On the Vancouver Free Speech Fight 1912
Report of Kingsley’s speech at a joint meeting hosted by the SPC and IWW, protesting the “Bloody Sunday” police attacks on left-wing speakers and bystanders during the Vancouver Free Speech Fight of 1912, at the Dominion Hall, Vancouver, 1 February 1912.
Union Jack Is Torn Down and Hurled to Floor
Incident Without Precedent in Vancouver Occurs at Socialist-I. W. W. Meeting. No Word of Protest Raised in Any Part of Crowded Hall. Flags Framed Picture Premier Borden, but Picture Not Touched. One Speaker Urges “Boycott The Province,” Another Calls Mayor a “Cockroach.”
Before a crowd of hundreds of Socialists and members of the I. W. W., who thronged Dominion Hall last night, the Union Jack was torn from the walls and thrown on the floor where it remained until the end of the meeting, which was called to protest against the actions of the police in the street troubles last Sunday.
The incident occurred before the meeting started. Several men were going about the hall selling copies of the Western Clarion, the local socialist organ, when two flags which framed the picture of Premier Borden on the wall above the platform attracted the attention of a short, long-haired Socialist who was busy selling papers. He climbed on top of the table and tore both flags from the wall, taking out his knife to cut the rope which fastened one of them to a nail. He threw them on the platform, and then when he got down off the table he picked them up again and threw them to the floor. The Premier’s picture was not touched.
During the proceeding, the like of which has probably never before been witnessed at a public meeting in Vancouver, there was not one word of protest raised in any part of the hall, which was crowded to the doors.
The meeting, which contained several ladies, was quite orderly, and although the applause which greeted the speakers and their remarks was sometimes vociferous there was no more excitement than that which frequently arises at an ordinary political meeting.
Calls Audience “Bunch of Slaves.”
Mr. E. T. Kingsley, who followed Mr. Dribble, referred but little to the present trouble but gave a lengthy address along the well-known socialist lines which he has been advocating in Vancouver for a long time.
“Mr. Chairman and the mob,” he began, and during the rest of his speech he referred to his audience as “a bunch of slaves.” He maintained that the great power which lay in the hands of the working man was the ballot. Without the working men, he declared, neither the present mayor who was not a real capitalist—a real one would not be bothered being the mayor of any place—nor any of the city councilmen could be elected to the offices they hold.
“I know you,” he exclaimed, “and I know that there are some here who at the next election will go out and vote for the same man and the same things as well.”
He advised the crowd not to go out and tear down the city. He did not think that anything could be gained by it. Then he entered on a long talk on the theoretical side of socialism.
“We are a great people,” said he, “and our bank clearings are something enormous.”—this with a comical sneer that brought a roar of laughter from the crowd. “What do you think made it all? If all the workmen left this city how much do you think the real estate, our greatest industry, would be worth?”
“Five cents,” ventured someone from the audience.
“Don’t waste your money like that my friend,” cautioned the speaker, and another laugh swept through the hall.
Later in his speech, Mr. Kingsley remarked that “perhaps the knocks given by the police last Sunday were not without their good effect for it was time that the working men were taught a lesson that they would remember. It was time they were taught that they were the slaves and servants of the capitalist class and that they had no right to meet together to protest that they were out of a job or that they were hungry.”
Mr. Kingsley’s speech lasted the better part of the evening but the crowd, which seemed to be in remarkably good humor, gave him an excellent hearing.
—“Union Jack Is Torn Down and Hurled to Floor,” Vancouver Daily Province, 2 Feb. 1912, 35. See also “Mule Story Was His Theme,” Vancouver Daily Province, 5 Feb. 1912, 3.