#unemployed protest

In one such incident, a rally of approximately 1,000 unemployed workers in October turned ugly when a dozen mounted officers swinging batons rode into the ranks of demonstrators. A number were injured and knocked unconscious, the most serious case being that of a Finnish worker named K. Jaaska (also spelled Jaaski), who eventually died. Those demonstrators who escaped the initial charge by the mounted police and fled to Bay Street were run down by police, who also forced their way into the Communist hall and arrested all present. Police also raided the Scandinavian Workers’ Society Hall and arrested and ordered deported its chairman, Emil Sandberg, for his alleged role in masterminding the march.

Although the death of Jaaska resulted in an inquest, local officials trivialized the sworn testimony of workers and accepted the statements of police without question. The final verdict determined that Jaaska had died of lock- jaw resulting from a cut on his nose, and as his body “showed no evidence of blows or other violence” when examined, claims of police brutality were un- founded. The hundreds of socialists who had showed up for the verdict were visibly angered, but their “branding [of] the Port Arthur cossacks as murderers” appears to have had little bite. Jaaska’s death resulted in a massive funeral reminiscent of the one held for Rosvall and Voutilainen in April 1930. Over a thousand workers took part, marching behind his red-flag-draped coffin and a banner that read: “The future belongs to toilers. Comrade Jaaska died demanding bread.”

Jaaska’s death created a sense of solidarity among workers in the twin cities and caused civic officials concern. Employment agencies in both Port Arthur and Fort William began to refuse work to Finnish and Ukrainian workers in an attempt to stem the growth of both the CPC [Communist Party] and the IWW. In no other industry was this more apparent than in the lumber industry. Companies hired men to watch workers, and liaised closely with the employment agencies to ensure that known Communists or Wobblies did not get work. Anti-Communist “White Finns,” such as Kosti Koivukoski, president of the Loyal Sons of Canada and an official with the dreaded Pigeon River Timber Company, were placed in positions of authority within both the employment agencies and the camps. Their goal of “preserving the good name of the Finns, fighting the Reds by all means and helping the authorities in whatever way they can,” presented them “with an ideal opportunity to exploit the antagonisms within the Finnish community and the divisions within the working class as a whole to their own advantage.”

“Jobless Still Guard Home From Eviction,” Toronto Star. November 29, 1932. Page 20. ---- Body of 200 Organized on ‘Business Basis’ --- ‘We are now working in two shifts and have got it down to a business-like basis now,’ said one of the unemployed who are guarding the home of G. Bennett, 1091 Glencairn Ave., against eviction by the county sheriff for non-payment of mortgage interest.

‘A hundred men spend five hours of the morning at the house and another hundred come at about noon and spend about five hours on guard. Those who are relieved are ready for call in case of trouble.’

"RED RIOTERS ROUTED BY LOYAL JOBLESS," Toronto Globe. June 20, 1933. Page 1. ---- Strike Attempt Fails at Thunder Bay Unemployment Camp ==== (Canadian Press Despatch.) Fort William, June 19. - Rioters at the Trans-Canada Highway unemployed camp at Martin, near here, were driven off with a fire hose and hammer handles wielded by camp workers who resented a strike brought on by the discharge of two alleged Communists over the weekend.

Armed with rocks and pick handles, about twenty-five men resisted efforts of police and camp officials to force them to leave the camp. They were joined by thirty more men who quit their work. When police and trusted camp workers drove them off with hammer handles and a fire hose, they retreated from the camp singing "The Red Flag."

“NINE UNEMPLOYED GIVEN ACQUITTAL,” Montreal Gazette. January 6, 1933. Page 4. ---- Vitre Street Refuge Men Charged With Having Disturbed the Peace ---- SYMPATHIZERS ATTEND --- Evidence Shows Trouble Arose Over Desire to Have Relief Card Restored to Alleged Communist ---- Acquittal was given nine unemployed workers all inmates of the Vitre street day refuge by Recorder Aime Leblanc in the Recorder's Court yesterday on charges of having disturbed the peace. Their arrest followed in the wake of a rowdy meeting on December 2 last between a delegation of the unemployed workers receiving relief and G. B. Clarke, manager of the Protestant Relief Committee's offices on St. George street, over cancellation by the relief bureau of the relief card of an alleged Communist. 

Evidence before the court showed that one John McMartin, branded by the police as a "Communist," had had his relief card cancelled by officials of the Protestant Relief Committee on December 1 last on the grounds that he was disseminating subversive propaganda amongst inmates of the Vitre street refuge. McMartin complained at the St. George street offices of the committee, and was told to see Mr. Clarke on the morrow during business hours. 

The next day, McMartin, accompanied by a group of the unemployed receiving relief, turned up and asked to see Mr. Clarke. They affirmed that they comprised a "delegation," and wanted to protest against cancellation of McMartin's relief card. Their request was refused because they had not appeared during the specified business hours of the office, but the men became so persistent that Mr. Clarke was obliged to see them. He told them that their complaints would be Investigated, but they demanded the immediate renewal of McMartin's relief card. Surging into the office, the crowd of men is alleged to have become menacing, and the police were called.

Arrested on charges of "disturbing the peace by shouting outside of No. 1027 St. George street,” nine of the men faced the Recorder yesterday in chambers. Outside in the lobby was gathered a crowd of "sympathizers" estimated at some 60 in number. 

DISTURBING OF PEACE. Following deposition of evidence, J. H. Blumenstein, attorney for the nine accused, asked that the charges against all men be dismissed. Complaints against them charged that they had disturbed the peace "outside" of the St, George street offices, he noted, but there was no disturbance there. What had happened - and it represented but the submission by the nine men of definite-demands to Mr. Clarke - had gone on inside of the offices. 

"If a delegation waits on somebody and lays down certain demands, is that to be interpreted by the law as willful disturbance of the public peace?" Mr. Blumenstein asked.

“MONTREAL MEN TO JOIN MASS MARCH,” Montreal Gazette. January 14, 1933. Page 17. ---- Police Here Informed Unemployed Delegation Planning to Go to Ottawa ---- Fifty delegates from the Montreal unemployed council are planning to partake in the Canada-wide "hunger march," which is scheduled to take place on Tuesday next to coincide with the Provincial Conference to be held in Ottawa, according to information obtained by the local police. Automobiles, motor trucks, and trains will be used by the delegates in order to reach the capital where it is claimed some 5,000 to 6.000 delegates from all over Canada will gather and present their demands.

 It was learned in police circles last night that Montreal police will not interfere with the delegates, and they will be allowed to leave this city in whatever manner they wish. It was also stated that a "march" will be made on the old Court House, Notre Dame street, where a delegation from the council will attempt to interview Premier L. A. Taschereau, who is expected to arrive in Montreal next Thursday. 

Funeral procession on March 12, 1932, for the four men killed by Dearborn police and Ford Company goons during the Dearborn Hunger March, March 7, 1932. From top to bottom: 1) The coffins that hold Joe York, George Bussell, Coleman Leny and Joe Blasio, four of the men killed during the Ford Hunger March, are given a public viewing at Detroit's Communist Party Headquarters prior to their internment at Woodmere Cemetery.

Note: The African American man at front center is Christopher Alston, a future organizer for UAW - Ford.

2) The demonstration / funeral procession for four of the men killed during the Ford Hunger March makes its way across the Fort Street Bridge.

3) “The head of the vast funeral march of 70,000 proceeding down Woodward Avenue in silent pledge that the four martyrs (Joe York, George Bussell, Coleman Leny and Joe Blasio) who were killed on Monday, March 7, 1932 did not die in vain.”--Photographer’s Description

Note: The banner leading the marchers reads "Smash Ford-Murphy Police Terror." The "Murphy" invoked is Detroit's Mayor Frank Murphy.

4) Another photo of the funeral march proceeding down Woodward Avenue.

5) Mourners confront Detroit Police officers during the demonstration and funeral procession for four of the men killed during the Ford Hunger March. Several people hold signs aloft, the most prominent proclaims “Negro and White Unite!.”

6) The first of four hearses that carry the men who were killed during the Ford Hunger March leads the vast funeral procession down Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan.

7) Thousands line Woodward Avenue as the funeral procession for four of the men slain during the Ford Hunger March passes by, Detroit, Michigan. Within the crows, people hold banners and sign denouncing the violence and urging men to join the auto worker’s union.

8) Mourners stand by memorial wreaths during the funerals of Joe York, George Bussell, Coleman Leny and Joe Blasio, four of the men killed during the Ford Hunger March, at Detroit's Woodmere Cemetery.

9) Portrait c. 1930 of Joe Bussell, killed by Ford Servicemen during the 1932 Ford Hunger March, Detroit, Michigan.

10) Portrait c. 1930 of Joe York, killed by Ford Servicemen during the 1932 Ford Hunger March, Detroit, Michigan. Courtesy of Belle Weisman.

Several days later, the Sun published an interview with Alderman John Bennett, chair of the Finance Committee. He joined the chorus sounding the note of monetary restraint. “We all know the demands of the unemployed organization are unreasonable. It is financially impossible for the city to pay out $4.50 a day to all the unemployed.” Bennett did see a solution on the horizon, however: Vancouver should handle the jobless “easily and inexpensively” by housing them in the sheds maintained by the federal Department of Immigration.

The theme of financial restraint espoused by the council’s booster faction never addressed the VUWO’s challenge to the practices at the core of relief policy. While the VUWO asked that relief be paid in cash, Alderman Bennett proposed to take away whatever choices existed for propertyless unemployed men in matters of food and shelter by forcing them into shabbily built sheds whose original purpose was to house unfortunates awaiting deportation. The demands to abolish racial and residential restrictions, the calls for clothing and shoes for school children — all were ignored by the council in its emphasis on the bottom line of civic finance. And the final demand, for an immediate special meeting of the council, was also eventually refused after the VUWO delegates had completed their second tour of the subcommittees. In contrast to the VUWO’s expansive vision of relief as an automatic entitlement granted to everyone when unemployment struck, for most City Fathers, relief was ideally something of a gift furnished by the propertied taxpayer, to be given only to those truly deserving (based on residential and moral as well as racial and national criteria) and only for something such as work in return. Yet the claims of financial obstacles offered by Malkin, Miller, and others made up but one dimension of the local government’s response to the VUWO’s program: another would be provided by Chief Constable Bingham.

While Bingham initially reported that unemployed “processions have been orderly,” conducted with “no cause for Police interference,” he soon changed his assessment and argued for a view of unemployed demonstrations as part of a conspiracy against constituted authority. As noted, Communists had on occasion refused to carry the Union Jack at the front of their parades, “which in itself is illegal,” declared Bingham, a violation of a civic bylaw. He had overlooked this, however, because “the unusual circumstances justified latitude in my action whilst the processions were orderly.” The increased availability of work relief, Bingham wrote, satisfied the genuine jobless but “did not appear to suit some leaders of the Communist Party, who gathered around them a number of mal-contents discharged from City work.” He then used his presumed knowledge of plans of violent protest to ban “unauthorized” processions:

Information was forthcoming that if a clash came between the Police and the Unemployed, it was to be in the streets where advantage was to be taken of the melee to start a window-smashing campaign. In order to avoid this, I instructed the Unemployed that, whilst I was prepared to allow them to hold their meetings, an unauthorized procession could not be permitted.

For the VUWO, in contrast, Bingham’s ability to ban parades under city bylaws violated the time-honoured rights of assembly and free speech. Indeed, the increasing limitations that Bingham placed on unemployed parades served to underline Communist critiques of state coercion.

On 15 December, the Vancouver Daily Province reported the death of a common labourer in the east end under the headline “Man Starves to Death Here.” The next day, some five hundred people, the bulk of them jobless, “stormed” the Relief Office, but Ireland refused to deal with their complaints “en masse.” “I have been used to dealing with men,” he began to say, but was interrupted: “You’re dealing with men now — not slaves — hungry ones,” someone shouted. Ireland offered them work at the rate of a dollar per day but was met with the cry, “No Scab Jobs!”  Ninety minutes later, after being dispersed by police, another crowd assembled in front of City Hall, where Litterick and McEwan spoke about the VUWO’s demand for a hearing with City Council. At one point, a group attempted to gain entry into the council meeting in progress, only to meet with police resistance. An editorial in the Daily Province noted that the mood had been one of “good humour on both sides.” However, the VUWO's plan for subsequent daily demonstrations was “crazy”: “no good can come of it, either for the unemployed themselves or for anybody else.” The Sun editorial gently criticized police tactics, maintaining that “demonstrations and disorders are too often confused. The one is merely a safety valve, letting off steam. The other is a frequent result of keeping the safety valve shut, and the martyr complex flourishes under high pressure.” At the same time, the Sun made clear that Communist agitation, as opposed to genuine discontent, lay behind the demonstrations.