She Never Was Afraid
The Biography of Annie Buller, by Louise Watson
CHAPTER FIVE
Annie in the Maritimes
Annie made her first speaking tour in 1921 to
Nova Scotia and the rest of the Maritimes. Becky went along with her.
She spoke to miners, fishermen, steelworkers, unemployed groups and
housewives, telling people about the Russian Revolution and its
significance to workers here in Canada —in fact to workers anywhere,
pointing out that it was the teachings of Marx and Lenin which made it
possible to carry through the revolution successfully. It was those
principles which would guide the leaders of the Russian people in the
building of peace, progress, and socialism in their country.
In 1923 after the formation of the Workers Party,
she made another trip to Nova Scotia. Primarily it was for the purpose
of building the Party throughout the Maritimes. However she was an
organizer for the Trade Union Educational League, and on this trip gave
a great deal of assistance to the miners of Glace Bay and Cape Breton in
building and consolidating their union.
James B. McLaughlin was a young miner coming into
prominence, who later became a leader of his union as President of
District 26. Annie was impressed with J.B.'s activities and he was one
of those who joined the Party. The help and guidance she gave him
cemented the bonds of comradely friendship between them which was to
remain for many years.
In 1935 Annie was once again bound for the
Maritimes, this time to manage the campaign of J.B. McLaughlin who was a
candidate in Nova Scotia in the federal election of that year. Having
served her prison sentence in Battleford Jail as a result of the Estevan
strike, she had many things to tell the people about that incident.
George McEachren, a former steelworker in Sydney,
recalls that at that time organizational work was going on to form an
independent union of steelworkers, and it was decided to tie this in
with the election campaign, taking advantage of the fact that R.B.
Bennett included the eight-hour day as one of the points in his program.
Accordingly, a meeting of the steelworkers was
called to demand that this be made law by order-in-council before the
election. The Tory federal member (Finlay MacDonald) was invited to the
meeting, but failed to appear. Jim McLaughlin was making a radio
broadcast that evening, and Annie and Bob Stewart, Secretary of the
Amalgamated Mineworkers, were there with him. They were invited to go to
the steelworkers' meeting and were permitted to speak there.
Prior to this meeting the workers in the steel
mill had been asking the management "When are we going to get the
eight-hour day?" Management, however, refused to tell them, but on the
morning after the meeting they called in the company union (called the
Plant Council) and announced they had the schedule for the eight-hour
day all ready. Presumably they had had their office staff working all
night on it.
The election committee then held a public meeting
the next night in the Strand Theatre in Sydney, from which a telegram
was dispatched to R.B. Bennett demanding action on the eight-hour day.
McLaughlin's opponent in the election was the
then President of District 26 United Mine Workers, who was a candidate
of Stevens' Reconstruction Party. Neither of them was elected, but Annie
and J.B. had put on a terrific campaign among the workers of Nova
Scotia, and it gave quite a boost to the steelworkers in their efforts
to build their union.
During the years Annie made repeated trips to the
Maritimes, and her contribution to the struggles there endeared her to
the workers for all time.
continued
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