PEACE PROBLEMS IN CANADA
LABOURS FUTURE
ALIEN BOLSHEVISTS
("Times" Correspondent.)
London, MaTch 5. In Canada as in other countries Ilia problems of reconstruction are urgent and difficult.
It is found' that factories cannot summarily adjust themselves to peace condition's. House-building ana public works of various descriptions aro more costly during tbo winter, or for climatic reasons cannot bo wisely undertaken. Hence unemployment increases and labour becomes anxious nnd restless. It is estimated that there are between 10,000 and 12,000 unemployed in Toronto, and as many in Montreal. In many of the smaller .industrial contres thero is also idle labour. In tho meantimo the soldiers are returning in thousands. Tho imiversal feeling is that they must not suffer. Railway companies, manufacturers, and employers generally aro eager to find places for thoso who wero in their service at enlistment, even if other workers have to bo displaced. It cannot bo said that there is yet any 'actual distress, but there is apprehension over the immediate industrial ' prospect. ■ Forces of Disorder. The situation is aggravated by an extreme Bolshevist element which has become singularly mischievous nnd daring. A few days ago" Mr. Tom Moore, president of the Trades nnd Labour Congress, found it' difficult to get a hearing at a. publip meeting in Toronto. Three-fourths of those who created the disturbance were "foreigners," and manv pf these aliens who have drawn good wages during the war, nnd now show a malignant disnosition to destroy tho institutions which thev did nothing to defend. These social democrats," not recognised by the responsible leaders of organised Labour, aro represented at all public meetings where discussion is permitted, and ara violent in attacks upon the Government, upon capital,, upon employers, upon tbo wage system, and private control of industry" Thev are as bold as they are violent'. They glorify the results of Bolshevism'in Russia, and allege a great capitalistic conspiracy to conceal tli« true situation there in order that 'wage slavery" may not be destroyed in other countries. The plain object is to discredit the omcial leaders of organised Labour, to provoke industrial disturbances,, and to> produco revolution and chaos The chief attack has been upon the Orders-in-Conn-cil which prohibited 'meetings of social democrats and circulation of seditious iiierature during the war. _ Unfortunately two or .three' sentences imposed by magistrates upon ' suspected seditionists wero so severe as to excite many of the more 6ober leaders of Labour and to cieate a formidable feeling against perpetuation of the Orders-ra-Councii. Tho Orders ha've not been repealed, but the more extremo sentences were cancelled by the Government, and further prosecutions prohibited except by.consent of the Attorney-General in the various provinces.
In the West the bold activity of the Bolshevists has greatly exasperated the war veterans. Recognising that many of these asitators were aliens an<! few of. Canadian or British origin, returned soldiers_ at Winnipeg prevented a Bolshevist meeting, organised formidable demonstrations before factories in which aliens were believed :to be employed, and demanded that every alien whose place could be taken by a soldier should be summarily In Calgary, Vancouver. and other Western communities the soldiers display the same resolute temper. Employers are yielding to their demands and purging the pay rolls of many workers who have not acquired British citizenship. In Eastern Canada conflict between the soldiers and the foreign elements is also inevitable if the agitators, persist' in incendiary talking and revolutionary propaganda. The Government has announced that aliens will be expelled, but unless the agitators exhibit greater prudonce and wisdom, eyen this will not allay the feeling which has been aroused against certain foreign elements. Many people of foreign origin who have become citizens may suffer for the folly of the extremists. Certainly it will bo difficult for employors to retain foreign workers if unemployment becomes serious and general, and while, unquestionably, soldiers should have the preference, it is unfortunate that revolutionary agitator! should/ have so gravely prejudiced the position of the whole foreign element in Canada.
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Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 184, 30 April 1919, Page 8
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660PEACE PROBLEMS IN CANADA Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 184, 30 April 1919, Page 8
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