
The Workers Struggle
Solidarity in the face of adversity
Labour history preceding the First World War witnessed workers' arduous struggles for fair wages and better conditions amid industrialization, with movements, strikes, and ideologies fueling social and political tensions.
As the market price fluctuated the owners would adjust the workers' wages accordingly. When the value of coal dropped, it was the workers who suffered the most.

Before the introduction of battery-operated safety lamps in the year 1921, the coal mines of British Columbia ranked among the world's most perilous, with miners relying on open flame lamps that posed a constant threat to their lives.
Daily dangers included explosions caused by these lamps, as well as frequent roof collapses, explosions, and flooding. In the early years, the absence of safety standards reflected the owners' prioritization of profit over implementing safety measures.

Trade unions, groups defending workers of a common trade, emerged in the nineteenth century across the United States and the United Kingdom. Workers from industries such as mining, textiles and manufacturing began to band together to give workers a united voice. Given the sparse settlement and small industrial base, Canadian workers faced challenges to create a national structured movement. But in 1886, after years of minimal progress, the workers had a breakthrough and created a national union, the Trades and Labour Congress (TLC).
In British Columbia, the workers’ movement truly gained momentum with the large influx of European and American immigrants in the mid and late nineteenth century. They carried with them socialist political ideologies that were gaining traction in their home countries. Proposing economic, social and political change, socialist concepts advocated for more power for workers. These messages started to weave their way into the fabric of the working class.
Workers desperately wanted the union acknowledged by the coal company owners. When a strike broke out in 1890 for union recognition, owners evicted striking miners from company-owned housing en masse. The strike quickly ended, but the issue of union recognition remained a key issue for local miners.

Demand for union recognition started early on Vancouver Island, but it wouldn’t be until 1938 after decades of bitter disputes would it be achieved.

Mine owners and other industrialists were in favour of Asian labour in BC.
Asian workers were paid a fraction of their white counterparts' wages. They accepted these wages because they could not afford to be without work. The abundance and cheapness of their labour allowed mine owners to keep operational costs low and profits high.
This collection of papers relates to Chinese miners in Cumberland B.C sending part of their wage money back to their families in Hong Kong, China.

It was widely felt among the white workforce that Asian miners were undermining their position. Asian workers were competing for the same types of jobs young sons of miners would typically dominate in. Their low wage was believed to keep the wages of white miners low. Chinese strikebreakers undermined European miner's efforts at unionization.
For these reasons, many miners and union representatives alike considered Asian miners a problem to solve rather than potential allies to recruit.
The United Mine Workers of America was formed in 1890 to fight for better pay and working conditions. They served workers across America and Canada.

Hailing from the tough mine fields of Ayrshire, Scotland, Vancouver Island Coal Baron Robert Dunsmuir wasted no-time in acting against the strikers to ensure his mines remained open. In 1883, when the miners at Wellington went on strike due to poor pay, Dunsmuir & Sons employed Chinese miners and broke the strike. Excluding Chinese workers from the mines became a key demand in the strikes that followed.

Robert Dunsmuir and his successors, the Canadian Collieries Company, adopted an aggressive anti-labour and anti-Union attitude to the workers’ movement. Dunsmuir’s Wellington mines were amongst the first to experience a workers’ movement and he was swift with how he treated the dispute.
He fired Union organizers, blacklisted strikers, evicted them from company housing, and almost immediately replaced them with workers who were recruited predominantly from China and Europe. He advocated he would never negotiate with agitators. Dunsmuir’s policy was extended by his son, James and son in law, John. Their draconian treatment of the workers continued under the management of the Canadian Collieries Company which succeeded Dunsmuir & Sons in 1910.
Discontent intensified among Vancouver Island coal miners.
Although not included in unionization efforts, Chinese miners used their large numbers to fight abusive behaviour from the Company. In 1899, Dunsmuir & Sons cut Chinese workers' wages by fifty cents to finance his court case against Asian exclusion legislation. The Chinese miners responded with a strike that made Dunsmuir cave in one day.
Strikes erupted in 1903 in Nanaimo, Ladysmith, and Cumberland over the right to unionize. Cumberland miners held as long as they could, striking for months after workers in Nanaimo and Ladysmith decided to go back to work.
On top of the attempted strikes and filed petitions, Vancouver Island miners received help from the United Mine Workers of America (UNWA) to organize more efficiently. With the financial support of the UNMW, local miners were better equipped for the fight.

Socialism Surges
Socialism emerged in the nineteenth century. It advocated for natural resources to be owned by the community, as opposed to individuals. It challenged long-standing capitalist ideologies and pushed for greater power and a fair distribution of wealth for the working class through economic, social, and political reform.
Socialism in Canada developed initially within BC. In 1898 the Socialist Labor Party was established in Vancouver, and by 1904 it had spread nationwide, with the creation of the Socialist Party of Canada.
Socialist ideas quickly spread throughout the mining towns of Vancouver Island. Cumberland became a hotbed of socialist ideas with the arrival of major proponents for the cause in Joe Naylor and Albert Goodwin. The two became lifelong friends and led the charge in the workers' cause. Socialist clubs and societies were formed, papers were written, and discussions about socialism and revolution were held while they fished the Comox Lake.

This class of parasites have been living on the blood of the working class, they are responsible for the conditions existing at the present time…to throw this system icer we have got to…fight them as class against class…and our weapons are education, organisation and agitation.
Albert ‘Ginger’ Goodwin, Western Clarion (August 1912).
Newspapers, pamphlets, and books promoting different political ideologies were widespread in Canada during the early twentieth century. The start of the propaganda era.
Why not try a socialist delicacy?
Socialist Soup
Ingredients
4 cups Capitalist gain, undiluted
2 cups Low wages
1/2 cup Poor working conditions, diced
1/2 cup Revolutionary literature
1 pinch Salt
Method
In a large pot, combine capitalist gain and low wages. Add poor working conditions one cup at a time, stirring constantly. To the mixture, add revolutionary literature, and season with salt from the tears of the downtrodden. Stir to combine. The mixture should soon resemble a labour movement. Heat on high and let boil over. Best served hot.
