THE BRITISH COLUMBIA LABOR MOVEMENT AND POLITICAL ACTION, 1879.1906 by THOMAS ROBERT LOOSMORE A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of HISTORY We accept this thesis as conforming to the standard required from candidates for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Members of the Department of HISTORY THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA October, 1954 i i LABOR POLITICAL ACTION in BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1879-1906 ABSTRACT The period under study is the formative period of working-class political action in this province. The condi• tions and events of this time form the foundation upon which the Socialist Party of Canada, the Federated Labor Party, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, and the Labor Progressive Party grew to be important factors in British Columbia affairs. Consideration of this period is therefore highly relevant to any evaluation or assessment of these organizations. The wage-workers of British Columbia began to or• ganize into unions in significant numbers in the 1880's. Being concerned with improving their lot as workers, some of the unionists turned toward the idea of taking class action on the political field in order to obtain favorable legislation. In the economic sphere, the main complaint of the workers during this period was that the many Chinese in the province worked long hours for low wages, and thus tended to lower the living standards of those who had to compete with them. Another complaint with economic as well as political aspects was that much of the land and resources of British Columbia had been alienated to such corporations as the Esqui• malt and Nanaimo Railway Company and the Canadian Pacific Railway. In their political action the workers demanded a solution of these grievances, and in the case of the latter were strongly attracted to the doctrine of "single tax." They also expressed a wish for government-sponsored arbitration and conciliation procedures which would settle labor-management disputes in a peaceful manner. The demands for political reform were occasioned by the use of government in the interests of the wealthy element of the community, and were very much influenced by American and socialist ideas. The basic principle involved was that of ^dir- ect democracy,1* including the initiative, referendum, and re• call, and it persisted throughout the whole period in various forms. The first election to be contested by labor candi• dates was the provincial election of 1886. Pour candidates ran in Victoria and Nanaimo, and all were defeated. At this time the Knights of Labor was at the peak of its power. The organiza• tion soon declined, and its place was occupied in most cases by trade unions. In 1890 the Nanaimo miners' union succeeded in elect• ing two members to the British Columbia legislature. Although these members were unable to carry through any of their own measures, their presence led to the passage of a mechanics' lien law and an arbitration and conciliation act. In 1894 the miners* candidates were defeated but the Nationalist Party of Vancouver, a labor organization, succeeded in getting Robert Macpherson elected. Although not always strictly a labor representative, Macpherson was generally a iii protagonist of the cause of labor. In the 1896 federal election the Nationalists also initiated the successful candidature of Rev. George R. Maxwell, who remained in parliament until his death in 1902. In 1898 Nanaimo labor recovered part of the lost ground by electing Ralph Smith to Victoria. Smith changed to the federal field in 1900, was elected, and remained in parliament until 1911. However, he was very closely linked to the Liberal Party, and in 1902 was repudiated by the Nanaimo miners. The 1900 provincial election was the high point of labor political action in this-period. Labor Candidates with re• form programs appeared in Vancouver and Nanaimo. The Western Federation of Miners in the southern Interior supported non- labor candidates pledged to defend the new eight-hour law for metal-miners. All the W.F.M.-backed candidates and one Nanaimo labor man were elected. This election saw the first appearance of the term "Socialist* as the official designation of a candidate — Will MacClain. The period 1900-1906 witnessed the decline of re• formist BlaborismB and the rise of socialism as a political force in the province,culminating in the capture of a Labor Party con• vention by members of the Socialist Party of Canada. A study of this period has a special relevance to the present political situation in British Columbia. We are now in a time of re-alignment and re-orientation of political forces, the understanding of which demands an appraisal of past political changes. The events and situations recounted and analyzed here, since they are concerned with a period of political experimenta• tion, may afford us useful light on present changes. CONTENTS CHAPTER Page INTRODUCTION ... 1 I BACKGROUND OF THE BRITISH COLUMBIA LABOR MOVEMENT ..... 4 i Union Organization • 4 ii Techniques of Unions 7 iii Development of the British Columbia Working Class ....... 12 II KNIGHTS IN POLITICS 19 i Labor Considers Political Action, 1879-1882 ........ 19 ii Knights of Labor and the Workingmen*s Party, 1886 23 iii Other Political Action by Labor, 1886: Decline of Knights of Labor 38 III MINERS AND »»NATIONALISTS» 42 i Political Action in Vancouver, 1890-1891 42 ii Labor Members of the Legislature, Nanaimo, 1890-1894 47 iii Labor and Politics, 1893-1894 59 iv Labor in the Provincial Election, 1894 . 66 v The Nationalist Party and Rev. George K. Maxwell, M.P. 78 vi Reflections on the Nationalist Party . • 85 CONTENTS (Continued) CHAPTER Page IV INDEPENDENT LABOR PARTIES. 1898-1906 88 Part 1. To the Kamloops Labor Convention. 1902 i Prelude to the Provincial Election of 1900 88 ii Labor in the 1900 Provincial Election ... 95 iii Labor in the 1900 Federal Election .... 124 iv Provincial By-elections, 1901 . 148 Part 2. The Kamloops Convention, 1902, and After < ^ i The Kamloops Labor Convention • . .... 151 ii Federal By-Election in Burrard, 1902-1903 . 164 iii Labor-Socialist Split in Nanaimo, 1902 . 172 iv Labor in the 1903 Provincial Election .. 183 v Breakdown of Laborism in British Colombia . 1904-1906 . 194 V CONCLUSION AND REFLECTIONS . 198 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 210 APPENDICES: I Legislative Platforms and Resolutions. II Explanatory * * * ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Chart of .Labor Political Action in British Columbia, 1879-1906 ... preceding page 1 2. (a) Robert Macpherson, M.L.A following page 41 (b) Rev. George R. Maxwell, M.P. (c) Vancouver in 1890. 3. (a) Ralph Smith, M.P. following page 87 (b) A Pithead at Nanaimo. 4. (a) James H. Hawthornthwaite, M.L.A. .. following page 171 (b) Parker Williams, M.L.A. 5. Sandon, British Columbia following page 187 {Photographs by courtesy of the Provincial Archives, Victoria, British Columbia.) A CHART OF LABOR POLITICAL ACTION IN BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1879-1906 VICTORIA NANAIMO VANCOUVER SOUTHERN INTERIOR 1886 h KNIGHTS OF LABOR h WORKWOMEN'S PARTY H 1889 T- 8 L-c- Organized M-M-L-P-A- Organized r~T- a L- C- Organized THOS- Keith M.L.A.,S 18 90 THOS- Forster NANAIMO REFORM CLUB NATIONALIST PARTY 1894 1 ^-Candidates defeated !-Robt- Macpherson M-L-A- I WESTERN FEDERATION OF 1896 (-Ralph Smith M-L-A- -Rev G-Maxwell M-P MINERS being organized 1898 f-Smith- re-elected — Provincial candidates defeated -Supported Provincial rNANAIMO LABOR UNITED SOCIALIST candidates 1 1 PAR TY LABOR PARTY - LABOR PARTY 1900 Prov cund- defeated ••Ralph Smith MP- LABOR PARTY (-Federal candidate Maxwell re-elected ! defeated SOCIALIST PARTY REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST CIALIST PARTY - H PARTY I 901 I- OF B«C« T , PARTY - . OF B-C- OF B-C f-J-H- HawthornwaiteM-LA' T-8 LC- 1902 I Kamloops Labor Convention PROVINCIAL PROGRESSIVE RARTY Ijawthornwaite Federal candidate 1903 M-L-A* S-! -Wm-Davidson M-L-A- Williams defeated _ 0 A* 6, W-F-M- 1904 I endorsed socialism CANADIAN LABOR PARTY 1906 TLCC- Convention Convention I I i • + THE BRITISH COLOMBIA LABOR MOVEMENT AND POLITICAL ACTION, 1879-1906 INTRODUCTION Since 1882 when the wage-workers of British Colombia were beginning to organize in significant numbers, no provincial election has passed without some manifestation of labor political action. Furthermore, since 1889 when the Vancouver Trades and Labor Council and the Vancouver Island Minersf and Mine Laborers * Protective Association were formed,1 all federal elections have witnessed the organized intervention of British Colombia labor. There has constantly been an element in the local labor movement which has advocated a legislative solution to labor's problems and which has been active enough to take the political field. Consequently, Candidates claiming to represent the special int• erests of the wage-workers have been a normal feature of oar pol• itical life. In the history of labor political action in British Colombia there are foor major periods, distinguishable by the scope of the aims which predominated in each period. Be it noted that these periods are not hermetically sealed compartments; elements characteristic of one period are always to be found in 1 William Bennett. Builders of British Colombia. Vancouver, 1937, p. 33. 2 other periods. The period!zation merely indicates a convenient generalization of the most prominent features of the labor poli• tical movement in its development. The first period, which runs from 1879 to 1906, is that of the development of political laborism. It takes in the first appearance of a consciousness of group or class interest in politics, and it is characterized by the growth of political parties of labor devoted to the obtaining of specific legisla• tion. These parties did not aim at government power; their hope was to influence the major political groups to pass legis• lation favourable to labor.