She Never Was Afraid
The Biography of Annie Buller, by Louise Watson

CHAPTER TWELVE
Annie and the labour press

Annie was a devoted advocate and builder of the labour press. She never missed an opportunity to speak and write about its value in bringing the truth to the working people about current trends and happenings. She once said "All through my life and work in the labour movement I derived strength and inspiration from the press that the workers built. It armed me with the knowledge I needed in approaching workers and discussing with them problems of the day which they face in their struggle for a better life . ."

She recalled the terrible exploitation experienced in the tobacco factory where she worked as a teenager, and the vow she made to look for explanations and answers. She began a diligent search for the truth and found it in the socialist literature and press. This search brought the realization that for workers to understand the nature of the exploitation they endured, and what class struggle meant, they must have their own organizations and their own press.

She saw how strikes were reported in the capitalist press —workers were called troublemakers, rioters, people who did not obey law and order. They were told that by striking they were depriving their children of the necessities of life. Scabs were hailed as "heroes" when they crossed picket lines and provoked fights, in which many a worker was injured. Organizers were called agitators and outsiders, and many were thrown in jail.

When the Party began publication of The Worker, Annie became the business manager. It was used in the fullest sense to bring truth and clarity to workers across the country.

In the years when extensive efforts were being put forth to organize the unemployed, Annie was involved in many a demonstration in support of these men who were forced into relief camps, on road jobs, for maybe 20 cents a day, disgusting food most times, and intolerable and dirty living quarters. Thousands "rode the rods" from coast to coast in search of a job, sleeping in abandoned shacks or railway cars, under hay stacks, or in jail cells.

Today's Don Valley Parkway in Toronto was called "The Jungle" in the early thirties. Here unemployed men put together shelters from tin and bits of boards or cardboard they could pick up, or maybe some broken bricks from the Toronto Brick Yard in. the Valley. Here they slept, tried to wash their ragged garments in the polluted Don River, and went out daily through the city to scrounge for food. Needless to say they were constantly being harassed by the police. This was typical of the situation all over.

Gradually, through the medium of leaflets put out by the Party and distribution of The Worker (later The Clarion) by energetic people such as Annie, George Harris, Harvey Murphy, and others, an organization known as the Union of Unemployed took shape and a centre was established in Toronto.

Demonstrations were organized in the larger centres calling for better forms of relief and projects to create jobs. Very often Annie was on hand to deliver some startling truths to all and sundry. In 1929 one such demonstration was held in Hamilton — a mass meeting and parade to City Hall to present demands for milk and bread for the children. The police, following their usual course, moved in and prevented the parade from reaching City Hall. Annie and nine others were arrested, and fines and prison terms imposed. Annie was considered an "outsider" and as such was given a two-year suspended sentence. She was ordered to stay away from Hamilton for two years and report to police in Toronto every month. As she said at the time "The bosses' press did not give the truth about that struggle, any more than about other struggles of workers throughout the country. Only the workers' press voiced the demands, defended the interests and advanced the just cause of the working people and their families. In those years our press stood out like a beacon." That still holds true today.

When The Worker was changed to The Clarion and it was decided to publish two editions, Annie became manager of the Mid-West Clarion.

In the days of The. Clarion, its distribution was made by courageous people who, like Annie, were dedicated to the Party and its publications, people like many of the young people in the movement, and like Harry Bell who pedalled his bike all over the East End of Toronto distributing the paper to regular readers and selling a few copies to sympathizers, or on the street corner, always keeping one jump ahead of the police.

During the period when the Party was illegal and The Clarion was banned, it was put out in mimeographed form and distributed by devious and complicated methods. Surprisingly enough, there were very few casualties, although on one occasion the mimeograph machine and supplies were found by the police and confiscated. Although Annie and most of the Party Executive were in prison, her spirit walked with those who typed the stencils, ran the mimeo machine, and distributed the bundles.

All this was the forerunner of The Tribune, and at one stage there were two editions, the Pacific Tribune on the West Coast, and the Toronto publication, including the formation of the Daily of which Annie became business manager shortly after her release from her term of imprisonment under the Defence of Canada Regulations. She was also manager of National Affairs Monthly, another Party publication.

Every week she rounded up a group of young people to sell the paper at plant gates and on the street corners. If there was a strike anywhere she saw to it that the paper was delivered to the strikers free, strong in the knowledge that it would give courage to these workers and arm them with the truth.

On one occasion there was a strike at General Motors in Oshawa — this was in the period of the Daily. She asked two of the girls on the staff if they would like to have an outing. The girls of course agreed. Then in a more direct way she got it across to them that the "outing" was to take a bundle of the papers to Oshawa to distribute to the strikers. She found someone with a car to take them and the papers. They had car trouble on the way, but finally got there and distributed the papers. They came back full of enthusiasm about the great reception they received at the strike. She certainly had a way with young people when it came to getting things like that done.

Annie was not only an avid reader, she was also a prolific writer. If all of her contributions to the Party press and other publications of the Party over the years were to be compiled it would certainly present a mammoth volume. She was proud of the papers, and of the help they have been to workers in difficult times. She always said that, "We have a powerful weapon in our hands, an educator and organizer — a compass that the workers need. That is The Tribune."

Annie always liked to mention Becky in the articles she would write. In 1926 when she was business manager of The Worker she wrote a news item about a speaking tour Becky had made to Western Ontario on behalf of the paper. Becky's subject was "Who Owns Your Mind." She noted further that Becky had just returned from a tour of the North and while there had secured 200 readers for the paper.

She never tried to conceal the shortcomings, and shortcomings there were from time to time, but insisted that we learn from them. The main thing to remember, she pointed out, is that the paper is uncompromising in defending the interests of the Canadian people. It is a true people's paper, kept going by the quarters and dollars of working people. Their respect and pride in the paper is the best guarantee that it will live and grow stronger.

She would have been prouder still today to see the articles written by young people which appear on the pages of the "Trib" every week.

It was typical of Annie that if there was an area of work in difficulty, she would jump in to help.

So it was that when the literature work was in a slump, Annie took hold and began to build it up. She was made Literature Director of the Party and manager of Progress Books.

She loved books, and it was a joy to her to encourage new writers, to further the sale of the books and periodicals. She visited the party clubs and other organizations to speak about literature. She wrote letters, organized annual book fairs, and was overjoyed when the sales went well. As soon as one event was over she was already planning another.

Queenie Cohen tells of how when Annie took over the job of running the bookstore it wasn't long until she had things humming, and it was on a self-sustaining basis.

continued

[ Top ] [ Table of Contents ]

Copyright South Branch Publishing. All Rights Reserved.
www.socialisthistory.ca  ▪