Methodism.10 Bryan left for the United States in the early 1880s and soon befriended Samuel Gompers and Eugene Debs. By the turn of the twentieth century, he had been a successful organizer in the United States for the AFL.11 Bryans position as a union leader and his role in a number of prominent strikes in Cleveland eventually led to his being blacklisted by most employers. He and his family had no choice but to leave. With no other prospects, Bryan was convinced by the AFL leadership to return to Canada to organize workers at the Lakehead. One may reasonably speculate that he was drawn by the regions extraordinary growth rates at the turn of the century. Its location at the head of Lake Superior, combined with nearby natural resources and the phenomenal expansion of the Canadian wheat economy, made Lakehead a magnet for immigrants. Within the cities the railway yards, coal docks, grain elevators, and ship building yards provided the bulk of the employment for labourers (both skilled and unskilled) and were the driving force of the
Muirhead, Harry Bryan, 39. For more Bryans relationship with Gompers, see Morrison, Community in Conflict, 28. Her sources are the Gompers Letterbooks held at the Library of Congress. For more on Gompers in Canada, see Robert H. Babcocks Gompers in Canada: a study in American continentialism before the First World War (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1974) and his much more useful PhD dissertation The A.F.L. in Canada, 1896-1908: A Study in American Labor Imperialism (Ph.D. diss., Duke University, 1970). It was in Cleveland while working for the AFL that Bryan organized and later became the president of the Street Railwaymens Union and a regional organizer for the federation. One of Bryans most memorable moments while in Cleveland was meeting Booker T. Washington. Washington spoke at a convention Bryan organized between local union leaders, employers, and city officials. After his speech and the photographs taken, carriages took all the officials and some union men from the hall. All, that is, except Washington who was denied entry. Bryan and the other organizers went over and apologized to Washington for his treatment. Washington told Bryan that he was used to it and he was not angry, he only pitied them. Bryan, Nordstrom recalled, responded, that workers have the same problems as coloured people of the United States, but we are more numerous and can make ourselves heard as we do not have to contend with race prejudice. See LUA, JMLHC, Tape 5, Harry Bryan Reminiscences, 1972.

PADN, 1 August 1912. Interestingly, his $4,000 bail was paid by Urry and so was his bond of $500 after he pled guilty on the advice of both his lawyer and the presiding judge. 163 Jean Morrison, Ethnicity and Class Consciousness: British, Finnish and South European Workers at the Canadian Lakehead Before World War 1, The Lakehead University Review 9:1 (1976): 51. 164 The Voice, 12 October 1912.
membership. Despite being faced with the possibility that their charter would be revoked, Local #51 refused to expel Hicks and launched a vigorous defence on his behalf. The convincing agitator had a coterie of true believers, who defended him to the last ditch refusing to believe that Hicks would do anything wrong.165 He also had his critics, evidently including the 400-strong Fort William Branch, which, it appears, had sided with the Dominion Executive.166 After Hickss expulsion, the remaining SDPC branches in Port Arthur refused to support Urrys candidacy for the Joint Board of the Port Arthur and Fort William Street Railway. They declared non-confidence in ILP candidates in both cities for their unwillingness to recognize the class struggle and the necessity for abolishing capitalism.167 While the ILP controlled the labour councils in both cities (consisting of 22 unions), had successfully elected members to both city councils, and possessed its own paper, its prospects of electoral success relied on having the support of the SDPC with its mass base among the Ukrainians and Finns.168 By 1913, the SDPC locals in Port Arthur and Fort William were amongst the 58 reportedly active in Ontario. Calls were being made to reunite with the SPC to create a
AO, FEM, Frederick Urry to W. Hicks, 7 June 1912. Among his supporters was one particularly ardent seventy-year-old socialist named Stewart. 166 Cottons Weekly, 7 November 1912. While the number 400 was claimed by both Hicks and W.J. Carter, the locals secretary, the Dominion Executive disputed this figure in their letter to Fred Moore. Throughout the Thunder Bay and Rainy River Districts, Cottons Weekly reported 9 locals of the SDPC existed. See the 23 January 1913 issue. 167 Cottons Weekly, 14 November 1912. 168 Morrison, The Organization of Labour at Thunder Bay, 127. Over the course of the next few months, Ukrainian and Scandinavian locals were established in Fort William and a Russian was reportedly in the works. However, no more is known about them. See Cottons Weekly, 5 June 1913.

August Sandgren, a well-known Finnish worker with ties to both the SDPC and the FSOC, the inability of authorities to deport him led to a prolonged incarceration in local jails. See TBA, Series 3, File 82, Superintendent of Immigration to A.M.F. Naughton, Fort William City Clerk, 20 August 1914. For more on the great fear of enemy aliens and deportations during the war, see Barbara Roberts, Whence They Came: Deportations from Canada, 1900-1935 (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1988). 59 PADNC, 3 March 1916. 60 Ahlqvist, Jarjestamme Toimina Vuoteen 1920, 38. 61 Marc Metsaranta, The Workingmens Associations 1903-1914, in Project Bay Street: Activities of Finnish-Canadians in Thunder Bay Before 1915, ed. Marc Metsaranta (Thunder Bay: Thunder Bay Finnish-Canadian Historical Society, 1989), 90. 62 The experience of the Finnish-language newspaper Tykansa highlights the issues facing all Finnish socialists throughout 1914 and 1915. See Tykansa, 15 June 1915 and Aku Paivo, Canadian Suomalainsen Sosialisti jarjeston Ensimmainen Edustaja Kokouksen Poytakirja (Port Arthur: Tyokansan Kirjapaino, 1914), 123.
Moore spearheaded in May 1915 a movement to reestablish some form of socialist party. Unsure of the SDPCs stance on key issues he contacted the Dominion Executive in Berlin, Ontario, to inquire about this and the fate of the branch established by William Hicks in 1912. The head of the Ontario section, an enigmatic figure named W. Manthus, granted Moore permission to form a new English-language branch in Fort William as long as the disgraced Hicks was in no way associated. Moore quickly began the process of establishing a new English-branch of the SDPC.63 It appears that he also contemplated the creation of an associated paper, but decided against it after his father counseled against such a move and urged him to be wary of the working class.64 The position of the local labour councils did not help the situation. Speaking to local unionists on 19 June 1915, J.C. Watters, president of the TLC, argued the Congress, and not socialist organizations such as the SDPC, were responsible for the improvement in wages, conditions, and the standard of living conditions through Canada.65 Shortly after, the Port Arthur Daily News openly attacked the Trades and Labour Councils backing of a strike by regional plumbers. Declared more than unpatriotic, the view of
Archives of Ontario (hereafter AO), Fred E. Moore fonds (hereafter FEM), F 1274, W. Manthus to Fred E. Moore, 7 May 1915. This decline, Manthus argued, was largely from the SPC executives refusal to hold a referendum once more uniting the two parties and the resulting exodus of its remaining members. Moore was also informed that while the Socialist Party of Canada (SPC) was on the ground first, their dogmatic tactics caused an off shoot and our party which has outgrown them four times over in that many years is still growing every week in spite of the hard times. 64 AO, FEM, Moore to Fred E. Moore, 6 and 13 June 1915. A printer himself, Moores father advised his son to forget it and to be wary of workers: do not cater to the working slave unless you have your living assured from some other source, be good to him and dont throw any stones at him, keep his good will, but for Gods sakes dont let him think you are trying to get anything from him to keep body and sole together or he will stay up all night to beat you, make him think he is the whole cheese so far as you are concerned and he will do everything he can for you, but always be too busy to be connected with any one sided game he s mixed up in. 65 PADN, 19 June 1915.

protest continued involvement of Canadian armed forces in Russia were organized.115 A Friends of Russia committee, composed of workers representing a number of organizations and trade unions in Port Arthur and Fort William, was also established. And as A.T. Hill remembered, within the columns of the newly-created Vapaus, members of the Finnish community could engage with recent events in Russia and enter into closer bonds with fellow Finns working in other lumber camps.116 Many Wobblies viewed the Russian Revolution much like other socialist organizations in North America. Its success was seen as an indication that the end of capitalism was at hand and that workers in North America should take heart from the events in Russia.117 Despite becoming largely inactive in the region during the second half of the First World War, the IWW remained vigorous across the border in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Most notably, the Superior District Lumber Workers Industrial Union No. 500 continued to agitate and lead strikes.118 It was amongst the lumber workers in
response to the Russian Revolution, see Melvyn Dubofsky, We Shall be All: A History of the Industrial Workers of the World (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1969), 349-422; Philip S. Foner, The Bolshevik Revolution, its impact on American radicals, liberals, and labor (New York: International Publishers, 1967); and William Preston, Aliens and Dissenters: Federal Supression of Radicals, 1903-1933 (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1963), 91-97. 115 Canada played an active part in Allied intervention in Russia to overthrow the Bolsheviks. Over 5,000 troops were sent to Siberia, including a contingent of RNWMP and 599 were sent to North Russia to operate in the Murmansk and Archangel area. See Roy MacLaren, Canadians in Russia, 1918-1919 (Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1976); John Swettenham, Allied Intervention in Russia 1918-1919. And the Part Played by Canada (Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1967), 54 and 128; and Robert Jackson, At War With the Bolsheviks (London: Tandem, 1974). 116 A.T. Hill, Historic Basis and Development of the Lumber Workers Organization and Struggles in Ontario, 3. 117 The Chicago-based General Executive Board of the IWW argued that, while not Bolshevists, we rejoice with a full heart every time the Bolshevists destroy some instrument of oppression and liberate the masses from their hard masters, and their achievements along this line alone make us forget their incapacity for economic reconstruction, and would in themselves be sufficient to keep us in good humour. See The One Big Union Monthly (hereafter OBUM) (Chicago) (May 1919): 7. 118 OBUM (Chicago) (April 1919): 56.
Wisconsin and Minnesota and in classes taken at the Work Peoples College in Duluth, that Hill had spent much of the war. Drawn to the growing unrest at the Lakehead, Hill moved to Port Arthur in 1917 and dedicated himself to the activities of local Finnish socialists. On behalf of the IWW LWIU, Hill and those he recruited toured much of Northwestern Ontario in an attempt to organize workers and to drum up subscriptions for Vapaus. Much of the IWWs attention was focused on the Russell and Newaygo Timber Company and its operations within the District of Thunder Bay.119 Despite high hopes, in the end Hill was fired (both for his agitation and for conflicts with Lutheran Finnish workers). There now existed within the camps a rift between non-socialists and socialists and debates over the various interpretations of Marxism. The IWW appealed greatly to immigrant workers in Northwestern Ontario. As Holmer Borg, a Swedish lumber worker and IWW organizer, recalled in 1972: The IWW organized through its members. Every member was expected to organize, not necessarily by having well organized meetings, [but] simply by talking among workers.120 The IWW also tended to focus on the immediate issues that faced workers where they organized.121 In addition, many recent immigrants were drawn to unions whose organizers actually spoke their language.122 Most of the other established trade

influence at the Lakehead, was Finnish. Hills election to the nine-person provisional executive in December assured both the illegal and legal parties of affiliation with the FOC. He figured prominently in the formation of the first Finnish Socialist Section of the WPC, was integral in the FOCs decision to affiliate directly with the WPC in 1922, and assisted in its reorganization on a club basis.35 In the months following the formation of the WPC, Hill and other wellknown socialists such as Alf Hautamki began making periodic trips to Northwestern Ontario speaking of the virtues of the Communist International and scouting locations for potential branches. Hautamki is an intriguing character who, in many respects, is symptomatic of the Finnish socialist experience. Nothing is known of his life before he appeared in Ontario lumber camps as an organizer in the early 1920s for the fledgling Lumber Workers Industrial Union of the One Big Union. Like many Finns, he appears to have migrated from Finland in search of work, but with a strong belief in socialism and, in particular, that version emanating from revolutionary Russia. Following the OBU split in 1920 and the formation of the CPC in 1921, Hautamki joined as an organizer. He quickly rose to prominence, as a leading member of the FOC and editor of the Toronto-based FinnishCommunist newspaper Metstylinen (The Lumber Worker). He became head of the
LUA, Thunder Bay Finnish Canadian Historical Society fonds (hereafter TBFCHS), MG8, MG8, A, I, 3, 3, A.T. Hill, "All People Should Accept the Truth and Reject Lies and Misrepresentations," nd. c. 1970, p. 7; Avakumovic, The Communist Party in Canada, 27; and Rodney, Soldiers of the International, 51. A.T. Hill and John Ahlqvist (both former residents of the Lakehead) were in Guelph during the infamous meeting. While Ahlqvist actually participated, Hill remained with John Slup, future treasurer and office manager of the Communist Party of Finland, in a restaurant not too far away no doubt discussing the way in which the new social order would be brought into existence. Hill and Slup remained in more or less constant contact until his death. See Hill, "All People Should Accept the Truth and Reject Lies and Misrepresentations," nd. c. 1970, p. 7.

CPCs powerful lumber workers union, and the leading Communist figure at the Lakehead. Within the twin cities and in the surrounding countryside, he was just as well known for his worker-poetry and plays focused on topics including lumber camp life, love, strikes, and alcoholism. His plays were frequently performed in Finnish halls from Sudbury to the Manitoba border. Hautamkis story ends just as mysteriously as it began. He disappears from the record in the mid-1930s, like so many migrant Finnish workers during the period.36 In keeping with his personality, the meetings organized with Finnish socialists at the Lakehead by Hautamki in the early 1920s were open and frank. They included members from the Finnish Support Circle of the OBU with which many of the Communists had joint memberships. In February 1921, through a morphing of the Finnish Support Circle of the OBU and the Finnish Association, a branch of the FOC was formally reestablished and immediately affiliated with the WPC. While the FOC would join in its entirety as the Workers Party Finnish Section in February 1922,37 many Finns preferred in 1921 to affiliate only with the Trade Union Education League, a nonpartisan trade union auxiliary, interested only in the renovation of a declining trade union movement.38
See Ian Radforth, Bushworkers and Bosses: Logging in Northern Ontario 1900-1980 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1987), 110; 120; and 123-126. 37 See LAC, Finnish Association (Suomalainen Osasto) of Port Arthur fonds (hereafter SOP), MG28-V137, Suomalainen Osasto of Port Arthur Minute Book, p. 80, 18 January 1920 to p. 129, 15 November 1921 for the early years of this relationship. See also Arja Pilli, The FinnishLanguage Press in Canada, 1901-1939: A Study in Ethnic Journalism (Turku: Institute of Migration, 1982), 138-139. 38 For the quotation, see Manley, Communism and the Canadian Working Class During the Great Depression, 14. For a discussion the TUEL and its activities, see Angus, Canadian Bolsheviks (2004), 104-105, 118-122, 159-160, 163-164, and 253-259; Manley, Communism and the Canadian Working Class During the Great Depression, 14-16.
The Ukrainian Labour-Farmer Temple Association (ULFTA) also eventually affiliated with the WPC and, although smaller in number regionally than the Finns, it constituted the second largest ethnic section.39 Formed in late 1917 by Matthew Popovich and other Ukrainian socialists as the Ukrainian Social Democratic Party, the Winnipegbased organization had established by 1919 a number of branches in Northern Ontario and Western Canada. Its strength, however, remained in the Rocky Mountain mining region and in the cities of Winnipeg and Edmonton. The spread of the ULFTA had been hampered during the final years of the First World War as the Canadian government declared it an illegal Bolshevik Organization.40 When it reemerged in the early 1920s, it did so slowly and cautiously choosing often to infiltrate existing organizations. Such was the case at the Lakehead. During the late 1910s and early 1920s, Ukrainian socialists chose to work through the Winnipeg-based Workers Benevolent Association (WBA). In a matter of months following the establishment of the WBA in Winnipeg, a branch appeared in West Fort William. A second branch followed in April 1923 and a third in Port Arthur by April 1926.41 As indicated by Popovichs role as its president, a connection between the WBA and the ULFTA existed from the start. Not surprisingly, shortly after the ULFTAs affiliation with the WPC, the WBA was used as a beachhead within the Ukrainian community at the Lakehead for the party. As Mike

LAC, CPC, volume 11, file 11-11, Submitted by D.E.C. Distirct #6 to the 3rd national Convention of W.P. of C., circa April 1924, p. 2. 111 LAC, CPC, volume 11, file 11-11, Submitted by D.E.C. Distirct #6 to the 3rd national Convention of W.P. of C., circa April 1924, p. 3. 112 According to William Rodney, originally Port Arthur and Fort William resided in the newly formed District Five (Port Arthur-Kenora). Shortly after, though, District Five became the region surrounding Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie and the Lakehead formed the nucleus of District Six. Rodney, Soldiers of the International, 84 and 188, cf. 11. 113 Avakumovic, The Communist Party in Canada, 33. 114 Rodney, Soldiers of the International, 55 and Avakumovic, The Communist Party in Canada, 31.
William Moriarty and Trevor Maguire who, backed by the Ukrainian and Finnish section representatives Michael Boychuk and Hill, respectively, led the opposition. These men believed that the open association with the Comintern would lead to increased police surveillance and persecution. For the Finnish and Ukrainian affiliates, the memory of their persecution during the First World War made them much more sensitive than their English-speaking counterparts to what Canadian authorities could do to them.115 While the concerns of Finns and Ukrainians could not be entirely ignored, as they comprised the bulk of the Partys estimated 4,000 members, the delegates were more interested in the growth of branches and membership elsewhere, which was attributed to the building up of the Canadian Labour Party and the crystallization of the left wing in the Trade Union movement. In addition, as Jack MacDonald reported to the convention delegates, prevailing objective conditions in Canada have militated against the numerical increase in the party membership. 116 Increases in immigration and the belief that the CPC would find much good material amongst the new comers were being offset by the loss of many of the partys active and experienced members to the United States due to the poor economic conditions within Canada. The dramatic increase in Finnish members was attributed to better conditions prevailing within the lumber, mining, and farming industries. In addition, like the Ukrainians, the Finns national societies were viewed as rallying centres through which the CPC could more easily approach the bulk of the workers.117

AO, FEM, W.N. Welsh to the Electors of the Fort William Constituency, 14 September 1926 and Parliament of Canada, History of Federal Ridings Since 1867, http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/process/house/hfer/hfer.asp?Language=E&Search=Gres &genElection=16&ridProvince=9&submit1=Search [accessed 12 November 2006]. 81 The Worker, 20 November 1926. 82 LAC, Communist Party of Canada fonds (hereafter CPC), MG28-IV4, vol. 143, file 6, Lumber Workers Industrial Union of Canada Annual Report March 8, 1926 March 5, 1927, n.d., p. 2-3,
lingual event filled with fiery speeches by Hautamki and Bryan, music by the local Finnish and Ukrainian Orchestras, the Ukrainian Boys Band, and English musicians.83 As Buhay reported to The Worker, the splendid co-operation of all comrades, particularly of the Ukrainians and the Finnish women comrades, and the English, helped to make this week a success.84 By this point, it had become clear to local and national officials within the CPC that the October 1926 strike had reinvigorated the IWW in the region. Owing to its appeal to the Finnish lumber workers, the largest element in the CPCs LWIUC, this worried many. The CPC faced a paradox. If it cooperated with the IWW, it would win points with workers for effectively helping them to organize. Conversely, by cooperating with the IWW it also provided the means for its rival to make substantial gains. For their part, the Wobblies viewed their role in the strike as a success. Prompted by a strike-induced growth in membership, the LWIU headquarters moved from Sudbury to Port Arthur and a local organizer, Nick Viita, became its general secretary. The offices of the Canadian news bureau for the weekly American-based Finnish newspaper Industrialisti also accompanied the move.85 The IWWs lack of a rigid hierarchy and commitment to rank-and-file democracy appealed to many non-English-speaking socialists in the Lakehead.86 Although the CPCs work within unions often entailed practices that were no less democratic and open,
The Worker, 27 November 1926. The Worker, 13 November 1926. 85 Industrial Solidarity, 14 July 1926; Campbell, The Cult of Spontaneity, 135; and Tolvanen, Finntown, 56-57. Nick Viita became general secretary and E.M. Jouppi the editor for the local branch. 86 For a summary of Wobbly activity in Vancouver during the first few months of 1926, see LAC, CI, Reel 6 [K-274], 495, 98, 40, Minutes of the Organization Committee of the C.P. of C. held 13 April, 9 May 1926.

William Rodney, Soldiers of the International: A History of the Communist Party of Canada, 1919-1929 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1968), 115-116. 14 LAC, Communist International fonds (hereafter CI), MG10-K3, Reel 1, [K-269], 495, 72, 34, p. 78, Meeting of the Anglo-American Secretariat, 23 April 1928, p. 1.
country in the coming imperialist war.15 Central to tackling the problem were the trade unions. The CPC leadership believed that only by winning the masses of workers in the All-Canadian Congress of Labour and Trades and Labour Congress of Canada (the two national trade union organizations) could the Party be in a position to take advantage of the turmoil that would inevitably grip the country. However, the Anglo-American Secretariat criticized the CPC for its past efforts and rebuked the CPCs Central Executive Committee (CEC) for its past work. The Canadian party had too often been directed from the top instead of from the rank-and-file, as is evidenced by the slogan Amalgamation of the two Congresses. Similarly, in attempting to organize the unorganized, the CPC was cautioned not to over-estimate the possibilities or desirability of the All-Canadian Congress of Labour, or the Canadian Trades and Labour Congress doing this work. The numerous strikes amongst the unorganized workers during this past year show a growing militancy on the part of workers and opens [sic] up possibilities for the advancement of the revolutionary trade movement. The Party must therefore clarify its present unclear industrial policy, educate activise [sic] its members, and take the initiative in building new revolutionary unions and creating a broad Left Wing opposition movement.16 Perhaps the largest obstacle in implementing a successful recruiting campaign was the lack of a significant number of Anglo-Saxon organizers. There was also the issue of the continued conflict between the CEC and non-English speaking members. The membership of the Party still remains, the Comintern remarked, of an unsatisfactory
LAC, CI, Reel 1, [K-269], 495, 72, 34, p. 86, Draft Letter to the Communist Party of Canada, nd. circa 23 April 1928, p. 2. This letter went through several drafts until it was eventually sent. I have used the material from the initial draft, unless otherwise indicated, that did not alter from the final copy. The reason is pragmatic, it was clearer than some of the others. 16 LAC, CI, Reel 1, [K-269], 495, 72, 34, p. 88, Draft Letter to the Communist Party of Canada, circa 23 April 1928, p. 4.

LAC, CPC, Reel M-7380, 8C 0140, Synopsis of Proceedings of Enlarged Executive Meeting, 20-22 October 1928, p. 9. 37 LAC, CPC, Reel M-7380, 8C 0158, Resolution of Communist International One the Question of Communist Workers in the Ukrainian Workers Organizations in Canada, circa. October 1928, p. 1. 38 LAC, CPC, Reel M-7380, 8C 0154, Synopsis of Proceedings of Enlarged Executive Meeting, 20-22 October 1928, p. 24.
immigrants into the class struggle existed.39 The CPCs conception of its great task of revolution, one strongly influenced by the Comintern and by graduates of the Lenin School in Moscow, entailed the Partys more thorough Canadianization. It was directed by Moscow to draw more Englishspeaking British and American immigrants, and more English- and French-speaking native-born Canadians, into its ranks. How could this be balanced with the Partys continuing reliance upon the Finns and Ukrainians? It was caught in a dilemma. Bolshevization and, later, Stalinization meant relegating the foreign-language groups to the periphery. Retaining the red bases it had so painstakingly built in northwestern Ontario meant paying close attention to precisely these groups. The new line meant focusing intently on factories. However, the old realities of the Party stubbornly drew its attention back to its traditional bases in mining, forestry and other resource industries. The Party was being pulled in at least two directions.40 In response to Ukrainian concerns over the leadership of the CPCs desire to liquidate the ULFTA, the party categorically repudiated the accusation. It determined in its resolution that greater clarity was necessary to defuse the increasing conflict between leading Ukrainians and the CPC leadership. The ULFTA was chastised for what the Executive Committee saw as a blurring of the line between the Ukrainian Communists participation in the class struggle together with the Canadian proletariat and a focus on the socio-political struggles among the Ukrainians alone. Ukrainian
LAC, CPC, Reel M-7380, 8C 0158, Resolution of Communist International One the Question of Communist Workers in the Ukrainian Workers Organizations in Canada, circa. October 1928, p. 1. 40 LAC, CPC, Reel M-7380, 8C 0158, Resolution of Communist International One the Question of Communist Workers in the Ukrainian Workers Organizations in Canada, circa. October 1928, p. 1.
Communists were urged to learn English as a means of taking part in the general life of the party. It further urged non-Party Ukrainian workers should be trained in the spirit of class solidarity with all other Canadian workers. Although the CPC declared that it recognized the impossibility of doing away with the exclusiveness of immigrant groups in one sweep, it reaffirmed its dedication for the formation of a monolithic party organized along factory lines and from within trade unions.41 Following upon such declarations, the March District 6 (Port Arthur) conference agenda dealt with the anti-war position of the CPC, the condemnation by the national executive of Trotskyism and its Canadian offspring (Spectorism), and how to combat these tendencies within both the Party and the District. The item that received the most focus was trade unionism and the CPCs relationship to it. The debate at the convention, one delegate reported to The Worker, clearly showed the inability of a number of Party members to grasp the real issues of the Trade Union movement. In response, delegates passed a resolution supporting strict disciplinary action against Party members who oppose or neglect to join in the Trade Union which exists in his or her trade. It appears that the cause of disagreement was the slackness in our fractional work. Within the District, party members in what were described as extra-Party organizations referring, in essence, to the continuing presence of the language federations continued openly to oppose one another and what the District executive perceived as its central authority. While agreeing that the cooperative movement is one of the most important weapons in the class struggle, delegates approved a resolution informing the CPC

LAC, CPC, Reel M-7376, 1A 0115, Report of Fifth Convention of the Lumber Workers Industrial Union of Canada, 6-8 April 1929, p. 6. 49 LAC, CPC, Reel M-7376, 1A 0120, George Sundqvist to Tim Buck, 21 April 1929. In addition to questions regarding Hautamkis leadership of the LWIU, he also faced personal criticism. For example, a motion was put forward that he be disciplined on the matter of drink, and censured. See Ibid., Reel M-7380, 8C 0170, Minutes of Joint Meeting of the Trade Union Department of the C.E.C. C.P. of Canada, with Party Fraction of the L.W.I.U. of Canada, 3 April 1929. 50 LAC, CPC, Reel M-7376, 1A 0144, H. M. to Tom [Hill], 15 January 1929.
if the CPC leadership was not. Writing to Tim Buck, he requested that the enlarged CEC and many of the CEC committees deal with the penchant of Finnish members in Port Arthur and other areas of District 6 for fraternizing with the IWW group and its sustaining ring. Such a relationship with the most rightist elements of Social Democracy, he contended, are a danger to our Party life and to the life of the Finnish Organ.51 With the return of the regions delegates and as the news of Hautamkis reelection spread, workers began to leave the union believing that its end was only a matter of time and vowing to return only if radical changes were made.52 Thus, as Sundqvist had so astutely predicted, Hautamkis re-election breathed new life into both the IWW and the social democratic tendencies of many socialists in the region. Many in the region began corresponding with the Finnish Social Democratic Party, culminating in one of its leading members, Arthur Aalto, speaking to a large gathering of Finns in the Finnish Labour Temple on 1 July. The IWW, seeking to capitalize on the internal rift, also began an active campaign to organize support rings among small farmers throughout the District. Many leading party members in the region began to declare that the IWW was as a brother organization and should be treated as such. Although Hautamki dismissed these efforts as moneymaking schemes and declared that the IWW only had 65 members, he wrote to Buck in July as a man deeply concerned about its renewed activity.53 Perhaps the most disconcerting developments in the eyes of Hautamki and other Communists were the inroads being made by the Wobblies into previous strongholds of
LAC, CPC, Reel M-7376, 1A 0121, A. Hautamki to Tim Buck, 9 July 1929. LAC, CPC, Reel M-7376, 1A 0120, G. Sundqvist to Tim Buck, 21 April 1929. 53 LAC, CPC, Reel M-7376, 1A 0121, Alf Hautamki to Tim Buck, 9 July 1929.
the Finnish Organization of Canada without the least opposition on the part of the leaders of the latter. As a result, Hautamki and other Communists had been increasingly the subject of some hostilities on the part of some Finnish comrades because we have denounced the anti-revolutionary policies of the IWW as seen at present. He requested that the CEC take up the issue and draft a resolution demanding that party members must immediately sever all connection with the IWW or face expulsion. Ultimately, increasing unemployment and not the efforts of the CPC stemmed the expansion of the IWW in the region.54 However, things were no better for the CPC. The same worsening economic conditions in the resource sector dramatically influenced its ability to operate at the Lakehead. In April, Hautamki informed the CEC that membership within the LWIUC had decreased by approximately 20% since the previous year. The most disconcerting losses were in the urban sub-districts within Port Arthur and Fort William. As a result, the union was now almost entirely composed of Finnish workers as the bulk of the losses had come from Slavic and English members. By the time of the 1929 National Convention, while Hautamki was describing recent strikes as some of the best organized, he also was quite candid about the organizational problems facing the CPC at the Lakehead.55 Many of Hautamkis criticisms pertained to not only the recent strike, but also

See LAC, CPC, vol. 51, file 51-66, Minutes Seventh Annual Convention of the Lumber Workers Industrial Union of Canada, circa 7 April 1930, pp. 2-3. For coverage of the convention, see The Worker, 12 and 19 April 1930. 55 For an overview of Finnish sport at the Lakehead during this period, see Charles Nathan Hatton, Headlocks at the Lakehead: Wrestling in Fort William and Port Arthur, 1913-1933 (MA thesis, Lakehead University, 2007). 56 The Worker, 12 April 1930. 57 LAC, CPC, Reel M-7382, 10C 2005 and 10C 2006, General Report on the Situation in the Lumber and Agricultural Workers Industrial Union of Canada and Plan for Future Action, circa May 1931, p. 2-3. For a report on the resolution to affiliate, see The Worker, 3 May 1930. The change of name was officially reported in The Worker, 26 July 1930.
on the successful participation of the CPC during the strikes of 1929, the Young Communist League (YCL) had begun to establish branches throughout Northwestern Ontario and regularly hold meetings. By 1931, highly active branches could be found in Kenora, Sioux Lookout, Fort Frances, Fort William, Nipigon, Port Arthur, and Kivikoski. The LAWIU also established its own youth section as lumber camp bosses were increasingly using young workers in the Port Arthur District as a form of cheap labour. This move was seen as a natural outgrowth of the unions goal of organizing all of the unorganized in the district.58 The YCLs and LAWIUs new prominence was suggested in their leading role in the 1930 May Day demonstrations, the largest the twin cities had seen in years. Thousands of residents participated in the parades or came out to support them.59 Various police inspectors followed the estimated 1,000 marchers from the Ukrainian Labour Temple. The protestors carried banners with such slogans as Long Live the Indian Revolution, Heroes in 1914 Vagrants in 1930, and Long Live the Soviet Union. Fearing trouble, additional officers, members of the local militia, and North West Mounted Police officers descended on the crowd. Strengthened by a battalion of Legion members, authorities arrested dozens of those present, including parade leaders
Young Worker (May 1930), p. 4. Although they performed the exact same work as adults, young workers typically received significantly less pay. The LAWIU viewed the employment of underage workers as an important problem confronting the union and gave itself the task of organizing the increasing number of unorganized young workers. All young workers recruited into the youth section would also receive full membership in the union at a special dues rate in proportion to their wages. The focus of the section was to be on education in militant trade unionism and the organization of sport and social events as a means to entice others to join. 59 For coverage of the demonstrations, see The Worker, 3 May 1930; FWDTJ and PADNC, 2 and 3 May 1930; and Betcherman, The Little Band, 119-123.

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