other, and no man could stand on both sides of the question.148 i Art \"'' Independent. September 1, 1900, p. 1. Nanaimo Herald. October 3, 1900, p. 1. 138 When asked why the Trades and Labor Congress excluded Socialist . organizations from i t s ranks, he replied that the members of the Congress were ignoramuses, and included in their ranks fake labor leaders who would s e l l out their cause to feather their / own nests. He was also ill-advised enough to attack Ralph ' Smith upon the basis of a newspaper report which had stated, somewhat ambiguously, that Smith had said \"(MacClain) i s not brought out by the Independent Labor Party, nor has he been 150 endorsed by: the Dominion Labor Party.\" MacClain took this to mean disapproval of his candidature; Smith maintained that f he had merely stated objective facts. Naturally enough, such episodes brought down upon MacClain the wrath of organized labor and i t s supporters. The Nanaimo Herald disputed his economic theories and deplored his 151 attack on Smith. - J.H. Watson, organizer for the A.F. of L. — in Vancouver, wrote a bitter personal diatribe against Mac-152 Clain. The Street Railwaymen's Union demanded that MacClain 153 resign from the Vancouver T.& L.C, and his own union, the Machinists', f i n a l l y withdrew him as their delegate to the 1 54. Council. Only one ray of light shone upon him through a l l the storm; the B.C. Socialists endorsed his candidature in the TW Independent. October 6, 1900, p. 4 . 1 5 0 Loc. c i t . 1 5 1 October 3, 1900, p. 3. 1 5 2 Nanaimo Herald. October 5, 1900, p. 1. 1 5 3 Independent. October 20, 1900, p. 1. 1 5 4 Ibid.. November 17, 1900, p. 4 . 139 1SS New Westminster riding. However, after a l l this furore, MacClain did not run as a candidate. It appears that on the o f f i c i a l nomination day his supporters arrived at the place of nomination just ten 156 minutes too late to enter his name i n the contest. It was a sorry ending to a l i v e l y incident. There i s a sequel to the story; a letter addressed to MacClain appeared in the Independent. asking: 1) Did you not ... claim to he independent of old parties and ... say you had no use for either of them? 2) Did you hot afterwards take the stump in favor of Hon. Bd. Dewdney, the Conservative candidate? 3) Previous to your support of Dewdney, were you not closeted with him? 4) What was the weight of the \"consideration\" which so quickly changed your \"principles?\" 5) While the expenses in connection with your candi-dature in Vancouver were s t i l l unpaid, did you not collect subscriptions for a campaign in this riding, which never came off? How much was collected, and how much, i f any, was returned to subscribers? 6) What i s a labor fakir? 157 The insinuations are clearly enough put, and no answering letter i s known. Possibly no answer could be made to some of the ques-tions; MacClain seems to have been of a very mercurial nature, b r i l l i a n t and possessed of abounding energy, but highly i r r e s -ponsible and emotional rather than consistent and logical. Such men may accomplish a great deal in a short time, but their lack of consistency often destroys their work and discredits the ideas they hold. Independent. October 6, 1900, p. 2. 156 Nanaimo Herald, November 2, 1900, p. 1. 157 John Jonson, Ladner, B.C., Independent. November 17, 1900, p. 4. 140 Of the three \"labor\" campaigns, that of Ralph Smith aroused the most feeling. His policy of conciliation had probably appealed to the Nanaimo and d i s t r i c t miners after the disastrous Wellington strike of 1890, and i t s consequent disruption of the union; by now, i t s appeal was no doubt wear-ing a bit thin. Former leaders of the miners like Tully Boyce and Thomas Keith were now working against him, condemning what they saw as his p o l i t i c a l opportunism and objecting to his f a i l -1 R O ore to put his candidature before the local labor bodies. When i t was moved in the Nanaimo T.& L.C. that his candidature be endorsed, that body decided \"to take no part whatever in 1 KQ p o l i t i c s \" — despite the fact that i t had supported him i n the provincial election only a few months before. His own M.M.L.P.A. endorsed him, but only after the supporters of Sloan, the Liberal candidate, had l e f t the meeting. The Victoria 161 T.& L.C. was asked to endorse his candidature, and refused. Of the Coast and Island labor bodies only the Vancouver T.& L.C, through i t s organ, the Independent, and i t s A.F. of L. organi-zer, J.H. Watson, gave him any real support. Watson and Boyce carried on a long and vicious debate over Smith through the letter columns of the Nanaimo Free 155\" 162 Press. Boyce had opposed Smith in the 1900 provincial elec-Nanaimo Free Press. November 1, 1900, p. 2. 1 5 9 Ibid... p. 1. 1 6 0 Ibid.. November 5, 1900, p. 1. 1 6 1 Independent, October 20, 1900, p. 1. 1 6 2 October 1900, passim. 141 tion, feeling that the Labor Party should not have become entangled with the Provincial Party. He and Keith had been 1 go delegates to the Liberal convention that had nominated Sloan, he having lost faith in Smith after Smith's alleged working to get Macpherson defeated in Vancouver. Boyce also objected to \"blind worshipers at the throne of Smith\" (i.e., Watson et al) attributing a l l p o l i t i c a l opposition to Smith to je a l -165 ousy, envy and malice. Tully Boyce, when accused of treachery, dishonesty, and untruthfulness by Watson, demanded proof; he e l i c i t e d a statement to the effect that since Smith had been chosen \"Labor's Leader for the Dominion,\" to oppose him was trea-cherous and dishonest; therefore he (Boyce) was treacherous and dishonest; such a person was always untruthful, i n Watson's 16fi experience, and so Boyce must be untruthful. Thomas Keith, as a result of attacks on himself by Watson and by a pseudony-mous \"Business man\" i n the Nanaimo Herald, took more drastic action; he sued both Watson and the editor-manager of the lBT Nanaimo Herald. September 18, 1900, p. 1. 165 1 6 4 v. sup, .p. 110, n. 76. Nanaimo Free Press. October 1, 1900, p. 4. He had rea-son to speak of \"blind worshipers at the throne of Smith;\" a subsequent letter-writer referred to \"our honored Leader and Champion — Ralph S m i t h — the b r i l l i a n t Orator and Debater, the Astute Diplomat, the wise General under whose s k i l f u l leader-ship the hosts of Labor w i l l march on to a magnificent and triumphant victory.\" James Toung, Ibid.. October 23, 1900, p. 3. 1 6 6 Ibid., October 13, 1900, p. 2. 142 Herald for criminal l i b e l . 1 6 7 Hot only was there revolt within the ranks of labor, j bat a very potent p o l i t i c a l figure was arrayed against Smith. W.W.B. Mclnnes, formerly an a l l y , had become estranged from the Nanaimo Labor Party during the provincial election. How he was campaigning on behalf of Sloan, the Liberal. His elo-quence was at least a match for Smith's, and i t was to be expected that he would sway a considerable number of votes in the riding. Despite a l l this weight being thrown against Smith, he had advantages on his side. McKechnie was gathering i n the independent Liberal vote for him, and Hawthornthwaite the radi-cal labor vote. He was now opposed by two candidates; CP. Wolley, a Conservative, had joined i n the contest and would certainly take votes that would otherwise go to Sloan. Smith, moreover, claimed the friendship of both major parties on the highest level. The Liberals at least had demonstrated their esteem for him by offering him the Deputy Ministry of Labour, or alternatively the position of Commissioner on the projected Board of Conciliation and Arbitration, and Smith had demon-strated his labor integrity by refusing to take a government p o s i t i o n . 1 6 9 On the local level, Smith's conciliatory policy had Ibid., October 24, 1900, p. 2., and October 25, p. 2. The case was referred to the spring assizes; i t s disposition has not been ascertained. 168 Nanaimo Herald. October 23, 1900, p. 1. I C Q Ibid., September 28, 1900, p. 1, and October 9, p. 1. 143 gained him the support of a large section of the business ele-ment. A published letter signed \"Churchman11 stated in regard to Smith that Mr. Robins, superintendent of the New Vancouver Coal Com-pany, said °I am proud that the New Vancouver Coal Mining and Land Company, Limited, produced such a man.... Mr. Dunsmuir i s also on record as having perfect confidence in him.\"170 An editorial i n the Herald quoted a leading businessman as say-ing that \"... party candidates aside, not four of the business men of this city w i l l f a i l to vote for Mr. Smith.\" 1 7 1 The claim was certainly exaggerated, but i t did have some basis i n fact. The contest between the candidates, as distinct from the newspaper battle over personalities, was bare of signi-ficant controversy. Smith published no platform; the only clue to his position i s in an ar t i c l e headed \"Smith's Federal Pro-172 gram;\" this merely stated that the candidate advocated legis-lation for the whole people, that he would always be ready to help the farmers of Vancouver Island — and also the miners, merchants, and capitalists — and that he would be an Indepen-dent friendly to both sides of the House. A later issue of the same paper explained that he was prepared to oppose the Liberal government i f i t did not carry out i t s labor pledges, and that 173 he favored compulsory arbitration of labor disputes. His campaign, on the whole, was calculated to offend the fewest number of people possible, and please the greatest. 1 7 0 Nanaimo Free Press. October 25. 1900, p. 2. 1 7 1 October 5, 1900, p. 2. 1 7 2 Nanaimo Herald. October 23, 1900, p. 1. 1 7 3 October 26, 1900, p. 1. 144 The f i n a l days of the campaign saw the publication by the Herald of what i s known as a \"roorback\" a charge made too late to be answered — against the Liberal candidate. It appears that in 1896 Sloan had considered settling in the United States, and had completed the form preliminary to natur-alization. This form, naturally enough, contained a repudia-tion of a l l other allegiance than to the United States, and in the case of British subjects made especial reference to Queen Victoria. The Herald printed a reproduction of the document, and headed i t \"Foreswore his Queen.1\"174 The allegation of dis-loyalty conveyed in this \"roorback\" was disastrous to Sloan, especially since the South African War was s t i l l i n progress. His vote f e l l even below that of the Conservative. The result 175 was a solid victory for Smith. Although Smith carried the riding, he did not carry a l l the coal mining d i s t r i c t s . He won Nanaimo by a great major-it y , as well as Cedar and Cumberland. Sloan, however, took Wellington, Extension, and Comox, while Wolley led in South 176 Wellington and Union Bay. Smith had plainly lost his hold on a great number of the miners; only his victory i n Nanaimo City and a f a i r l y strong vote in the agricultural areas won him his federal seat. A November 6 , 1900, p. 1. 1 7 5 Ralph Smith 1256 CP. Wolley 868 Wm. Sloan 832 ( cpg , 1901, p - 1 8 5 ) . 176 \"Report on Votes by Polls,\" Nanaimo Herald. November 9 , 1900, p. 1. 145 Unlike the campaign on the Island, that on the Coast (Burrard) was uneventful. Both Liberals and Laborites appeared to be satisfied with their alliance, and there was a minimum of \"mud-slinging*1 i n the election. Maxwell's emphasis was upon the immediate, pressing problem of British Columbia — Oriental labor and immigration. He was determined that the matter must be dealt with, and soon. To the other clauses of the Labor platform, both the immediate, pragmatic demands such as that for direct employment of day labor on Government works and the more theoretical points such as single tax and direct l e g i s l a -tion, he gave his support, but the main theme of his campaign was the Asiatic question. His Conservative opponent was J.F. Garden, Mayor of Vancouver and a successful candidate in the provincial elec-tion earlier i n the year. Garden's candidature was a strong one; he was popular in Vancouver, but his voting record in the 1900 session of the provincial Legislature was not favorable 177 to labor. However, the combination of labor interests with Liberal sentiment was even stronger. The victory went to Max-178 well by a wide margin. 177 Independent, October 6, 1900, p. 1. The Parliamentary Committee of the Vancouver T.& L.C. reported that while Martin and Gilmour had generally supported measures approved by the T.& L.C, Garden and Tatlow had generally opposed such measures. Since i t was widely accepted that the two latter had been suc-cessful only because labor candidates had reduced the Martin-i t e vote, i t may be conjectured that a certain amount of chag-r i n was f e l t i n the T.& L.C. 2716 2089 (CPG, 1901, p. 136). 1 7 8 G.R. Maxwell J.F. Garden , 146 The 1900 election in Yale-Kootenay-Cariboo did not take place until a month after the rest of the Dominion had 179 voted. The campaign proceeded without notable incident until the day of the general election had passed. Foley concentrated mostly upon the issue of railway service, financing and control, c r i t i c i z i n g the record of past and present governments i n the 180 matter and advocating government ownership. The matter of Oriental labor was not a prime issue in his riding, since few Chinese or Japanese were l i v i n g i n the metal-mining d i s t r i c t s . In the latter period of the election Foley received the active support of Smith, safely elected on Vancouver Island. While Foley confined his campaigning to the south-eastern part of the riding, among the mining camps and towns, Ralph Smith worked further north. The Lardeau Eagle paid tribute to his efforts, remarking: Ralph Smith i s doing yeoman work for Chris. Foley and the cause of labor, along the main lin e , Revelstoke, Golden and Kamloops.181 Within three weeks i t changed i t s stand; the editor published and endorsed a letter from a friend in Revelstoke, who wrote: You may not know i t , but Ralph Smith's speech hurt Foley, both here and i n Kamloops. You see, most of the Conservative working men here would have voted for Foley, but they had to be cured of the notion that Foley was a Liberal i n disguise. Then Smith spoke and over went our \"apple cart.\" The Burrard voting was similarly deferred; however, i n that case the fact appears to have had no significant results. 1 8 0 Independent. November 10, 1900, p. 1. 1 8 1 December 6, 1900. 147 The correspondent gave a synopsis of Smith's speech, which had consisted of damning the Conservatives and praising the Liberal measures of the past session. A l l that he said in favor of Foley's candidature was that he knew Foley to be an honest man. The writer concluded by saying, \"There's no use talking, we w i l l 182 have to get r i d of Smith i f we want to accomplish anything.\" Foley did not win; the vote was f a i r l y closely grouped 18 3 in the total, but the Labor Party appeal was not strong enough to carry the riding. Foley's platform was, to a great extent, a verbatim reproduction of the 1898 T.& L.C.C. platform; the clause on immigration was adapted from the platform of the 184 Vancouver Labor Party. In i t s economic, and in many of i t s p o l i t i c a l aspects i t was a platform designed for wage-workers; i t made no mention of farmers or of their specific problems. Foley himself campaigned almost exclusively in the south-eastern part of the riding, where the mining population was concentrated; he paid l i t t l e attention to the rest of the d i s t r i c t . The re-sult was that he carried the Kootenay and Boundary areas, but lost heavily to the Liberal in the north and west. In 1900, the p o l i t i c a l picture was much confused; the attitude of labor had not yet settled into any definite pattern. 109 1 Eagle, December 26, 1900. 1 8 3 W.A. Galliher (Lib.) ... 3,112 Chris Foley (Lab.) 2,652 John McKane (Cons.) .... 2,563 ( £ p ^ 1 9 G l j p^ 1 9 0 ) > 184 vide Appendix, pp. x x i i i . 1 8 5 Lardeau Eagle. December 13, 1900. 148 In the provincial election, labor had generally acted in con-cert with the Provincial Party of Carter-Cotton, the only exceptions being in the cases of Curtis and Macpherson, both Martinites. In the federal election, three attitudes mani-fested themselves: in Burrard, a formal Liberal-Labor alliance backed Maxwell; i n Vancouver (Island), Smith ran as a labor candidate but claimed friendship with both Liberal and Con-servative parties; in Yale-Cariboo-Eootenay, Foley ran as a labor man in definite opposition to the old parties. The results of this confusion are most clearly shown in the Interior con-test. Maxwell and Curtis, both regarded as friends of the labor movement, attended the Liberal nominating convention and thus endorsed the candidature of Foley's opponent. John Houston, backed by the Nelson T.& L.C. in the provincial contest, 187 attended the Conservative convention. Smith, by his parti-sanship for the Liberal Party, possibly damaged Foley's chances of success. The policy of locally supporting members of the old parties, or of entering into alliances with them, was cer-tainly damaging to the cause of Independent Labor candidates. iv. While the federal contest was s t i l l in progress, two provincial by-elections were called. Smith and Garden had vac-ated their seats at Victoria i n order to run for Ottawa, and those seats had to be f i l l e d . 1 8 6 Rossland Industrial World. September 8, 1900. 1 8 7 Lardeau Eagle. October 31, 1900. 149 In Nanaimo, no contest took place. In November, the friends and supporters of the Labor Party nominated J.H. Haw-188 thornthwaite for the vacancy. On February 18, the o f f i c i a l nomination date, no farther names were pat forward so he was declared elected. Probably, after Ralph Smith's crashing de-feat of Tates earlier in the year, nobody wished to try con-sequences with a labor candidate i n Nanaimo. Hawthomthwaite »s career up to this time had been somewhat unusual. Bom i n Ireland, he had come to British Columbia in 1885 and worked as secretary in the U.S. consul-ate, Victoria. From that position, he had been promoted to the position of U.S. consular agent i n Nanaimo. Giving up his con-sular duties, he went into the real estate business. He then became interested in some ideas for new mining machinery, and moved to San Francisco to develop his ideas; this venture failed, and he returned to Nanaimo as night-watchman for the New Vancouver Coal Company. From this he soon advanced to become clerk of the Company's land department. This position 189 he held at the time of his nomination. . He had been assoc-iated with Ralph Smith for several years, assisting him i n his campaigns by organizing and speaking, and was already quite prominent in Nanaimo p o l i t i c a l c i r c l e s . In Vancouver, labor suffered defeat. The Vancouver Labor Party named the veteran campaigner Robert Macpherson as i t s representative, this time to be completely independent of Nanaimo Herald. February 19, 1901. 1 8 9 Loc. c i t . 150 190 a l l other parties. He did no active politicking at f i r s t ; there was no other candidate or party in the f i e l d to serve \" as a target. Hopes of acclamation, however, were shattered when J.F. Garden, the former occupant of the seat and the.unsuc-cessful opponent of Maxwell in the federal contest, was nomin-ated to regain the seat. By then, l i t t l e time was l e f t for campaigning; the 191 Vancouver T.& L.C. belatedly endorsed Macpherson, but i t i s hard to see how this last-minute action could have assisted the candidate i n any way. The Martinite Opposition likewise en-192 dorsed him, without putting any party ties upon him. The Independent. which had said very l i t t l e about the candidate or the contest so far, at last published an a r t i c l e contrasting the voting records of Macpherson and Garden in the House. It was a l l of no avail; in a f a i r l y close election, Garden was 193 returned. This defeat practically marked the end of Macpher-son *s p o l i t i c a l career. Successful as a Nationalist in 1894 and as an Oppositionist in 1898, he had been brought down by the o f f i c i a l labor movement in 1900. Making his peace with the T.& L.C., he nevertheless failed to get the federal nomination. —mr Ind pend n . November 24, 1900, p. 1. 1 01 IblaV. February 16, 1901, p. 2. (T.& L.C. Report). 1 Q 9 Ibid.. February 9, 1901, p. 4, and February 16, p. 2. 1 9 3 J.F. Garden 1942 Robt.Macpherson..1621 (Ibid.. February 23, 1901, p. 3). 151 An apathetic campaign cost him the by-election, and he dis-appeared from the larger p o l i t i c a l stage. For a few years he remained active i n the p o l i t i c a l work of the Vancouver T.& L.C, especially in municipal affairs, and in the winter of 1904-5 successfully contested Ward Four with the endorsation of that 194 body. After serving a year on the City Council he completely retired from p o l i t i c s . The local Labor Parties set up in 1900 for the im-mediate purposes of the elections seem to have continued through 1901 without much incident. The only sign of electoral a c t i -vity worth noting was the consideration by the Victoria L.P. of 195 contesting a by-election in that ci t y . However, second thoughts were apparently less encouraging, for nothing more was reported of the idea. Part 2. The Kamloops Convention, 1902, and After i . Towards the end of 1901 a movement i n favor of labor and reform p o l i t i c a l unity appeared and made considerable head-way. A few current situations might be noted as the stimuli of this movement. Host noticeable was the rapid growth of s o c i a l i s t i c -1 11 raj 1 — -\"VTLCM,\" December 15, 1904. 1 9 5 Independent. September 14, 1901, p. 2. 152 196 groups in many parts of the province, creating a serious |. sp l i t in the existing labor-reform movement. The socialists were also making their presence f e l t within the unions. Ernest Burns, secretary of the British Columbia Socialist Party, was president of the Fishermen's Union; together with Frank Sogers (later k i l l e d i n connection with a 1903 strike of C.P.R. em-197 ployees) he was able to get a number of planks from the Socialist Party platform written into the declaration of prin-198 ciples of his union. Some attempt had to be made to heal the growing breach between labor!sm and socialism. In addition, the union movement as a whole was f e l t to be in danger. The Rossland mine-owners were suing the local W.F.M. for $50,000 199 as compensation for losses sustained in a recent strike. 200 They were awarded $12,500. As the unionists saw i t , the whole value of the strike as a weapon was destroyed i f the strikers had to make up the company's losses. This was a mat-ter for legislation, demanding p o l i t i c a l action, and the miners were not satisfied with the overall result of their previous 1 9 6 Independent. December 21, 1901, p.6, li s t e d Socialist Party locals i n sixteen British Columbia centers. By February 6 there were nineteen, and by March 27 outlying locals at Calgary, Alberta, and Maple Creek, Assiniboia, had been added to the l i s t . (Lardeau Eagle. February 6, 1902, and March 27). There were also other groups, such as thei).S.L.P. in Vancouver. 1 9 7 Bennett, op. c i t . . p. 63. 1 9 8 Independent, October 5, 1901, p. 1. 1 9 9 Lardeau Eagle. September 26, 1901. 2 0 0 Bennett, op. c i t . . p. 36. 153 efforts. It seemed that ... the victory of the labor element i n one d i s t r i c t was frequently neutralized by another labor constituency endorsing an opposite party. For instance ... R.F. Green ... and Smith Curtis ... were elected by the labor party, but u n t i l this session each has been following a different faction in the house, voting against each other and thereby making a stand-off.201 Such a situation would emphasize the value of having a unified labor-socialist-reform party. The f i r s t published suggestion for uniting the scat-tered labor and reform groups came in the form of an editorial in the Independent. which called upon the Vancouver Labor Party or T.& L.C. to take the i n i t i a t i v e . 2 0 2 ^ T h i s was followed by a suggestion from Kamloops Federal Labor Union Ho. 18, that there be a delegate convention at Kamloops to nominate a party leader whose motto would be \"A government for the people with equal 203 rights to a l l and special privileges to none.** \" The Parlia-mentary Committee of the Vancouver T.& L.C. then drew up a re-port in which i t stated that i t did not favor a narrow p o l i t i c a l party, which would nominate only union men for e l e c t i o n . 2 0 4 Only about one tenth of the workers were in the unions, making a 205 union labor party a hopeless gesture. The report concluded: We therefore favor p o l i t i c a l action on a more broad and progressive basis, whereby a l l who hold similar views and ideas can join together in a common cause, united 2 0 1 Sandon Paystreak. April 19, 1902. 2 0 2 September 14, 1901, p. 2. 2 0 3 Independent. October 26, 1901, p. 2. 2 0 4 l D i d * * November 23, 1901, p. 1. 2 0 5 Ibid.. Hovember 30, 1901, p. 4. 154 in fighting monopoly — our common enemy — whose great bulwark i s special privilege. 206 Despite the interest shown by the Vancouver labor movement in the idea of a \"unity n convention, the actual convention was called at the instance of the Western Federa-tion of Miners. In December, 1901 the Slocan City Miners' Union voted unanimously in favor of the question, Shall the officers of Dist Assn Mo 6 (sic) c a l l a con-vention of a l l unions in the District for the purpose of preparing a Provincial Platform, also to formulate a set of rules for the holding of conventions to select can-didates to contest the different ridings in the interest of the Independent Labor Party in the next provincial Election. Also to invite a l l Labour and Socialist Bod-ies in the Province to a seat in the convention.207 Apparently there was some feeling in the District Office against the last proviso of the question, since Slocan City M.U. sent a later communication to Parr, asking that the remainder 208 of the question be put. Parr complied, as i s shown in another letter: I am instructed to submit the following question for your referendum vote. No. 6. \"Shall the Secy, of Dist Aasn No 6. (sic) Invite a l l Labour and Socialist bodies in the Province to a seat in our convention.\"209 On the whole, the miners favored the idea of an inclu-sive conference. The extant letters show that New Denver, Whitewater, and Slocan City voted for i t , the latter two unani-2 0 6 Ibid., November 23, 1901, p. 1, 2 0 7 Letter from D.B. 0'Neail, secretary Slocan City M.U., #62, to Alfred Parr, sec-treas. D.A. #6 W.F.M., Ymir, B. C , December 12, 1901. Held by T.&D.S.W.U., T r a i l , B. C. 2 0 8 Slocan City M.U. to Parr, December 27, 1901. 2 0 9 Parr to Ymir M.U. #85, January 2, 1902. 155 mously. Almost certainly many other locals did similarly. Rossland, however, turned i t down withont comment; Nelson M.U. was specifically opposed to the invitation of Socialist bodies, and favored having only a convention of District No. 6, W.F.M., for union business. 2 1 0 Letters of invitation to the proposed convention were sent out. The Vancouver T.-.& L.C. \"Minutes0 report a communica-tion from D.A. No. 6, W.F.H. to the effect that \"... a conven-tion w i l l be held i n Kamloops B.C. on Monday Ap 14 1902 for the purpose of discussing p o l i t i c a l action being taken on the part 211 of organized labor,\" and further: On motion the holding of the proposed convention was approved and that two delegates be appointed to rep-resent this Council at our next meeting. Carried. 212. The two delegates were the persistent Robert Macpherson, and Thomas H. Cross. The T.& L.C. was sufficiently interested in this p o l i t i c a l convention to pay the transportation of dele-213 gates, plus wages of $3.00 per day. x The convention was held at Kamloops in conjunction with the regular convention of the W.F.M. The miners* meeting took place on Friday April 11; the p o l i t i c a l convention was 2 1 0 New Denver M.U. #97 to Parr, January 4, 1902. Whitewater M.U. #79 to Parr, January 4, 1902. Slocan City M.U. #62 to Parr, January 29, 1902. Parr to F.B. Woodside, sec'y Rossland M.U. #38, January 4, 1902; returned, noted \"against X.\" Nelson M.U. #36 to Parr, January 7, 1901 (sic). 2 1 1 March 20, 1902. 2 1 1 Loc. c i t . 2 1 3 OP. c i t . , April 3. 1902. 156 scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, April 14 and 15. It was the most representative assembly of labor and reform bodies to have gathered in the province up to that 214 date. The sixty-three delegates spoke for nineteen locals of the W.F.M. and D.A. No. 6 as a whole, seven railroad unions, ten other local unions, seven Trades and Labor Councils, three Labor Parties, seven Socialist groups, and a Single Tax Club. Although the W.F.M. predominated with i t s twenty-three dele-gates — and indeed, most of the delegates were from Interior points — there were eleven men present from the Coast, rep-resenting such influential bodies as the Vancouver, Nanaimo and Victoria T.& L.C.»s. Among the delegates were several of established stand-ing in the labor or radical world, and others who would later become well-known. Chris Foley represented D.A. No 6 of the W.F.M.; Robert Macpherson was there for the Vancouver T.& L.C; George Bartley, editor of the Independent, spoke for the Van-couver Labor Party; William McAdams, editor of the Sandon Paystreak — one of the most l i v e l y and biting papers in Wes-tern Canada — was sent by the Sandon Socialist League; Ernest Burns, secretary of the British Columbia Socialist Party and president of the Fishermen's Union, came from the Vancouver S.P.; J.H. Watson, A.F. of L. organizer, brought credentials from the Vancouver Boilermakers. Some who would make their mark in public l i f e at a later date were William Davidson, future Labor M.L.A., 914 ~ ~ ~ Vide l i s t of delegates, Appendix, p. xxv. 157 from Sandon; B.T. Kingsley, for many years editor of the Western Clarion, co-editor of the B.C. Federation!st and a prominent Socialist speaker, from Nanaimo; Charles M. O'Brien, from Fernie, to become Socialist M.L.A. i n Alberta; and J.D.McNiven of the Victoria T.& L.C, later a Liberal M.L.A. Such a col-lection of organizational, literary, and oratorical talents, coupled with an immense variety of p o l i t i c a l shades of opinion, presaged a l i v e l y meeting but a lack of effective action. As might have been expected, the main feature of the convention was a struggle between the socialists and the re-formers. Over a year before this J.M. Cameron, Socialist Party organizer, had responded to \"unity 0 overtures by s t i -pulating that i f the I.L.P. would accept the Socialist program 215 the S.P. would support the I.L.P. Now the showdown was here: would the I.L.P. elements accept a socialist program at Kamloops? The main speakers for the socialist view were Ernest Burns of Vancouver and E.T. Kingsley, the crippled printer from Nanaimo. They c r i t i c i z e d a number of the proposed planks b i t -21 fi terly, usually condemning them as t r i v i a l . When woman suf-frage was brought up, Kingsley declared i t irrelevant to the class struggle; only labor and wage questions should be dis-cussed here. Burns pointed out that the single tax proposal was absurd, in that i t merely shifted taxation from one capital-i s t to another; he called the inclusion of judges in the demand for free transportation for public functionaries \" t r i v i a l ; \" he 015 Lardeau Eagle. January 2, 1901. 2 1 6 For the platform adopted, vide Appendix, pp. xxvii. 158 moved to table the \"Sunday lapor\"clause as being too indefin-217 i t e . Two other socialist delegates moved a resolution warn* ing against government ownership while government was s t i l l under the control of the capitalist class. The resolution 218 was tabled. The concern of most of the delegates was with specific issues and immediate solutions; the most general-ized social and economic view they could encompass was single tax — not socialism. Despite the efforts of the socialists, the delegates assembled a platform of immediate demands without expressing 219 any long-term objectives. The preamble emphatically en-dorsed the \" r e c a l l \" principle; the f i r s t clause was a demand for the institution of single tax, and the third called for woman suffrage. Beyond that, the main emphasis was upon gov-ernment intervention in the economy. The government was to own the railways and means of communication, establish and operate smelters and refineries, set aside public lands for educational purposes, arbitrate labor disputes, enforce govern-ment scaling of logs, plan for future state-owned coal mines, and municipalize control of the liquor t r a f f i c . With a l l these proposals, i t i s no wonder that the socialists put forward their cautionary resolution on government ownership.' Possibly the most significant of these demands was the c a l l for government construction and operation of smelters and refineries; i t was the miners' reaction to the fact that Independent. April 19, 1902. 218 T Loc. c i t . 9 vide Appendix, p. xxvii. 159 something was the matter with B.C. metal mining. The ore had to be shipped i n bulk from the mines to distant smelters, often in the United States. Thus a heavy tribute was imposed upon metal mining by the transportation companies. The British Colum-bia product, moreover, had to compete on the market with Ameri-can ores not subject to such high-costs of transportation. The miners f e l t that a local smelter could so reduce the cost of the refined metal as to make British Columbia production competitive on the market, and that the establishment of such a plant was the duty of the government. The other items l i s t e d in the platform were somewhat more usual. The demands for a limited use of the referendum and the abolition of property qualification for public office were not new. The proposal that farm improvements, implements and stock be not taxed was an obvious bid for farmers' votes. The clause on Oriental immigration was standard, except that i t proposed a new type of legislation to achieve exclusion — the 220 Natal Act. The change was due to the disallowance of pro-vincial legislation directed to that end, and the unwillingness of the federal government to embarrass Imperial ties with Japan and economic relations with China by passing openly discrimina-tory laws. In addition to the formal platform, the convention expressed i t s approval of several subsidiary resolutions, which • ' So-called because the colony of Natal had passed an Act in 1897 restricting immigration to those who could write in the characters of a European language. Its effect was to bar Asian immigrants: i n the case of Natal, East Indians; in the case of Canada, Chinese and Japanese. 160 are best summarized as follows: (1) A l l British Columbia school texts to be printed at the government printing offices and sold at cost; (2) Union label to appear on a l l provincial government printing and contracts, where a label i s available; (3) the Dominion Government to pass an Act recognizing the union label; (4) the government to take over the Canadian Pacific Telegraphs; (5) the Attorney-General of B.C. and the Minister of Justice to be compelled to enforce the Alien Contract Labor Law; (6) the Sunday law to be ri g i d l y enforced; (7) a l l wages to be paid every two weeks, under penalty; (8) to approve Hawthornthwaite*s Workmen's Compensation B i l l and Smith Curtis' B i l l to stop dam-age suits against trade unions; (9) to organize an independent 221 p o l i t i c a l party; (10) to elect certain officers. The new p o l i t i c a l party was named the Provincial Pro-gressive Party, for simple reasons. It was provincial in i t s aims; i t s platform was almost entirely composed of legislative demands on the provincial government. The name \"Progressive\" was broad enough, i t was hoped, to satisfy a l l reform elements. Although the unions had been instrumental i n forming the party they wished to bring into i t the farmers and the discontented among the \"petit bourgeoisie,\" thus giving i t a chance of elec-toral success. When i t came to the business of electing officers, the hope of broadening the party took a severe setback. Almost a l l , i f not a l l , the delegates to the convention were unionists. Lardeau Eagle. April 24, 1902. 161 Consequently, a l l the offices were f i l l e d by unionists. Chris Foley was elected president, and James Wilks, another miner, became vice-president; J.D. McNiven of Victoria was named secretary-treasurer, while J.H. Watson, H. Buckle, D.W. Stevens, and Thomas Buckton made up the Executive Committee, A l l were unionists; three — Foley, Wilks, and Buckton — were metal-miners, and a fourth, Buckle, was associated with the Nanaimo coal-miners. The P.P.P. was primarily a miners* party; although i t extended i t s a c t i v i t i e s to the Vancouver area, i t s core and center never moved far from the metal-mining d i s t r i c t s . The f i r s t failure of the new party which became appar-ent was i t s i n a b i l i t y to please the socia l i s t s . They had been unable to impress upon the P.P.P. platform any mark of socialism. ^ jM£s jz&A, e^*^? t^- ^ i ^ - v Yi y-J Althoughftwenty-four socialists had attended the meeting, most of them had come as union delegates with binding instructions; hence they had been unable to give support to Burns and Kings-ley. Consequently, i n their view, \"every v i t a l issue to labor was either ignored or straddled, and the platform f i n a l l y 222 adopted was of a weak and indefinite description.\" The Execu-tive Committee of the Socialist Party stated that any attempt by any local o f f i c i a l l y to endorse the platform of the P.P.P. would be entirely unconstitutional, explaining that \"the Pro-gressive Party deliberately rejected a l l that was v i t a l in our platform; therefore, that party i s no more entitled to special consideration at our hands than either the Liberals or the 2 2 T Citizen and Country, in Independent, May 10, 1902, 162 Conservatives.\" It did, however, permit members to use their own judgment in voting where no Socialist candidates were nomin-a t e d . 2 2 3 The most caustic comment upon the new party came from Eugene V. Debs, at the time upon a lecture tour of the North-western States and Southern B.C. When asked in Vancouver for his opinion of the P.P.P., he described i t as ... a middle-class movement, which proposes to take the short cut to power and distribute o f f i c i a l favors. In this party are to be found anarchists, single-taxers, direct-legislationists, cast-off capitalist politicians, and many honest, but misguided men, who know l i t t l e or nothing about socialism. The party promises those who are inclined to socialism that i t i s the very party needed at this time to lead up to socialism. In the next breath i t assures others, who are opposed to social-ism, that i t i s just the party to head off the socialist movement.... The party has no mission except to retard the progress of the bona fide socialist movement .... in twelve months, or less, i t w i l l have ceased to exist.224 And certainly, within twelve months i t had ceased to exist in most parts of the province. Actually, the P.P.P. was doomed by an incident which occurred at Denver, Colorado, only two months after the Kam-loops Convention. There, i n mid-June, the f u l l convention of the Western Federation of Miners voted 230-73 i n favor of a resolution that We endorse the platform of the Socialist Party (of America) and accept i t as the declaration of principles of our or-ganization. We c a l l upon our members as individuals to A £ ,° Citizen and Country. May 30, 1902, p. 2. 2 2 4 Sandon Paystreak, July 19, 1902. 163 commence immediately the organization of the Socialist movement in their respective towns and States.... 225 James Wilks, B.C. Vice-president of the W.F.M., opposed the resolution and, after i t s passage, declined re-election; his O Oft place was taken by a so c i a l i s t , James A. Baker of Slocan City. The British Columbia section of the W.F.M. did not immediately commit i t s e l f to implementation of this new policy. The influence of such men as Wilks and Foley was strong enough to retard any precipitate change of front. However, a process was now under way; the socialists in D.A. No. 6 found their position very much strengthened by the convention decision, and were able to build up their power within the local unions and the District. In general they avoided open conflict with the non-socialists in the W.F.M.; wherever possible, they quietly assimilated them. Within two years, D.A. No. 6 was ripe for f u l l conquest, and in i t s 1904 convention pledged i t s e l f to 227 support of the Socialist Party. The action of the 1902 convention of the W.F.M. dep-rived the P.P.P. of i t s main base. That union had been the driv-ing force behind the Kamloops convention, and had provided many of the o f f i c i a l s and members of the new party. Now that i t s o f f i c i a l support was given, as a whole, to socialism, the Pro-gressive Party was robbed of i t s lifeblood; i t might carry on 9flg * _ Canadian Socialist, Toronto, June 20, 1902. 2 2 6 Loc c i t . 2 2 7 Letter, Sandon M.U. #31 to Rossland M.U. #38, November 10, 1901, Held by T.& D. S.W.U., T r a i l . 164 for a time, bat only as a skeleton animated a r t i f i c i a l l y . The main beneficiaries of the Kamloops convention seem to have been, of a l l people, the radical Marxian social-* i s t s . The i n i t i a l growth of the Socialist Party had brought in a number of members who were l i t t l e more than \"sentimental\" soc i a l i s t s , more interested in immediate reforms than in social revolution. These people were drawn toward the P.P.P. i n 1902, and lost interest in the Socialist Party. This i s at least a reasonable explanation of the fact that i n the 1902 convention of the Socialist Party of British Columbia, which closely f o l -lowed the Kamloops convention, the o f f i c i a l l i s t of \"immediate 228 demands\" was dropped, and the party as a whole was devoted to the attainment of socialism through education and agitation. It i s doubtful that Kingsley and the other \"educationalists\" could have scored this victory without the purification of the Socialist Party accomplished by the Kamloops convention. i i . The Provincial Progressive Party had elected Chris Foley as i t s president, he being the leading labor figure in the Interior and being also well-known outside that area. After his defeat i n the federal election of 1900 he had been offered — and had accepted — a seat on the Royal Commission investigating the Chinese problem. For this act he was roundly castigated by the v i t r i o l i c \" B i l l y * HcAdams, editor of the Sandon Paystreak. In an editorial entitled \"Chris Foley i s ** Gp Weston Wrigley i n Western Clarion. September 28, 1903, p. 3. 165 throwing off on himself» (i.e., sacrificing p o l i t i c a l prestige), McAdams gave voice to a widely-held and quite sound analysis of such appointments: He (Foley) knows that Ralph Smith had the blind staggers when he f e l l into the ranks of the l i b e r a l party and that Mr. Smith's services to the labor party in Yale-Cariboo-Eootenay were not worth hell-room. He knows that the Laurier government has never overlooked an opportunity to put influential labor men out of p o l i t i c s by giving them government jobs which lead to a less or greater subser-viency to the party machine at Ottawa. 229 Foley, however, although very much a Liberal in sentiment, returned to his union duties after the completion of the Com-mission's work. After the Kamloops Convention he l e f t Rossland and mining and moved to Vancouver. There he became an active member of the Building Laborers' Union, and took part in the 230 formation of a Vancouver branch of the P.P.P. During the months of July, August and September he carried out a debate with the local socialists (Ernest Burns and others) upon the subject of labor p o l i t i c a l action versus socialism, through the columns of the Independent. Then, in November, the federal seat of Burrard f e l l vacant. Rev. George R. Maxwell, the labor-supported M.P. for Burrard, had been a very active man. He had taken his duties at Ottawa seriously, and had put forward the demands of British Columbia labor with vigor, especially in regard to the Oriental problem. Most of his work had been done during his f i r s t term — . ' Paystreak, January 12, 1901. Independent, June 28, 1902. 166 231 in the House;*OJ- since the 1900 election he had been less act-ive, although in 1901 he had sponsored, in concert with Ralph Smith, an unsuccessful motion i n favor of the referendum prin-232 ciple. In general he had restricted himself to supporting the efforts of Puttee and Smith and had refrained from i n i t i a t -ing action in the House. Maxwell had been much more active in British Columbia than at Ottawa. He had contributed many philosophical and 233 sociological articles to the Independent, and was president of the British Columbia Liberal Association. The total amount of work involved was apparently too much for a man not natur-a l l y very robust, and he died November 19, 1902, at the early 234. age of forty-3ix. A large section of the Vancouver labor movement no doubt f e l t a sort of proprietary interest in the Burrard seat, through labor's association with Maxwell. The Vancouver Labor Party appears to have acted rapidly in the matter. Before the new year Chris Foley was in the f i e l d as an Independent Labor Party candidate. On January 8 his union, the Building Laborers, 235 endorsed his candidature. Then his candidature was presented to the Vancouver T.& L.C. for approval, and for the f i r s t time 23T v. s p., p 183. 2 3 2 Independent, April 13, 1901:, p. 3. 2 3 3 1901-02, passim. 2 3 4 Ibid.. November 22, 1902. 2 3 5 Ibid., January 10, 1903. 167 in the history of that body the idea of \"no p o l i t i c s \" was o f f i -c i a l l y brought into action. The proceedings were most succinctly and vividly re-corded by the secretary, P.J. Russell: Moved Bro Dobbin & sec. that we endorse the candidature of Cris (sic) Foley, refused by the chair (W.J. Lamrick) as reasons that p o l i t i c a l discussions are debarred. Moved that a vote be taken as to whether the chair be sustained. Ruled but of order Moved by Bro Mortimer that candidature of Foley be dis-cussed. Carried After some discussion again moved that Foley be endorsed. Moved by Bro L i t t l e we adjourn, & during a discussion as to procedure, time ran out & Council was declared ad-journed. 236 A special meeting was called to discuss the matter of Foley's candidature. After an argument as to who could be pre-sent, the meeting was reduced to 74 delegates representing thirty unions. Then the anti-Foley element took the i n i t i a t i v e : Moved by Bro Mortimer sec. Bro Lear that this Trades Council do not endorse the candidature of any person in this by election. The debate was opened & discussion started.... The motion was put and lost by a vote of 44 to 22.... Moved by Bro Hilton sec by Bro Sully that whereas this Trades & Labor Council of Vane i s established for the purpose of effecting legislation for the better recogni-tion of our Labor Unions and for contracting our efforts in the betterment of the condition of the t o i l e r gen-erally and whereas these objects can only be made per-manently effective by electing our own representatives to the Provincial & Dominion Parliaments and whereas further this Council has already established numerous precedents as the records w i l l doubtless show by endors-ing straight Labor representatives. Therefore be i t re-solved that this Council endorse the candidature of our Bro. Cris Foley an old member of the Miners Union in the \"VTLCM,\" January 15, 1903 168 upper country a member of the Building Laborers Union of this c i t y and until recently a much respected dele-gate to the Vane Building Trades Council. This motion carried 41-20. 2 3 7 The invocation of the widely-accepted nno p o l i t i c s in the union\" ruling was not quite what i t appeared to be — a sud-den upsurge of anti-politicalism. Its meaning becomes clearer when i t i s noted that Mortimer, the mover of the anti-endorsation resolution, was a few months later a provincial candidate for the Socialist Party, and in 1904 a federal can-didate for that party. Some of the opposition to endorsing Foley no doubt came from Liberal or Conservative voters within the Council; the center of i t , without doubt, was the rapidly growing r i v a l of p o l i t i c a l laborism — socialism. Although the endorsation of Foley was carried and published, nothing was done to follow i t up. There i s no fur-ther mention of the campaign in the T.& L.C. \"Minutes,\" and i t i s most l i k e l y that the division over the endorsation was a temporary damper on any p o l i t i c a l discussion. Even the Indepen-dent had very l i t t l e to say about Foley's campaign. This by-election drove what must be regarded as the last nail in the coffin of the Provincial Progressive Party. In the previous November the P.P.P. had elected as i t s Honor-ary President T.R. Mclnnes, formerly Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia. He accepted the tribute with evident pleasure, declaring that \"For many years he had been an ardent supporter 169 of the cause that they advocated in the a s s o c i a t i o n . \" 2 3 8 In January the Honorary President of the P.P.P. appeared as an Independent candidate i n opposition to Chris Foley, President of the P.P.P. The absurdity of the situation was evident; i t i s no wonder that from this time onward nothing more i s heard of the Progressive Party in Vancouver. The real reason for Mclnnes* entering the contest was probably connected with his dismissal from the post of Lieutenant-Governor by the Laurier cabinet, in consequence of his role in the matter of the short-lived Martin government of 1900. It may be plausibly argued that his 1903 candidature was an attempt to revive the matter in Ottawa, and to embarrass the Liberal government. Certainly Mclnnes advanced no more convincing rea-son than this for his attempt to win a federal seat, especially in the face of his opposing a man of whose po l i t i c s he apparently approved. The main contest was between Foley and the o f f i c i a l Liberal Party candidate, R.G. Macpherson (not to be confused with Robert Macpherson, former M.L.A.). In this election there was no Liberal-Labor fusion such as had distinguished the 1900, and, more loosely, the 1896 election. The Liberals wanted a straight party man, not an Independent; the Labor Party f e l t confident that i t could win unaided. In addition, there was no Conserva-tive candidate to spur united action; for their own reasons, pos-sibly connected with the established strength of the Liberal and Nanaimo Herald, November 9, 1902, p. 3. 170 Labor elements which had elected Maxwell, the Conservatives did not contest the by-election. No specific platform appeared as an expression of Foley's principles or of labor's demands. Most probably the Vancouver Labor Party s t i l l adhered to i t s 1900 platform, which had been endorsed by Maxwell i n the election of that year; no evidence exists to the contrary. Although Foley ran as an Independent Laborite, his actual p o l i t i c a l sentiments were basically Liberal; he opposed the Liberal Party only on what he considered to be i t s neglect of the problems of British Columbia labor. He claimed, on occa-sion, to be a soc i a l i s t , but he was generally at odds with the Socialist Party on the basic issues of economics and p o l i t i c s . Even in the course of this campaign he advertised his basic Liberalism by saying Until two years ago I had always been a Liberal in Dominion p o l i t i c s , but I w i l l never vote a Liberal ticket again until the Liberal government changes i t s Immigration policy; f u l f i l s i t s pledges to Br i -tish Columbia on the Mongolian question, and enforces the provisions of the Alien Contract Labor Law .... 239 In other words, he had been a Liberal up to the time of his nomination in 1900, and would again support the Liberal Party i f i t would make some moves to satisfy labor's demands. These three points can be considered as summarizing Foley's campaign issues. The Liberal policy of assisted immi-gration had been attacked in the federal Labor platforms of 1900: organized labor then, as today, saw the current influx 171 of workers used to a lower standard of li v i n g than was pre-valent in Canada, and unfamiliar with labor organization, as a threat to Canadian l i v i n g standards and to the existence of unions. Despite the raising of the entry tax on Chinese, Orien-tal immigration to British Columbia continued. Finally, although there existed a federal law against the importation of alien labor under private contract, the labor movement f e l t that i t s 240 provisions were often evaded. Sometimes the law was enforced, but the complaints of i t s violation exceeded i t s use. The entry of Mclnnes into the by-election had one result; i t was almost certainly the cause of Foley's defeat. Those who voted for Mclnnes were most l i k e l y habitual anti-Liberals or temporarily discontented Liberals; their votes would certainly have gone to Foley rather than to his opponent. When the votes were counted there were very few for Mclnnes, but they more than made up the difference between Foley's total and Mac-pherson ( s . Thus the Honorary President of the Provincial Pro-gressive Party repaid that party, i n the person of i t s presi-241 dent, for the honor accorded him. This second defeat was the end of Chris Foley's p o l i -t i c a l career. For a short time he had ranked next to Ralph Smith as a labor figure in British Columbia. He had contested y 2 4 0 Cf. Labour Gazette. 1901-02. passim. 2 4 1 Almost-complete returns showed R.G. Macpherson..,1867 Chris Foley 1754 T.R. Mclnnes 349 (Independent. February 7, 1903). (to follow page 171) James H. Hawthornthwaite Member of the Le g i s l a t i v e Assembly, 1901-1912 (Labor, S o c i a l i s t ) Nanaimo Parker Williams Member of the Le g i s l a t i v e Assembly, 1903-1917 (S o c i a l i s t ) Newcastle 172 two federal seats, and on both occasions had suffered damage at the hands of supposed a l l i e s — f i r s t Ralph Smith, and second T.R. Mclnnes. His former p o l i t i c a l base, the W.F.M., was now o f f i c i a l l y committed to socialism, and the socialist influence in the Vancouver T.& L.C. was growing; there was becoming less scope for his Liberalism within the B.C. labor movement. Fin-a l l y , he was no longer a young man, and his eyesight was f a i l -ing; later in the year he resigned from the Parliamentary Com-O AO mittee of the T.& L.C. and disappeared into obscurity. i i i . While the Western Federation of Miners was organizing the Kamloops Convention, and while Vancouver labor was attempting to get Foley elected, events in Nanaimo were following quite a different course. There, the s p l i t between laborism and social-ism was precipitated more rapidly, and was quickly resolved in favor of socialism. The comparative speed of the development there was probably due to two causes. The roughness and danger of the miners' work and the politico-economic power of the mine-owners inclined the miners toward a thorough-going remedy; the identification of Ralph Smith's policy of conciliation and p o l i -t i c a l opportunism with laborism gained support for Smith's socialist opponents. The division between the two elements was fore-shadowed in 1901 at a Labor Day speech in Victoria, when J.H. Hawthornthwaite expressed the conviction that, although the 2 4 2 \"VTLCM,\" November 19, 1903. 173 extreme remedies of socialism were not yet necessary in B.C., the remedy which would eventually be applied to social i l l s 243 was socialism, pure and simple. Since Hawthornthwaite was Ralph Smith's left-hand man (Dr. HcKechnie being his right-hand man) the statement had some significance. The significance of Hawthornthwaite's shift to the l e f t became more clear upon the publication of an interview by the Nanaimo Free Press. Hawthornthwaite displayed great dissatisfaction with the Nanaimo Labor Party in both i t s organi-zation and i t s policy, and implicitly c r i t i c i z e d Ralph Smith's collaborationist ideas. He stated: I believe there i s no such party as a Liberal-Labor party; that combination in the local house as advo-cated by Smith-Curtis and supported by myself simply means a temporary coalition of both parties for a joint action against the Dunsmuir administration. The Liberal and Labor parties are quite distinct, both in principles and methods. The Liberal party does not believe i n class legislation, and does not advocate pro-gress along s o c i a l i s t i c lines. The Independent Labor party was formed in Canada, England and New Zealand to study economic subjects affecting the welfare of labor, and to obtain direct legislation for the benefit of the labor class, which includes a l l wage workers. The In-dependent Labor party i s not supposed to form a per-manent alliance with either of the older parties. 244 The matter was then taken up in a meeting of the Nan-aimo Labor Party. Hawthornthwaite repeated his contention, and asked the party to endorse his position. He was immediately opposed by many of the members, who wanted to attend a Liberal convention and take part in the nomination of delegates to the coming provincial convention of Independent. September 7, 1901, p. 3. Ibid., January 4, 1902, p. 1. 174 the Liberal Party. The leadership of that party was to be decided, and they considered the choice to be v i t a l to the Nanaimo Labor Party and to the labor movement generally. Haw-thornthwaite replied that, whether Bodwell or Martin (the two leading contenders) were chosen leader, he personally could not support him. Furthermore, he wanted to know, why should labor men concern themselves with the Liberal leadership? Could they not be content with having their own convention? The main opposition to Hawthornthwaite*s position was made by Ralph Smith himself. He attacked Hawthornthwaite for f i r s t making his complaint to the press, stating that since the Nanaimo Labor Party had neither constitution nor by-laws, to declare that i t endorsed certain principles to the exclusion of others was an attempt to dictate policy. He opposed class leg-islation, and favored the Liberal Party only as i t rose above class prejudice. 2 4 5 His speech was, on the whole, that of an experienced pol i t i c i a n defending an uncertain position; smooth, yet sharp. The debate was continued a week later; although Smith had the majority of the Nanaimo Labor Party with him, Hawthornthwaite was able to force a compromise. The meeting agreed ...that members of one p o l i t i c a l party who would support the candidate of the Labor Party might be a f f i l i a t e d members of that party during the time such support was given but would not be eligible for office. 246 2 4 5 Independent. January 11, 1902, p. 8. 2 4 6 Nanaimo Herald. January 19, 1902, p. 1. 175 This had one result; Dr. McKechnie, who was not only president of the Nanaimo L.P. hut also president of the local Liberal Association, retired from his Labor Party position and was re- | 247 placed by a miner, George Johnston. Despite the compromise, the battle s t i l l raged. Smith warned Hawthornthwaite that i f they were to rebuff the Liberals and Conservatives neither of them, nor any other labor candi-date, could get elected. Nevertheless, Hawthornthwaite objected again to the Labor-Liberal overlap — especially to Labor Party 248 members taking an active part i n the Liberal convention. His conviction was that the Labor Party, to be anything, must stand on i t s own feet and fight the established parties, and take what-ever consequences came; in i t s present state the Labor Party was l i t t l e more than a semi-autonomous appendage of the Liberal Party. The f i n a l s p l i t in the Nanaimo L.P. followed immed-iately. Hawthornthwaite called a public meeting to a i r the mat-ter, and proceeded to make a number of charges against Ralph Smith, Specifically, he charged him with (1) accepting railway passes, thus obligating himself to the railway companies; (2) making the settlement at Rossland in 1900 upon a contract rather than a wage basis; (3) weakening the position of the C.P.R. trackmen in their 1901 strike by opposing their connection with the A.F. of L.; (4) advocating the employment of cheap labor, in that he had expressed a qualified approval of Japanese; and 2 4 7 I b i d . , p. 3. 2 4 8 I b i d . . pp.2,3. 176 (5) using his p o l i t i c a l influence for the economic benefit of 249 Dr. HcKechnie. * Smith, in his reply, cleared himself of these charges to the satisfaction of his supporters but not, of course, to the satisfaction of his opponents. The d i v i -sion had already become too deep for resolution by reason; i t would have to be fought out. At about this time, Hawthornthwaite was dismissed from his job at the New Vancouver Coal Company; i t was imme-diately assumed in some quarters that the dismissal was con-250 nected with his disagreement with Smith. The incident fur-ther embittered relations between the two wings of Nanaimo labor. The f i n a l break between Ralph Smith and the Nanaimo Miners* Union soon followed. In the spring of 1902, Smith went on a tr i p to Europe; while there, he wrote to the M.M.L.P.A. requesting that the union elect him as i t s delegate to the 251 stead of complying, the miners tabled the request, and coming T.L.C.C. me ti g in B rlin (Kitchener), On ari . In-d ol 6 Nanaimo Herald, January 21, 1902, pp. 1,3. 250 Ladysmith Leader, in Lardeau Eagle. January 30, 1902. The idea that opponents of Ralph Smith were in danger of dis-missal was not new, nor did i t die easily. As early as July 22, 1899, the Herald carried a denial by Smith of an accusation that the men in the Miners* Union could not speak their minds without fear of being fired; Jimmy Phillipson, who came to Nanaimo i n 1907, stated that the basic reason for the miners* turning against Smith was the f i r i n g of men who spoke against Smith. (Interview, July 1954). Certainly, many of the miners regarded Smith as a Company man running under Labor colors; the approval of Smith by Dunsmuir and other employers rein-forced this belief. 2 5 1 Canadian Socialist, July 12, 1902, p. 1. followed up this action by d i s a f f i l i a t i n g from the T.L.C.C. 2 5 2 The reasons for d i s a f f i l i a t i o n were explained by Parker Williams, a new figure in the miners 1 movement.253 According to him, Congress had become a part of the Liberal p o l i t i c a l machinej a number of employees and favorites of the Laurier government were holding important places in the Con-254 gress. To make matters worse, Liberal legislation was not of real benefit to the workers; the Laurier administration was importing labor at public cost (assisted immigration) to compete with existing labor, and, despite the Alien Labor Act, Pennsyl-vania miners were being brought to Fernie to replace those\"mur-dered\" in a recent coal-mine disaster. It was also claimed that the T.L.C.C. was worthless, since i t gave no general assistance in time of strikes or other 255 contingencies. It may have been f a i r l y true that the Con-gress was wanting i n this respect, but then i t was a delegate and deliberative body; action was not i t s function. This was not satisfactory to many of the miners, who wanted a connection with a body which could and woald aid them in times of stress. Their own organization was local, without a nation-wide or con-tinental union like the carpenters or the metal-miners. 0 5 0 Nanaimo Free Press. August 18, 1902, p. 1. 253 Nanaimo Herald, August 20, 1902, p. 2. 254 This assertion was not contested by the Nanaimo Herald; i t was accepted as evidence that the Liberals recognized the value of these men. 2 5 5 Nanaimo Herald, August 17, 1902, p. 1. 178 Although a meeting of the M.M.L.P.A. decided to dis-a f f i l i a t e , the matter was not settled immediately. A referendum vote of the members taken as to whether or not to resume a f f i -l i a t i o n with the Congress resulted in an almost even s p l i t ; 260 voted for a f f i l i a t i o n , and 264 against. 2 5 6 The a f f i l i a t i o n 257 was shelved for a year. The coal miners then looked for another body with which to a f f i l i a t e , and apparently found the Western Federation of Miners to their taste. The W.F.M. had just now endorsed socialism, and was also organizing the coal miners of the Crow's 258 Nest Pass. This appeared to be what the more active union-ists among the coal miners wanted, and the M.M.L.P.A., reduced in numbers, voted 128-59 i n favor of a f f i l i a t i o n with the W.F.M.259 The coal miners' repudiation of Ralph Smith and the T.L.C.C. was supported in another quarter. In August, the Phoenix T.& L.C. joined the W.F.M. in endorsing, nem. con., ORCi the international socialist movement and principles. It followed this up by a letter to the T.L.C.C., c r i t i c i z i n g that body for inaction, attacking i t s president, Ralph Smith, and withdrawing i t s support from the T.L.C.C. Nanaimo Herald. September 5, 1902, p. 1. 2 5 7 Ibid. t September 28, 1902, p. 1. 2 5 8 Independent, April 5, 1902; D.A. No. 7, W.F.M. was formed for the Crow's Nest miners. 2 5 9 Nanaimo Herald, November 2, 1902, p. 1. 2 6 0 Independent, September 6, 1902. 2 6 1 Ihid., October 4, 1902. 179 On the whole, i t s criticisms were much the same as those being voiced by Hawthornthwaite and Williams in Nanaimo about the same time; i t s main addition was that the check-off of union dues as practised in Nanaimo benefited only Smith and Dunsmuir, by keeping a submissive M.M.L.P.A. in existence as a base for Smith's union and p o l i t i c a l a c t i v i t i e s . The Phoenix charges were investigated by a committee of the T.L.C.C, and rejected as \"unjustifiable and untrue.\" Ralph Smith was again nominated for the presidency, but in view oc q of his rejection by the Nanaimo miners refused to stand. Thus his connection with the dominion labor movement was terminated; from being a national figure he was practically reduced to local proportions. He could no longer speak for the Trades and Labor Congress of Canada; he represented only the Nanaimo Labor Party, which i n i t s turn seems to have represented more business and professional elements than labor interests. Hawthornthwaite's shift to the l e f t , p a r a l lelling that of the Miners' Union, reached i t s logical conclusion i n October. Under the heading \"Is Now a Socialist: Nanaimo*s M.P.P. Joins the Reds,\" the Herald reported that Hawthornthwaite had made application to join the Revolutionary Socialist Party. Ralph Smith, the miner, had become the favorite of the mine-owners; Jim Hawthornthwaite, the former real-estate agent, now represented the miners. 28T Independent. September 20, 1902, 2 6 3 Loc. c i t . 264 October 14, 1902, p. 1.. 180 Two days be fo re C h r i s t m a s , 1902, the re came the f i r s t p o l i t i c a l t e s t o f the s t r e n g t h of s o c i a l i s m i n the Nanaimo a r e a . W.W.B. Mclnnes had been g i v e n the Cab ine t pos t of P r o -v i n c i a l S e c r e t a r y , and was o b l i g e d to ask r e - e n d o r s a t i o n f rom h i s c o n s t i t u e n t s . The s o c i a l i s t s o f N o r t h f i e l d dec ided to c o n t e s t the s e a t , and named as t h e i r r e p r e s e n t a t i v e Pa rker W i l l i a m s . W i l l i a m s had been born i n Wales i n 1873. He had worked h i s way f rom the Welsh c o a l mines th rough those o f A l b e r t a and Washington and the lumber camps o f O n t a r i o to the lumber camps and mines o f B r i t i s h Co lumb ia . A s e l f - e d u c a t e d man, he had f o r yea r s been a c t i v e i n un ion work, but d i d not come i n t o prominence u n t i l h i s i d e n t i f i c a t i o n w i th the cause o f s o c i a l i s m on Vancouver I s l a n d . The e l e c t i o n campaign was a s h o r t one , and W i l l i a m s ' p l a t f o r m was a l s o s h o r t . It can be summed up i n a s e n t e n c e : I have but one promise to make, namely , tha t i f e l e c t e d I w i l l g rasp every o p p o r t u n i t y to i n t r o d u c e and promote l e g i s l a t i o n i n the i n t e r e s t o f the wage-earner , a p p l y -i n g to eve ry q u e s t i o n the t e s t , \" w i l l t h i s l e g i s l a t i o n advance the i n t e r e s t s of the worker , and a i d him i n the c l a s s s t r u g g l e ? \" 265 He c l a imed the whole p roduc t o f l a b o r f o r the worker , and accused Mclnnes of e n d o r s i n g e x p l o i t a t i o n by s u p p o r t i n g the 9 6 6 c a p i t a l i s t sys tem. The a t t i t u d e o f the Nanaimo H e r a l d i n t h i s c o n t e s t Quoted i n Nanaimo H e r a l d . December 6, 1902, p. 2. 2 6 6 I b i d . . December 5, 1902, p. 1. 181 reveals very clearly the re-alignment of p o l i t i c a l forces on Vancouver Island at this time. Although i t had broken with Mclnnes in 1900, most clearly oyer Mclnnes' support of Sloan against Smith, i t was now becoming reconciled. It consistently gave Mclnnes a better press than Williams; the growth of socialism was uniting a l l other p o l i t i c a l elements, except possibly the most hardened Conservatives. The results of the by-election were surprising to those who expected the socialist to be swamped. Mclnnes was elected with a solid majority, but Williams was in no danger of OgQ losing his deposit. The radical socialist idea had apparently at least as much appeal as the moderate labor appeal. The reasons for the large socialist vote, at least in 269 part, appeared in the Herald before voting day. The central point, apparently, was the enforced move of miners from Welling-ton, f i r s t to Extension and then to Ladysmith, by the closing of old mines, the opening of new ones and the establishment of a port at the last place. Many miners had built homes at Welling-ton, and had to choose between abandoning them and transporting them to a new site; the double move had enhanced resentment, and was throwing votes to Williams. og*7 Ibid.. early December, 1902, passim. 2 6 8 Mclnnes .... 263 Williams ... 155 (CPG, 1903, p. 384). 2 6 9 December 16, 1902, p. 1. 182 The early part of 1903 saw a lack of p o l i t i c a l a c t i -vity i n British Colombia, so far as the labor movement was concerned. In March, a lecture was given in Vancouver on the 270 subject of socialism by a Father Haggarty, a Catholic priest who had taken up the doctrines of the Socialist Labor Party. In the same month there was considerable discussion of the possibility that Ralph Smith might become provincial leader of 271 the Liberal Party. However,, he would not exert himself to attain that position, taking the attitude that \" i t must come 272 unsolicited,\" and he was not chosen. In A p r i l , one event should be noted as symptomatic of the growing radicalism of British Columbia labor. A dis-cussion of the relative merits of industrial unionism and trade unionism had been carried on for some time in the Vancouver T.& L.C. The proponents of industrial organization won out in the Council, and attempted to convert the T.L.C.C. to their beliefs. Although they received widespread support, they were unable to carry the point through the Congress, and in^April 1903 they followed the example of the M.M.L.P.A. and the Phoenix T.& L.C. by severing Vancouver's connection with the 273 national body. The episode i s significant for two reasons. F i r s t , i t was part of the rebellion of British Columbia labor, 2T0\" \"VTLCM,\" March 5, 1903. 2 7 1 Vancouver Province. March 1903, passim. 2 72 ibid..March 26, 1903, pp. 1,2. 273 Bennett, op. c i t . . p. 40. 183 engrossed with i t s special problems, against the relatively-conservative trade unionism of Eastern Canada. Second, the issue involved — industrial unionism — has a close relation-ship to labor p o l i t i c a l attitudes; i t implies a broad class out-look rather than narrow group interests, and i s therefore l i k e l y to occur in conjunction with radical p o l i t i c a l ideas. Most soc i a l i s t i c movements have regarded industrial unionism as the economic counterpart to class p o l i t i c a l action. i v . In the provincial election of 1903, there was a marked decline in p o l i t i c a l laborism and an enormous increase in social-i s t activity. Throughout the province there appeared ten candi-dates professing allegiance to socialism, and not more than 274, eight claiming the \"labor\" designation. The tide within the labor movement had definitely set in favor of socialism. Government in the past legislature had been precarious. The Dunsmuir administration had been succeeded by a Prior cab-inet, which had in turn given way to McBridefs administration. In this unstable period, Hawthornthwaite had been able to obtain Three of these \"labor\" candidates are not dealt with here, mainly because material on them i s lacking. Their rele-vance to the topic was not discovered until this thesis was almost completed. The Western Clarion. January 12, 1907, p. 1. referred to J.D. McNiven, M.L.A., as the \"•Liberal-Labor 1 representative of the Trades Unionists of Victoria.\" \"VTLCM,* September 1903, p. 189 (no date recorded) notes a letter from John Hirkland, \"Labor candidate at A t l i n , \" requesting co-operation in the coming campaign. \"Happie\" Dunning, Vancouver, (retired metal-miner) informs me (conversation, August 1954) that a labor candidate contested Ymir in 1903; this was most li k e l y Alfred Parr, former secretary-treasurer of D.A. No. 6, W.F.M. 275 some reform measures. In 1901 he had initiated an amend-ment to the Coal Mines Regulation Act whereby miners, in the interests of safety, were required to hold certificates of com-petency. In 1902 he had secured the passage of a Workmen's Compensation Act and a measure allowing workers time off to vote, and had supported Joseph Martin and Smith Curtis in putt-ing through a Trades Union Act (arising out of the suit against the Rossland Miners' Union) protecting unions against lawsuits based upon i l l e g a l acts of their members. These measures, coupled with Hawthornthwaite's conversion to socialism, tended to make p o l i t i c a l action through the Socialist Party attractive to active unionists. Hawthornthwaite had been especially successful in his relations with McBride, somewhat to the chagrin of the Liberal elements in Nanaimo. The chagrin was evidenced in the f i r s t 276 remarks of the Nanaimo Herald on the coming election. It was suggested that an \"unholy alliance\" was in the making: that McBride was assisting Hawthornthwaite by promises of roads and the enforcement of a law against employing Chinese underground, and by directing public communications to Nanaimo through Haw-thornthwaite rather than through the recognized local Conserva-tive leaders. The nomination of Hawthornthwaite by the Socialist Party took place on August 20. It was immediately followed by \"Class War in Local House,\" Western Clarion. January 12, 1907, pp. 1, 4j this a r t i c l e goes into some detail on labor legislation 1901-1907. 2 7 6 July 18 and 19, 1903, p. 1. 185 277 a meeting of the Nanaimo Labor Party. After some discussion, the Nanaimo L.P. decided that although Liberals and Conser-vatives might remain, a l l Socialists should be excluded from the proceedings. The meaning of this decision was made plain when the meeting named a committee, including Ralph Smith, to confer with the Liberal and Conservative organizations with a view to combining against the Socialists. The Liberals accepted the idea, but the Conservatives turned i t down. The reasoning of the latter cannot be definitely established, but a reasonable presumption would be that they knew any fusion nominee would be a Liberal in the legislature and opposed to the Conservative Party. Hawthornthwaite would give at least conditional support to a Conservative government, and a Conservative, i f elected, would be a definite party man. 278 They put up B. Quennell as their o f f i c i a l candidate, thus ensuring a three-way contest in which the anti-Socialist vote would be s p l i t . The candidate of the Labor Party was Harry Sheppard, a long-time resident of Nanaimo, but with no other especial claim upon public esteem. He had not been a public figure in any way until this nomination. As had been agreed, he was given the o f f i c i a l blessing of the Liberals, and publicly l i s t e d among his supporters were W.W..B. Mclnnes, William Sloan, and Tully Boyce. 2 7 9 2 7 7 Ibid.. August 23, 1903, p. 1. 2 7 8 F i r s t name not given in available sources. 2 7 9 Ibid.. September 10, 1903, p. 1. (Boyce seems to have had no association with the Labor Party, despite his record in union work; he seems to have preferred the Liberal Party). 186 In Vancouver, the T.& L.C. again took a direct hand in p o l i t i c s . The Vancouver Labor Party and the Provincial Pro-gressive Party in Vancouver must have gone into obliviop since the federal by-election in January, for there i s nowhere mention of them i n the arrangements for the campaign. Instead, a reso-lution of the T.& L.C. provided That we appoint a committee of five, to issue circulars to a l l the unions, calling on them to appoint delegates to a convention to draw up a platform & formulate plans to run a campaign. The number of delegates from each union to be regulated according to membership. 280 It must be concluded that the Labor Party was re-activated as a result of the convention, which took place on 281 June 29. A later minute gave permission for the Vancouver Labor Party to use the Labor Temple auditorium for a mass meet-m g . 2 8 2 In sharp contrast to Nanaimo labor, the Vancouver labor men kept clear of alliances with other parties. A resolu-tion introduced by Mortimer, a socialist,\"turning down reported 280 » v T L C M > n j u n e 4 j 1 9 G 3 # 281 Nothing definite can be said about the proceedings of this convention, since they were not entered in the T.& L.C. minutes and, as the Province rather acidly noted, no press report was issued. (July 7, 1903, p. 1). The same i s true of other L.P. conventions in Vancouver during 1903. 282 ttyTLCM, *» August 6, 1903. The committee named must have kept i t s own records; no f u l l report appeared in the Council minutes. It should be noted that, for some time early in the century, references to p o l i t i c a l matters are accompanied by the information that f u l l reports are to be found in the minutes of the Parliamentary Committee. The location or present existence of such minutes i s not known. 187 overtures of Liberals for T.L.C. support; also any Conservative 283 bids,\" was carried without opposition. In this, socialists and laborites were in agreement.They were both out to fight the old-line parties, not to conciliate them. Por the five seats open i n Vancouver the revived Labor Party put up three candidates: Francis Williams, i t s 1900 candidate, A.G. Perry, a motorman, and J. Edwards, a machinist. 284 Robert Macpherson was offered a nomination, but he declined. Edwards later withdrew from the contest for personal reasons, and was replaced by J. McLaren. Three socialists ran in Vancouver, without the backing of the T.& L.C. or the Labor Party. They represented two fac-tions: the Socialist Labor Party nominated William Gr i f f i t h s , while the British Columbia Socialist Party put up A.R. Stebblngs and J.T. Mortimer. Of these, Griffiths represented the uncom-promising, anti-trades-union outlook; Stebbings and Mortimer were more flexible. In the metal-mining d i s t r i c t s of the Interior several Socialist Party candidates appeared, but there were only two with a \"labor 0 designation William Davidson i n Slocan and Alfred Parr in Ymir. Davidson's candidature, at least, had definite socialist aspects. Despite the endorsation of socialism by the international convention of the W.F.M., the Socialist Party had 283\"VTLCM,\" June 18, 1903. 2 8 4 Independent, July 25, 1903. n o e F i r s t names of Edwards and McLaren not given in avail-able sources. (to follow page 187) 188 not yet completely captured the British Columbia miners. How-ever, in contrast to the Coast areas, in the Interior d i f f e r - , ences between the socialists and the labor!tes tended to be reconciled rather than fought out. The Labor Party campaign in Slocan was initiated at a 2 8 6 local convention of the W.F.M., held at New Denver on July 11. Silverton, New Denver, and Sandon Miners 1 Unions were represented, but Slocan City was missing from the deliberations. A resolution was passed that the coming election be contested under the aus-pices of the Provincial Progressive Party, using the platform of that party. The meeting then made provision for a nominating convention, to be held in the same town on August 1. The method of electing delegates to the nominating convention deserves recording, since i t shows some evidence of an attempt to use American p o l i t i c a l procedures in B.C. The resolution stated: That, where such organization exists, the calling of P r i -maries for the nomination and election of Delegates to the proposed Convention shall be under the control of each local Labor Union. That the basis of representation be as follows: One Delegate for each Polling Station & an additional vote or Delegate for each forty votes or majority fraction thereof polled at such point on the occasion of the last Provincial Election. Seventeen delegates, carrying twenty-five votes from Sandon, Three Forks, McGuigan, New Denver, Silverton, Nakusp, and Slocan attended the August 1 convention. They immediately pro-\"'' ' 1 1 \" ' \"*\" ' Information on this campaign i s derived from the actual minutes of meetings, reports, and correspondence, unless other-wise stated. These documents are held by T.& D.S.W.U., T r a i l . 189 ceeded to remodel the P.P.P. platform in the direction of their 28T own, admittedly s o c i a l i s t i c , ideas. The preamble, endorsing the r e c a l l , was adopted without change. The principle of single tax was approved, but an appli-cation of i t (clause 6) was rejected. Government ownership in transportation, communication, and smelting was approved. Land speculation was condemned, and the financing of education from the revenue of public lands was recommended. Labor disputes were to be subject to arbitration, but not under compulsion. Anti-Oriental legislation was demanded. Female, franchise, universal and compulsory suffrage, and the i n i t i a t i v e and referendum were approved. On the whole, the platform as adopted was not greatly different from the labor platforms of previous years. However, i t was quite different to the original P.P.P. platform. It no longer contained most of the special appeals to non-labor interests. The bid for the farm vote (clause 6) was eliminated. The clauses on forestry (12 and 13) likewise disappeared. The liquor clause (15) went out. The demand for free transportation for public functionaries (17) was likewise omitted. The platform of the Slocan Labor Party was mainly con-cerned with the problems of wage-workers, and was not quite the catch-all program put forward by the Kamloops convention. Having got the platform settled, the meeting then turned to the nomination of a candidate — a relatively easy matter. Several persons were proposed, but the choice f e l l , 190 without much hesitation, upon William Davidson of Sandon, a miner of Scottish birth. The only Labor Party candidate in 288 the mountain country was now in the f i e l d , using the f i r s t adaptation of the P.P.P. platform to appear in an actual elec-tion. The election contests in the different constituencies took on different aspects, according to the local relationships between the laborites and the social i s t s . In Slocan there was no apparent dissension. In Vancouver a coolness existed, but i t was hot widely publicized; the open conflict which did appear in Vancouver was associated with the Nanaimo situation, where a state of f u l l warfare existed between laborite and soc i a l i s t . The Nanaimo Labor Party did not advertise any platform in the newspapers in 1903. Passing reference was made to a plat-form, but the reports of Sheppard's meetings give l i t t l e hint as to i t s contents. It would be f a i r to say, from the published reports, that he had two planks: anti-socialism, and the sup-port of Smith and Mclnnes. These were the things that he stressed. He tended to ignore the Conservative candidate, Quennell; instead, he attacked the principles of socialism and extolled the legislative records of Ralph Smith and W.W.B. Mc-lnnes. He put forward l i t t l e or nothing i n the way of a posi-tive program. In Vancouver, the Labor Party's case was put forward most forcefully by Francis Williams, with some assistance from 2 8 8 For what i t i s worth. Parr i s l i s t e d in CPG, 1903. p. 443 as a Liberal. The labor press on the coast did not pay him any special attention. 191 McLaren. Perry 1s contribution was not in any way notable. Williams, in fact, was much more aggressive than he had been in 1900; in one of his speeches, he took the stand for which Ralph Smith had c r i t i c i z e d Hawthornthwaite. Characterizing a l l past history and present legislation as \"class legislation,\" he l a i d down the challenge, \"We are out for class legislation, and 289 we are not going to be quiet until we get i t . \" He also implicitly c r i t i c i z e d Ralph Smith, by saying that he was surprised Smith had approved the draft compulsory arbitration act now be-290 fore the House at Ottawa. • McLaren's major contribution was to justify the running of Labor Party candidates upon the grounds that existing labor legislation was not properly en-291 forced; only labor in government would enforce i t . The Vancouver Labor Party candidates, according to the reports of their campaign, did not go out of their way to attack the socialists; something like an armed truce prevailed between the two groups. However, Vancouver was the scene of the most violent clash of the campaign between the Laborites and the Socialist Party. The occasion of this clash was the regular Labor Day celebration, at which prominent members of the labor movement 289 ' ' Independent. September 26, 1903. 290 Ibid., September 19, 1903. Other labor men were no doubt surprised, too, especially since the T.L.C.C. had condemned com-pulsory arbitration at i t s 1902 convention by a vote of 78-12. Ibid.September 20, 1902. 2 9 1 Ibid.. September 26, 1903. 192 were called upon to speak. J.C. Watters, S.P. candidate in Vic-toria, devoted his time to a discussion of the limitations of trades unionism — what i t could hope to accomplish, and what i t could not do. He was followed by Ralph Smith, who opened his talk with the remark that he \"differed from state social-ism. » 2 9 2 War had been declared; the socialists i n the audience, feeling that Smith had misrepresented Watters 1 position, pro-tested loudly. When Smith went on to say that Watters had des-cribed trades unionism as \"absolutely* no good, the meeting went into an uproar. Smith was not allowed to speak further, and f i n a l l y l e f t the hall with his supporters. Por the f i r s t time, he had been rejected by a labor meeting at which he was present. The clash in Vancouver seemed to have l i t t l e effect on the election as a whole. Smith expressed a hope that i t would discredit the socialists generally; the election results indicate that i t did not. It did c a l l forth a letter to the Nanaimo Herald from Smith's fai t h f u l henchman, J. H. Watson, to 293 unions i f we mean to uphold their integrity.\" Watson's sug-the effect that \"every Socialist must be thrown out of our trades ns i — — — \" ~ The account of the meeting i s taken from the Nanaimo Free Press (September 8, 1903) whose p o l i t i c a l reporting was less partisan than that of the Herald. By state socialism i s meant a society characterized by predominant government ownership and control, known among socialists as \"state capitalism;\" to i t i s opposed the p o l i t i c a l concept of socialism, that a l l the repressive aspects of the state, and f i n a l l y the state i t s e l f , shall be done away with. 2 9 3 September 10, 1903, p. 2. Watson had violently attacked Smith's c r i t i c s i n the 1900 provincial election, and subsequently made i t his business to resent a l l slurs upon Smith. He appears to have regarded a l l things o f f i c i a l within the T.& L.C. as 193 gestion came too late; such a move would have s p l i t the B.C. unions in two. Compared to the Coast campaigns, that in Slocan was du l l . The heat and fury generated by a divided labor movement was missing. It was a straight two-way fight: Davidson, on a Labor ticket with socialist support, trying to take the seat desired by Hunter, a Conservative. The issues were not spec-tacular; in the main, the miners wanted a man in the Legisla-ture to defend their interests whenever an issue touching them arose. The results of the voting were disappointing to the anti-socialist Laborites. In Nanaimo, Hawthornthwaite had a good lead over both his opponents, and Sheppard ran a poor third. In Vancouver the Laborites led the Socialist candi-dates, but both groups ran far behind the Conservatives and the Liberals. Only i n Slocan, where the labor forces were 294, united, did the Labor Party score a victory. sacred, and irregular actions as akin to blasphemy. His pre-sent position in the movement was somewhat anomalous, since in February the Vancouver T.& L.C. had requested the T.L.C.C. and A.F. of L. to withdraw him as their organizer upon the grounds that (1) he was a government o f f i c i a l , (2) he publicly sup-ported an old p o l i t i c a l party, in defiance of a resolution of the 1899 T.L.C.C. convention, (3) he was a disrupter of labor unity, and (4) he had been a p o l i t i c a l partisan in the Burrard by-election. \"VTLCM,n February 5 and March 19, 1903. 294 Results in labor-contested constituencies, 1903. Nanaimo Vancouver Hawthornthwaite (Soc.) ... 486 Tatlow (Cons.) ...2,660 Quennell (Cons.) 325 Garden 2,464 Sheppard (Lib.Lab. ) 294 Wilson 2,416 Bowser :.2,304 Macgowan 2,300 Martin (Lib. ) 1,546 (Continued on next page) 194 In fact, the Socialist Party did much better than the Labor Party; Parker Williams was elected i n Newcastle to keep Hawthornthwaite company, and i n Greenwood Ernest H i l l s came within nine votes of victory. Only in Victoria and Van-couver did the socialists lose their deposits. \\ v. The federal election of 1904 need not be discussed here. Socialist Party candidates contested five ridings, but their efforts properly belong to the history of socialism i n British Columbia — not the history of laborism. Only Ralph Smith i n Nanaimo claimed to be in the tradition of labor p o l i -t i c a l action, but he cannot be regarded as a Labor candidate. Running under the name of Liberal-Labor, the Liberal element far outweighed any laborism. He was given the o f f i c i a l blessing 295 of the T.L.C.C.,- but did not receive the support of any labor organization within his riding. Opposed by a Conservative and a Results in labor-contested constituencies, 1903. (Cont*d.) Slocan Vancouver (Cont'd.) Davidson (Lab.) 358 Brydone-Jack 1,461 Hunter (Cons.) 2\"8\"9\" Baxter 1,411 v .„ Williams (Lab.).... 1.357 w - r 4 8 q Mortimer (Soc.).... TTSZs Si£ J i i w f U M l Perry (Lab.) 1,248 Parr (Labor.(?) 323 T~?|fe u l l (Lib.).... ifm A t l i n McLaren (Lab.) 1.164 Young (Cons.). 236 Stebbings (Soc.)... 9*B6 Kirkland (Lab.) 202 Monck (Ind.) 910 — Griffiths (SLP).... 284 (CPG, 1905, pp. 440-443, and Vancouver Province. October 5, 1903, p. I ) . Note: CPG i s very unreliable for party affiliaTIon in 1903 and 1907 elections. 2 9 5 Nanaimo Herald. September 23, 1904. 195 comparatively unknown Socialist, he carried Nanaimo City with d i f f i c u l t y and lost the mining centers of Northfield and 296 Ladysmith to the Socialist. Smith had always made his elec-tion appeals as broad as possible — indeed, practically uni-versal, and he explained in this election, \"I an a Liberal, I cannot be only a Trades Unionist,\" since the only unions in the 297 riding were at Nanaimo, Ladysmith, and Mt. Sicker. He had so far over-stepped the bounds of laborism that even the Herald, after the election, referred to him as \"the Liberal member-e l e c t . \" 2 9 8 What must be regarded as the f i n a l blow to the p o l i -t i c a l laborism of this period was struck i n October, 1906, 299 right after the T.L.C.C. convention in Victoria. At the con-vention ... a resolution was passed that while the congress af-firms the individual right of the wage earners of Can-ada to organize themselves, either Socialist or Indep-endent Labor, separate from Congress, that i t wi l l be 9 Q C — — — — — — — — — — — _ — _ — — — — The mining centers went as follows: Smith (Lib.Lab.) Wolley (Cons.) Fenton (Soc.) Nanaimo 382 250 377 S. Wellington 11 6 7 Northfield 15 11 53 Ladysmith 165 140 183 Mt. Sicker 23 19 18 Ibid.. November 6, 1904. Nanaimo Free Press. October 4, 1904, p. 1. 2 9 8 November 4, 1904. 2 9 9 In September of that year the Vancouver T.& L.C. resumed i t s a f f i l i a t i o n to the national body, and named delegates to the convention. \"VTLCM,\" September 5, 1906. 196 for the best Interest of the wage workers i f they w i l l voluntarily sever their connection with a l l parties not organized in the interests of the proletarian class. 300 To f i l l the gap thus created, Congress endeavored to create a national Labor Party on the lines of the local Labor Parties which had existed over the past several years. It 301 recommended a platform for this proposed Canadian Labor Party, set up the machinery for i t s organization upon a provincial basis, and then disbanded for the year. The convention to organize the British Columbia sec-tion of the Canadian Labor Party was called for October 29. It took place in Vancouver under the authority of G.F. Gray, who had been named by the T.L.C.C. as British Columbia vice-president of the C.L.P. It included representatives of a number of unions on the Coast, as well as delegates from the W.F.M. locals in the I n t e r i o r . 3 0 2 The f i r s t d i f f i c u l t y of the meeting was over the chairmanship. In the process of nominating of a chairman, i t became noticeable that none of the more influential delegates wanted that position for himself; each preferred to remain free to use the floor. At last Francis Williams was persuaded to preside over what promised to be a l i v e l y meeting. It had been understood that voting in the convention would be held to one vote for each delegate. Now William Me-3 0 0 Vancouver World. September 18, 1906, p. 1. vide Appendix, p.xxx. 3 0 2 The account of this convention i s based upon f u l l re-porting in the Vancouver World. October 29, 30, 31, 1906, in the Vancouver Province, same dates, and the Western Clarion, November 3, 1906, p. 1. 197 Kenzie of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, seconded by F.B. Shearme of the Britannia M.U., proposed that votes should he apportioned to delegates according to the num-ber of unionists they represented. This provoked a considerable amount of debate, but was f i n a l l y passed by the narrow margin of 26-23. The damage had been done. D.A. No. 6 of the W.F.M. had already endorsed the Socialist Party, and i t had the sup-port of the Crow's Nest Pass coal miners and of a few other unions. The necessary report on union membership showed that the W.F.M. delegates alone represented 4,063 unionists, while a l l the others represented only 2,610. Upon the voting strength being calculated, the metal miners were allowed a total of 81 votes as against 61 for the other delegates. The axe was ready to f a l l upon the Canadian labor Party i n British Columbia, and the blow was not delayed. William Davidson, M.L.A., recently converted to socialism, introduced a resolution condemning the formation of a Labor 303 Party and ca l l i n g for support of the Socialist Party. He was seconded by Archie Berry of the Rossland M.U. The resolu-tion passed by a vote of 90-12, with 42 abstentions, and with i t passed the f i r s t period of labor p o l i t i c a l action in British Columbia. Vide Appendix, p. xxxvi. CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND REFLECTIONS i . Of coarse, the capture of the Canadian Labor Party convention by the supporters of the Socialist Party did not mean the end of p o l i t i c a l laborism in British Columbia. As soon as the passage of Davidson's resolution became a practical certainty Gray, Williams and twenty of their supporters l e f t the meeting and held a \"rump\" convention of their own. This group decided to continue the attempt to organize the Canadian Labor Party. It made some amendments to the platform proposed by the T.L.C.C, the most important being rejection of the \"minimum Wagen and \"collective ownership* clauses, and then adjourned to commence the work of organization. 1 The new Labor Party was not very successful in or-ganizing the workers. Its main center was Victoria, where Gray lived, and by this time Victoria was much less of a workers town than i t had been in the earlier years of rapid construction and expansion. In the 1907 provincial election the four Vic-toria seats were contested by two Labor Party candidates and two Socialist Party nominees. In Vancouver five Socialists appeared, but only Francis Williams represented the Labor Party. In Cranbrook, Edward Kelly advanced a platform based upon that Vancouver World. October 31, 1906, p. 8. 199 prepared for Davidson^ 1903 campaign in Slocan — a last faint echo of the Kamloops convention of 1902. Harry Sheppard again contested Hawthornthwaite's seat i n Nanaimo. None of these o Laborites was elected. In contrast to these five Laborites, twenty-two Soc-i a l i s t s contested the 1907 election and of them three, Haw-thornthwaite , Williams, and John Mcl^nnls^^f^ Grand Forks, were successful. The Socialist Party had definitely become the poli-t i c a l expression of discontent among the British Colombia workers. The ascendancy of the Socialist Party never became quite complete. In 1910 the Vancouver T.& L.C. went so far as to prepare a platform of i t s own, but i t did not carry i t into an election campaign. The Socialist Party was also challenged by the rise of the Social Democratic Party after 1911. This party, reformist and not revolutionary, succeeded in winning over Parker Williams and in addition elected Jack Place as M.L.A. for Nanaimo. In 1917 i t was absorbed into the Federated Labor A Party, a creation of the British Columbia Federation of Labor. The formation of the F.L.P., together with the nation-wide cam-paign of the labor movement in 1917 against the introduction of conscription, marked the re-assertion of laborism as the dominant 2 CPG, 1908, i s useless as a guide to the 1907 election i n British-\"Columbia. It utterly confuses Labor, Socialist, and Liberal candidates, and should be used only i n conjunction with contemporary newspapers. 3 \"VTLCM,\" April 10 and May 2, 1910. 4 Bennett, op. c i t . . p. 141. p o l i t i c a l attitude of the British Columbia workers, and the end of the major period of so c i a l i s t p o l i t i c a l action. The Socialist Party of Canada had opposed the World 5 War in 1914, and maintained i t s opposition as long as the war continued. This stand caused many members and supporters to f a l l away, usually seeking refuge in the milder Social Demo-cratic Party. The October, 1917 revolution in Russia inspired the more impatient members of the Socialist Party to \"throw away the books\" and prepare for violent action. The energies of many prominent Socialists were diverted into the formation of the syndicalist One Big Union in 1919. These men had become disillusioned with p o l i t i c a l action, but retained their faith in the necessity of transforming society. Their energies were, on the whole, soon returned to p o l i t i c s . The three years 1917-18-19, Bennett says, \"... rep-resent one long continued strike in B.C., breaking out i n one 6 place now, another place next.\" Concessions were won by the workers, but the most important strike of the period was broken by state intervention. The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 collapsed under police and military pressure, and sympathetic strikes in other Western c i t i e s were called off. The failure of large-scale industrial action weakened the appeal of syn-dicalism, and turned the ideas of many workers back to p o l i -Socialist Party of Canada, Dominion Executive Committee, Manifesto to the Workers of Canada. Vancouver, August 6, 1914. 6 OP. c i t . , p. 86. 201 t i c s . 7 The p o l i t i c a l action of the 1920*s took two forms. On the one hand, the Federated Labor Party and independent labor candidates accepted the major premises of capitalist soc-iety and endeavored to obtain reforms for the workers. On the other hand, the Leninists s p l i t off from the Socialist Party and in 1921 formed the Workers1 Party. This organization agi-tated for immediate reforms, bat also strove to prepare for social revolution. Of the two movements, the revived laborism was by far the more noticeable on the p o l i t i c a l f i e l d . It ran candidates in elections throughout the 1920's, and succeeded in getting some elected. In 1920 Tom UphilLwon the Fernie seat, which he s t i l l occupies; at the same time R.H. Neelands was elected for the f i r s t of two terms from South Vancouver, and Sam Guthrie became the member for Newcastle. In 1925 A.W. N e i l l was elected by Comox-Alberni as an Independent Labor M.P,, and in 1930 Angus Maclnnis won the South Vancouver federal seat with the 9 supj>o£t_oj^jthj*JL^ i\\f D In 1920 there were three labor members of the British Columbia legislature, but i n 1930 there was only one, Tom Uphill. This decline i n strength demanded a re-appraisal of labor p o l i -t i c a l action, and the depression of the following years added „ -I Robert W. P r i t t i e , \"Some Aspects of the History of the Winnipeg General Sympathetic Strike, etc.,\" Vancouver, Univer-sity of British Columbia, 1947, unpublished graduating essay, p. 51. Vide also Bennett, op, c i t . . pp. 89-91, for an account of the sympathetic strike in Vancouver. 8 P r i t t i e , op. c i t . . p. 55. 9 Bennett, op. c i t . . p. 148. 202 weight to the demand. The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was organized as a loose grouping of labor, farm, and s o c i a l i s t i c elements, national in scope but with i t s main strength i n the western provinces. In the 1933 election i t contested nearly every seat in British Columbia, and saw seven of i t s members elected. In the following years i t maintained i t s e l f as a major p o l i t i c a l force in the province, although often rent by disputes among the component groups. The radical wing of the party has been much weakened over the years by the retirement from active work of some of i t s leaders, and by the \"mellowing11 of others. The other two groups have come to dominate the party, their victory having been f a i r l y well established at the 1951 provincial convention in Vancouver. Part of this process may be attributed to the growth of unionist influence within the C.C.F. After the resolution of the post-war struggle between C.C.F. and L.P.P. elements for control of the Canadian Congress of Labor unions i n British Columbia, the British Columbia Federation of Labor (C.C.L.) has tended to give increasing p o l i t i c a l support to the C.C.F. Prominent members of the C.C.L. unions, such as George Home, James Bury, Rae Eddie, and Tom Barnett have successfully con-tested seats in the interests of the C.C.F. A smaller number of T.& L.C. leaders, including Tom Alsbury, now president of the Vancouver T.& L.C, have similarly identified themselves with the C.C.F. Although the C.C.F. has traditionally attempted to represent the interests of both labor and farm groups, the 203 recent growth of o f f i c i a l labor support (and, concomitantly, of the influence of union leaders in the party) seems l i k e l y to bring about a re-orientation of C.C.F. policy within the pro-vince. The growth of the Social Credit Party, which party ap-pears to be based mainly upon farm and small business support and has aroused the opposition of many labor leaders, may accelerate the process of turning the C.C.F. in British Colum-bia into an orthodox Labor Party based upon the unions. Such a development would be a major re-alignment of p o l i t i c a l forces in the province; i t s total effect would be extremely d i f f i c u l t to foresee at this time. Bearing in mind this present tendency, a study of labor p o l i t i c a l action in the period 1879-1906 has i t s value. That was a time of experimentation. British Columbia labor at-tempted various techniques of obtaining favorable legislation. P o l i t i c a l parties identifying themselves with the labor cause but unconnected with the unions, such as the Nationalist Party, the Nanaimo Labor Party, and the Socialist Party were not res-ponsible to the unions and were not directly supported by the unions. Hence they tended to lose the support of the unions by merging with established parties, as did the Nationalist and Nanaimo Labor Parties, or by advocating measures not compatible with the immediate aims of trade unionism, as did the Socialist Party. Individual candidates of old-line parties, such as those endorsed by the W.F.M. in 1900, were subject to party policy and could not be relied upon for consistent action in favor of labor. The M.M.L.P.A. of Nanaimo in 1890 and the Vancouver T.& L.C. in 1900 acted directly in p o l i t i c s , nominating candidates 204 and running their campaigns. This gave the unions control of labor representatives, but also brought p o l i t i c a l issues and dissension into the unions. In Vancouver, the T.& L.C. tried the expedient of setting up a party distinct from the unions yet at the same time dependent upon the Council for i t s exis-tence. This anomaly appears to have had l i t t l e success; i t did not remove p o l i t i c s from the Council, 1 0 but i t did cause a very confused situation which prevented effective action. Another d i f f i c u l t y with labor p o l i t i c a l action appears to be a lack of agreement between the union o f f i c i a l s and the membersi Evidence for i t i s the small vote often polled by union-sponsored candidates, even in constituencies where or-ganized labor was very strong. The union leaders might c a l l for p o l i t i c a l action and be nominated as labor candidates, but the union members would not necessarily vote for them. This was the case with Francis Williams and Joseph Dixon in Vancouver in 1900; similar lack of support caused the defeat of Joe White in Nanaimo in 1945 and of James Bury in Vancouver Centre in 195a, (to note only two instances). Labor p o l i t i c a l action has been too often the work of a few active leaders, not representing the sentiments or desires of the unionists as a whole. An exception must be made to the generalization. The Labor and Socialist candidates sponsored or endorsed by the Western Federation of Miners and by the coal miners' unions did enjoy the support of the majority of unionists in their areas, 1 0 Cf. Foley's candidature in 1902-1903; v. sup.. pp. 167-169. 205 as shown by the large votes which they regularly polled. This i s best explained by the fact that, of a l l the workers of Br i -tish Columbia, the miners were the most proletarianized. They had been furthest divorced from the tools of production; the miners l i v i n g in any one town were usually employees of one company, l i v i n g under f a i r l y uniform conditions and a l l having much the same economic problems. Such a situation tended to make for a homogeneity of outlook and the growth of a class s p i r i t ; the diversified economic and social pattern of Vancouver would produce a less united labor movement. In assessing the p o l i t i c a l action of labor to-day in relation to that of half a century ago, these economic factors must be taken into account. To what degree are the workers of to-day, with the expansion of government employment and the most recent growth of big industry (for example, Alcan and Frobisher in aluminum production and Hacmillan-Bloedel in wood products) becoming more uniform in their employment? To what extent are housing projects and apartments making them more uniform in their home and social l i f e ? To what extent does the current 11 distribution of wealth lead them to feel poor or rich? In general, how strong are the modern economic and social factors favoring the development of a sense of class unity? To answer these questions, as well as others of a similar nature, would require the assistance of economists and sociologists. The questions cannot be answered in this study, ; : ; : . , , , Poverty and wealth being relative and not absolute terms, determined by the experience of the individual rather than by a set standard of possessions. 206 which deals with another topic. However, the writer feels that the events and courses of action outlined in this work are r e l -evant to the current p o l i t i c a l situation i n British Columbia, and that consideration of them w i l l assist in understanding present developments. One point needs to be made with reference to the re-lationship between this study and other writings i n the general f i e l d of British Columbia labor and reform p o l i t i c a l action. An H.A. thesis has been written on the so c i a l i s t movement here, 12 and a graduating essay on the C.C.F. In addition, articles on and discussions of the C.C.F. and the labor movement appear f a i r l y frequently i n the public press and other quarters. The matters dealt with here are basic to the development of B r i -tish Columbia labor in i t s p o l i t i c a l aspects during the past half-century, and should be considered in connection with any study of that development. This thesis, then, may be regarded as in some part an attempt to complement these other writings by providing them with a background i n time, against which the events they describe may be seen more clearly. In a l l the history of p o l i t i c a l action by.labor, there i s one strong criticism which may be made from the viewpoint of democratic content. The tendency was always to build up leaders \" 4*'\" ' Ronald Grantham, \"Some Aspects of the Socialist Movement in British Columbia, 1898-1933,\" Vancouver, University of B r i -tish Columbia, 1942, unpublished H.A. thesis. Douglas Patterson Clark, \"Some Aspects of the Development of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation i n British Columbia, Vancouver, University of British Columbia, 1945, unpublished graduating essay. 207 who came to expect — and i f they were at a l l successful in p o l i t i c s , received — loyalty and deference from the workers 13 which sometimes reached nauseating proportions. From being the agents of the workers the p o l i t i c a l representatives tended to become rulers of the workers, invested with a new kind of 1 A \"divine right.\" Sometimes the ruler was repudiated, as Ralph Smith was repudiated by the miners of Nanaimo, but he was usu-a l l y replaced by a more congenial leader: Hawthornthwaite suc-ceeded, for a time, to the throne of Smith. The basic c r i -ticism of parliamentary action was expressed most lucidly by Anton Pannekoek, the Dutch Marxist theoretician, when he wrote: Le pariementarisne est l a forme typique de l a lutte par le moyen des chefs, ou les masses elles-m&mes jouent un rftle secdndaire. Sa pratique consiste dans l a f a i t que des deputes, des personnalites particulieres, menent l a lutte essentielle. l i s doivent, par consequent, eveiller dans les masses 1'illusion que d'autres peuvent mener l a lutte pour elles. Jadis on croyait que les chefs pourraient obtenir des r£formes importantes pour les ouvriers par l a vole parlementaire, ou meme avait COOTS 1'illusion que les parlementaires pourraient realiser l a revolution socialiste par des me'sures legislatives.... Mais toujours 1'importance decisive est attribute aux chefs. Natur-ellement, se sont dans cette situation les gens du metier qui dirigent l a politique — au besoin sous le dlguise-ment democratique des discussions et resolutions de congrfes.15 Pannekoek's criticism was directed specifically at the Social Democracy of his day, and Gorter turned i t against Bolshevism; i t applies equally well to p o l i t i c a l laborism, and, Cf. remarks on Ralph Smith, quoted on p. 141, n.165. 1 4 For a discussion of the p o l i t i c a l phenomenon known as \"Bonapartism,\" vide James Burnham, The Machiavellians, New York, John Day, 1943, pp. 152-162, 238-24\"?! • l 5 Quoted in Herman Gorter, Re\" pons e \"k Lenine. (1920), Librairie Ouvriere, Paris, 1930, pp. 53-54. 2 0 8 indeed, to almost any p o l i t i c a l organization or movement. The problem has not yet been solved. It i s the opinion of the writer that the tendency toward acceptance and adulation of leaders i s essentially anti-democratic, and that the failure and breakdown of consciously pro-democratic p o l i t i c a l movements can often be traced to this \"leadership complex,\" which destroys within the organization what the organization seeks i n society as a whole. The answer to this dilemma i s s t i l l a matter of dis-pute. The most reasonable remedy appears to involve a constant c r i t i c a l watchfulness over those in positions of trust, and an individual determination to make one's own decisions. The treatment may be d i f f i c u l t to prepare and unpleasant to apply, but nothing else seems to come near curing the malady. In summing up, the writer wishes to draw attention to three points. F i r s t , this work has a certain direct rele-vance to present p o l i t i c a l developments i n British Columbia and may be useful in an analysis of these developments. Second, i t should not be regarded as a completely self-contained unit. Rather, i t deals with one period in a continuing process, and should be considered as complementary to studies of later parts of the process. Third, i t points up certain d i f f i c u l t i e s which labor p o l i t i c a l action has encountered in the past, and which have also been a source of weakness to non-labor p o l i t i c a l groups. No ready solution for these d i f f i c u l t i e s i s propounded within the limits of this topic. The prescription of remedial measures would take us out of the f i e l d of historical study and 209 into that of po l i t i c s i t s e l f , and i s therefore not warranted in a work of this type. The writer has conceived of this thesis as a recounting of past events and, where possible, analysis of those events in relation to their own environ-ment and to present conditions. No more than that has been attempted here. The f i e l d of history dealt with i n this thesis has many complexities, and the significance of i t s events i s often obscured by a lack of records. The writer has endeavored as far as possible to c l a r i f y i t s trends and indicate their importance. He hopes that his efforts w i l l be of use to others who w i l l work in the f i e l d of British Columbia history. * * *-210 BIBLIOGRAPHY I. UNPUBLISHED MATERIALS 1. Manuscript Sonrces Shilland, Andy, \"Correspondence and other papers,\" held by T r a i l and District Smelter Workers' Union, 910 Portland St., T r a i l , B. C. Shilland was secretary of the Sandon Miners' Union and the Sandon Socialist Party, ca. 1900-1918. The papers are unsorted, and are mixed with the papers of Thomas B. Roberts, secretary of the One Big Union, Sandon,ca. 1919-1930. A valuable source of information on many aspects of labor history. Vancouver Trades and Labor Council, \"Minutes,\" held by Vancouver T.& L.C, 307 West Broadway, Vancouver, B.C. Files of the \"Minutes\" are incomplete, due to losses at the time of the O.B.U. s p l i t , 1919. Extant \"Minutes\" run from November 21, 1889, to December 17, 1897, from April 20, 1902, to January 20, 1916, and from August 7, 1919, to date. As the actual and immediate records of discussions and decisions, these papers are of very great value. 2. Interviews Dunning, \"Happie,\" (Vancouver) has given the writer con -siderable information on the l i f e of the metal-miners and i t s effect on their attitude. (Septem-ber, 1954). Mr. Dunning was i n Ymir in 1903 and succeeding years, and i n the Rossland area around 1920. His knowledge of the miners' movement i s both broad and deep. Lewis', Lew, (Nanaimo) was able to give the writer (Aug-ust, 1954) some background material on Vancouver Island coal-mining early i n the century. Mr. Lewis came to the Nanaimo area around 1901, and spent most of his working l i f e in the mines there and in Washington State. P h i l l i p s , Dai, (Fernie) gave the writer some useful information on coal-mining in the Crow's Nest Pass area. (December, 1953). Mr. Phillips was working in the d i s t r i c t as early as 1902, and i s very fam-i l i a r with early p o l i t i c a l and social conditions there. 211 Ph i l l i p s , B i l l , (Fernie) was able to give the writer material on labor matters in the southern and sooth-eastern mountains (December, 1953). Mr. Phillips was at one time a very active union organizer. He was for many years associated closely with Tom Uphill's p o l i t i c a l campaigns. Phillipson, Jimmy, (Nanaimo) supplied the writer with information on the Socialist Party and Ralph Smith. (August, 1954). Mr. Phillipson has lived i n the Nanaimo area since 1907, and has always been ac-tive in p o l i t i c s . 3. Unpublished Theses, etc. Clark, Douglas Patterson, \"Some Aspects of the Develop* ment of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation in British Columbia,1* a graduating essay at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 1945. Useful in relating this thesis to more recent developments. Grantham, Ronald, \"Some Aspects of the Socialist Hove- J ment in British Columbia, 1898-1933,\" an M.A. thesis at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 1942. Of limited direct use to this topic. Good for relating the topic to later events. P r i t t i e , Robert W., \"Some Aspects of the History of the Winnipeg General Sympathetic Strike, etc.,\" a graduating essay at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 1947. Deals directly with the revival of laborism i n Western Canada after 1919. Underbill, H. Fabian, \"Labor Legislation i n British Columbia,\" a Ph.D. dissertation at the University of California, Berkeley, 1935. (Copy i n Provin-c i a l Library, Victoria, B.C.). A very useful factual history of provincial legis-lation affecting labor. A minimum of interpre-tation. Wrinch, Leonard A., \"Land Policy of the Colony of Van-couver Island, 1849-1866,\" an M.A. thesis at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 1932. Valuable background material on one of the major issues of labor p o l i t i c a l action in this province. PRINTED WORKS 1. Government Publications British Columbia, Legislative Assembly, Journals. Victoria, Queen's (King's) Printer, 1890-1906. An essential reference for a c t i v i t i e s in the provincial House, including b i l l s introduced, their disposal, and voting records of the Members. It also contains the following useful Reports of Select Committees: 1891, p. c c x l i \"Wellington Strike.\" 1891, \"Attack on Funeral Procession of E l l i c e Roberts,\" p. lxv. 1900, \"Calling out M i l i t i a at Steveston,\" p. c x l i . British Columbia, Legislative Assembly, Sessional Papers Victoria, Queen's (King's) Printer, 1890*1906. The following items were especially relevant: 1891, p. 311, \"Correspondence — Sending M i l i t i a to Wellington.\" (1890). 1894, Vol. I, p. 1005, \"Labour S t a t i s t i c s . \" 1898, p. 963, \"Correspondence Respecting Alien Labor Act 1897.\" 1900, p. 1005, \"Correspondence respecting Fishermen's Strike at Steveston.\" 1900, pp. 463, 451, \"Correspondence Respecting Eight Hour Law.\" 1900, p. 497, \"Correspondence Respecting Labour Regu-lation Act.\" 1901, p. 629, \"Correspondence Respecting Acts of 1900.\" 1903, p. J9, \"Report of Commission on Coal Mines Ex-plosions.\" 1903, CI, \"Fernie Coal Mines Explosion.\" British Columbia, Legislative Assembly, Statutes. Vic* toria, Queen's (King's) Printer, 1890-1906. A necessary source for the exact content of measures passed into law. Canada, Government, Census of Canada, Ottawa, Queen's (King's) Printer, 1861*1911.. The decennial reports of population changes, esp* eci a l l y concerning national origins, are highly relevant to this topic. Canada, Department of Labour, Labour Gazette. Ottawa, King's Printer, 1900-1906. Deals with the economic and legal aspects of labor in Canada; very useful. 213 Canada, Department of Labour, Labour Legislation in Canada. Ottawa, King's Printer, 1945. A historical survey of federal and provincial legislation on labor matters. A convenient factual record. Canada, Parliament, House of Commons, O f f i c i a l Report of Debates. Ottawa, Queen's (King's) Printer, 1896-1906. Vide indexes for references to the parliamentary work\" of Maxwell (1896-1902) and Smith (1900-1906). 2. Periodicals and Newspapers (by place of publication) Ferguson, British Columbia Lardeau Eagle From 1898 to 1901 this paper was edited by \"Parm'' Pettipiece, and was consistently devoted to the cause of labor and socialism. A useful source of information and comment during the years noted. (Known for the f i r s t few issues as Ferguson Eagle). Nanaimo, British Columbia Nanaimo Free Press Throughout the period 1886-1906 this paper devoted considerable space to labor news (1898 excepted). Its reporting was eminently f a i r and honest. Nanaimo Herald This paper was published for several years from 1899 onward. Although i t specialized in labor news, i t s partisanship for Ralph Smith rendered i t s reporting unreliable. Useful when checked against the Free Press. New Westminster, British Columbia British Columbian Gave l i t t l e coverage to labor matters i n the years consulted (1886-1894). Rossland, British Columbia Rossland Industrial World The o f f i c i a l organ of District Association No. 6, Western Federation of Miners. Endorsed by the Rossland T.& L.C. A good source for o f f i c i a l lab-or policy from ca. 1398. 214 Sandon, British Columbia Sandon Paystreak The editor, William McAdams, was a radical of independent temperament. He supported the miners, socialism, and the Provincial Progressive Party, but fearlessly c r i t i c i z e d any apparent weaknesses in the labor movement. The Paystreak f i l e s for 1899-1902 are both useful and entertaining. Toronto, Ontario Citizen and Country A s o c i a l i s t i c newspaper which in 1902 was moved to Vancouver and became the Canadian Socialist (c. v). Vancouver, British Columbia British Columbia Federationist O f f i c i a l organ of the Vancouver T.& L.C. and the B.C. Federation of Labor from 1911 onward. Rele-vant to this topic only for two historical a r t i c l e s (v. i n f r a . \"Articles.*'). Appeared for a short time i n 1895. Although noted by Bennett.(op. c i t . , p. 127). as a labor paper, perusal of i t s f i l e s discloses nothing of especial relevance to this topic. Canadian Socialist Edited by \"Farm\" Fettipiece in 1902. Changed name to Western Socialist, (c.v.) Quite useful in ref-erence to the growth of socialism. Daily Hews-Advertiser Operated by Francis Carter-Cotton in the 1890•s and early 1900•s. In general, a good source. Conser-vative viewpoint. Daily Province A very useful source, consulted for the years 1903-1906. Conservative viewpoint. Daily World Fa i r l y f u l l labor and p o l i t i c a l reporting through-out the period 1894-1906, but a tendency toward sensationalism. Should be used with caution. Lib-eral in p o l i t i c s . Independent Ran from 1900 to 1905 as the organ of the Vancouver T.& L.C. An essential source for o f f i c i a l labor policy and for labor matters in general. 215 People's Journal Ran from February to June, 1893, under the editor-ship of 6.F. Leaper, a member of the Knights of Labor. Emphasized labor matters. Useful. Western Clarion Successor to the Western Socialist (q.v.), and endorsed by the Vancouver T.& L.C, the W.F.M., and the American Labor Union. Socialist to the eore. More interested in serious articles than in \"timely*1 topics. A valuable source, both for ideas and for factual information. Western Socialist Successor to the Canadian Socialist. Merged with (Nanaimo) Clarion i n 1903 to form the Western Clar- ion. Victoria, British Columbia British Columbia Workman Published for a few months i n 1899, with the endor-sation of the Victoria T.& L.C. Sympathetic to socialism. Moderately useful. Daily Colonist A good and generally reliable source. Strong i n t -erest in p o l i t i c s . Consulted for important mat-ters in the period 1879-1906. Daily Standard Useful for the years 1879-1886, especially to complement the Colonist. Industrial Mews Published from December 1885 to December 1886 by J.M. Duval, a member of the Knights of Labor and a candidate in the 1886 provincial election. Essen-t i a l to a study of labor's part in that election. 3. Books (a) Works of Reference Gemmill, J.A., (ed.), The Canadian Parliamentary Com-¥anion, Ottawa, J. Durie & Son, published irregu-arly\"until 1897. Ma gum, J. Arnott, The Parliamentary Guide, Ottawa, James Hope & Sons, 1899, Magurn, J . Araott, The Canadian Parliamentary Guide, Ottawa, published irregularly from 1901, 216 These works form a series containing current i n -formation on federal and provincial elections, elected members, and, in general, the parliamen-tary l i f e of the country. The series i s extremely valuable for reference, but the Guide for 1905 and 1908 contains many inaccuracies i n i t s British Columbia electoral reports. (b) Social and Economic Theory George, Henry, Progress and Poverty. Hew York, Schalk-enbach Foundation, 1935. Essential to c l a r i f i c a t i o n of labor p o l i t i c a l action in the period under study. The foundation of British Columbia labor's economic thought i n the 1890's. Marx, Karl, and Engels, Frederick, Manifesto of the Communist Party. Chicago, Kerr, 1915. Contains a number of specific recommendations for action by the working class. These recommendations had a strong effect on s o c i a l i s t i c programs. Marx, Karl, The C i v i l War in France. Hew York, Inter-national Publishers, 1940. In this work Marx analyzed and praised the p o l i t i -cal measures taken by the Paris Communards in 1871. The \"direct democracy\" principles involved in this episode influenced much of socialist thought. (c) British Columbia History Hartley, George, An Outline History of Typographical Union Ho. 226. 1887-1938. Vancouver. Typographical Union Ho. 226, 1938. Basically composed of extracts from the Union \"Minutes.\" Useful to this topic as a cross-reference. Begg, Alexander, History of British Columbia. Toronto, Briggs, 1894. Contains much of value i n the matter of social-economic development in the province (land grants, industrial growth). Bennett, William, Builders of British Columbia. Vancouver, 1937. The only recent history of the British Columbia labor movement i n general. A valuable guide to any de-tailed work i n this f i e l d . Communist viewpoint. 217 Howay, F.W., and Scholefield, E.O.S., British Colombia. Toronto, Clarke, 1913(?) 2 vols. An exhaustive history of the province. A useful source of economic and p o l i t i c a l backgrounds. (d) Extra-provincial Labor and Reform Bimba, Anthony, The History of the American Working Class. Hew York, International Publishers, 1936. A convenient reference for outside influences. Communist viewpoint. Brissenden, Paul W., The I.W.W.. Hew York, Columbia University, 1920. A very sympathetic study of the Industrial Workers of the World. Useful here for i t s references to the W.F.M. Commons, J.R., et a l . . History of Labour i n the United States. Hew York, Macmillan, 1918-35, 4 vols. Dulles, Foster Rhea, Labor i n America, Hew York, Crowell, 1949. ! ' Sympathetic to \"moderate* unionism. Should be used in conjunction with Bimba1s work. Logan, H.A., Trade Unions in Canada. Their Development and Functioning. Toronto. Macmillan. 1948. The basic work on Canadian unionism i n i t s various aspects. Morton, William Lewis, The Progressive Party in Canada. Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1950. A thorough study of the Western farmer in p o l i t i c s , ca. 1919-1930. Could be made the basis of some interesting comparisons with the contemporary p o l i t i c s of labor. Reynolds, LI. G., The British Immigrant; His Social and Economic Adjustment to Canada. Oxford. 1935. Has some useful information on the British immigra-tion to this province i n relation to the local labor movement. Sharp, Paul Frederick, The Agrarian Revolt i n Western Canada, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 1948. Hot very relevant to this topic, except as a basis for comparing the p o l i t i c a l ideas of the prairie farmers with those of the British Columbia wage-workers . Webb, Sidney and Beatrice, The History of Trade Unionism. London, Longmans, 1950. The definitive study of British unionism. A good source of background material. Articles (a) Signed Bartley, George, \"The Rise of the Labor Press,* British Columbia Federationist. November 9, 1917, pp. 1,2. An excellent guide to \"labor\" newspapers in B r i -tish Columbia, 1860-1917. Dobie, Edith, \"Some Aspects of Party History in B r i -tish Columbia, 1871-1903,\" Pacific Historical Review. June, 1932, pp. 235-251. Useful, i n that i t parallels the present topic in the f i e l d of orthodox p o l i t i c s . Saywell, John T., \"Labour and Socialism i n British Columbia: A Survey of Historical Development before 1903,\" British Columbia Historical Quar- terly. Archives of British Columbia, Victoria, July-October, 1951, pp. 129-150. A very good introduction to the study of this per-iod and f i e l d . Saywell, John T., \"The Mclnnes Incident i n British Colum-bia, * British Columbia Historical Quarterly. Archives of British Columbia, Victoria, July, 1950, pp. 141-166. This a r t i c l e i s based upon an H.A. thesis by the same author. It throws considerable light upon the 1900 provincial election, and i s thus of value to the present topic. (b) Anonymous \"Brief Historical Review,* Western Clarion. January 12, 1907, pp. 1,2,3. An excellent history of the growth of the Social-i s t Party in British Columbia to 1907. A very use-f u l reference. 219 \"Class War in Local House,\" western Clarion. January 12, 1907, pp. 1, 4. A thorough and well-documented study of labor leg-i s l a t i o n in British Columbia from 1901 to 1907: mainly centered about the work of Hawthornthwaite. \"Twenty-Five Years of B.C. Movement,\" British Columbia Federationist. November 18, 1911 to Hay 6, 1912. This was intended to be a serial history of union-ism i n the province, but was discontinued as of the date last noted. The seven parts which appeared covered the years 1886-1888 i n considerable detail. ADDENDUM F.W. Ho way, W.N. Sage, and H.F. Angus, British Columbia and the United States. Toronto, Ryerson, 1942. N.J. Ware, H.A. Logan, H.A. Innis, Labor in Canadian American Relations. Toronto, Ryerson, 1937. These books provide valuable background material for this topic. # # * A P P E N D I C E S APPENDICES Page I. Legislative Platforms and Resolutions. 1. Workingmen*s Platform, Victoria, 1886 . i 2. Workingmen's Election Appeal, Nanaimo, 1886 . . . . i i i 3. Typographical Union Resolution, Vancouver, 1890 . . v 4. Workingmen*s Platform, Nanaimo, 1890 . . . . . . . v i 5. Nationalist Party Platform, Vancouver, 1894 . . . . v i i i 6. Labor-Nationalist Civic Platform, Vancouver, 1895 . x 7. Workingman*s Platform, Nanaimo, 1894 x i 8. American Federation of Labor Platform, 1894 . . • . x i i i 9. Trades and Labor Congress of Canada Platform, 1898. xiv 10. United Labor Platform, 1900 xv 11. Trades and Labor Council Platform, Victoria, 1900 . xvi 12. Trades and Labor Council Platform, Vancouver, 1900.xvii 13. Labor Party Platform, Nanaimo, 1900 x v i i i 14. United Socialist Labor Party Platform, 1900 . . . . xxi 15. Labor Party Platform, Vancouver, 1900 x x i i i 16. Independent Labor Party Platform, Nelson, 1900. . xxiv 17. List of Delegates to Kamloops Labor Convention, 1902. . . . . . . . . . . xxv 18. Provincial Progressive Party Platform, 1902 . . . xxvii 19. Amendments to P.P.P. Platform, New Denver, 1903 . xxix 20. Socialist Party of British Columbia, \"Immediate Demands, • xxx 21. Socialist Party of British Columbia Platform, 1902 xxxi 22. \"Immediate Demands\" of S.P. Candidates, Vancouver, 1903 x x x i i i 23. \"Canadian Labor Party\" Resolution of T.L.C.C, 1906 xxxiv 24. Canadian Labor Party Platform, 1906 xxxv 25. \"Socialist Party\" Resolution at C.L.P. Convention, 1906 xxxvi 26. Labor Party Platform, Cranbrook, 1907 xxxvii II. Explanatory Key to Abbreviations Used in Thesis xxxviii * * * i WORKINGHES »S PLATFORM ( V i c t o r i a , May 1886) 1. t h a t the p r i n c i p l e o f Rep re sen t a t i v e Government a ims a t the g r e a t e s t good o f the g r e a t e s t number, and whereas the l e g i s -l a t i o n o f the c o u n t r y has h i t h e r t o been p r i n c i p a l l y d i r e c t e d by the w e a l t h i e r p a r t o f the community, we b e l i e v e the t ime has t ime when the t o i l i n g masses s h o u l d have r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s on the f l o o r o f the House o f Assembly t o advoca te t h e i r i n t e r -e s t s , men who unders tand t h e i r n e e d s , and w i l l l a b o r f o r the i n d u s t r i a l p r o s p e r i t y o f the p r o v i n c e . 2. That the p u b l i c domain i s the h e r i t a g e o f the p e o p l e , and expe r i ence has proved t h a t the a g g r e g a t i o n o f l a r g e q u a n t i t i e s o f l a n d i n the hands o f c o r p o r a t i o n s and i n d i v i d u a l s i s i n i -m i c a l to the bes t i n t e r e s t s o f the p r o v i n c e and the Domin ion , and as the Pa r l i amen t o f the U n i t e d Kingdom i s now l e g i s l a t -i n g t o break up the l a r g e l anded e s t a t e s i n I r e l a n d , r e c o g n i z -i n g the p r i n c i p l e t ha t a monopoly o f l a n d i s an unm i t i g a t ed e v i l , we v iew wi th a l a r m the p o l i c y o f the p r e s e n t government o f the p r o v i n c e i n a l i e n a t i n g l a r g e a r ea s o f the p u b l i c domain as conduc i ve to monopoly , d e t r i m e n t a l t o the bes t i n t e r e s t s o f the p e o p l e , and c a l c u l a t e d to burden coming g e n e r a t i o n s w i th the worst s o r t o f f u e d a l i s m , — and t h e r e f o r e we demand t h a t what i s l e f t o f the p u b l i c l a n d s h a l l be r e s e r v e d f o r a c t u a l s e t t l e m e n t , and t h a t a l l l a n d s h e l d f o r s p e c u l a t i v e purposes t o be t axed t o t h e i r f u l l v a l u e . 3. That we condemn the p o l i c y o f c r e a t i n g and f o s t e r i n g mono» p o l i e s , as they p revent l e g i t i m a t e c o m p e t i t i o n and enab le a v a r i -c i o u s c o r p o r a t i o n s and i n d i v i d u a l s t o impose an i n j u s t burden on the p e o p l e , t h a t the a c t s o f the House o f Assembly i n the s p e c i a l l e g i s l a t i o n o f the l a s t s e s s i o n t o p r o t e c t the l e g a l and m e d i c a l p r o f e s s i o n s , the a p o t h e c a r i e s and d e n t i s t s was an a r b i t r a r y use o f t h e i r powers and we demand the r e p e a l o f such s p e c i a l l e g i s l a t i o n . 4. That a s t he l e g i t i m a t e r equ i r ements o f the P r o v i n c e f o r r oads and b r i d g e s n e c e s s i t a t e s a l a r g e expend i t u r e o f p u b l i c money, we condemn the ex t ravagant use o f p u b l i c money i n some f a v o r e d d i s t r i c t s t o the i n j u r y o f o t h e r s and demand an i m -p a r t i a l d i s t r i b u t i o n o f the p u b l i c p u r s e . 5. That as the g rea t m a j o r i t y o f the peop l e o f t h i s P r o v i n c e have r e p e a t e d l y exp ressed t h e i r w ishes a g a i n s t the con t i nued r e s i d e n c e i n t h i s p r o v i n c e o f l a r g e numbers o f C h i n e s e , and as the p r e s e n t government on a c c e p t i n g o f f i c e were p l edged t o abate the e v i l but they have u t t e r l y f a i l e d to redeem t h e i r p l edges and t h e i r a c t s have been l i t t l e more than a mockery and a f a r c e , we demand t h a t ou r r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s s h a l l i n t r o -duce and c a r r y out such l e g i s l a t i o n a s may be r e q u i r e d t o p e a c e f u l l y and l a w f u l l y a t t a i n t h i s end . i i 6 . That as the development o f the m i n e r a l r e s o u r c e s o f the p r o v i n c e c o n s t i t u t e s i t s c h i e f hope o f p r o s p e r i t y f o r the f u t u r e , i t i s the d u t y o f the government to adopt a b road and e n l i g h t e n e d p o l i c y to a i d i n the p r o s p e c t i n g and open ing up o f our m i n e r a l r e s o u r c e s , and f u r t h e r t h a t i t i s the du ty o f the government t o pass such measures as w i l l e f f e c t u a l l y p r o * t e c t the l i v e s o f m ine rs wh i l e engaged i n t h e i r p e r i l o u s a v o c a t i o n . 7. That a s the a r e a o f a g r i c u l t u r a l l a n d i n t h i s p r o v i n c e i s l i m i t e d , i t i s the duty o f the government t o r e n d e r e ve r y p o s s i b l e a i d t o the f a rmers i n s e t t l i n g i n t h i s P r o v i n c e , to a s c e r t a i n the l o c a l i t i e s bes t s u i t e d f o r s e t t l emen t and a s s i s t as p rompt ly as the s t a t e o f the t r e a s u r y w i l l a l l o w i n the open ing up o f r oads to new s e t t l e m e n t s and the f a c i l i t a t i n g to the s e t t l e r s the g e t t i n g t o and f rom the markets o f the p r o v i n c e , t r a n s p o r t a t i o n cha rges h i t h e r t o h a v i n g been a lmost p r o h i b i t o r y * 8. That as the m o r a l , i n t e l l e c t u a l and p h y s i c a l p r o g r e s s o f the peop l e s h o n l d be the f i r s t a im and o b j e c t o f a government o f the p e o p l e , and as the t o i l i n g masses throughout the Dom-i n i o n and a l s o the n e i g h b o r i n g r e p u b l i c a r e demanding a r e d a c -t i o n i n the hours o f l a b o r t o a t t a i n t h a t e n d , i t i s the du t y o f the r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s o f the peop l e to use eve ry l e g i t i m a t e means t o a i d the mass o f the peop le t o secu re t h e i r d e s i r e s and b r i n g about a c l o s e r f e e l i n g o f u n i t y between a l l c l a s s e s o f the community. 9 . That the i n t e r e s t o f law and o rde r and the p r e s e r v a t i o n o f the mora l s o f the community r e q u i r e a r e v i s i o n o f the l i c -ense law. 10 . That w i th the i n c r e a s e o f p o p u l a t i o n and the consequent m u l t i p l i c a t i o n o f d e a l i n g s i n r e a l e s t a t e the o l d cumbrous and expens ive mode o f conveyance i s each day becoming more one rous , and t h a t a more s imp le and i n e x p e n s i v e mode o f t r a n s f e r r i n g r e a l e s t a t e h a v i n g been found t o work advan tageous l y i n o t h e r B r i t i s h C o l o n i e s , we deem l e g i s l a t i o n t o s e cu re a s i m i l a r advantage i n B r i t i s h Co lumbia much needed and a r e o f o p i n i o n tha t i t s h o u l d be i n t r o d u c e d w i th a l l p o s s i b l e d e s p a t c h . And we a l s o demand t h a t some p r o v i s i o n be made f o r the more e x p e d -i t i o n s and l e s s c o s t l y r e c o v e r y o f s m a l l deb ts as a want much f e l t by the b u s i n e s s community i n g e n e r a l . 1 1 . R e p r e s e n t a t i v e s b e i n g e l e c t e d to g i v e v o i c e i n the h a l l s o f the l e g i s l a t u r e to the w e l l a s c e r t a i n e d wishes o f t h e i r e l e c t o r s , we t h i n k p r o v i s i o n s h o u l d be made by p l e d g e , i f no t by l aw , f o r the enforcement o f the r e s i g n a t i o n o f any member whose l i n e o f conduct has been u n q u e s t i o n a b l y shown t o be d i s -t a s t e f u l and u n s a t i s f a c t o r y to the m a j o r i t y o f the c o n s t i -t uen t s whom he r e p r e s e n t s . (Adopted a t a p u b l i c mee t ing i n V i c t o r i a Hay 2 7 , 1886; p r i n t e d i n I n d u s t r i a l Hews. May 2 9 ) . i i i WORKINGMEN1S CANDIDATES* ELECTION APPEAL (Nanaimo, 1886) To the E l e c t o r s o f Nanaimo E l e c t o r a l D i s t r i c t : Gent lemen, — H a v i n g r e c e i v e d the nomina t ion as the Workingmen*s C a n d i d a t e s , we come b e f o r e yon hop ing tha t we w i l l r e c e i v e you r suppor t i n the coming gene r a l e l e c t i o n f o r members to r e p r e s e n t your i n t e r e s t i n the P r o v i n c i a l L e g i s l a t u r e , And we t r u s t t ha t our p r i n c i p l e s and hones ty o f purpose i s w e l l known t o the g rea t m a j o r i t y o f the peop le o f Nanaimo C i t y and D i s t r i c t . We b e l i e v e i n and w i l l suppor t a law f o r the enforcement o f the r e s i g n a t i o n o f any member whose conduct i s not s t r i c t l y i n accordance w i th h i s p l edges g i v en t o h i s c o n s t i t u e n t s , when shown t o be d i s -s a t i s f i e d and u n s a t i s f a c t o r y t o the m a j o r i t y o f those whom he r e p r e s e n t s . We w i l l now p r e sen t f o r your c o n s i d e r a t i o n the f o l l o w i n g p r i n c i p l e s , t h a t we w i l l adopt and suppor t i f g i v e n you r c o n f i d -ence , and we do not doubt t ha t j u s t i c e w i l l p r e v a i l i n t i m e . I t i s now i n the i n t e r e s t o f a l l who a r e s u f f e r i n g f rom i n j u s -t i c e to endeavor t o has ten the day when j u s t i c e s h a l l be p r a c -t i c a b l e . The l a n d o f a c o u n t r y i s n a t u r e ' s t r u s t t o a l l i t s p e o p l e . The p roduce r s c r e a t e a l l wea l th by l a b o r f rom l a n d and Waters , and a l l men s h o u l d have a share i n N a t u r e ' s r e s o u r c e s . The o p p o s i t i o n to a l l laws under which p u b l i c l a n d now passes i n t o the hands o f c o r p o r a t i o n s , the most o f i t by f r a u d . The f o r f e i t u r e o f a l l unearned l a n d g r an t s to i n d i v i d u a l s and c o r -p o r a t i o n s . The p r o h i b i t i o n o f the p o s s e s s i o n o f l a n d t o f o r -e i g n e r s and n o n - r e s i d e n t s . The p a s s i n g o f a law d e f i n i n g the amount o f l a n d t o be a c q u i r e d o r h e l d by any one c i t i z e n by g i f t , purchase o r i n h e r i t a n c e . P r o t e c t i o n to the workingman f rom c o m p e t i t i o n w i th impor ted cheap l a b o r c o n t r a c t s ; Ch inese l a b o r and c o n v i c t p r i s o n l a b o r . The enactment o f such laws as w i l l g i v e t o Mechan ics and L a b o r e r s not o n l y a f i r s t l i e n on t h e i r work f o r t h e i r f u l l wages, but a l s o the l e g a l r i g h t t o c o l l e c t t h e s a i d wages wi thout any c o s t to them whatsoever i n the c o u r t s o r e l sewhere . The e s t ab l i shmen t o f an a r b i t r a t i o n board to s e t t l e d i s p u t e s between employees and emp loye r s , a n d r e n d e r s t r i k e s unnecessa ry . Temperance — the r e g u l a t i o n o f the L i q u o r t r a f f i c s h o u l d be d i r e c t l y i n the hands o f the p e o p l e . The e s t a b l i s h i n g a P r o v i n c i a l U n i v e r s i t y where a l l ean r e c e i v e a f r e e e d u c a t i o n . That a l l j u r o r s be p a i d f o r t h e i r t ime and expenses . The r e p e a l o f a l l p r o f e s s i o n a l and o t h e r monopo l i es t ha t e x i s t i n our P r o v i n c i a l S t a t u t e s . We a r e not i n f a v o r o f the p r e s e n t government o r any o t h e r government t h a t would g i v e away the p u b l i c l a n d s and g ran t mono-p o l i e s o f t he p e o p l e ' s r i g h t s ; a l l impor tan t laws s h o u l d be r e -f e r r e d to the p e o p l e , v i z : L and , Money, Commerce, P u b l i c Im-provements and F o r e i g n R e l a t i o n s . The enactment o f such laws i v as w i l l afford a more speedy, effectual and inexpensive remedy for employees who may have reasonable claims for damages against persons or corporations. We w i l l use our best en-deavors to encourage a l l honest industries and promote the interest of Capital and Labor so that they may work har-moniously to develop the resources of the Province. The above i s respectfully submitted to the Electors of Nanaimo Electoral D i s t r i c t . .... Samuel H. Myers, James Lewis. (Nanaimo Free Press. June 2, 1886, p. 2). V UNANIMOUS RESOLUTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION, VANCOUVER (7 F e b . , 1890) That whereas e ve r y male o f the age o f 21 y e a r s who has r e s i d e d i n any p o r t i o n o f the Dominion o f Canada, i s a B r i -t i s h s u b j e c t and who en joys an annua l income o f not l e s s than $350, i s e n t i t l e d to have h i s name p l a c e d on the v o t e r s ' l i s t o f the Dominion and t o c a s t a vo te f o r the e l e c t i o n o f any cand ida te f o r the F e d e r a l House o f Commons. And whereas any male o f the age o f 21 yea r s b e i n g a B r i t i s h s u b j e c t and hav i ng r e s i d e d i n t h i s P r o v i n c e f o r 12 months i n a c e r t a i n e l e c t o r a l d i s t r i c t , no t o the rw i se d i s -q u a l i f i e d i s e n t i t l e d , by h a v i n g h i s name p l a c e d on the P r o v i n c i a l v o t e r s l i s t to vo t e f o r any c a n d i d a t e f o r the B r i -t i s h Co lombia House o f Assembly . And whereas i t i s i m p e r a t i v e t ha t e ve r y male pe r son o f the C i t y o f Vancouver s i t u a t e d as s t a t e d i n the two p r e c e d i n g c l a u s e s s h o o l d take a d e c i d e d p a r t i n a l l f o t u r e e l e c t i o n s f o r the Houses named And whereas i t i s a l s o n e c e s s a r y f o r the good o f the c o u n t r y and the work ing c l a s s e s g e n e r a l l y t ha t the f i t t e s t and bes t men s h o o l d be chosen a s t h e i r r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s both a t Ottawa and V i c t o r i a so t ha t such l e g i s l a t i o n as w i l l m o s t l y b e n e f i t the wage-earners o f the Dominion w i l l a c c rue t o them as a r e s u l t o f t h e i r u n i t e d a c t i o n i n t h i s m a t t e r And whereas i t i s o rgea t t ha t immediate s t e p s s h o o l d be taken f o r the a d o p t i o n o f a p l a t f o r m f rom which t o t ake a l i n e o f a c t i o n , o r i f t ha t i s not p r a c t i c a b l e a t the p r e s e n t t ime f o r the a d o p t i o n o f measures whereby t h i s and o t h e r an ions now e x i s t i n g i n Vancouver s h a l l be a b l e to secu re the most d i s i n t e r e s t e d r e p r e s e n t a t i o n , both i n the s a i d House o f Com-mons and House o f Assembly T h e r e f o r e be i t r e s o l v e d tha t t h i s o n i o n through i t s appo in t ed d e l e g a t e s urge upon the T rades and Labor C o u n c i l o f the C i t y o f Vancouver the immediate n e c e s s i t y o f c a n v a s s i n g the workers under i t s j u r i s d i c t i o n and showing them t h a t o n l y by h a v i n g t h e i r names on the s e v e r a l v o t e r s ' l i s t s can t hey eve r hope to seeo re by a harmonious , o n i t e d and d e c i d e d s t a n d the o b j e c t s which the s a i d C o u n c i l has i n v i ew , namely , the e l e v a t i o n o f the work ing c l a s s e s , m e n t a l l y , m o r a l l y and phy -s i c a l l y ; and tha t t h i s o n i o n h e a r t i l y and unan imous ly c o -ope ra te w i th the C o u n c i l i n i t s e f f o r t s t o a t t a i n the ends d e s i r e d . (Minutes o f Vancouver T . & L. C . , F e b r u a r y 1 4 , 1890 ) . v i WORKINGMEN«S PLATFORM (Nanaimo, 26 May, 1890) B e l i e v i n g t h a t the f i r s t p r i n c i p l e s o f R e p r e s e n t a t i v e Government s h o u l d be to a c comp l i sh the g r e a t e s t good f o r the g r e a t e s t number. To s e c u r e the workers the f u l l enjoyment of the wea l th t hey c r e a t e , s u f f i c i e n t l e i s u r e i n which t o deve lop t h e i r i n t e l l e c t u a l , mora l and s o c i a l f a c u l t i e s , i n a word to enable them to sha re i n the g a i n s and honors o f advanc ing c i v i l i z a t i o n . To s e cu re these o b j e c t s , we must have men t o advance our cause on the f l o o r o f the L e g i s l a t i v e H a l l o f our P r o v i n c e . T h e r e f o r e vo te o n l y f o r men who w i l l advoca te t he f o l l o w i n g demands: 1. tha t the l a n d , the h e r i t a g e o f the peop le be r e s e r v e d f o r a c t u a l s e t t l e r s , no t ano the r a c r e f o r C o r p o r a t i o n s o r s p e c u l a t o r s , and a l l l a n d so h e l d a t p r e s e n t t o be t axed to i t s f u l l r e n t a l v a l u e . 2. The a d o p t i o n o f measures p r o v i d i n g f o r the h e a l t h and s a f e t y o f those engaged i n m i n i n g , m a n u f a c t u r i n g and b u i l d -i n g i n d u s t r i e s , and f o r the i n d e m n i f i c a t i o n o f those engaged t h e r e i n f o r i n j u r i e s r e c e i v e d through l a c k o f n e c e s s a r y s a f e -gua rds . 3. The enactment o f laws p r o v i d i n g f o r a r b i t r a t i o n between employer and employes , and to e n f o r c e the d e c i s i o n o f the a r b i t r a t o r s . 4 . The a d o p t i o n o f a Mechan ics L i e n Law g i v i n g t o Mechan ics and L abo re r s a f i r s t l i e n upon the p roduc t o f t h e i r l a b o r t o the ex ten t o f t h e i r f u l l wages. 5. That a c l a u s e be i n s e r t e d i n a l l C h a r t e r s g r an t ed by the P r o v i n c i a l Government, p r o h i b i t i n g the employment o f C h i n e s e . 6. The r e p e a l o f the un jus t laws passed a t the l a s t s e s -s i o n g i v i n g v a s t t r a c t s o f l a n d and r o y a l t i e s on m i n e r a l s t h e r e i n to r a i l r o a d c o r p o r a t i o n s . 7. That we condemn the p o l i c y o f c r e a t i n g and f o s t e r i n g m o n o p o l i e s , as t hey t end t o p revent l e g i t i m a t e c o m p e t i t i o n , l e a v i n g i t p o s s i b l e f o r the few t o accumulate v a s t f o r t u n e s a t the expense o f the many. 8. Tha t we c o n s i d e r the p resen t system o f t a x a t i o n t o be u n j u s t , t h e r e f o r e we demand tha t a g raduated income tax be l e v i e d . 9 . That we do a l l i n our power t o f u r t h e r the advancement o f the s h o r t hours movement. 10. In the Interests of Education we consider that the control of the Schools should he l e f t in the hands of the local Board, the Government merely exercising a general supervision over them. (prepared by The Workingmen's Campaign Committee; pub-lished in the Nanaimo Free Press with separate endorsements by Keith and Forster May 27 and May 31, 1890). v i i i PLATFORM o f the NATIONALIST PARTY 1. We demand f o r the p roduce rs and wage-earners the f u l l p roduc t o f t h e i r l a b o r . 2. That p o p u l a t i o n be the o n l y b a s i s o f l e g i s l a t i v e r e p r e s e n t a -t i o n . 3. That a l l o b s t a c l e s to f r e e r e p r e s e n t a t i o n be removed, and no p r o p e r t y o r f i n a n c i a l q u a l i f i c a t i o n whatever be r e q u i r e d o f c a n d i d a t e s f o r any e l e c t i o n . 4. That a l l members o f the L e g i s l a t u r e be compe l l ed t o r e s i g n t h e i r s e a t s a t the r eques t o f a two- th i rd s m a j o r i t y o f t h e i r c o n s t i t u e n t s . 5. That a l l c i t i z e n s , i r r e s p e c t i v e o f s e x , o ve r the age o f 21 y e a r s , be e n f r a n c h i s e d , and tha t no o t h e r q u a l i f i c a t i o n be r e q u i r e d f o r any e l e c t i o n , m u n i c i p a l , P r o v i n c i a l , o r F e d e r a l . 6. Tha t a l l e l e c t i o n days be d e c l a r e d l e g a l h o l i d a y s . 7. That the l e g i s l a t i v e system known as the i n i t i a t i v e and re ferendum be adop ted . 8. That the p o l l t ax and p e r s o n a l p r o p e r t y t ax be a b o l i s h e d , and t h a t a l l revenue f o r p u b l i c purposes be d e r i v e d by a t a x on l a n d v a l u e s . 9 . That the P r o v i n c i a l Government p r o v i d e immediate r e l i e f f o r the unemployed, by open ing up and o p e r a t i n g c o a l and o t h e r m i n e s , by c l e a r i n g and c u l t i v a t i n g the P r o v i n c i a l l a n d s , and p r o d u c i n g the re f rom many o f the n e c e s s a r i e s o f l i f e now impo r t ed . 1 0 . Tha t no s u b s i d y o f l a n d o r money be g ran ted t o any i n d i v i d u a l , company o r c o r p o r a t i o n f o r any purpose whatever . 1 1 . That a l l r a i l w a y s , waterways, t e l e g r a p h s and t e l ephone systems be made n a t i o n a l p r o p e r t y , and t h a t a l l wate r , l i g h t and t r a m -way s e r v i c e s be c o n t r o l l e d by m u n i c i p a l i t i e s , and t h a t no e x i s t i n g f r a n c h i s e be renewed. 1 2 . Tha t a l l banks be n a t i o n a l i z e d and t h a t the Government i s s u e and c o n t r o l the medium o f exchange. 1 3 . That a l l e d u c a t i o n , e lementary and advanced , w i th n e c e s s a r y books , be f r e e . i x 14 . That e i g h t hours s h a l l c o n s t i t u t e a l e g a l workaday. 1 5 . That the c o n t r a c t system on p u b l i c works be a b o l i s h e d . 16 . That the i m p o r t a t i o n o f l a b o r under c o n t r a c t be p r o h i b i t e d . ( f rom The D a i l y Wor ld . Vancouve r , 14 May 1894 ) . JOINT LABOR-NATIONALIST CIVIC PLATFORM (as adopted by Vancouver T . & L . C . , 6 Dec . 1895) No 1 That any v o t e r s h a l l be e l i g i b l e f o r e l e c t i o n t o the O f f i c e o f Mayor o r Alderman No 2 That the ward system be a b o l i s h e d No 3 Tha t the system o f d i r e c t l e g i s l a t i o n by the peop le known as the i n i t i a t i v e and re ferendum be adopted No 4 That the c o n t r a c t system on a l l m u n i c i p a l works be abo l i shed . No 5 Tha t e i g h t hours s h a l l c o n s t i t u t e a days l a b o r on a l l m u n i c i p a l work No 6 That the p r i n c i p l e o f exemption o f improvements f rom t a x a t i o n be adhered t o and any d e f i c i t caused t he r eby be made a d i r e c t charge on l a n d v a l u e s No 7 That a l l gas and e l e c t r i c l i g h t p l a n t s t e l ephones f e r r i e s waterworks and s t r e e t Ra i lway l i n e s w i t h i n the bounds o f the C i t y be owned and ope ra ted by the M u n i c i p a l i t y No 8 Tha t the a s s e s s o r s l i s t and an o f f i c i a l s ta tement o f revenue and expend i tu r e f o r the C i t y be p u b l i s h e d a n n u a l l y i n d e t a i l No 9 That the C i t y C o u n c i l s h a l l e s t a b l i s h and m a i n t a i n a Mechan ics I n s t i t u t e i n c o n j u n c t i o n w i th the f r e e P u b l i c L i b r a r y No 10 That s t e p s shou ld a t once be taken to have a p o r t i o n o f S t a n l e y Park c l e a r e d and made s u i t a b l e f o r a f r e e p u b l i c r e -c r e a t i o n ground To S c h o o l T r u s t e e s No l That s c h o o l books and a l l n e c e s s a r y s u p p l i e s be f r e e No 2 That an o f f i c e r whose duty I t s h a l l be t o i n s u r e the a t tendance o f p u p i l s s h a l l be a p p o i n t e d ( f rom M inu tes o f the Vancouver T . & L . C . , above da te ) x i NANAIMO FORKINGMAN'S PLATFORM, 1894 To tbe E l e c t o r s o f the E l e c t o r a l D i s t r i c t s o f Nanaimo: Gent lemen:- the f o l l o w i n g p l a t f o r m has been adopted by the Nanaimo Reform C l u b , the M i n e r s ' and M i n e - L a b o r e r s ' P r o t e c t i v e A s s o c i a t i o n , and the v a r i o u s Trades Un ions o f the C i t y o f Nanaimo. and a l l c a n d i d a t e s brought out under t h e i r a u s p i c e s w i l l be p l edged t o suppor t i t . T o t e f o r the men who advoca te these measures : 1. That a l l women, r e s i d e n t w i t h i n the P r o v i n c e and b e i n g B r i t i s h s u b j e c t s o f the f u l l age o f twenty-one y e a r s , be e n -t i t l e d to vo t e a t the P r o v i n c i a l e l e c t i o n s upon the same terms and c o n d i t i o n s t ha t men a r e so e n t i t l e d . 2. That the Government n e g o t i a t e w i th t h e E squ ima l t and Nanaimo R a i l r o a d Company f o r the purchase on f a i r and e q u i t a b l e terms o f a l l l a n d s a t p r e s e n t owned by the s a i d company i n V a n -couver I s l a n d t o g e t h e r w i th the m i n e r a l and o t h e r r i g h t s t h e r e i n and t h a t the s a i d l a n d s be then opened up f o r s e t t l e m e n t . 3. That the Government n e g o t i a t e f o r the purchase o f the E squ ima l t and Nanaimo R a i l r o a d and i n the event o f a purchase b e i n g e f f e c t e d tha t the Government do ex tend the s a i d r a i l r o a d as f a r as Comox D i s t r i c t and do assume c o n t r o l and ope ra t e the s a i d r a i l r o a d o r l e a s e the same on r e a s o n a b l e terms f o r p e r -i o d s not exceed ing f i f t y y e a r s . 4 . That h e n c e f o r t h not ano the r a c r e o f l a n d be g r an t ed a s a bonus t o any r a i l r o a d o r o the r c o r p o r a t i o n w i thout f i r s t s u b -m i t t i n g the q u e s t i o n t o a d i r e c t vo te o f the e l e c t o r s . 5. That h e n c e f o r t h no l a n d be g ran ted t o any pe r son o r c o r p o r a t i o n whatsoever , f r e e f rom t a x a t i o n . 6 . That a l l unoccup ied l a n d s , not w i t h i n the bounda r i e s o f a m u n i c i p a l i t y , be t axed to t h e i r f u l l r e n t a l v a l u e . 7 . That the t ax on mortgages be r e p e a l e d . 8. That e i g h t hours be adopted a s the t ime l i m i t o f a d a y ' s work under a l l Government and m u n i c i p a l c o n t r a c t s and t h a t work-i n g over t ime on such c o n t r a c t s be p r o h i b i t e d excep t i n case o f emergency. 9 . That no pe r son o f the Ch inese o r Japanese r a c e be em-p loyed under any Government o r m u n i c i p a l c o n t r a c t , d i r e c t l y o r i n d i r e c t l y . x i i 1 0 . That a c l a u s e be i n s e r t e d i h a l l c h a r t e r s g r an t ed by the Government p r o h i b i t i n g the employment o f any pe r son o f the Ch inese o r Japanese r a c e i n any c a p a c i t y f o r any o f the p u r -poses f o r which the c h a r t e r be g r a n t e d . 1 1 . That no pe r son be a l l owed t o be employed i n any c o a l mine i n any c a p a c i t y whatever underground w i thout f i r s t p a s s -i n g a s a t i s f a c t o r y examina t ion as t o the d u t i e s o f h i s p o s i -t i o n and the p r e c a u t i o n s r e q u i r e d a g a i n s t the dangers i n c i -d e n t a l t o work ing i n a mine . 1 2 . Tha t the Government see t o the s t r i c t e r enforcement o f the l i q u o r laws and e s p e c i a l l y i n r e g a r d t o the s e l l i n g o f i n t o x i c a n t s to pe r sons under the age o f s i x t e e n and t o i n -e b r i a t e s and i n r e g a r d t o the Sunday C l o s i n g c l a u s e o f the l i q u o r L i c e n s e R e g u l a t i o n A c t , 1891. 1 3 . That the Government have f u l l c o n t r o l o f e d u c a t i o n a l ma t te r s and s c h o o l s and do e r e c t and m a i n t a i n s c h o o l houses and do pay the s a l a r i e s o f t e a che r s and o t h e r o f f i c i a l s c o n -nec t ed t h e r e w i t h . 14 . That the law r e q u i r i n g a $200 d e p o s i t to be made by a c a n d i d a t e f o r the L e g i s l a t u r e be r e p e a l e d . 1 5 . That a law be enac ted p r o h i b i t i n g the i m p o r t a t i o n o f f o r e i g n l a b o r under c o n t r a c t . In a l l ma t t e r s hot touched upon i n t h i s P l a t f o r m our c a n -d i d a t e s w i l l be p l edged t o take an independent s t a n d i n the i n t e r e s t s o f t h e i r c o n s t i t u e n t s , a t a l l t imes g i v i n g p r e f e r e n c e however t o t h a t p a r t y which w i l l a s s i s t i n c a r r y i n g t h i s p l a t -fo rm i n t o e f f e c t . ( f rom Nanaimo F r e e P r e s s . T Mar. 1894, p. 1 ) . x i i i AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR PLATFORM 1. Compulsory e d u c a t i o n . 2. D i r e c t l e g i s l a t i o n , through the i n i t i a t i v e and the re fe rendum. 3. A l e g a l work day o f no t more than e i g h t hou r s . 4 . S a n i t a r y i n s p e c t i o n of workshop, mine and home. 5. L i a b i l i t y o f employers f o r i n j u r y t o h e a l t h , body o r l i f e . 6 . The a b o l i t i o n o f the c o n t r a c t system i n a l l p u b l i c works . , 7. The a b o l i t i o n o f the swea t ing sys tem. 8. The m u n i c i p a l ownership o f s t r e e t c a r s , waterworks , gas and e l e c t r i c p l a n t s f o r the p u b l i c d i s t r i b u t i o n o f l i g h t , heat and power. 9 . The n a t i o n a l i z a t i o n o f the t e l e p h o n e , t e l e g r a p h , r a i l -roads and m i n e s . 10 . The a b o l i t i o n o f the monopoly system o f l a n d h o l d i n g and s u b s t i t u t i o n t h e r e f o r a t i t l e o f occupancy and use o n l y . 1 1 . Repea l o f c o n s p i r a c y and pena l laws a f f e c t i n g seamen and o t h e r workmen i n c o r p o r a t e d i n the f e d e r a l and s t a t e laws o f the U n i t e d S t a t e s . 12 . The a b o l i t i o n o f the monopoly p r i v i l e g e o f i s s u i n g money and s u b s t i t u t i n g t h e r e f o r a system o f d i r e c t i s s u a n c e t o and by the p e o p l e . (adopted by A . F . o f L , , 1894-95) . ( f rom The Independent . A p r i l 28 , 1900, p. 4 ) . LEGISLATIVE PLATFORM OF THE TRADES AND LABOR CONGRESS OF CANADA (adopted i n W inn ipeg , 1398) 1. F r ee compulsory e d u c a t i o n . 2. L e g a l work ing day o f e i g h t hoa r s and s i x days a week. 3. Government i n s p e c t i o n of a l l i n d u s t r i e s . 4 . The a b o l i t i o n of the c o n t r a c t system on a l l p u b l i c works . 5. A minimum l i v i n g wage, based on l o c a l c o n d i t i o n s . 6. P u b l i c ownersh ip o f a l l f r a n c h i s e s , such as r a i l w a y s , t e l e g r a p h s , waterworks , l i g h t i n g , e t c . 7 . Tax r e f o r m , by l e s s e n i n g t a x a t i o n on i n d u s t r y and i n c r e a s i n g i t on l a n d v a l u e s . 8. A b o l i t i o n o f the Dominion s ena t e . 9 . E x c l u s i o n o f C h i n e s e . 10 . The un ion l a b e l on a l l manufac tured goods , where p r a c t i c a b l e , on a l l government s u p p l i e s . 1 1 . A b o l i t i o n o f c h i l d l a b o r by c h i l d r e n under 14 y ea r s o f age ; and o f female l a b o r i n a l l branches o f i n d u s t r i a l l i f e such as m ines , workshops, f a c t o r i e s , e t c . 12 . A b o l i t i o n o f p r o p e r t y q u a l i f i c a t i o n f o r a l l p u b l i c o f f i c e s . 1 3 . Compulsory a r b i t r a t i o n o f a l l l a b o r d i s p u t e s . 14 . P r o p o r t i o n a l r e p r e s e n t a t i o n and the cumu la t i v e v o t e . 1 5 . P r o h i b i t i o n o f p r i s o n l a b o r i n c o m p e t i t i o n w i th f r e e l a b o r . ( f rom The Independent . A p r i l 14 , 1900, p. 3 ) . X V UNITED LABOR PLATFORM. 1900 1. We demand o f the P r o v i n c i a l L e g i s l a t u r e the enforcement o f the e i g h t - h o u r l aw , and i t s a p p l i c a t i o n t o a l l b ranches o f manual l a b o r . 2. L e g a l r e c o g n i t i o n by i n c o r p o r a t i o n o f l a b o r u n i o n s , and the e x t e n s i o n t o them o f the same r i g h t s en joyed by o t h e r c o r p o r a t e b o d i e s . 3. To p r o v i d e f o r ad justment o f wage d i s p u t e s by a r b i t r a t i o n on p l a n s s i m i l a r t o those now i n f o r c e i n New Zea l and . 4. To p r o v i d e f o r the s e t t l e m e n t o f p u b l i c q u e s t i o n s by d i r e c t vo te under the i n i t i a t i v e and re fe rendum. 5. Government ownership o f a l l r a i l w a y , t e l e g r a p h and te l ephone l i n e s to be c o n s t r u c t e d , and the a c q u i r i n g o f those a l r e a d y i n use as soon as p r a c t i c a b l e ; and t o p revent e x t o r t i o n as f a r as p o s s i b l e by the c o n t r o l o f a l l r a i l w a y s , t e l ephone and t e l e g r a p h l i n e s f o r p u b l i c use and t o f i x a r e a s o n a b l e maximum r a t e which they may charge f o r s e r v i c e . 6. An a c t t o p reven t the employment o f Ch inese i n any m i n e s , f a c t o r i e s and p u b l i c works w i t h i n the P r o v i n c e . 7. An a c t t o p r o v i d e s a f egua rds t o l i f e and h e a l t h , and t o p r o v i d e an e f f i c i e n t mine i n s p e c t i o n system to p r o c u r e these r e s u l t s . 8. An a c t t o e s t a b l i s h coun ty o r l o c a l government throughout the P r o v i n c e ; a l l o f f i c e r s o f s u c h , both j u d i c i a l and e x e c u t i v e , t o be e l e c t e d by the p o p u l a r vo te o f t h e i r r e s -p e c t i v e l o c a l i t i e s . ( f rom the Nanaimo H e r a l d . March 2 7 , 1900, p. 2 ) . (The H e r a l d commented tha t t h i s p l a t f o r m had been endorsed by a m a j o r i t y o f the l a b o r o r g a n i z a t i o n s o f the P r o v i n c e , and was b e i n g c o n s i d e r e d by the ba lanee o f them. L o g , c i t . ) . x v i CAMPAIGN PROGRAM OF THE VICTORIA TRADES AND LABOR COUNTIL (adopted A p r i l 1900) 1. The a b o l i t i o n o f the $200 d e p o s i t f o r c a n d i d a t e s f o r the l e g i s l a t u r e . 2. The re-enactment o f the d i s a l l o w e d Labor R e g u l a t i o n A c t , 1898, and a l s o a l l the s t a t u t e s o f 1899, c o n t a i n i n g a n t i -Mongo l i an c l a u s e s i f d i s a l l o w e d as proposed by the Dominion Government. 3. To take a f i r m s t a n d i n e ve r y o t h e r p o s s i b l e way w i th a v iew to d i s c o u r a g i n g the sp read o f O r i e n t a l cheap l a b o r i n t h i s P r o v i n c e . 4. To p r o v i d e f o r o f f i c i a l i n s p e c t i o n o f a l l b u i l d i n g s , mach inery and works w i th a v iew to c o m p e l l i n g the a d o p t i o n o f p r o p e r s a f egua rds t o l i f e and h e a l t h . 5. The re-enactment o f the law o f 1894 p r o v i d i n g f o r a bureau o f l a b o r s t a t i s t i c s and o f c o u n c i l s o f c o n c i l i a t i o n and a r b i t r a t i o n . 6. The r e t a i n i n g o f the r e s o u r c e s o f the P r o v i n c e a s an a s s e t f o r the p e o p l e , and t a k i n g e f f e c t i v e measures t o p revent the a l i e n a t i o n o f the p u b l i c domain , except t o a c t u a l s e t t -l e r s o r a c t u a l bona f i d e b u s i n e s s , o r i n d u s t r i a l p u r p o s e s , p u t t i n g an end t o the p r a c t i c e o f s p e c u l a t i n g i n c o n n e c t i o n w i th the same. 7. Government ownership o f a l l r a i l w a y , t e l e g r a p h and t e l ephone l i n e s to be c o n s t r u c t e d , and a c q u i r i n g o f those a l r e a d y i n use as soon as p r a c t i c a b l e ; and t o p reven t e x -t o r t i o n as f a r as p o s s i b l e by the c o n t r o l o f a l l r a i l w a y , t e l e g r a p h and t e l ephone l i n e s f o r p u b l i c use and t o f i x a r e a sonab l e maximum r a t e which they may charge f o r s e r v i c e . 8. The enactment of a p r a c t i c a b l e and a p p l i c a b l e com-p e n s a t i o n a c t . 9 . A l l government c o n t r a c t s s h a l l c o n t a i n such c o n d i t i o n s as w i l l p revent abuses which may a r i s e f rom the s u b - l e t t i n g o f such c o n t r a c t s , and tha t e ve r y e f f o r t s h a l l be made to secu re the payment o f such wages as a re g e n e r a l l y a c c e p t e d as c u r r e n t i n each t r a d e f o r competent workmen i n the d i s t r i c t where the work i s c a r r i e d o u t . 10 . L e g a l r e c o g n i t i o n by i n c o r p o r a t i o n o f l a b o r un ions and the e x t e n s i o n to them o f the same r i g h t s en joyed by o t h e r c o r p o r a t e b o d i e s . 1 1 . The l e g a l i z a t i o n of an E i gh t-Hou r day . ( f rom The Independent . A p r i l 28 , 1900, p . 6 ) . x v i i LEGISLATIVE PLATFORM OF THE VANCOUVER TRADES AND LABOUR COUNCIL (adopted 4 May. 1900) 1. That upon a p e t i t i o n b e i n g p r e s e n t e d to the Government a s k i n g f o r the r e p e a l o f the e x i s t i n g Law o r the e n a c t i n g o f a new law. the Government s h a l l be compe l l ed to take a p l e b i s c i t e and r e p e a l o r enact as the m a j o r i t y v o t i n g may d e c i d e . The p e t i -t i o n t o be s i g n e d by a number equa l to 10 p e r c e n t , o f the vo te c a s t a t the p r e v i o u s e l e c t i o n . 2. Tha t e i g h t hours s h a l l c o n s t i t u t e a d a y ' s work. 3. That the c o n t r a c t sys tem on a l l p u b l i c works be a b o l i s h e d and a minimum wage based on l o c a l c o n d i t i o n s be p a i d . 4. That no more p u b l i c l a n d be a l i e n a t e d by deed o r Crown grant to c o r p o r a t i o n s o r i n d i v i d u a l s , but t ha t i t be l e a s e d i n p e r p e t u i t y s u b j e c t o n l y to a f a i r r e n t a l v a l u e . 5. That a l l t axes on i n d u s t r y and the p roceeds o f i n d u s t r y be g r a d u a l l y a b o l i s h e d , and the revenue o f the m u n i c i p a l and P r o v i n -c i a l governments be d e r i v e d by a t ax on l a n d v a l u e s . 6. F r ee compulsory e d u c a t i o n ; f r e e e d u c a t i o n a l m a t e r i a l s , and f r e e maintenance when n e c e s s a r y . 7. Government i n s p e c t i o n o f a l l i n d u s t r i e s . 8. P u b l i c ownership o f a l l f r a n c h i s e s , such as r a i l w a y s , t e l e -g r aphs , t e l ephones and a l l i n d u s t r i e s t h a t pa r t ake o f the na tu r e o f a monopoly . 9 . The Un ion L a b e l on a l l manufactured goods s u p p l i e d the Government, where p r a c t i c a b l e . 10 . A b o l i t i o n o f p r o p e r t y q u a l i f i c a t i o n s f o r a l l p u b l i c o f f i -c e s , and no money d e p o s i t to be r e q u i r e d when the c a n d i d a t e ' s nomina t ion i s endorsed by 100 e l e c t o r s i n c i t i e s and 50 e l e c -t o r s i n r u r a l d i s t r i c t s . 12 . L i a b i l i t y o f employers f o r i n j u r y t o h e a l t h , body o r l i f e . 13 . That a c l a u s e be i n s e r t e d i n a l l c h a r t e r s g r an t ed by the Government, making i t n e c e s s a r y t ha t a minimum wage o f $2.50 a day be p a i d . ( f rom The Independent . May 5, 1900, p. 1 ) . 14 . The t o t a l a b o l i t i o n o f Ch inese and Japanese i m m i g r a t i o n . (added a t T . & L . C . m e e t i n g , May 1 8 , 1900, to make c l e a r the purpose o f c l a u s e #3). (The Independent . May 1 9 , 1900) . x v i i i NANAIMO LABOR PARTY PLATFORM, 1900 1. The e x c l u s i o n from B r i t i s h Co lumbia o f a l l Mongo l i an c o o l i e l a b o r e r s . 2. The e s t a b l i s h m e n t o f a Labor Bureau , under the d i r e c t i o n o f a m i n i s t e r o f the Crown whose du t y i t s h a l l b e , among o t h e r t h i n g s , t o c o l l e c t l a b o r s t a t i s t i c s , and t o a c t as a med ia to r between employers and workmen i n a l l cases o f a c t u a l o r th rea tened s t r i k e s w i th power to c a l l and examine w i tnesses and compel d i s c l o s u r e o f a l l m a t e r i a l f a c t s i n c o n n e c t i o n w i th such d i s p u t e s . 3. The a b o l i t i o n o f the d e p o s i t r e q u i r e d f rom c a n d i d a t e s f o r e l e c t i o n t o the L e g i s l a t u r e . 4. The r e c o g n i t i o n o f the p r i n c i p l e t ha t e i g h t hours s h a l l c o n -s t i t u t e a l e g a l d a y ' s work. 5. The maintenance o f the e i gh t-hou r law as enac ted by the Seml in a d m i n i s t r a t i o n . 6. That $2.50 p e r day be the minimum wage f o r u n s k i l l e d l a b o r throughout the P r o v i n c e , on Government roads and works. 7. P r o v i s i o n f o r the payment o f f a i r wages on any works to which Government s u b s i d i e s o r a i d i s g i v e n , o r under any c o n t r a c t w i th the Government. 8. The appointment o f r o a d foreman f o r the d i f f e r e n t d i s t r i c t s by the vo t e o f the r a t e-paye r s o f the d i s t r i c t s , such vo te to be by s e c r e t b a l l o t , so as t o take the appointment o f these o f f i c i a l s out o f the domain o f p o l i t i c s . 9. On the r e p o r t o f a m in i ng eng inee r t ha t any qua r t z p r o s p e c t i s o f s u f f i c i e n t apparent va lue t o warrant deve lopment , the Government t o advance on r eques t a s u f f i c i e n t sum t o the d i s -co ve r e r o r owner, on the s e c u r i t y o f the c l a i m a t a low r a t e o f i n t e r e s t so as to enab le such d i s c o v e r e r o r owner to deve lop the c l a i m t o a moderate e x t e n t . The amount advanced t o be p r o p o r t i o n a t e t o the work done. 10 , The amendment o f the M e t a l l i f e r o u s M i n e s , and the C o a l M ines R e g u l a t i o n A c t . a . To p r o v i d e f o r the e x c l u s i o n f rom the mines o f a l l M o n g o l i a n s . b. To r e c o g n i z e the a b s o l u t e impor tance o f a l l underground managers o f c o a l mines h o l d i n g c e r t i f i c a t e s o f com-pe t ency . c . To enab le owners o f a d j o i n i n g c o a l mines to a p p l y to the i n s p e c t o r f o r i n f o r m a t i o n a s t o the a c t u a l p o s i -t i o n o f the workings o f a d j o i n i n g m i n e s , as a t p r e -sen t p r o v i d e d f o r i n the M e t a l l i f e r o u s Mines A c t , a s a s a f egua rd a g a i n s t a c c i d e n t i n abandoned work ings . x i x 1 1 . The condemnation o f the p r i n c i p l e o f M i n i s t e r s o f the Crown t a k i n g and h o l d i n g o f f i c e w i thout an immediate appea l t o t h e i r c o n s t i t u e n t s f o r t h e i r e n d o r s a t i o n as Cab ine t M i n i s t e r s . 12 . a . L e g i s l a t i o n to g i v e r e l i e f to the s e t t l e r s w i t h i n the E squ ima l t and Nanaimo Ra i lway B e l t , w i th r e g a r d to the c o a l and m i n e r a l r i g h t s c l a imed by them. b. T a x a t i o n o f a l l l a n d s w i t h i n the E s q u i m a l t and Nanaimo Ra i lway B e l t b e l o n g i n g t o the E s q u i m a l t and Nanaimo Ra i lway Company and any l a n d s s i m i l a r l y h e l d by any o t h e r C o r p o r a t i o n o r Ra i lway Company. c . The n e c e s s i t y o f a f f o r d i n g f a c i l i t i e s t o F r e e M i n e r s to p r o s p e c t and mine f o r p r e c i o u s me ta l s w i t h i n the I s l a n d Ra i lway B e l t , o r any o t h e r l a n d s s i m i l a r l y h e l d , w i thout i n t e r f e r e n c e f rom the owners o f such l a n d ; and a f f o r d i n g t o such F r e e M ine r s and P r o s p e c t o r s a cheap and speedy method o f a c q u i r i n g the neces sa r y l a n d s and r i g h t s o f way f o r the work ing o f t h e i r m ines . 13 . R e - d i s t r i b u t l o n o f the c o n s t i t u e n c i e s on an e q u i t a b l e b a s i s . 14. The e s t ab l i shmen t o f T e c h n i c a l S c h o o l s f o r m e t a l l i f e r o u s miners i n c o n n e c t i o n w i th sme l t e r s a t d i f f e r e n t p o i n t s i n the P r o v i n c e . 15 . Government ownership o f a l l T e l eg r aph sys tems , and Ra i lways where p r a c t i c a b l e , by c o n s t r u c t i o n o r pu r chase . 16 . C o n s t r u c t i o n o f permanent roads through the P r o v i n c e f rom boundary t o boundary f o r s e t t l e m e n t , p r o s p e c t i n g and t r ade pu rposes . 1 7 . To draw the a t t e n t i o n o f c a p i t a l i s t s and i n v e s t o r s to B r i -t i s h Co lumbia as a d e s i r a b l e c e n t r e f o r p r o f i t a b l e m in ing o p e r a t i o n s , by s u i t a b l e adve r t i sement and by the appointment o f s p e c i a l agents a t London and New Y o r k . 18 . To encourage the e s t ab l i shmen t a t s u i t a b l e p o i n t s i n B r i -t i s h Co lumb i a : a . S t e e l and I r on Works. b. S h i p B u i l d i n g Y a r d s . c . A d d i t i o n a l S m e l t e r s . 1 9 . That the d imens ions o f p l a e e c l a i m s be i n c r e a s e d f rom 100 f e e t square t o 300 f e e t s q u a r e . ( f rom the Nanaimo H e r a l d . May 4 , 1900, p. 1 ) . X X THE UNITED SOCIALIST LABOR PARTY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1900. MANIFESTO In s u b m i t t i n g t h i s p l a t f o r m and demands t o y o u , workingmen o f Vancouver , we p o i n t t o the f a c t tha t eve ry nominee has s i g n e d h i s own r e s i g n a t i o n , b l ank d a t e . T h i s enab les the U n i t e d S o -c i a l i s t Labor P a r t y to withdraw any o f i t s c a n d i d a t e s i f e l e c t e d as soon a s t hey do not l i v e and a c t a c c o r d i n g to the t a c t i c s and p r i n c i p l e s o f the U n i t e d S o c i a l i s t Labor P a r t y . The con t i nuous war between c a p i t a l and l a b o r i s f i e r c e r e ve r y y e a r . We c a l l upon y o u , workingmen o f Vancouve r , t o s i d e w i th t he r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s o f the c l a s s - c o n s c i o u s p r o -l e t a r i a t o f the wor ld and t h i s c i t y and e l e c t them t o o f f i c e , f o r they w i l l work i n your i n t e r e s t , whatever may happen , and a g a i n s t the i n t e r e s t o f your o p p r e s s o r s , the c a p i t a l i s t c l a s s . In c o n c l u d i n g we remind you o f the f a c t tha t i t i s b e t t e r to vo te f o r the t h i n g you want and not get i t then t o vo te f o r something you do no t want and get i t . Vo te f o r p r i n c i p l e s u p -h e l d by the r i g h t men. PLATFORM The U n i t e d S o c i a l i s t Labor P a r t y o f B r i t i s h Co lumbia r e -a s s e r t s the i n a l i e n a b l e r i g h t s o f a l l men to l i f e , l i b e r t y and the p u r s u i t o f h a p p i n e s s . We h o l d tha t the purpose o f Government i s t o secu re e ve r y c i t i z e n i n the enjoyment o f t h i s r i g h t ; but i n the l i g h t o f our s o c i a l c o n d i t i o n s , we h o l d , f u r t h e r m o r e , t ha t no such r i g h t can be e x e r c i s e d under a system o f economic i n e q u a l i t y , e s s e n t i a l l y d e s t r u c t i v e o f l i f e , o f l i b e r t y and o f h a p p i n e s s . We h o l d tha t the t r u e t h e o r y o f p o l i t i c s i s tha t the mach inery o f Government must be owned and c o n t r o l l e d by the whole p e o p l e : but i n the l i g h t o f ou r i n d u s t r i a l development we h o l d , f u r t h e r m o r e , tha t the t r u e t h e o r y o f economics i s tha t the mach inery o f p r o d u c t i o n must l i k e w i s e be long to the peop le i n common. To the obv ious f a c t , t ha t a d e s p o t i c sys tem o f e c o n -omics i s the d i r e c t o p p o s i t e o f our democra t i c system o f p o l i -t i c s , can p l a i n l y be t r a c e d the e x i s t e n c e o f a p r i v i l e g e d c l a s s , the c o r r u p t i o n o f Government by t ha t c l a s s , the a l i e n a -t i o n o f p u b l i c p r o p e r t y , p u b l i c f r a n c h i s e s and p u b l i c f u n c -t i o n s to t ha t c l a s s , and the a b j e c t dependence o f even the m i g h t i e s t n a t i o n s upon t h a t c l a s s . A g a i n , th rough the p e r v e r s i o n o f democracy to the ends o f p l u t o c r a c y , l a b o r i s robbed o f the wea l th Which i t a l one p r o d u c e s , i s den i ed the means o f se l f -emp loyment , and by f requent compulsory i d l e n e s s i n a sys tem o f wage-s lave ry , i s even d e p r i v e d o f the n e c e s s a r i e s o f l i f e . Human power and n a t u r a l f o r c e s a r e thus wasted, t ha t the p l u t o c r a c y may r u l e . Ignorance and m i s e r y , w i th a l l t h e i r concomi tant e v i l s a re pe rpe tua t ed tha t the peop l e may be kep t i n bondage. S c i e n c e and i n v e n t i o n a r e d i v e r t e d f rom t h e i r humane purpose to the enslavement o f women and c h i l d r e n . A g a i n s t such a sys tem, the U n i t e d S o c i a l i s t Labor P a r t y e n t e r s i t s p r o t e s t , and r e i t e r a t e s i t s fundamenta l d e c l a r a t i o n t h a t p r i v a t e p r o p e r t y i n the n a t u r a l sou rces o f p r o d u c t i o n and i n the i n s t r u m e n t s o f l a b o r i s the obv ious eause o f a l l economic s e r v i t u d e and p o l i t i c a l dependence. The t ime i s f a s t coming when, i n the n a t u r a l c ou r se o f s o c i a l e v o l u t i o n , t h i s s y s t em , through the d e s t r u c t i v e a c t i o n o f i t s f a i l u r e s and c r i s e s on the one hand , and the c o n s t r u c t i v e t endenc i e s o f i t s t r u s t s and o t h e r c a p i t a l i s t i c comb ina t i ons on the o t h e r hand s h a l l have worked out i t s own d o w n f a l l . We t h e r e f o r e c a l l upon the wage hones t c i t i z e n s ( s i c ) , t o o r g a n i z e under the banner o f the U n i t e d S o c i a l i s t Labor P a r t y i n t o a c l a s s - c o n s c i o u s body, aware o f i t s r i g h t s and determined to conquer them by t a k i n g p o s s e s s i o n o f the p u b l i c powers ; so t h a t , h e l d t oge the r by an i n d o m i t a b l e s p i r i t o f s o l i -d a r i t y under the most t r y i n g c o n d i t i o n s o f the p r e s e n t c l a s s s t r u g g l e we may put a summary end to t ha t barbarous s t r u g g l e by the a b o l i t i o n o f c l a s s e s , the r e s t o r a t i o n o f the l a n d and o f a l l the means o f p r o d u c t i o n , t r a n s p o r t a t i o n and d i s t r i b u t i o n to the peop le as a c o l l e c t i v e body , and the s u b s t i t u t i o n o f the C o -o p e r a t i v e Commonwealth f o r the p r e s e n t s t a t e o f p l a n l e s s p r o d u c -t i o n , i n d u s t r i a l war and s o c i a l d i s o r d e r ; a commonwealth i n which eve ry worker s h a l l have the f r e e e x e r c i s e and f u l l b e n e f i t o f h i s f a c u l t i e s , m u l t i p l i e d by a l l the modern f a c t o r s o f c i v i l i z a -t i o n . RESOLUTIONS Wi th a view to immediate improvement i n the c o n d i t i o n o f l a b o r we p r e sen t the f o l l o w i n g demands: 1. Reduc t i on o f the hours o f l a b o r i n p r o p o r t i o n to the p r o g r e s s o f p r o d u c t i o n . 2. The Dominion t o o b t a i n p o s s e s s i o n o f the m i n e s , r a i l -r o a d s , c a n a l s , t e l e g r a p h s , t e l ephones and a l l o t h e r means o f p u b l i c t r a n s p o r t a t i o n and communica t ion ; the employees t o o p -e r a t e the same c o - o p e r a t i v e l y under the c o n t r o l o f the F e d e r a l government and t o e l e c t t h e i r own supe r i n t enden t and fo reman, and tha t no employee s h a l l be d i s c h a r g e d f o r p o l i t i c a l r e a s o n s . 3. The P r o v i n c e s and m u n i c i p a l i t i e s t o o b t a i n p o s s e s s i o n o f the l o c a l r a i l r o a d s , f e r r i e s , water works , gas works , e l e c -t r i c p l a n t s and a l l i n d u s t r i e s r e q u i r i n g P r o v i n c i a l and m u n i -c i p a l f r a n c h i s e ; the employees t o opera te the same c o -o p e r a t i v e l y under c o n t r o l o f the P r o v i n c i a l and M u n i c i p a l a d -m i n i s t r a t i o n s and t o e l e c t t h e i r own s u p e r i n t e n d e n t s and f o r e -men, and tha t no employee s h a l l be d i s c h a r g e d f o r p o l i t i c a l r e a s o n s . 4. The p u b l i c l a n d s t o be d e c l a r e d i n a l i e n a b l e . Revoca -t i o n o f a l l l a n d g r an t s t o c o r p o r a t i o n s o r i n d i v i d u a l s , where the c o n d i t i o n s o f the grant have not been comp l i ed w i t h . x x i i 5. The Dominion t o have the e x c l u s i v e r i g h t to i s s u e money. 6. F e d e r a l l e g i s l a t i o n p r o v i d i n g f o r the s c i e n t i f i c manage-ment o f f o r e s t s and waterways, and p r o h i b i t i n g the waste o f the n a t u r a l r e s o u r c e s o f the c o u n t r y . 7. I n ven t i ons t o be f r e e to a l l ; the i n v e n t o r s t o be remunerated by the n a t i o n . 8. P r o g r e s s i v e income t ax and t a x on i n h e r i t a n c e s ; the s m a l l e r incomes to be exempt. 9 . S c h o o l e d u c a t i o n o f a l l c h i l d r e n under f o u r t e e n yea r s o f age t o be compu lso ry , f r e e and a c c e s s i b l e t o a l l by p u b l i c a s s i s t a n c e i n m e a l s , c l o t h i n g , books , e t c . , where n e c e s s a r y . 10 . Repea l o f a l l paupe r , t ramp, c o n s p i r a c y and sumptuary l aws . Unabr idged r i g h t o f c o m b i n a t i o n . 11 . P r o h i b i t i o n o f the employment o f c h i l d r e n under f o u r -teen yea r s o f a g e , p r o h i b i t i o n o f the employment o f women and young pe r sons i n o c c u p a t i o n s d e t r i m e n t a l t o h e a l t h o r m o r a l i t y . A b o l i t i o n o f the c o n v i c t l a b o r c o n t r a c t s y s t em. 1 2 . Employment o f the unemployed by the p u b l i c a u t h o r i t i e s ( coun ty , c i t y , p r o v i n c i a l and n a t i o n a l ) . 13 . A l l wages t o be p a i d i n l a w f u l money o f the Dominion o f ] Canada. E q u a l i z a t i o n o f women's wages w i th t hose o f men where ^ equa l s e r v i c e s a r e pe r fo rmed . 14 . Laws f o r the p r o t e c t i o n o f l i f e and l i m b i n a l l o c c u p a -t i o n s , and an e f f i c i e n t e m p l o y e r ' s l i a b i l i t y law. 15 . The peop l e to have the r i g h t to p ropose laws and t o vo te upon a l l measures o f impo r t ance , a c c o r d i n g t o the i n i t i a -t i v e and re fe rendum p r i n c i p l e . 16 . A b o l i t i o n o f the ve to power o f the E x e c u t i v e ( n a t i o n a l , p r o v i n c i a l and m u n i c i p a l ) wherever i t e x i s t s . 1 7 . A b o l i t i o n o f the Senate and a l l upper l e g i s l a t i v e cham-b e r s . 1 8 . M u n i c i p a l s e l f -gove rnment , the a b o l i t i o n o f the system o f money d e p o s i t s and p r o p e r t y q u a l i f i c a t i o n f o r c a n d i d a t e s f o r p a r l i a m e n t a r y and m u n i c i p a l l e g i s l a t u r e s . 19 . D i r e c t vo te and s e c r e t b a l l o t i n a l l e l e c t i o n s . U n i - \"> v e r s a l and equa l r i g h t o f s u f f r a g e . E l e c t i o n days t o be l e g a l j-h o l i d a y s . The p r i n c i p l e o f p r o p o r t i o n a l r e p r e s e n t a t i o n to be J i n t r o d u c e d . 20 . A l l p u b l i c o f f i c e r s t o be s u b j e c t to r e c a l l by t h e i r r e s p e c t i v e c o n s t i t u e n c i e s . 21 . U n i f o r m c i v i l and c r i m i n a l law throughout the Domin ion . A d m i n i s t r a t i o n o f j u s t i c e to be f r e e o f c h a r g e . A b o l i t i o n o f c o r p o r a l and c a p i t a l pun ishment . ( f rom the Independent . May 26 , 1900, p. 3 ) . x x i i i VANCOUVER LABOR PARTY PLATFORM, 1900 1. That the d i s t r i b u t i o n o f p a r l i a m e n t a r y r e p r e s e n t a t i o n throughout the Dominion be e s t a b l i s h e d and ma in t a i ned on a u n i f o r m l y e q u i t a b l e b a s i s . 2. Government ownership o f a l l p u b l i c s e r v i c e s which a r e by t h e i r na tu re monopo l i e s . 3. That a l l revenues f o r p u b l i c purposes be d e r i v e d f rom a t a x on l a n d v a l u e s . 4 . That the government i s s u e and c o n t r o l the medium o f exchange. 5. Government works to be done by day l a b o r , and t h a t e i g h t hou r s s h a l l c o n s t i t u t e a d a y ' s work. 6 . A b o l i t i o n o f a l l a s s i s t e d i m m i g r a t i o n ; the a b o l i t i o n o f A s i a t i c i m m i g r a t i o n , and the r e g u l a t i o n o f a l l immig r a t i on by an e d u c a t i o n a l t e s t as t o t h e i r f i t n e s s , and the a b o l i t i o n o f a l l s p e c i a l inducements and p r i v i l e g e s to f o r e i g n immigrants to s e t t l e i n the Domin ion . 7. The a b o l i t i o n o f the S e n a t e , and t he i n t r o d u c t i o n o f d i r e c t l e g i s l a t i o n . ( f rom the Independent .September 2 9 , 1900, p . l ) . (Campaign p l a t f o r m o f Rev. G.R. Maxwel l a s L i b e r a l - L a b o r c a n d i d a t e ) . x x i v PLATFORM OP THE ESTDEPEHDBNT LABOR PARTY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA ( R o s s l a n d , 1900 (.?)) (Dominion e l e c t i o n ) 1. F r ee compulsory e d u c a t i o n . 2. L e g a l work ing day o f e i g h t h o u r s . 3. Government i n s p e c t i o n o f a l l i n d u s t r i e s . 4 . A b o l i t i o n o f c o n t r a c t system on a l l p u b l i c works. 5. P u b l i c ownersh ip o f a l l f r a n c h i s e s . 6 . P r o h i b i t i o n o f A s i a t i c immig ra t i on and the r e g u l a t i o n o f a l l immig r a t i on by an e d u c a t i o n a l t e s t as t o an i m m i g r a n t ' s f i t n e s s , and the a b o l i t i o n o f a l l s p e c i a l inducements and p r i -v i l e g e s to f o r e i g n immigrants t o s e t t l e i n the Domin ion . 7. A b o l i t i o n o f c h i l d l a b o r under 1 2 . 8. A b o l i t i o n o f the $250 d e p o s i t r e q u i r e d o f a l l c a n d i -da tes f o r the Dominion house . 9 . Compulsory a r b i t r a t i o n o f a l l l a b o r d i s p u t e s . 1 0 . P r o h i b i t i o n o f p r i s o n l a b o r i n c o m p e t i t i o n w i th f r e e l a b o r . 1 1 . A l l e l e c t i o n days t o be made p u b l i c h o l i d a y s . 12 . A b o l i t i o n o f Dominion s e n a t e . Vo te f o r CHRIS. FOLEY, the Independent Labor P a r t y C a n d i d a t e , ( o r i g i n a l shee t i n U . B . C . L i b r a r y ) XXV PROVINCIAL LABOR CONVENTION, KAMLOOPS, B . C . , 1902. ( f rom O f f i c i a l M inutes o f P r o c e e d i n g s ) . Monday, A p r i l 1 4 t h . DELEGATES S o c i a l i s t League , No . 42 —> Wm. Ebbs . D i s t r i c t Lodge No. 6 Western F e d e r a t i o n o f M ine r s — C h r i s . F o l e y S l o can M i n e r s Un ion E . L . F i f e . Phoen ix M i n e r s Un ion No . 8 ~- W. Rogers . Vancouver T rades and Labor C o u n c i l — T . H . C r o s s . Vancouver Labor P a r t y — G. B a r t l e y . C o u n c i l o f R a i l r o a d T ra inmen , Kamloops A.McDonald & D. S t e vens . Ross l and T rades and Labor C o u n c i l , No. 6 J . McLa ren . Western F e d e r a t i o n o f M ine r s and Independent Labor P a r t y , Ross l and - » T . B rownlee . B ro therhood o f Locomot ive F i r e m e n , Kamloops — W. Hume. Tmi r M ine r s Un ion — A . P a r r . S l o c a n M ine r s U n i o n , No. 62 — J . A . Baker . B ro therhood o f Locomot ive E n g i n e e r s , Kamloops — T h o s . C I ous ton . B ro therhood o f Ra i lway T ra inmen , Kamloops — C . J . Bourne. Phoenix T rades and Labor C o u n c i l — C . H . Cowan. Vancouver F i s h e r m e n ' s Un ion — Sydney H a r r i s . Sandon M ine r s U n i o n , No. 8 — W. D a v i s o n , ( s i c ) ^>e-Kamloops T rades and Labor C o u n c i l — J . H . V a u t i n and G. Banbury. Greenwood Ca rpen t e r s Un ion and Greenwood S o c i a l i s t C l u b — C.W. S t a c k . s > c S l o can M ine r s Un ion — J o s . P u r v i a n c e . Si> z-Nanaimo S o c i a l i s t P a r t y — E . T . K i n g s l e y . c S l o can S o c i a l i s t P a r t y — J . K . McGregor . N e l s o n M i n e r s U n i o n , No . 96 — James W i l k s and C. McKay. Kamloops M i n e r s Un ion —=-J. Graham. Vancouver T rades and Labor C o u n c i l ~ R. McPherson. V i c t o r i a T rades and Labor C o u n c i l — J . D . McNiven . Vancouver T y p o g r a p h i c a l Un ion — R. Todd . New Wes tmins te r T y p o g r a p h i c a l Un ion ~ D. Jameson. C i g a r Makers U n i o n , Kamloops — F. Caseman. New Denver M i n e r s Un ion — C . H . R i c h a r d s o n . Nanaimo T rades and Labor C o u n c i l — H. B u c k l e . Vancouver B o i l e r m a k e r s — J . H . Watson I n t e r n a t i o n a l A s s o c i a t i o n o f M a c h i n i s t s , Reve l s toke — W. N e i l d . Greenwood M i n e r s Un ion -- Geo. Dougherty and M. Kane. Ne l son C a r p e n t e r s Un ion — A . Lockey . i o c - -Lardeau M i n e r s U n i o n , Fe rguson — A . Gordon. S^-C Sandon S o c i a l i s t League W. McAdam. ( s i c ) Sandon M ine r s Un ion — J . H . Thomson, T . McRoske, and A l e x . McDonald . B rotherhood Ra i lway Trackmen, A s h c r o f t — T . P h i l l i p s . x x v i Whitewater M ine r s Un ion — J . B . Burke . Ka s l o M ine rs U n i o n — G .T . Kane. B ro therhood Ra i lway Trackmen, Revenstoke - T . G i l l e s p i e . S i l v e r t o n M ine r s Un ion — J . T yTee . Ross l and M i n e r s Un ion — R. Bulmer and F . E . Woodside. ' Phoenix M i n e r s Un ion — T . Buck ton . ^*<-Ross l and Ca rpen te r s Un ion — T . Beamish. Ferguson S o c i a l i s t P a r t y — A l e x . Cummins. Ymir M i n e r s U n i o n - - A . McDouga l . F e r n i e M i n e r s Un ion — C M . O ' B r i e n . Ne l son Trades and Labo r Assembly - E. K i r b y . Ne l son Labor P a r t y — J a s . J ones . Vancouver S o c i a l i s t P a r t y — B. Burns <\"-. Kamloops F e d e r a l Un ion — J . McGee. Kamloops S i n g l e Tax — A . Thomson. N e l s o n Cooks and Wa i t e r s — H .A .M . F o r t i e r . Order R a i l r o a d T e l e g r a p h e r s , Kamloops — E d . G o u l e t . .... J . A . Baker e l e c t e d P r e s i d e n t o f C o n v e n t i o n , over W i l k s and F o l e y . . . . . Be fo re p r o c e e d i n g w i th the e l e c t i o n o f a V i c e - P r e s i d e n t , a mot ion was p r e s e n t e d , and seconded , t ha t no c a n d i d a t e f o r p e r -manent o f f i c e be e l i g i b l e un l e s s he be a B r i t i s h s u b j e c t and a v o t e r . An amendment was moved and seconded tha t a l l d e l e -ga tes not B r i t i s h s u b j e c t s be exc l uded f rom the p r i v i l e g e s o f p a r t i c i p a t i n g i n t h i s Conven t i on . Amendment l o s t , mo t i on c a r r i e d . .... Wi lks e l e c t e d v i c e - p r e s i d e n t over Macpherson . . . . . C ross , e l e c t e d s e c r e t a r y by a c c l a m a t i o n . • • • • e t c . ( I n l and S e n t i n e l P r i n t ; New Westminster Typo . L a b e l ) . x x v i i PLATFORM OF THE PROVINCIAL PROGRESSIVE PARTY PREAMBLE That t h i s P r o v i n c i a l P r o g r e s s i v e P a r t y l a y s i t down as a f i r s t p r i n c i p l e tha t they w i l l nominate , e n d o r s e , o r suppo r t o n l y sttch men as w i l l p l a c e t h e i r s i g n e d undated r e s i g n a t i o n i n the hands o f the conven t i on which nominates o r endorses them; tha t t h i s r e s i g n a t i o n be sworn t o ; t h a t t h i s r e s i g n a t i o n may be handed i n t o the L i e u t e n a n t Governor i n C o u n c i l whenever a ma j -o r i t y o f the conven t i on s h a l l c o n s i d e r such a c t i o n a d v i s a b l e . PLATFORM 1. That we g r a d u a l l y a b o l i s h a l l taxes on the p roduce r and the p r o d u c t s o f the p r o d u c e r , s h i f t i n g them on l a n d v a l u e s . 2. Government ownersh ip o f r a i l w a y s and means o f communica-t i o n . 3. That the Government e s t a b l i s h and opera te sme l t e r s and r e f i n e r i e s t o t r e a t a l l k i n d s o f m i n e r a l s . 4. That the f r a n c h i s e be extended to women. 5. The a b o l i t i o n o f p r o p e r t y q u a l i f i c a t i o n s f o r a l l p u b l i c o f f i c e s . 6 . Farm improvements , imp lements , and s t o c k not t o be t a x e d , and w i l d l a n d s to be a s s e s s e d a t the p r i c e asked f o r them by s p e c u l a t i v e h o l d e r s . 7. Ho l a n d o r cash s u b s i d i e s . Lands to be h e l d by the a c t -u a l s e t t l e r s . 8. Ten pe r c e n t , o f a l l p u b l i c l a n d s to be immed ia t e l y s e t a s i d e f o r e d u c a t i o n a l p u r p o s e s , and the e d u c a t i o n o f a l l c h i l -d r e n , up t o the age o f 16 y e a r s , to be f r e e , s e c u l a r , and com-p u l s o r y . Tex t books , mea ls and c l o t h i n g t o be s u p p l i e d out o f the p u b l i c funds when n e c e s s a r y . 9 . Compulsory a r b i t r a t i o n o f l a b o r d i s p u t e s . 1 0 . R e s t r i c t i o n o f O r i e n t a l immig r a t i on by a lwa on the l i n e s o f the H a t a l A c t ; and i f s a i d law be d i s a l l o w e d i t be r e p e a t e d l y r e-enac t ed u n t i l the end sought i s o b t a i n e d . 1 1 . That to p r o t e c t us f rom A s i a t i c s a l r e a d y i n the p r o -v i n c e the Government i n s e r t a c l a u s e i n a l l p r i v a t e A c t s to t h i s e f f e c t ; \" T h i s a c t s h a l l be n u l l and v o i d i f t he company f a i l s to e n t e r i n t o an agreement w i th the government a s to c o n d i t i o n s o f c o n s t r u c t i o n and o p e r a t i o n , \" and tha t the house pass a r e s o l u t i o n i n s t r u c t i n g the Government t o p r o h i b i t the employment o f A s i a t i c s on a l l f r a n c h i s e s g ran ted by the P r o -v i n c i a l House . x x v i i i 12 . C o n s e r v a t i o n o f our f o r e s t r i c h e s . Pu lp l a n d l e a s e s to c o n t a i n a p r o v i s i o n f o r r e f o r e s t i n g , so as to produce a pe r-e n n i a l r e venue , and make p u l p manu f a c tu r i ng a growing and p e r -manent i n d u s t r y . 1 3 . That the A c t c o m p e l l i n g the s c a l i n g o f l o g s by the Government be e n f o r c e d . 14 . A b s o l u t e r e s e r v a t i o n f rom s a l e o r l e a s e o f a c e r t a i n p a r t o f e ve r y known c o a l a r e a , so t h a t s t a t e owned m ines , i f n e c e s s a r y , may be e a s i l y p o s s i b l e i n the f u t u r e . A l l c o a l l e a s e s o r g r a n t s h e r e a f t e r made to c o n t a i n a p r o v i s i o n e n a b l -i n g the Government to f i x the p r i c e o f c o a l l oaded on c a r s o r v e s s e l s f o r sh ipment t o B .C. consumers . 1 5 . M u n i c i p a l i z a t i o n and p u b l i c c o n t r o l o f the l i q u o r t r a f f i c . 1 6 . The r i g h t to a re ferendum where a v a l u a b l e s u b s i d y o r f r a n c h i s e i s to be c a r r i e d . 1 7 . That a l l t r a n s p o r t a t i o n companies be compe l l ed to g i v e f r e e t r a n s p o r t a t i o n t o members o f the L e g i s l a t i v e Assembly and supreme Cour t and County Cour t j udges . 18 . E l e c t i o n day t o be a p u b l i c h o l i d a y . P r o v i s i o n made tha t e ve r y employee s h a l l be f r e e f rom s e r v i c e a t l e a s t f o u r c o n s e c u t i v e hours d u r i n g p o l l i n g t i m e . From P r o v i n c i a l Labor C o n v e n t i o n , P r o c e e d i n g s . A p r i l 15 and 1 6 . 1902. Kamloops, B .C. I n l a n d S e n t i n e l P r i n t . (pas ted i n T . & L . C . M i n u t e s , 1902-08, p p . 600-601) . x x i x AMENDMENTS TO PROVINCIAL PROGRESSIVE PLATFORM made a t New Denver Conven t i on , 1 Aug .1903 . sponsored by Western F e d e r a t i o n o f M ine r s l o c a l s , i n S l o c a n C o n s t i t u e n c y . Preamble — - adopted . P l ank 1 — • adop ted . P lank 2 — - combined w i th p l a n k 3 to r e a d : Government ownership o f r a i l r o a d s , means o f communi-c a t i o n and e s t ab l i shmen t and o p e r a t i o n by the Government o f Sme l t e r s and R e f i n e r i e s t o t r e a t a l l k i n d s o f m i n e r a l s . P l ank 4 ---- adop t ed . P l ank 5 ••»»• adop t ed . P l ank 6 «•-<•» s t r i c k e n o u t . P l ank 7 ••—ama lgama ted w i th p l a n k 8 and adop ted . P l ank 9 c «—»-word ^Compulsory\" d e l e t e d ; adop ted . 10 — — amalgamated w i th p l a n k 11 and adop ted . 12 «•«•-- s t r i c k e n o u t . 13 s t r i c k e n o u t . 14 amended to r e a d : A b s o l u t e r e s e r v a t i o n f rom s a l e o r l e a s e o f a c e r t a i n p a r t o f e ve ry known c o a l and o i l a r e a , so t h a t s t a t e owned mines and w e l l s , i f n e c e s s a r y , may be e a s i l y p o s s i b l e In the f u t u r e . A l l c o a l l e a s e s o r g ran ts h e r e a f t e r made to c o n t a i n a p r o v i s i o n e n a b l i n g the Government to f i x the p r i c e o f e o a l l o aded on c a r s o r v e s s e l s f o r shipment to B .C. consumers . 15 s t r i c k e n o u t . 16 =—o s t r i c k e n o u t ; r e p l a c e d by : To p r o v i d e f o r a s e t t l emen t of p u b l i c q u e s t i o n s by d i r e c t vo t e under the I n i t i a t i v e and Referendum. 17 «,.»« s t r i c k e n o u t . 18 mmmm amended by the a d d i t i o n o f : . . . and f u r t h e r tha t the e x e r c i s e o f the F r a n c h i s e be made compu lsory . ( f rom Minutes o f the above Conven t i on ; i n p o s s e s s i o n o f T .&D.S .W.U. ) X X X SOCIALIST PARTY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA \"IMMEDIATE DEMANDS\" c a . 1902 1. D i r e c t l e g i s l a t i o n . 2. P r o p o r t i o n a l r e p r e s e n t a t i o n . 3. A b o l i t i o n o f p r o p e r t y q u a l i f i c a t i o n f o r v o t e r s and c a n -d i d a t e s i n m u n i c i p a l e l e c t i o n . 4. A b o l i t i o n o f sys tem o f cash d e p o s i t s f o r c a n d i d a t e s a t p r o v i n c i a l e l e c t i o n s . 5. A d u l t s u f f r a g e . 6. A minimum wage l aw , f i x i n g wages a t not l e s s than $2 pe r day f o r a d u l t s . 7 . Reduc t ion o f hours o f l a b o r i n a l l t r a d e s to f o r t y - f o u r . hours p e r week. 8. A l l . c o a l mines to be owned and opera ted by the p r o v i n c e , i n the i n t e r e s t s o f the p e o p l e . 9 . Graduated l a n d t a x , s i m i l a r to New Zea land l aw . 10 . F r ee med i ca l a t tendance t o a l l need ing s u c h . 1 1 . S c i e n t i f i c and p r a c t i c a l management o f f i s h e r i e s , f o r e s t s , and waterways, i n the i n t e r e s t s o f the p r o v i n c e . 12 . Employment o f unemployed l a b o r on u s e f u l p r o d u c t i v e work. 13 . E x t e n s i o n o f powers o f m u n i c i p a l i t i e s . 14 . The e d u c a t i o n o f c h i l d r e n under 14 yea r s o f age t o be f r e e , s e c u l a r , and compu lsory . Tex t books , meals and c l o t h i n g t o be s u p p l i e d to c h i l d r e n out o f p u b l i c funds when n e c e s s a r y . 1 5 . M u n i c i p a l i z a t i o n and p u b l i c c o n t r o l o f the l i q u o r t r a f f i c . 1 6 . A b o l i t i o n o f p o l l and p e r s o n a l p r o p e r t y t a x . 1 7 . No more bonus ing p r i v a t e i n d i v i d u a l s o r c o r p o r a t i o n s , w i th l a n d g r an t s o r cash s u b s i d i e s . ( f rom Western C l a r i o n . J anuary 1 2 , 1907, p. 2 ) . x x x i SOCIALIST PARTf OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1902. PLATFORM We, the SOCIALIST PARTY o f B . C . , i n c o n v e n t i o n assemb led , a f f i r m our a l l e g i a n c e to and suppor t the p r i n c i p l e s o f the i n t e r n a t i o n a l r e v o l u t i o n a r y work ing c l a s s . Labor p roduces a l l wea l th and to l a b o r i t s h o u l d j u s t l y b e l o n g . To the owner o f the means o f wea l th p r o d u c t i o n be longs the p roduc t o f l a b o r . The c a p i t a l i s t system i s based upon p r i -va te o r c a p i t a l i s t ownership o f the means o f wea l th p r o d u c t i o n , t h e r e f o r e a l l the p roduc t s o f l a b o r be longs t o the c a p i t a l i s t . The c a p i t a l i s t i s m a s t e r ; the workingman i s s l a v e . So l o n g as the c a p i t a l i s t remains i n p o s s e s s i o n o f the r e i n s o f government a l l the powers o f the s t a t e w i l l be used to p r o t e c t and de fend t h e i r p r o p e r t y r i g h t s i n the means o f weal th p r o d u c t i o n and t h e i r c o n t r o l o f the p roduc t o f l a b o r . The c a p i t a l i s t system g i v e s t o the c a p i t a l i s t an e ve r s w e l l i n g s t ream o f p r o f i t s ; and t o the worker an eve r i n c r e a s -i n g measure o f m i se r y and d e g r a d a t i o n . The i n t e r e s t s o f the work ing c l a s s l i e s i n the d i r e c t i o n o f g e t t i n g i t s e l f f r e e f rom c a p i t a l i s t e x p l o i t a t i o n by the a b o l i t i o n o f the wage sys tem. To a c comp l i sh t h i s n e c e s s i t a t e s the t r a n s f o r m a t i o n o f c a p i t a l i s t p r o p e r t y i n the means o f weal th p r o d u c t i o n i n t o c o l l e c t i v e o r work ing c l a s s p r o p e r t y . The i r r e p r e s s i b l e c o n f l i c t o f i n t e r e s t s between the c a p -i t a l i s t and the worker i s r a p i d l y c u l m i n a t i n g i n a s t r u g g l e f o r p o s s e s s i o n o f the powers o f government, the c a p i t a l i s t to h o l d ; the worker t o secure i t by p o l i t i c a l a c t i o n . T h i s i s the c l a s s s t r u g g l e . T h e r e f o r e we c a l l upon a l l wage ea rne r s t o o r g a n i z e under the banner o f the S o c i a l i s t P a r t y o f B . C . , w i th the o b j e c t o f conque r i ng the p u b l i c powers f o r the purpose o f s e t t i n g up and e n f o r c i n g the economic program o f the work ing c l a s s , as f o l l o w s : 1. The t r a n s f o r m a t i o n as r a p i d l y a s p o s s i b l e o f c a p i t a l i s t p r o p e r t y i n the means o f wea l th p r o d u c t i o n (Na tu ra l r e s o u r c e s , f a c t o r i e s , m i l l s , r a i l w a y s , e t c . ) i n t o the c o l l e c t i v e p r o p e r t y o f the work ing c l a s s . 2. Thorough and democra t i c o r g a n i z a t i o n and management o f i n d u s t r y by the workers . 3. The e s t ab l i shmen t as s p e e d i l y a s p o s s i b l e o f p r o d u c t i o n f o r use i n l i e u o f p r o d u c t i o n f o r p r o f i t . 4 . The S o c i a l i s t P a r t y , when i n o f f i c e , s h a l l a lways and everywhere, u n t i l the p r e sen t system i s u t t e r l y a b o l i s h e d make X X X i i the answer t o t h i s q u e s t i o n i t s g u i d i n g r u l e o f conduc t ; W i l l t h i s l e g i s l a t i o n advance the i n t e r e s t s o f the work ing c l a s s and a i d the workers i n t h e i r c l a s s s t r u g g l e a g a i n s t c a p i t a l i s m ? I f i t does the S o c i a l i s t P a r t y i s f o r i t ; i f i t does n o t , the S o c i a l i s t P a r t y i s a b s o l u t e l y opposed t o i t . 5. I n accordance w i th t h i s p r i n c i p l e the S o c i a l i s t P a r t y p ledges i t s e l f t o conduct a l l the p u b l i c a f f a i r s p l a c e d i n i t s hands i n such a manner a s to promote the i n t e r e s t s o f the work ing c l a s s a l o n e . ( f rom the Western C l a r i o n . June 4, 1903, p . 3 ) . x x x i i i MANIFESTO TO THE WORKING CLASS (1903) Among the more a rgent l e g i s l a t i o n need ing c o n s i d e r a t i o n woald be F i r s t Measures f o r the s h o r t e n i n g o f the hoars o f l a b o r and the improvement o f the s a n i t a r y c o n d i t i o n s under which men and women t o i l i n m i n d , workshop, and f a c t o r y . Second — Laws p r o v i d i n g b e t t e r f a c i l i t i e s f o r the e d u -c a t i o n o f the young a l o n g the l i n e s o f manual t r a i n i n g and p h y s i c a l deve lopment , and making i n c r e a s e d p r o v i s i o n f o r the r a t i o n a l r e c r e a t i o n o f the p e o p l e . T h i r d — The f o r m u l a t i o n o f a scheme to p r o v i d e u s e f u l remunera t i ve work f o r the unemployed. Fou r th — A system o f o ld-age pens ions f o r the b e n e f i t o f e ve ry pe r son need ing such who i s over s i x t y y e a r s o f age . F i f t h — The a d d i t i o n a l revenue needed to f i n a n c e these improvements t o be r a i s e d by i n c r e a s e o f t a x a t i o n on l a r g e incomes , v a l u a b l e f r a n c h i s e s , and l a n d s h e l d f o r s p e c u l a t i v e pu rposes . (\" Immediate demands\" put fo rward by A . R . S t e b b i n g s and E r n e s t Bu rns , S o c i a l i s t P a r t y c a n d i d a t e s i n Vancouve r ) . ( f rom the Western C l a r i o n . August 2 1 , 1903, p. 1 ) . x x x i v TRADES AND LABOR CONGRESS OF CANADA RESOLUTION IN FAVOR OF A CANADIAN LABOR PARTY. 1906 1. That t h i s Congress endorse the i d e a o f s end ing r e p r e s e n t a -t i v e s o f l a b o r to pa r l i amen t and to the l o c a l l e g i s l a t u r e s f o r the d i r e c t purpose o f c o n s e r v i n g the i n t e r e s t s o f the work ing peop le o f t h i s c o u n t r y . 2. That such a c t i o n as may be neces sa r y to a t t a i n t h i s o b j e c t s h a l l be independent o f t h i s Cong ress . 3. Tha t the p l a t f o r m o f p r i n c i p l e s o f t h i s Congress be r ecom-mended as ( the ) p l a t f o r m to be adopted by those engaged i n t h i s independent e f f o r t . 4. That immed ia te l y upon the adjournment o f t h i s conven t i on the p r o v i n c i a l e x e c u t i v e s o f t h i s Congress take the p r e l i m -i n a r y s t eps to summon a conven t i on o f the t r ade u n i o n i s t s o f t h e i r r e s p e c t i v e p r o v i n c e s , and those i n sympathy w i th o r -gan i zed l a b o r , f o r the purpose o f f o rm ing the n e c e s s a r y a s-s o c a t i o n t o c a r r y on t h e r e a f t e r the work of e l e c t i n g l a b o r men. 5. Tha t upon such conven t i ons b e i n g summoned and convened the f u n c t i o n s o f the p r o v i n c i a l e x e c u t i v e s i n t h i s r e g a r d s h a l l c e a s e . ( f rom the Western C l a r i o n . Oc tober 6 , 1906, p. 1 ) . X X X V CANADIAN LABOR PARTY PLATFORM, 1906 1. F r e e compulsory e d u c a t i o n . 2. A l e g a l e i g h t - h o a r day , s i x days to a week. 3. Government i n s p e c t i o n o f a l l i n d u s t r i e s . 4. A b o l i t i o n o f the c o n t r a c t system on a l l p u b l i c works. 5. A minimum l i v i n g wage, based on l o c a l c o n d i t i o n s . 6. P u b l i c ownership o f a l l f r a n c h i s e s such as r a i l w a y s , t e l e g r a p h s , waterworks, e t c . 7. T a x a t i o n r e f o r m , l e s s e n i n g the impost on i n d u s t r i e s and i n c r e a s i n g the burden on l a n d v a l u e s . 8. A b o l i t i o n o f the Dominion s e n a t e . 9. Ch inese e x c l u s i o n . 10 . Un ion l a b e l en a l l manufactures and a l l governmenta l and m u n i c i p a l s u p p l i e s . 1 1 . A b o l i t i o n o f c h i l d and female l a b o r i n m ines , workshops,) f a c t o r i e s , e t c . ] 12 . A b o l i t i o n o f p r o p e r t y q u a l i f i c a t i o n s f o r p u b l i c o f f i c e . 1 3 . V o l u n t a r y a r b i t r a t i o n o f l a b o r d i s p u t e s . 14 . P r o p o r t i o n a l r e p r e s e n t a t i o n w i th grouped c o n s t i t u e n c i e s and a b o l i t i o n o f m u n i c i p a l wards. 1 5 . D i r e c t l e g i s l a t i o n through the i n i t i a t i v e and re fe rendum. 16 . P r o h i b i t i o n o f p r i s o n l a b o r i n c o m p e t i t i o n w i th f r e e l a b o r . (Drawn up a t T . L . C . C . c o n v e n t i o n , V i c t o r i a , 1906 ) . ( f rom the Vancouver Wo r l d . September 2 2 , 1906, p . l ) . xxx v i \"SOCIALIST PARTY* RESOLUTION passed a t CANADIAN LABOR PARTY CONVENTION, 1906 Whereas:- No p o l i t i c a l p a r t y can c o r r e c t l y exp ress the l a b o r movement n n l e s s i t s tands f o r the a b o l i t i o n o f c a p i t a l i s t e x p l o i t a t i o n , and the wage system under which i t i s e f f e c t e d ; and Whereas: a Labor P a r t y i s a l r e a d y i n e x i s t e n c e which does s t and f o r t ha t change , and which has r e c e i v e d the most empha-t i c e n d o r s a t i o n p o s s i b l e f rom the d i f f e r e n t l a b o r o r g a n i z a t -i o n s throughout the p r o v i n c e , inasmuch a s , n e a r l y eve ry l a b o r o r g a n i z a t i o n i n the p r o v i n c e has w r i t t e n t o the r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s o f t h a t p a r t y i n the l o c a l L e g i s l a t u r e r e q u e s t i n g them to take up t h e i r g r i e v a n c e s , and endeavor to get l e g i s l a t i o n passed f o r the bet terment o f t h e i r c o n d i t i o n s , thus showing t h e i r c o n -f i d e n c e i n the s a i d p a r t y as a l a b o r p a r t y . T h e r e f o r e be i t r e s o l v e d : That i n the o p i n i o n o f t h i s c o n v e n t i o n i t i s unwise t o o r g a n i z e ano the r Labor P a r t y , as i t would cause c o n f u s i o n among the work ing c l a s s , thus d i v i d i n g t h e i r v o t e , and r e n d e r i n g i t i n e f f e c t i v e ; and be i t f u r t h e r r e s o l v e d , That we recommend t o the work ing c l a s s throughout t h i s p r o v i n c e , the c a r e f u l s tudy and i n v e s t i g a t i o n o f the p r i n c i p l e s and p l a t f o r m o f the S o c i a l i s t P a r t y o f Canada, and Tha t we f u r t h e r recommend the ea rnes t s t u d y o f the p r i n -c i p l e s and programme o f S o c i a l i s m as we b e l i e v e t h a t i n the accompl ishment o f i t s a i m s , l i e s the o n l y t r u e and permanent s o l u t i o n o f the l a b o r p rob l em. ( f rom the Western C l a r i o n . November 3, 1906, p . l ) . x x x v i i PLATFORM OF THOS E . KELLY, LABOR PARTY (Cranbrook , 3 J a n . 1907) 1. Government ownership o f R a i l r o a d s , means o f communica-t i o n and o p e r a t i o n by the Government o f Sme l t e r s and R e f i n -e r i e s to t r e a t a l l k i n d s o f m i n e r a l s . 2. the a b o l i t i o n o f a l l p r o p e r t y q u a l i f i c a t i o n s f o r a l l P u b l i c o f f i c e s . 3. Ho l a n d o r cash s u b s i d i e s . Lands t o be h e l d by a c t u a l s e t t l e r s , and f u r t h e r t h a t TEH pe r cent o f a l l l ands be immed-i a t e l y s e t a s i d e f o r e d u c a t i o n a l purposes and the e d u c a t i o n o f a l l c h i l d r e n up to the age o f s i x t e e n y e a r s t o be f r e e and compulsory . Text books and c l o t h i n g t o be s u p p l i e d out o f the P u b l i c funds when necessa ry* 4. A b s o l u t e r e s e r v a t i o n f rom s a l e o r l e a s e o f a c e r t a i n p a r t o f every known c o a l o r o i l a r e a , so tha t s t a t e owned mines o r we l l s may be e a s i l y p o s s i b l e i n the f u t u r e . 5. To p r o v i d e f o r the s e t t l emen t o f P u b l i c q u e s t i o n s by d i r e c t vo te under the I n i t i a t i v e and re fe rendum. 6 . Amendments to E l e c t i o n s A c t p r o v i d i n g t h a t no e l e c -t i o n w i l l be c a l l e d w i thout g i v i n g the e l e c t o r s an o p p o r t u n i t y to r e g i s t e r i n t ime t o secu re t h e i r v o t e s . 7. T r u c k A c t en fo r cemen t s , t o compel a l l employers o f l a b o u r t o pay employees i n c u r r e n t c o i n o f the Domin ion , a t p l a c e o f employment when they q u i t o r a r e d i s c h a r g e d . 8. E i g h t hour day f o r a l l c l a s s e s o f l a b o u r . 9 . Graduated Land Tax . 1 0 . E x c l u s i o n o f A s i a t i c L abou r . 1 1 . O l d Age Pens ions f o r workingmen. ( O r i g i n a l i n p o s s e s s i o n o f T .&D . S .W .U . , T r a i l , B .C . ) (Note: t h i s l e a f l e t bears the l a b e l o f the I.W.W., and was produced by Moyie Leader P r i n t ) . x x x v i i i MEANINGS OF ABBREVIATIONS I. In T e x t : A . F . o f L Amer ican F e d e r a t i o n o f Labor C . C . F . Co-ope ra t i v e Commonwealth F e d e r a t i o n C . I . O . Congress o f I n d u s t r i a l O r g a n i z a t i o n s C . L . P . Canadian Labor P a r t y C . P.R. Canad ian P a c i f i c Ra i lway D. A , D i s t r i c t A s s o c i a t i o n I.W.W. I n d u s t r i a l Workers o f the Wor ld E. o f L. K n i g h t s o f Labor L .P . Labor P a r t y M .M.L . P .A . M i n e r s ' and Mine L a b o r e r s ' P r o t e c t i v e A s s o c i a t i o n M.U. M i n e r s ' Un ion O .B .U . One B i g Un ion P .P .P . P r o v i n c i a l P r o g r e s s i v e P a r t y S . L . P . S o c i a l i s t Labor P a r t y S .P . S o c i a l i s t P a r t y T.& L . C . T rades and Labor C o u n c i l T . L . C . C . T rades and Labor Congress o f Canada U.B.W.A. U n i t e d Brewery Workers o f Amer i ca U.M.W.A. U n i t e d Mine Workers o f Amer i c a U . S . L . P . U n i t e d S o c i a l i s t Labor P a r t y W.F .M. Western F e d e r a t i o n o f M i n e r s I I . In f o o t n o t e s : CPC Canadian P a r l i a m e n t a r y Companion CPG Canadian P a r l i a m e n t a r y Guide T.& D.S.W.U. T r a i l and D i s t r i c t Sme l t e r Worke r s ' Un ion VTLCM Vancouver T rades and Labor C o u n c i l \" M i n u t e s \" "@en ; edm:hasType "Thesis/Dissertation"@en ; edm:isShownAt "10.14288/1.0107058"@en ; dcterms:language "eng"@en ; ns0:degreeDiscipline "History"@en ; edm:provider "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en ; dcterms:publisher "University of British Columbia"@en ; dcterms:rights "For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use."@en ; ns0:scholarLevel "Graduate"@en ; dcterms:title "The British Columbia labour movement and political action, 1879-1906"@en ; dcterms:type "Text"@en ; ns0:identifierURI "http://hdl.handle.net/2429/41847"@en .