interview
by Asad Ali
as
published in The Spark! #23, December 2011
90th
Anniversary of the Communist Party of Canada
Through
much of the 1970s the progressive movement in Canada was lead by the
labour movement, driven largely by the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW),
and in the CAW's forefront was Local 199 in St. Catharines, which in
turn was lead by the Unity Caucus influenced by the local Communist
Party club.
The
Spark! interviewed
Shirley Hawley, an Aboriginal woman who was a rank-and-file
autoworker and a Communist Party member who fought first-hand in many
of the battles that laid the basis of strength for the Canadian left
in the 1970s. Shirley currently is an active CAW retiree and is also
the Secretary-Treasurer of the Communist Party's Eric Blair Club in
Niagara.
Background:
Early Years of the Communist Party in Niagara
Prior
to the strategic role in the CAW in the Canadian left, Communists had
been active in Niagara since the early 20th century. Newspaper
accounts show how in 1930 eleven party activists were arrested in
Niagara Falls for attempting a peace march in coordination with
comrades from the CPUSA across the border. In the summer of 1935
unemployed workers went on strike at relief camps in Welland,
organized by Communist Frank Haslam among others, for the second time
in order to get charges withdrawn from strikers arrested earlier and
also for the right to use their vouchers at stores nearby instead of
having to hike just to cash their pay. Haslam and four others had
been arrested after the provincial police threw tear gas bombs at the
unemployed. In December of 1936 Local 199 of the United Auto Workers
(UAW, now CAW) at the McKinnon (now GM) plant in St. Catharines was
founded with the leadership of Haslam and the help of the unemployed
workers movement.
When
the Communist Party of Canada was banned in 1941 Niagara communist
Charlie Weir had been arrested in Windsor by the RCMP and accused of
being both a communist and a union organizer. He was successfully
defended on most of the charges by David Goldstick, the father of the
current editor of The Spark.
In
the summer of 1946 striking Canadian Seamen's Union (CSU) sailors had
to fight scab ships on the Welland canal, defended by police
on-board. The CSU strike, lead in part by communists such as Mel Doig
who was in his late 20s, was assisted by UAW and International
Chemical Workers Union (ICWU) locals, the latter lead by George Gare.
This was followed by a summer-long auto workers strike in 1948 in St.
Catharines to get the same pay as Windsor and Oshawa workers, lead in
part by communists such as Local 199's vice president Lloyd Hawke.
The CCF, forerunners of the NDP, were criticized publicly by both the
Labor Progressive Party (LPP, Communists) and the union for urging a
settlement and collaboration with management.
Management
had declared the strike illegal and, as with USW 1005 Hamilton
steelworkers today, tried to get the membership to bypass the elected
leadership and vote on the offer. The leadership rejected this trick,
and even when the union did later vote on the offer, only one member
voted to accept it. In the fall, the Labour Board allowed the company
to prosecute the union for the strike. The next year two party
members, activists in the United Electrical workers (UE) and CSU,
were elected to the municipal councils of Crowland and Humberstone,
now part of Welland.
In
the Red Scare years many Niagara communists were purged by
social-democrats in collusion with management and right-wing
politicians. In 1949 George Gare was fired in-person by the
International (i.e. US) President of the ICWU for connections to
local communists. In 1957 the ICWU raided Niagara Falls chemical
plants from the UE. However, from 1953 to to 1971 communist Gordie
Lambert was GM plant chair and Unity (left) Caucus leader for the
CAW's local 199 in St. Catharines. In 1973 Port Colborne union
activist John Severinsky successfully fought his expulsion from the
Steelworkers for handing out a supplement on food prices of
the Canadian
Tribune,
forerunner of the People's
Voice newspaper,
a month after his election to the Inco local's office. These latter
incidents were contemporary to Shirley Hawley's working life at the
St. Catharines GM plant.
Interview
with Shirley Hawley
Spark:
How did you join the Communist Party?
Shirley
Hawley: I was involved with the NDP and I didn't like it: didn't like
their ideas, theory, and what they thought the future should be. I
remained in the NDP for less than a year. I was elected as my
riding's financial secretary. The riding association was split. There
was a left and a right. My way of thinking was always to the left. I
had no political education up to this time. I became a single mother
and had three children to look after and was out in the labour force.
I knew things weren't right. Then I got a job at a union plant, GM
was then McKinnon with local 199. I was still involved with the NDP
and not happy with the way they were going. I started in the foundry.
There was a strong left caucus there. I got involved with them. I
liked the way the committee men represented you and I felt
comfortable with them. I attended a few of their meetings and got
involved. They could depend on me when they wanted to take action.
I
got involved with the party. I wasn't a member but I was very close
to them. I belonged to the CCW (Congress of Canadian Women). I was
selected to be one of 120 women from Canada, we were invited to a
women's conference in the Soviet Union, Moscow.
My
eyes were opened up to women's rights and things like that. It was
put on by the women's part of the Communist Party. There were a lot
of professional people there and academics. I felt quite comfortable
there and attended all their sessions. I could not go to all of them,
there was not enough time. The ones I did go to I spoke at. They
claimed to be interested in me because I was on the floor in the
labour movement, working at an auto plant.
The
conference was 2 weeks long. I was invited to stay over for another
week by the women's committee and tour auto plants there. They wanted
me to tour and give them an idea of our plants and what differences
there were. I was quite impressed with how the Soviet Union was
running at that time. I came back in '87 I think it was, and I joined
the party. I was very close to the party in the Niagara region. A lot
of it had to do with Eric Blair (the organizer). I've been a member
ever since.
What
impressed you about what you saw in the Soviet Union?
Their
education. Women working alongside of men at the same wage. You could
do anything, any work that you wanted to do to better yourself.
Medical things were open for women there. I was very impressed with
their day care at work and a lot of it was in their community. You
could drop your children off on your way to work. Daycare was quite
convenient for you, not a long way to go for daycare and then a long
way to work. Quite different from what we have here!
Most
women still had to buy their daily groceries to make their meals,
(the) only negative thing that I saw for women. Housing was adequate,
great programs for their youth, sports activities, in the music
field, (public) palace of this palace of that, social participation
of children learning. Kids were allowed to go to the ballet and the
opera. Most of our youth can't afford that and it's not available for
them. Always had a good sports program. You could see that in the
figure skating and hockey, I imagine all the other sports too. That's
what I was really interested in
Can
you tell us about the illegal strike or walk-out you were a part of?
The
Unity Caucus - Left Caucus - we were in the foundry and an employee
got disciplined from higher up because something went wrong and it
wasn't this employee's fault at all. It was a supervisor (at fault)
but he was covering up his mistake by getting rid of this employee.
This happened on the midnight shift. When we came to work in the
morning, all the union left-wing delegates, they spread the word and
they said that they were going to take action around 11 O'clock in
the morning. When you get the word, you spread the word and you talk
all morning and when the time comes you get the people to follow you.
We had a great attendance of the people, almost all the people walked
out. We kept them almost 24 hours, nobody coming in, no deliveries
trucks or parts. We caught some of the supervisors (at the entrance)
and told them what was happening. Some turned around and went home,
and some didn't.
Early
morning one supervisor wanted to go in and I asked them not to and
explained everything. He said I'm going in (anyway). I just got in
front of his car and laid down in front of it. He waited a while but
he turned around and went home. It was something that I did out of
reflex, on the spur of the moment, and after I realized what I did I
was really scared and frightened. I was just so much into what I was
doing, it was automatic.
Did
you win on the issue?
I
got served by the labour board. Several people did. The employee that
was fired wasn't fired, he got his job back. The whole story came
out, the supervisor was reprimanded. He didn't get fired, didn't lose
any time. Didn't lose any management. Almost everyone (on strike)
that they caught on camera lost a day's a pay, lost some money. But I
got wrote up and it was on my record. I think I lost a day's pay and
all. That was it. The employee kept his job. We won but it was an
illegal strike and the union had to pay some money.
I
obeyed them and (CAW) 199 got that all squashed. I was served so many
papers, boxes (full). I never did read it. One of the main fellows in
our left supporters, he told me “Shirley you've done your job, now
go home.” Anyone that got served, the union could be liable $1000 a
day. Quite high. I obeyed them and the union didn't have to pay
anything. There was some settlement, it was an illegal strike.
All
strikes used to be illegal. It's coming back in Canada. Some unions
don't have the right to strike yet. We've got this government that
will legislate you back to work. Its not good for the union. What
power does the union have? That was one of their main strengths was
to strike, that was a landmark for the union when they got it. When
the contract is up (and) you can't come to a settlement, you have the
right to strike.
When
that's taken away from you, your rights are being eroded, taken away.
It has been going on for quite a few years. The unions are losing
ground and losing power, conceded for different wage scales. With the
job loss and downsizing of our industries, it's a way of keeping the
ones that are there still working. Don't blame the union, the union
has had to make a lot of concessions for 10 years or so but it's
slowly breaking up the unions.
Can
you tell us about how the Unity Caucus (left-wing) lost influence to
the Blue Slate (right-wing, within the union local), and the
influence of the Communist Party?
It
was the early 80s that they (the left) lost the power. There was some
building of egos, an ego fight within the caucus. Someone who was a
protege of Gordie Lambert, he sold Gordie out and went the other way.
It made a big rift in the caucus, it lost strength then. Because of
the infighting and the disagreements, they couldn't operate with
these two ideas of how to handle a problem. And then what really put
the kibosh on the unity caucus was when one committee man during a
shut down agreed to, not sure just exactly what, but it was
classifications right in the contract. He agreed to give these up. So
when the workers come up to work, this agreement was in place. We
didn't know how it was possible: it wasn't even negotiation time, but
it turned out that it was. I really don't know how. People lost
faith.
This
committeeman who did this was supposed to be a unity slate guy .
Turned out he sold us out, the deal was for him to give up this
classification of certain areas and he had quite a easy way at work.
A lot of times he wasn't there and still got paid. People seen that.
The only thing they had (in response) was to withdraw their support.
Very few of the unity slate guys got elected the next time around. It
just went from bad to worse.
We
had a left-wing plant chairman, Gordie Lambert, but that as high as
the unity caucus went. There wasn't that much Party influence. We did
as much as we could with the members we had, helped on the picket
line and different protests. We did march with our banner “Communist
Party of Canada” for the first time in the 1995 labour and
community groups' Days of Action against Ontario Tory Premier Mike
Harris, that to me was a big thing. Eric Blair (club organizer) was
invited out to speak at different things. He was well respected, he
was awarded from the labour council a plaque. I also was, from the
labour council, awarded for being an activist. I've been active in my
community and the peace movement. Eric Blair had been around for many
many years and this the first award he ever got. It was delivered on
his death bed! Took a long time. He was well respected. We all were.
So many people agreed with us but just couldn't vote for us.
I
ran for school trustee and got a very good reception. There was a
spot open as I was told he (the incumbent) wasn't going to run
anymore, and I started with my literature and going door to door
which was something that wasn't heard of for school board trustee. On
local cable TV they all didn't show up (for a debate). It was a given
that the same people over and over would get elected. It's still like
that, “old blood.” I started with my partner Don Quinn and
Toronto helped us, the Provincial Party Office. This fellow that was
going to not run, all of a sudden decided he's out there (running). I
got a very big vote but didn't get elected. I got invited to all the
meetings where the candidates speak. When I was canvassing I had
people say “you're the first school trustee to come to my door.”
They just assumed they got elected. I never followed that before I
got involved, didn't know that's the way it was. These same people
had been in for years.
The
Eric Blair Club was the first communist club that went into the union
hall on different days there was
a public event, such as International Women's Day. When the notice
went up that you could rent a table and came, I applied and we got
it. We were quite visible, right around our table “Communist Party
of Canada.” People were shocked but they were interested too, had a
lot of inquiries.
Our
downfall was we didn't have a lot of people. I guess we didn't
interview them enough, talk to
them enough to see if they were real (communists). Didn't know just
who was honest.
What
is some advice you would give to new members?
Get
yourself educated and find out really the background, the struggle of
the party and what we really stand for. A lot of people that come in
think they have a lot of action, marches and protests, but that isn't
all that's there do. I think the best thing is get yourself educated
and really know what the party's all about. No one knows now
with the struggles that we have, this is the only party that's going
to help the people out of the situation . The era that we're in, all
the issues that the other parties have they don't take in the working
class people that are working, struggling, lost their jobs working
for minimum wage or low wages, two and three jobs to support their
families . Everything (prices) is going up, there just aren't enough
jobs around. The govt has allowed this. You have to really get
yourself educated and understand. I picked the women's issues. I
worked on that. I organized women in my union on the women's
committee.
I
think picking an issue to find out what you really want to work in,
it would be more effective that way. Join a club, find out what your
club is doing and how you can help. One other thing is we have to
distribute our paper, the People's
Voice,
that's very important.
The
people that are involved that are communists, comrades, I've never
met more hard working, sincere people in my life. There are so few of
us and they work so hard, whether it's when an election comes up
or it's a protest or getting out to support a strike, delivering the
paper. I don't think the history is much different (now), we don't
have the people and the people really don't realize what's happening
to them. When that happens and they realized what happened, we'll
have history in this time. We'll have more communists and more
history. People have to start to fight back. It's gotta happen with
what's happening now, especially the young people and I think the
party sees that with the YCL'ers (Young Communist League). It's
growing in different provinces. Right here you've (to interviewer)
had some success. These are the people that's going to make some
history.
Can
you tell us about your plant experiences as an Aboriginal women?
I
haven't really worked on that. In the area I am living in (retired)
now, I have been asked to come out to their meetings and get involved
with them. The President of the Native association here just left my
house, I get a lot of info from him. It's quite a highly populated
area of Aboriginal people. I was very proud of my mother, I got my
bloodline from my mother. I was proud of that that. I didn't like it
when people characterized people like being a “drunken Indian”,
(I would say) “but I've seen a drunken white person,” things like
that. “They don't work,” (I would reply) “if you were taken out
of your environment and way of life you might be acting like that
too!.” They have problems but we're coming a long way with
addressing their problems and educating.
I
knew I had to got involved. Some organization had to fight for women.
I had three children and had to get a job. I had to show I was in the
process of getting a divorce as they wouldn't hire a married woman
(on the production line)! Office staff could meet someone at the
plant and keep their job. In 1964 they had a two-tier wage scale. I
worked beside a man, we ran a machine together and he got a dollar an
hour more than I did. He did one end, I ran the other end. That
changed, that was one of the reasons really I got involved. Things
weren't right for women. I was a woman with kids, wanted to have a
future for them and support them .
As
for the NDP, they weren't going to do nothing for us. That's the way
I went. I drifted and I met communists and liked them, and their way
of thinking. I knew I'd found my place.
