View source for Lumber Workers Industrial Union of Canada

{{Infobox union
|name         = LWUIC
|location_country= [[Canada]]
|affiliation  = [[Workers' Party of Canada (1922)|Workers' Party of Canada]], [[Communist Party of Canada]]
|members      =
|full_name    = Lumber Workers' Industrial Union of Canada
|native_name  =
|image        =
|founded      = 1924
|dissolved    = 1935
|merged       =
|national office =
|key_people   = A. T. Hill, J. Gillhead, Alfred Hautamäki and Kalle Salo.
|website      =
|footnotes    =
}}
The '''Lumber Workers Industrial Union of Canada''' was a [[trade union]] of [[lumberjacks]] in [[Canada]]. LWIUC was founded in [[Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario|Sault Ste. Marie]] 1924 by [[Finns|Finnish]] [[communist]]s, who were dissatisfied with the [[Lumber Workers Industrial Union]] of the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] and the [[One Big Union (Canada)|OBU]].<ref name="lwiuc"/> The two founding national secretaries of LWIUC were Alfred Hautamäki and Kalle Salo, both Finns.<ref name="lwiuc">Saarinen, Oiva W. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=DL0bjwbGZ84C Between a Rock and a Hard Place A Historical Geography of the Finns in the Sudbury Area]''. Waterloo, Ont: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1999. p. 194</ref> A prominent figure in the founding of LWIUC was A. T. Hill, a former [[wobblie]] and the leader of the Finnish section of the [[Communist Party of Canada]]. Overall, LWIUC maintained strong links with the Communist Party. Through the halls run by the [[Finnish Organization of Canada]] (an organization that was collectively affiliated with the [[Workers' Party of Canada (1922)|Workers' Party of Canada]], the legal front of the Communist Party), LWIUC rapidly gained thousands of members.<ref name="l3">[[Franca Iacovetta|Iacovetta, Franca]]. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=-lyM7K-Ftr8C A Nation of Immigrants: Women, Workers, and Communities in Canadian History, 1840s - 1960s.]'' Toronto [u.a.]: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1998. pp. 303-304</ref> The headquarters of the LWIUC were initially at [[Port Arthur, Ontario|Port Arthur]].<ref name="a4">Abel, Kerry M. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Hukj0am0UlIC Changing Places: History, Community, and Identity in Northeastern Ontario]''. Montreal; Ithaca: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2006. p. 174</ref>
==''Metsätyöläinen''==
LWIUC began publishing the monthly magazine ''Metsätyöläinen'' ('The Forest Worker') in December 1925, and it became an important mouthpiece of the Finnish-Canadian leftwing. The magazine was edited by Hautamäki. ''Metsätyöläinen'' was published by the ''[[Vapaus]]'' printing press until 1935.<ref name="lwiuc"/><ref name="l3"/>
==Organizational strengthening==
During the latter part of the 1920s LWIUC managed to establish itself as the dominant lumber workers union in [[Ontario]]. LWIUC undertook a militant mobilization campaign in north-eastern Ontario in 1927, an effort that enabled LWIUC to gain a strong presence at the White and Plaunt operations along the CNR line north of [[Greater Sudbury|Sudbury]]. It also began to accept agricultural workers into its fold.<ref name="l2"/> By 1928, LWIUC had established branches in [[South Porcupine, Ontario|South Porcupine]], [[Porcupine, Ontario|Porcupine]], [[Timmins]], [[Connaught, Timmins, Ontario|Connaught]] and several seasonal logging camps.<ref name="a4"/>
==Rosvall and Voutilainen==
In 1929 LWIUC sent out two organizers, [[Rosvall and Voutilainen|Viljo Rosvall and John Voutilainen]] to Onion Lake to mobilize union activity amongst workers at the [[Pigeon Timber Company]]. The company was managed by the subcontractor ''Pappi'' ('Reverend') Leonard Mäki, who opposed union organizing and had a conscious policy of mainly recruiting [[White Guard (Finland)|White Finns]]. Rosvall and Voutilainen never returned, and in April the following year their bodies were recovered. Official reports stated that the men had died of drowning, but the LWIUC claimed that they had been murdered.<ref>[[Franca Iacovetta|Iacovetta, Franca]]. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=-lyM7K-Ftr8C A Nation of Immigrants: Women, Workers, and Communities in Canadian History, 1840s - 1960s.]'' Toronto [u.a.]: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1998. p. 306</ref> Around 4,000 people participated in the funeral of Rosvall and Voutilainen in Port Arthur.<ref>MacKay, Donald. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=tWosMqKAv1oC The Lumberjacks]''. Toronto: Natural Heritage Books, 2007. p. 254</ref>
==WUL period==
In 1930, LWIUC joined the [[Workers' Unity League]]. The office of LWIUC was situated in [[Greater Sudbury|Sudbury]] for a while.<ref name="l2">Saarinen, Oiva W. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=DL0bjwbGZ84C Between a Rock and a Hard Place A Historical Geography of the Finns in the Sudbury Area]''. Waterloo, Ont: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1999. p. 195</ref> With the formation of WUL, the influence of the Communist Party over LWIUC became stronger. Within WUL Hautamäki's leadership was questioned, and the union was criticized for not launching strikes. However, successful strike actions were almost impossible to organize in northern Ontario until the logging industry had recovered in around 1933. At this point, LWIUC began a new wave of strikes and mobilizations. Now the union sought to recruit non-Finns into its fold, for which an [[English language|English-language]] publication was launched (''The Lumber Worker'') and a [[J. Gillbanks]], an Anglophone communist from [[Lake Superior|Lakehead]], was delegated to assist the union in organizing non-Finns. Through these efforts the membership of LWIUC was broadened significantly, gaining a strong presence amongst [[Swedes]], [[Slavs]], English- and French-speaking Canadians and other groups.<ref>[[Franca Iacovetta|Iacovetta, Franca]]. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=-lyM7K-Ftr8C A Nation of Immigrants: Women, Workers, and Communities in Canadian History, 1840s - 1960s.]'' Toronto [u.a.]: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1998. p. 308</ref> In 1934 the LWIUC office was moved to Timmins, with W. Delaney as its new president.<ref name="a4"/>
==Disbanding==
In 1935, LWIUC was disbanded. This followed a shift in policy in the [[Communist International]]. The communists now abandoned the idea of forming militant trade unions, and began to work within the established mainstream unions. The workers previously organized by LWIUC joined the [[Lumber and Sawmill Workers' Union]] (a union affiliated to the [[American Federation of Labor]]).<ref name="l2"/><ref>[[Franca Iacovetta|Iacovetta, Franca]]. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=-lyM7K-Ftr8C A Nation of Immigrants: Women, Workers, and Communities in Canadian History, 1840s - 1960s.]'' Toronto [u.a.]: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1998. p. 311</ref>
==References==
{{Portal|Organized labour}}
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1924 establishments in Ontario]]
[[Category:1935 disestablishments in Ontario]]
[[Category:Defunct trade unions in Canada]]
[[Category:Defunct trade unions in Ontario]]
[[Category:Finnish-Canadian institutions]]
[[Category:Timber industry trade unions]]
[[Category:Timber industry in Canada]]
[[Category:Trade unions established in 1924]]
[[Category:Workers' Unity League]]