She Never Was Afraid
The Biography of Annie Buller, by Louise Watson
CHAPTER EIGHT
Aftermath
After the massacre when the miners returned home,
a hurried meeting was held with Annie and the other organizers, and it
was decided that Annie and J. Forkin should go to Winnipeg, organize a
meeting and tell the people about the vicious attack by the police and
the killing of the three men. At the meeting they would solicit help for
the miners and their families.
The miners sheltered Annie until it was time for
her to go, and the railwaymen saw to it that she got to Winnipeg safely.
Being the only woman union organizer in Canada at that time, and such a
capable one, put her in a unique position in the ranks of organized
labour. The railwaymen knew her, respected her, and were anxious to help
get her away safely.
With the help of the Canadian Labour Defence
League a meeting was organized in the Market Square. It turned out to be
a monster rally. News of the massacre was coming through and people
wanted to hear the truth about it. Annie spoke at the rally, giving a
rousing condemnation of the mine operators, Estevan police, and the
RCMP, and appealed for help to the miners and their families. Her
address stirred the feelings of the people there, and their hearts were
filled with sympathy for the miners, and resentment toward those
responsible for the tragedy. Contributions to help came to $500, which
was a large sum of money at that time. Many gave the last dime in their
pockets. It was a tremendous display of working class solidarity, and
went far to strengthen the resolve of the miners to stand firm and
united.
The police had a warrant for the arrest of Annie,
but there was a lady there wearing the same kind of coat whom they
mistook for Annie, so they arrested her and took her off to jail, only
to find later they had the wrong person. However, their mistake afforded
sufficient time for Annie to make her speech and then get out of
Winnipeg on her way back to Toronto to begin organizing help for the
miners. She was later arrested in Toronto and taken back to Estevan to
stand trial. She was charged with inciting to riot.
Following the massacre there began a period of
real police terror. "Sixty RCMP armed to the teeth with a machine gun
mounted on a patrol wagon" began searching homes in Bienfait and
arresting the miners' leaders, or anyone whom they suspected of being an
"outsider" — in other words, a union organizer. The first day they
arrested 13, and 13 more in the next few weeks, including Sam Scarlett,
Annie, J. Forkin, and Isidor Minster.
It was a real vigilante operation, and one in
which the RCMP had become well versed, having been busy bashing the
heads of workers in strikes, parades, unemployed demonstrations, free
speech gatherings, etc., all over the country. This, in fact, was their
principal role all during the Depression. They raided homes without
warrants, searched through the people's belongings pulling out dresser
drawers, scattering contents on the floor, confiscating books and
pictures, many of which were family treasures, and making arrests on
trumped up charges — all with the widely proclaimed aim of "getting rid
of the Communists".
This kind of terrorism was calculated to
disorganize the Bienfait miners and frighten them into going back to
work. But in spite of the terror and violence they stood resolute in
their strike and no coal was mined. They had earned the sympathy of the
people in the area and there was so much public indignation about the
massacre that the Mayor of Estevan was forced to apply to the Federal
Minister of Labour for a Conciliation Board and Investigation under
Section 65 of the Industrial Disputes Act.
The result was a Royal Commission instead of a
Board. Early in October the operators and miners with their
representatives had a conference and agreed to reopen the mines as a
temporary arrangement pending the findings of the Commission. Thus the
strike was ended, and the miners later went back to work on the
following conditions:
1. Committees of
employees for each mine to be a recognized organization in each mine.
2. The provisions of the
Mines Act to be observed in relation to the check-weighers.
3. All water in the
roadways and working faces to be removed by the Company and such places
to be kept as dry as possible.
4. The terms of any
schedule or agreement finally reached by the operators and men to be
retroactive to the date of recommencing work.
5. No victimization or
discrimination against the men because of the strike.
6. Contract men to be
employed on an 8-hour basis.
The Commission brought in its report in the
spring of 1932. It agreed that the contract on which the men went back
to work should remain in effect until September 1932, when a new
contract was to be renegotiated, and that the aggravated grievances of
the men should be remedied at once. In addition it recommended adequate
medical care, erection of wash houses, supply of good drinking water,
and repair of houses.
The miners learned many lessons from the terrible
struggle they had been through. They knew, now, that the whole apparatus
of government, militia, and police was on the side of the bosses — in
their case the mine operators. They had won some concessions — and this
was very important to them — but they knew the struggle was not over. It
would be a continuing process. They would have a few months respite, and
then would have to "rise up and fight again". They had found that those
in the labour movement who were prepared to help them at any time, in
any situation, were the Communists. Annie and Sam Scarlett had taught
them well, and earned their deep respect and devotion. Many became
Communists as a result.
When the trials opened the attention of the whole
country was centred on what was happening in that little town of
Estevan. The men were tried in groups. Some were sentenced to anywhere
from three months to two years, several to hard labour. Some were bound
over to keep the peace, and some were deported. Isidor Minster, one of
the organizers, found guilty of rioting, was sentenced to two years of
hard labour, less a day, in Regina jail. Sam Scarlett was fined $100 and
sentenced to one year in Regina jail.
Annie's trial came up on February 23rd, 1932,
after the preliminary hearing where the charge of rioting had been laid
against her.
After hearing all the evidence, and before
pronouncing sentence, the Judge asked her if she had anything she wished
to say. She replied in a dear firm voice:
Your Lordship, I
appreciate the opportunity you grant me. I am prepared to receive your
verdict and I want to state further that when I received the invitation
from the miners to come and assist them in connection with their relief
I felt it my duty to assist these miners. My speech on the Sunday
afternoon before the disturbance was of no character to incite the crowd
to riot. My intention was, and I state now on the basis of the analysis
of the conditions of which I spoke, to make a speech of an educational
character. As such it has since been commented upon by a number of
miners. I am not of the destructive type. I aim to educate my class.
Throughout my short life I have endeavoured to be, and I have been,
loyal to that class I belong to, and I emphasize to you that I did not
incite, and my activities were all directed to the welfare of the men
and women that toil. In some small way I have made an effort to assist
the exploited workers and farmers of this country.
She made a tremendous impression on all the
people who jammed the courtroom.
Despite the efforts of the Canadian Labour
Defence League led by the Rev. A.E. Smith and Becky, and her own
testimony, she was convicted and sentenced to serve one year of hard
labour in Battleford jail, with a fine of $500 or in default of payment
of the fine to serve another six months. The case was appealed, and
after serving three and a half months she was granted a new trial.
There were so many arrests of workers across the
country during this period that the CLDL had been instructing those
arrested on how to practise workers' self defence, so it was agreed that
when Annie's second trial came up she would conduct her own defence.
continued
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