The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-04-18
The Struggle in Nova Scotia

class lighters in the Canadian labor
movement. To the great alarm of the
Canadian bourgeoisie and the trade
union bureaucracy, this radicalism
manifested itself in the miners at
tempt early in July 1923 to obtain
permission (refused of course) from
the U. NJ w. of A. executive board
to affiliate with the Red Labor Union
International. The Communist Party
became very influential in the district.
TN July 1923 about 1000 steel work
4 ers employed by Besco in Sydney
went out on strike for recognition of
their union and better conditions. At
the behest of Besco the government
rushed in the militia. The miners de-
manded the withdrawal of the military
and when this was refused, went out
on strike. At this point, the govern
ment, the military, and ,Besco were
Joined by their ally Lewis the bu-
reaucrat head of the U. M. w. Of A.,
who outlawed the miners strike as a
violation of contract"
The military coerced the miners, the
government threw the strike leaders
into prison on trumped-up charges of
sedition, and Lewis served for his
masters by arbitrarily deposing the
radical miners executive and oppoint-
ing his own henchmen.
THE strike was mercilessly broken
L but let it be remembered, not
murmur Of protest from the middle
classes and uplifters. They enjoyed
The spectacle as cheerfully as the
breaking of the militant Winnipeg
general strike few years before.
In September of the same year, the
royal commission appointed to invest
igate the causes of the strike reported
among reasons which are irrelevent,
the low rate of wages, the long hours,
the refusal of the company to recogn-
ize the Steel Workers Union, irregul-
ar employment, unemployment and
the high cost of living. The report
of the commission brought with it,
Of course, no Improvement of condi-
tions. On the contrary, Besco pre-
pared to present the miners with an
other ten per cent wage cut at the be-
ginning of 1925.
THE miners meanwhile seized their
= first opportunity when permission
was finally granted to hold conven-
ton and to elect another executive
which was regarded as left-wing and
as likely to continue the fighting
policies of Jim McLachlan who since
his release from prison has been
editor of the Maritime Labor Herald.
In spite of the utmost prOgocation of
Lewis, the miners held firmly to
their unity The One Big Union
clique in Winnipeg who while not a
union have large funds accumulated
from their profitable gambling compe-
titions, endeavored to split the miners
away from the u. M. w. of A. but
when they did not succeed, they man,
aged to split off a few hundred miners
in Pictou county. uae
Following Besco's announcement
that wages must be reduced, the min
lister of labor, the notorious Jimmy
Murdoch who had done so much to
break the postal workers strike last
summer, appointed a Cancellation
board under the Lemieux act to in
vestigate the dispute. About the same
time the privy council in London
decided that the Lemieux Industrial
disputes investigation) act was in
valid as ultra wires" of the federal
house which had enacted it. But re-
CARELESS of this decision, the "con-
ciliation board" could have accom-
plished nothing much more than it
did-which was merely to shake its
head wisely, say it was too bad, and
recommend another inquiry by royal
commission. While applying for the
board, Besco was going right ahead
with its provocative arrangements for
the lockout.
THE corporation resolved to pre-
IL Ia