https://declassified.library.utoronto.ca/files/original/d194f36148b8e95eaf923d1139fcc86c.pdf 05d3a2cb028fbb9ae8ddb15f130e1360 PDF Text Text 36 Subversive A ctivity in Trade Unions. C ommunist literature is full of dire ctiv e s stress ing the importance of C ommunist work in the trade union field and Lenin advised C ommunists "to practice trick ery" to employ cunning, to resort to ille g al methods — sometimes even to conce al the truth" in order to get into and gain control of trade unions. Lenin himself remarked that the Bolshevik seizure of power in 1917 could not have lasted two weeks with out the aid of the unions. The programme of the C ommunist International fin a lly approved in 1928 and incid e ntally never retracted, enlarges upon this point with the words, "in order that it may ful fil its historic mission of achieving the dictatorship of the proletariat the C ommunist P arty must first of a ll set its e lf and accomplish the following strategic aims. It is p articularly important for the purpose of winning over the majority of the proletariat to gain control of the trade unions which are genuine mass working class organiz ations closely bound up with the every day struggles of the working class. To work in re actionary trade unions and skillfully gain control of them, win the confidence of the broad masses of the industrially organiz ed workers, to change and remove from th eir posts the reformist le aders, represent Important tasks in the preparatory." If a revolutionary movement hopes to eventually re ach its objective it must have control of labour or a number of key points in the field of labour to ensure its control, rollowing this principle the C ommunist movement in C anada has for ye ars adopted the method of infiltra tion into trade unions and th eir members are instructed to pursue a milita nt policy of constructive trade unionism so that they may gain the confidence of the membership of th eir locals and become elected to executive positions. The objective origin ally laid down by the C omintern (Programme of C ommunist Intern ational) implied and for that matter still impliess (a) One trade union for e ach industry. (b) Ona N ational F ederation of trade unions dire cting the policy of e ach industrial trade union. (c) One International F ederation of trade unions dire cting the policy of e ach N ational F ederation. In C anada the Labor-Progressive P arty maintains a trade union commission which is he aded by a member of the N ational E xecutive of the L.P.P. , who is known as the N ational Trade Union Dire ctor. The function of the trade union commission is, of course, to secretly guide the P arty fra ctions or c ells in trade unions along P arty lin e s and to issue the necessary dire ctiv e s on the policy to be followed in any specified trade union. In C anada, international, national and regional unions are generally a ffiliat e d with the Trades and Labour C ongress of C anada, the C anadian C ongress of Labour or the C onfederation of C atholic Workers of C anada, a s a rule C anadian sections of international unions a ffilia te d with 000040 �37 the American F ederation of Labour in the United States are a ffili a t e s of the Trades and Labour C ongress of C anadaj and sections of intern ation als a ffili at e d with the C ongress of Industrial Organiz ations in the United States are a ffilia t e s of the C anadian C ongress of Labour. Approximately 1M- percent of uni no members in C anada belong to independent unions and this cla ssific a tion has incre ased in the past two ye ars as a re sult of the expulsion from the C .1.0. and the C . C .L. of the U. E .R.&M.W. of A ., I.U.M.m.S.W. and the I. F .L.W.U. x he general incre ase in the number of union members tog eth er with the expulsions of c ertain unions represent the major developments in the fi e ld of labour orga niz ation since 19*+9. C ommencing th at ye ar both the T.L. C . and the C . C .L. devoted e fforts towards ensuring th at C ommunist-dominated and controlle d unions were removed from th e ir org a niz ations. (a) The C anadian Seamans Union was suspended from the T.L. C . during June, 19^-9 and was expelled by the C ongress in convent! n in S eptember, 19^9. (b) The I. U ,.Ii.h.& S.W. was suspended from the C . C .L. during march, 19*+9 and was permanently expelled at the C . C .L. C onvention in O ctober, 191 +9. (c) In July, 191 +9? the C . C .L. suspended fiv e top le aders (J a C KS O N, P a R E , H A R RIS, RUSS ELL and D O U GLAS) for publishing an article in " U. E . N ews", slandering offic ers of the Internation al F ederation of Labour. This was appe aled at the convent! n in O ctober, 19*+9? and the suspension was sustained. On D ecember 5? the U. E . was suspended from the C . C .L. for non-payment of per c a pita ta x and was expelled at the C . C .L. C on v e nt! n in S eptember, 1950. (d) The V ancouver C ivic E mploye es F ederal Labour Union, Local 28 was suspended from the T.L. C . in D ecember, 1950. This was confirmed at the T.L. C . C onvention in S eptember, 1951. (e) The Internation al F ur and Le ather Workers Uni m was suspended during A pril, 1951 and was expelled by the C . C .L. C onvention in S eptember, 1951* (f) In January, 1951? the Union Brotherhood of C arpenters and Joiners expelled the executive of the Port Arthur loc al of its Lumber and S awmill Workers division on the grounds th at the loc al le adership were C ommunists. The expelled executive set up a competing union now known as the C anadian Union of Woodworkers, but this group has mot with very littl e success. By the v U U close of 1950 -LU CiU. become U U U U1U U U V lll U ilL th unc*. it IXhad evident atu the S e afarers Internation al Union had larg ely displaced the C .S.U. in the C anadian Shipping Industry and in A pril, 1951? the S .i. U . was taken into a ffilia tion by the T.L. C . To any one intere ste d in the subje ct they will probably have noticed th at C ommunists always amalgamate 000041 �38 themselves with what they refer to as the noble ide alisms of trade union democracy, civil lib erti e s, pe ace, n ation al unity and so on. They refer to those who have no sympathy with communism as being F a scists, Imperialisms, warmongers, monopoly C a pitalists or enemies of the people. The a ctiv e C ommunist in a trade union is constantly striving to do double duty. He is continu ally demonstrating, signing p etitions, manning pick et lin e s and peddling P arty lit erature , a single unemployed C ommunist will attend a S e aman's strik e me eting one day, be a citiz e n angered over alleged suppression of civil lib ertie s the next day and will round out the we ek on a pick et lin e s elling the " C anadian Tribune " or being a striking w aiter in front of a re sta ura nt which never employed him. This double duty gives the C ommunists an impressive but deceptive appe arance of stre ngth. It has be en successful in gaining control of and guiding broad but naive mass move ments such as youth conferences, consumer a ssociations, farm la bour, etc. The C ommunist fra ction in a trade union is a w ell discipline d, w ell organiz ed caucus of a ll a ctu al P arty members and truste d followers. Usually a few of the s ele ct of the fra ction assemble before a union me eting to plan strate gy and to determine the parts to be played during the me eting by e ach fra ction member. During the me eting the C ommunists and th eir follow ers take the cues from the top fra ction and th e ir success is due only to the fa ct th at a. sure-fire w elltraine d and disciplin e d minority can outwit and unorganiz ed, divid e d and perhaps confused m ajority. To delay the adjournment of a me eting until every one has gone home is one of the most fa miliar C ommunist t a ctics. They will make endless spe eches about fascism and war, argue every re solution and lengthen proce edings until the honest trade unionist being hungry and tire d gives up and goes home. Then with a working m ajority they bring out th eir re solutions and rush them through in a hurry. When opposition to the C ommunists gets too strong, undetected C ommunists run for offic e against the C ommunists . This splits the opposition vote so the P arty stays in power and is a ctu ally a twist of the divid e and conquer t a ctic. An intere sting example of C ommunist ta ctics within a le gitim ate trade union occurred re c e ntly on our E ast C oast. A clause in the union constitution stated th at should the presid ent vacate his offic e for any re ason the vic e-pre sid ent would a utom atic ally take his place and a new vic e-pre sid ent would be ele cte d. The union referre d to during its annual ele ction placed a non-C ommunist as pre sid e nt, a C ommunist as vic e-pre sid e nt and . a C ommunist as s e cretary. The masthe ad of the loc a l ’ s stationery was printe d a ccordingly and in compliance with the labour laws, the D epartment of Labour was advised. Two months la t er the pre sid e nt resigned and the C ommunist became pre side nt. The vic e-pre sid ent will in course be ele cte d, but in the me antime the union executive had continued to use the former station ery and the D epartment of Labour has not be en notifie d of the change in the executive. In C anada, the Unions, which have be en expelled by the T.L. C . and the C . C .L. have continued to operate openly and it is possible th at at some future date a labour C ongress inspire d by the P arty may spring into being. There has be en some re ason to expect th at the C ommunist-dominated trade unions have be en ex p elled from the C . C .L. and the T.L. C . might have formed a labour congress of th e ir own. 000042 �39 However, on June 13th and Ikth of this ye ar, a labour unity conference was held at H amilton, O ntario, which was attended by 300 delegates representing 70,000 workers connected with C ommunist-dominated unions . The unions p arti cip ating were United E le ctric al, R adio and Machine Workers of America, Intern ation al Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, C anadian T e xtile C ouncil, Intern ation al F ur and Le ather Workers and the C anadian G arment Workers. Spe akers who addressed the conference adhered strictly to the P arty lin e and there was much criticism of control by American in tere sts of the n ation al resources of C anada. The body which controls and dire cts P arty controlle d unions is now the World F ederation of Trade Unions . The executive bure au of the W. F .T.U. net in Vienna in June of this ye ar and issued an appe al urging the workers to inte nsify th eir a ctivitie s on the home front and against governments. The 1952 statement said? "In order to bre ak up the resistance of the workers to the policy of hunger, poverty and war pursued by the Imp erialists, re a ction ary governments are intro ducing a nti-work er laws, are banning strik e s, s eizing trade union premises, confisc ating and closing down newspapers, dismissing and persecuting trade union le aders and dispersing pe aceful demonstrations of workers with bullets. The atta ck of the re a ction ary forces is assuming an incre a singly fa scist ch ara cter". The appe al went on the say th at in c arrying out an a nti worker policy the C a pitalist G overnments are relying on the Intern ation al C onfederation of Fre e Trade Unions, the Int er n ation al Labour O ffic e and the United N ations. To prevent these governments from encroaching furth er on the rights of the workers, the W. F .T.U. c alled upon the workers and trade unions of a ll kinds and in a ll countrie s to stem the atta ck of re a ction, to fight against fascism, to defend tra d e union rights and democractic fre edom, independence and pe ace, It also urged its members to build unity of a ction amongst workers , a ttra ct workers into trade unions and set up trade union org aniz ations where they do not e xist. In addressing the executive me eting, the president of the W. F .T.U. made it cle ar th at these a ctivitie s must be c arrie d on under the cover of defence of pe ace. The C ommunist c ard-holding member is oblig ated to join a trade union, for his membership book embodies c ertain sections taken from the P arty C onstitution. Under the he ad ing, Rights and Duties of Members s e ction, this states th at a ll members sh all be re quire d to belong to the respective trade union to which they are e ligible , abide by its con stitution and rule s and furth er its intere sts. Whore no trade uni?n e xists P arty members sh all work consiste ntly for the promotion of trade union org aniz ation, principle s and standards . Strik e a ction is regarded by the C ommunists as being a p articularly valuable we apon. C ommunist inspire d strik e s are t a ctic a l devices for winning the workers confidence, g etting rid of C onservative union le adership and most important for developing and training milit a nt groups of workers. C ommunists have be en known to refer to strik es as working class training manoeuvres for gre ater b attle s to come. After a successful strik e the C oramunists claimed th at th e ir correct ta ctics and milta ncy succe eded in goading the cowardly and re a ction ary le adership into relucta nt a ction. The smallest gain is magnified into a signific a nt victory. 000043 �M-0 The C ommunists also take advantage of th eir position in C ommunist infiltra t e d or controlled trade unions during the course of civic, provincial or federal election campaigns. F or example, during the Toronto C ivil E lections when Stewart SMITH has run for the position of C ontroller, the P arty has inserted many costly advertisements in the loc al newspapers. The type of advertisement which had the most propaganda value from the C ommunist viewpoint was in one instance a full page paid advertisement listing various locals of trade unions which allegedly were giving th eir complete support to the P arty candidate. The majority of the locals had no connection whatsoever with the C ommunist movement, but in many instances had one C ommunist on the executive who subscribed to the advertisement purporting to represent his e ntire loc al. The re sulta nt advertisement would indicate to the casual observer that the majority of trade unionists in the city were fully supporting the P arty candidate for C ontroller. On the matter of trade unions it is interesting to note a recent press item from Vienna announcing th at the C ommunist Regimes of the P eoples D emocracy have now launched, on Moscow's orders, a fin al drive to bre ak the power of trade unions. The C ommunist technique of securing complete control of the s atellite countries has now re ached the stage where it has become time to purge the trade unions of undesirable elements and reorganiz e them in the interests of the Soviet. The chief accusation against the trade unions is that they have misunderstood th eir mission. It is charged that hostile elements alie n to the -working classes have be en permitted to worm th eir way into trade union le adership and div ert atte ntion from th eir chief interests which are the organiz ation of production and the development of socialist competition and of the spe ed up movement. The C ommunist aim is th at penetration in trade unions should be followed by the unity of a ll workers in a single C ommunist controlled organiz ation. In November, 1951? the G eneral C ouncil of the W. F .T.U. adopted the following re solution, " at the present moment the essential tasks of the W. F .T.U. must be, to give impulse to the struggle of the workers and to widen the foundations of united action in order to s atisfy th eir vit a l demands 5 to assist trade union action; to develop support for the N ational Liberation move ments in colonial, semi-colonial and dependent countries; to ra lly the forces of the workers to maintain pe ace." An interesting incident occurred at a pre-convention me eting of the Trades and Labour C ongress in 1951? when it was decided to deny press privileges at the convention to the e ditor of the " C anadian Tribune ". When asked by the press to elaborate on this decision a spokesman for the C ongress replied that they were just taking a le af from the C ommunist's book pointing out that the C ommunists had not allowed any reporter except from the Tribune to report any of th eir me etings. E arlier this ye ar the Nova Scotia Labour R elations Board refused to grant bargaining c ertific ation to fiv e applicants of the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of C anada on the grounds that James K. B ELL, the organiz er, was and is active in the C ommunist movement. Sub sequently, the Nova Scotia Supreme C ourt ruled that the Labour R elations Board did not have the power to refuse c ertific ation on these grounds. 000044 �M-l The ruling of the Nova Scotia Supreme C ourt was then appe aled to the Supreme C ourt of C anada which on June 8, 1953?, arrived at a decision upholding the decision of the Nova Scotia Supreme C ourt. The Supreme C ourt of C anada ruled th at a Labour R elations Board was not justifie d in refusing to c ertify a trade union because its organiz er was a C ommunist. In comment ing on the matter Mr. Justice RAND declared th at C ommunist domination of the union was evidenced by B E LL ’ s forcefulness in a key position and by his acceptance of C ommunist te achings. He stated that no one can doubt the consequences of such doctrines but there is no lav; in this country against holding such views nor of being a member of a group or party support ing' them. He pointed out that B ELL is eligible for election or appointment to the highest politic al offic e s in the province and asked, therefore, on what grounds the le gislature of which he might be a member has empowered the board to exclude him from a labour union or to exclude the labour union from the benefits of statute. 000045 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CDIG00193 Title A name given to the resource CDIG00193 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Library and Archives Canada, RG146, volume 5873, Part 1, "Brief - Talks deliveryed to Special Branch Class 1953-07-13 to 1953-07-22," Wallet 1 (A-2013-00622) Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource RCMP Special Branch Subject The topic of the resource Counterintelligence Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Canada Declassified Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource en