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﻿<title﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, A Tortured People: Race and Class at Cochin Provincial Park - Article﻿</title>﻿

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﻿<b﻿>﻿A Tortured People

﻿<br﻿>﻿Race and Class at Cochin Provincial Park 

﻿<br﻿>﻿</b>﻿</font>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿


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by Howard Adams﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿<i﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, April - May 1999﻿</i>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿</center>﻿


﻿<font﻿ ﻿size="1"﻿>﻿The following text is the fourth in a series of chapters abridged from A Tortured People: The Politics of Colonization by Metis activist Howard Adams, published by permission of the author. The first (1995) edition of the book has been sold out, but a revised edition, with additional chapters on the national question and the Zapatista movement, is forthcoming from Theytus Books.﻿</font>﻿</font>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

As Aboriginal leaders, we tried to establish methodical practices of disruptions against the establishment, but by 1969 many confrontations were emerging spontaneously in Indian reserves and Metis colonies. The Metis Society had to devote immediate attention to these protests ¡ such as the race-class struggle that emerged suddenly in Cochin Provincial Park in the summer of 1969. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Indian and Metis workers at the park were subjected to racist/class practices; they were denied the right to collective bargaining, and subjected to unfair wages and unsatisfactory working conditions primarily because they were Aborignals. The Saskatchewan government refused to allow these workers to join the union, so the Natives were kept at an annual wage of approximately $1,500.00. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The park's Aboriginal workers complained about their working conditions to the provincial Indian and Metis Department in Regina. Native workers were often hired to do the casual, dirty, and temporary jobs that white workers would not do. The Natives' poor wages were a race-class issue in that the government authorities paid higher wages to the white employees, who did the same work and were no better qualified. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The Park Department claimed that it had hired 191 Indian and Metis workers in the past five summers, and 23 Natives in the summer of 1969. Aboriginal park workers, however, claimed that only a few Natives had actually been employed over that time. The government was using inflated figures or an unprincipled counting scheme, one that included Indians and Metis who were hired for a couple of days or weeks only to be laid off and then rehired on a similar basis. The Park Department counted each of these "hirings" as a new employee. It fired some Aboriginal workers and replaced them with white workers, and continued to hire Aboriginals only as casual workers, thereby keeping them from joining the union. These government practices amounted to semi-apartheid methods. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The issues surrounding Cochin Park were raised at the governments Indian and Metis Task Force, but the authorities failed to do anything to improve the situation. Instead, they entrenched their position against Natives, allowing conditions to deteriorate. The state's task force was revealed to be another empty vehicle used to make the public think it was dealing effectively with Natives. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

On August 11th, the Aboriginal workers held a meeting to discuss the matter in full and decide on a course of action. Approximately sixty people attended, indicating the seriousness of the problem. We agreed that the workers would go on strike the next day, and that a large group of supporters would block all entrances to the park. Because the workers were the struggle's key figures, it was essential that they took part in all the action. After all, they had initiated it and it was in their interest that they continue the battle and not betray it. Betrayal arises from the vulnerability of the colonized, and from the oppressor's effort to divide the Aboriginals in their struggle. As chairman, I concluded the meeting by saying that the workers may be visited by government midnight riders who may offer them wonderful, highly paid jobs located elsewhere. The workers laughed at this possibility. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The next morning, back in my Saskatoon office, I received a phone call from a Metis colleague in Cochin who told me that the Aboriginal park workers were mysteriously missing. Later that day we learned that a government agent had visited the homes of the Native workers and persuaded each one to abandon the park struggle. He promised them "marvelous jobs." As if the news was not painful enough, we learned that one of the Metis Society members accompanied the state agent. The collaborator presented himself as an Aboriginal brother and exerted whatever pressure was needed to abduct the workers and smuggle them to an unknown location. These workers were not heard from again. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The Native leaders and supporters true to the liberation cause learned a lesson from this incident. It was clear that the Canadian state was active in bartering human flesh; the so-called democratic governments of Canada also used ruthless tactics to silence its opponents, maintain colonialism, and oppress Aboriginals. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The Cochin case showed that the class struggle of the Indians and Metis did not lie outside of the mainstream national historical development. This incident was part of the Canadian class struggle. The park workers had a weak class consciousness because of ethnic/race nationalism ¡ an aspect of capitalist society that serves to obscure class interests of Native and white workers and reinforce existing colonial structures. The provincial government played on racial/ethnic identity by recruiting a Metis con man to emphasize a phony racial brotherhood and job interest. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The sense of park workers class consciousness was not strong enough to make them feel their loyalty to other park workers and to the Aboriginal people who supported them in a struggle for better wages, improved working conditions and the right of collective bargaining. The governments kidnapping action ripped the heart out of the struggle. Racism is always effectively exploited by colonial rulers to oppress the racial minority workers. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

For many decades white commentators and academics had written as though Metis and Indian society was different and separate from Canadian society, and ordinary economic and political practices did not apply. But by the late 1960s most Indian and Metis workers were rural proletariat. This class consists of people who work in farm labour, ranching, fishing, logging and hunting. They were primary producers compelled by circumstances to work seasonally or part-time in subsistence production. They were also the lowest paid and most oppressed group of the working class. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

It is argued that "most of the rural proletariat are forced to adjust to a permanent state of unemployment and humiliation, eking out a miserable existence on the margins of society" (Veltmeyer). They are people who cannot find jobs because of their race, gender or residence in economically depressed areas, such as reserves. Many Metis communities now claim that the jobless rate is close to 85%. In Kelly Lake, British Columbia, a typical Metis community, most people survive on welfare, unemployment insurance or a pension, and the unemployment rate is 90%. According to Veltmeyer, "The high level of oppression of these classes gives them a strong motive for revolutionary battles." 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The white society had excluded racial minority workers from better and higher-paying jobs. As a res﻿ult, distrust was generated between the two groups. This racial condition prevented class solidarity. Such action deflects anger toward [other workers], rather than against the employers. White workers, in attempting to preserve their advantages, oppress racial minority workers. These tactics express themselves in the form of arrogance and caricaturing minority workers as racially inferior. Also, scapegoating takes place, whereby white workers' frustrations are thrust upon Indian and Metis workers. These conditions were taking place in the Cochin Park workplace, where they served to stabilize, rather than break down the social structures of privilege and advantage within the total worker situation. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The rural proletariat, argues Veltmeyer, are the most difficult to organize in a struggle to improve their working conditions. This proved to be the case at Cochin Park. This was primarily because their places of work are removed from centres of working class population and production. Also, they did not have broad working class support and did not, therefore, get help from other workers. Their low wages did not allow them to build up a financial reserve needed for strike or protest action. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

There are many difficult problems in organizing the underclass, largely because its members are migrant workers. Many drift around looking for jobs, eking out a bare subsistence. Whenever a mass was needed for political confrontation, many were working in the beet fields in southern Alberta, or fighting fires in the far north. However, today, many workers are forced into urban areas to find the lowest level of menial jobs that pay the least. How different is this from Soweto during the Apartheid regime? 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Further reading: 

﻿<ul﻿>﻿

﻿<li﻿>﻿H. Veltmeyer. ﻿<i﻿>﻿Canadian Class Structure﻿</i>﻿. Toronto: Paramont Press, 1986.﻿</li>﻿ 

﻿<li﻿>﻿K. Nkruma. ﻿<i﻿>﻿Class Struggle in Africa﻿</i>﻿. New York: International Publishers, 1975.﻿</li>﻿ 

﻿</ul>﻿


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