Unemployment

To Our Readers

Unemployment written by J. S. Woodsworth

Prosperity Without Protection

From The Canadian Forum, April 1921, p.200

Unemployment

Away down the street from the civic relief office stretches the queue of men awaiting their turn to obtain meal tickets. A long parade of respectably dressed men march from their suburban homes to join the down town workers in a huge demonstration on Cambie Street grounds. Such are the outward manifestations of unemployment in Vancouver to-day.

In a small city, ten thousand unemployed. What an economic loss! If these men were on strike what volumes of righteous indignation would be poured forth from the disinterested citizens! These citizens now content themselves with grumbling about giving relief to men who, no doubt, wasted their earnings in riotous living.

But what does this unemployment mean in terms of human welfare? The district nurses tell a heart-rending story of under-nourished children, of unwelcome babies coming into homes in which there is no clothing in which to wrap them, of weary struggling mothers and discouraged or embittered fathers and of broken homes.

Is this Canada — the Canada of which we have been so proud? In the old world, poverty always had been and was taken almost as a matter of course, but in 'this land of opportunity' have we so soon come to this?

Of course we have had unemployment and bread lines before now. In 1913 in Vancouver the situation was even more acute, if less serious. Then came the war. Thousands of men enlisted at once in a spirit of enthusiasm, but thousands of others were compelled by economic pressure to enlist. Production was artificially stimulated. A good market, high prices, public and private 'graft' and unlimited credit brought a period of so-called 'prosperity'. But now the war is over. The bills are coming due. The old trouble is re-asserting itself with increased intensity.

What is the worker thinking about it? His thoughts are not the thoughts of the business man. He looks at things from an entirely different angle. In fact, he lives in a different world. There lies one of the most dangerous factors in the situation. The ordinary well-to-do citizen fails to recognize that, since the war, we are living in a new world of ideas. He, unfortunately, is still living in the past. While he may talk of re-construction, he thinks of this as construction on a larger scale along old lines. The worker dreams of a new heaven and a new earth.

This new view of life which is held by an ever-increasing section of the working-class leads to a repudiation of the hitherto accepted leadership. The professional politician may wax eloquent over 'our wonderful natural resources' but this simulated [p.201] passion leaves the working man cold. He knows that he has been fenced off from these resources. He knows that, as a matter of fact, the richest resources in British Columbia are held by American syndicates. The patriotic 'spell-binder' is to-day powerless. "War — ah, its a lovely war!" He has been there. "If they want to fight they can do the fighting themselves next time — Our Country — the world safe for Democracy — Bah! Two meals and a lousy bed is all they give you when you get back. Russia for mine."

Even the business-man is no longer listened to. The business-man is not yet aware of this. He still dominates the Board of Trade and City Council. He still listens to self-laudatory speeches in the Canadian Club or the Rotary Club. He still commands the subservient press. But the heart of the people is far from him. 'Immigration, the greatest need of Canada.' The immigrant worker laughs scornfully as he thinks of a still longer bread-line. 'More British Capital'. He knows that already we cannot pay even the interest on the money we have so recklessly borrowed and squandered. 'Production'. That was the last slogan to which he responded. Now he knows that the yards are stocked with lumber, the warehouses with clothes, the cold storage plants with food — yet his family has not adequate food, clothing or shelter. Now there comes the latest word of wisdom 'deflation' — 'liquidation'. It simply makes him angry. He turns in disgust from the wisdom of the business man.

The church has ceased to offer him anything that will appease either physical or spiritual appetite. The daily press is absolutely discredited. The university is under suspicion or too remote. Perhaps he remembers that even as modern an economist as Jevons attributed re-current unemployment to the spots on the sun!

The old leadership rejected, the workers of the West are rapidly accepting the Socialist analysis of society. In the present distress, they believe they are experiencing the birth pangs of a new social order. Undoubtedly there is, with a vast number, a sense of expectation — a feeling akin to that of the religious enthusiast who was convinced that the 'Day of the Lord is at hand'. With many, belief in the inevitableness of the Revelution^(sic!) has led to a sort of fatalism. They can do little to hasten the event. Or again, ameliorative measures are not to be encouraged as they may somewhat retard the approaching climax.

Eagerly they scan the papers for news from Soviet Russia, for signs of a break-up in Middle Europe, for a more aggressive movement in Great Britain. In their halls, all day long they debate the merits of 'direct action', 'the dictatorship of the Proletariat', or speculate as to whether there is any possibility that in this country the change might be brought about without violence.

In the meantime, the situation grows steadily worse and little of a constructive character is being attempted. The Vancouver member of the Federal House — who is said to be slated for a cabinet position — expressed the opinion that if only a vigorous campaign were carried on in the Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs, it would be discovered that many members had odd jobs in their back yards. These, if made available, through a well-conducted Bureau would go a long way toward solving our unemployment problem! This valuable suggestion ought surely to be passed on to similar clubs in Toronto and Montreal. A thousand pities that it has not been cabled to New York and London and Vienna!

What can be done? Let us at least lay down some fundamental principles.

1. The large proportion of unemployment is involuntary. Granted that a percentage of the men are lazy or shiftless, the fact is that six months ago most of the unemployed were at work and would be at work to-morrow if work were available. With modern large scale production the individual is helpless. A lumber worker cannot himself open up a camp; a miner, a coal mine; or a dismissed railroad worker start up a second C.P.R. system.

2. Under these conditions, when private enterprise fails, the State is under obligation to provide work. If the State with all its resources finds itself unable to do so, the case for the private individual is indeed hopeless.

3. Until suitable work is found, the State should provide adequate maintenance. This not as a matter of charity but as a matter of simple justice. A more fully developed industrial state would provide a system of unemployed insurance. The Minister of Labour tells us that it would require several years to build up such a scheme. In the meantime the underlying principle, as in the case of workmen's compensation, should be recognized, namely that Industry should carry its own charges.

4. Any work provided should he productive in character and should be carried on under prevailing conditions as to hours, remuneration and control. We have surely gotten beyond the mere work-test. We should realize the futility, economic and moral, of mere relief works. We must not permit employers under the guise of charity to lower the standard of living built up at so great a cost during the past hundred years.

5. The financing of such enterprises should be a first charge on the natural resources and credit of the country. In law, private ownership has never been absolute. In a society, where social production becomes prevalent and the monopolistic element enters, private ownership of the very means of life reduces us in time [p.202] to the servile state. We have admittedly abundant natural resources, we have the credit of the country — the capitalized labour power of the people — that on which alone our whole modern financial system is based. Why not bring natural resources, credit and workers, together?

6. If in the midst of abundant resources any administration fails even to feed its people it ceases to command their loyalty. It has ceased to function as an organ of democratic government. When once this becomes apparent it needs no prophet to foretell that all the legislation and all the repressive measures will not long hold down a free and intelligent people.

In Canada, as elsewhere, we face strenuous times. It may not be given to the business and professional men to decide whether or not we are to enter upon a new social order. It does seem to be in their power to decide whether the transition period be comparatively easy or a long drawn out struggle marked by violence and general dislocation. The present attitude of the American or Canadian business man is not reassuring.

J. S. Wooodsworth