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The 1899 Manitoba and Northwestern Railway Dispute with the
Doukhobors
by
Victor O. Buyniak
Upon arriving on the Canadian Prairies in 1899,
the Doukhobors were obliged, like many other immigrants, to look for
employment to supplement their income. Railway construction was the
major source of work for the majority of the able bodied men. However,
during their first summer of employment, disputes
arose between the Doukhobors and railway companies, due to inadequate
knowledge of each other and mutual mistrust. This was
exacerbated by those working on the Doukhobors' behalf who had knowledge of
the language, but not of the country, its laws, customs and ways of life.
The following article by Victor O. Buyniak, reproduced by permission from
Saskatchewan History (40, 1987,
No. 1), reveals that the Doukhobor railway workers were in practically the
same position as any other new and inexperienced immigrants. Once they
became self-sufficient on their farms, they adapted to the rules and demands
placed upon them and disputes with their employers ceased to occur.
By July 1899 most of the Doukhobor immigrants
had arrived on the Prairies. A total of some 7,500 people settled in four
colonies in what is now Saskatchewan. Some very influential individuals and
organizations, including the writer, Leo Tolstoy, and the Society of Friends
(Quakers), facilitated their exodus from Russia, and a number of prominent
personalities accompanied the new immigrants to the land of their
settlement. Among them were three men who became instrumental in arranging
temporary employment for groups of Doukhobors at the Manitoba and
Northwestern Railway Company in the summer and fall of 1899.
Arthur St. John, a former captain in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, was
at one time in the Indian service. He resigned his commission, became a
pacifist and Tolstoyan, and visited Tolstoy at his estate of Yasnaya Polyana
in September 1897. Through Tolstoy he became acquainted with the Doukhobor
cause, served as Tolstoy's and the English Quakers' envoy to them in the
Caucasus, and brought the group, which was in dire material need, several
thousand rubles that were collected for them by their sympathizers. The
Russian authorities did not like St. John any more than they liked the
unorthodox and non-conformist Doukhobors - he was arrested and expelled to
Turkey for trying to cause foment among the group. Regardless of his
unfortunate experience in Russia, St. John became a staunch supporter of the
persecuted Doukhobors. He helped them at every occasion, interceded on their
behalf vis-à-vis the British authorities regarding emigration from Russia,
prepared the arrival of a party of Doukhobors in the summer of 1898 in
Cyprus (their first relocation place), and, when this venture ended in
failure, accompanied the Doukhobor exodus to Canada. He extended his
unwavering support to the group at every opportunity in Canada, until his
return to England.
Leopold Antonovich Sulerzhitsky (1872-1916), became acquainted with Tolstoy
through the latter's daughter Tatyana. He was an aristocrat but also a
convinced anarchist-pacifist who had served a term in prison for refusing to
take the oath in the army. He became a Tolstoyan, and together with St. John
he visited the Doukhobors in the Caucasus during November 1897. Sulerzhitsky
greatly facilitated the arrangements for the departure of the first shipload
of Doukhobors from Batum, and accompanied them to Canada. Later he became an
active associate of the Director Konstantin Stanislavsky in the Moscow Arts
Theatre.
Alexander Mikhailovich Bodyansky (1842-1916), was essentially a different
personality. A Russian nobleman, too, he had distributed his lands to his
peasants and became a practicing Tolstoyan. He became personally acquainted
with Tolstoy in August 1892. He was arrested by the authorities for
spreading unorthodox religious views, and was exiled to Transcaucasia where
he became acquainted with the Doukhobors. For some years he was to play a
controversial role in Doukhobor affairs. From the Caucasus Bodyansky found
his way to the Tolstoyan colony at Purleigh in Essex, England, but his
eccentricities proved unendurable to his colleagues there. He was persuaded
to leave the colony and went to Canada shortly after the arrival of the
Doukhobors there. He was always full of plans and projects and tried
actively to work on their behalf, although not asked by them to do so, and
he helped notably to crystallize their discontent vis-à-vis the Canadian
authorities. Eventually, he was asked to leave Canada, and returned to
Russia.
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Doukhobor railway construction crew, 1907. Photo courtesy Koozma J. Tarasoff. |
In brief, these were the individuals who directed the Doukhobor working
parties for the railroads in 1899. To supplement their families' income, the
Doukhobors were initially obliged, like many other immigrants, to look for
employment on various outside projects. An intensive construction activity
by railway companies in the Prairies was an obvious source of work for the
Doukhobors during their first summer in Canada. In June 1899 Sulerzhitsky
helped a group of men to contract some work for the extension of the
Canadian Northern Railway line.
At first both sides were content: management, as well as the workers. The
Superintendent of Immigration in the Department of the Interior in Ottawa,
Frank Pedley, was quite satisfied with the reports of the Doukhobors' industriousness, adaptability to new conditions and their work ethics. In a
letter to H. Harley, the Sub-Agent of Dominion Lands, Swan River District,
Dauphin, Manitoba, dated 27 October 1899, he mentions, among other things:
| It is gratifying to know that Mr.
Charles McDougal, the Contractor on the Canadian Northern Railway,
found the Doukhobors employed by him such good labourers, and I
have no doubt but that they will prove very desirable settlers for
our Western Country. |
Other positive testimony came from the Land Agent John Ashworth, who wrote
to William Forsythe McCreary, the Commissioner of Immigration in Winnipeg,
on 3 November 1899:
| I also made inquiries from
settlers in the districts I passed through and with a few
exceptions they were quite satisfied with the Doukhobors and found
them willing to work, in most cases giving complete satisfaction,
in fact some preferred them to the Galicians. |
But everything appeared to go well only for a short time. Soon the men began
to leave the work, complaining that they were able to earn very little.
Sulerzhitsky, who "set out to investigate the situation," found that at some
swampy stretches of the construction the men were indeed underpaid for their
work, but that the main cause of dissatisfaction about insufficient earnings
was really the men's loss of communal spirit: instead of contributing their
entire wages to the community as a whole, they individually charged various
expenses from their earnings for themselves and for their families.
Sulerzhitsky managed to rectify the situation and the men went back to work.
But, only for a while, because friction again developed. During the fall of
1899, a group of Doukhobors, working on the Manitoba and Northwestern
Railway Company of Canada's extension west of Hamiota in Manitoba, felt that
they had been mistreated by their superiors and began voicing their
complaints. The leader of that particular group was Arthur St. John.
Although he could easily communicate with the railway administration, the
rules of employment were either not precise at the time, or he and his
charges did not properly understand them. Moreover, working conditions in
the swampy terrain were very hard and the pay was exceedingly low.
Since McCreary was from the start associated with the general planning of
the Doukhobor migration to the Prairies, was always sympathetic to the new
settlers' needs and felt himself responsible for their well-being during the
initial stage of their resettlement, their complaints and expressions of
dissatisfaction about the working conditions were passed on to him first. He
must have mentioned the complaints in a private letter to J. S. Smart, then
the Deputy Minister of the Interior, because Pedley refers to this case in a
letter he wrote to McCreary, on 23 November 1899. The letter in part stated,
| ... I beg to leave to say that the
Doukhobors had better be given to understand that if they will not
take the work that is offered them at fair wages for a fair day's
work, this Department does not propose to extend itself very much
in giving them assistance during the coming year. There is no
reason why the majority of the men should not, under present
conditions, find abundance of work and thus be able to carry their
families through the winter and be in a position to make a very
satisfactory start on their homesteads in the spring. This should
be made plain to them so that there will be no mistake whatever as
to the position of the Department. |
In December 1899 a dispute developed between Doukhobor workers and railway
supervisory personnel, and the immigration officials were caught in the
middle. McCreary got his information from J. S. Crerar, the Agent in
Yorkton, the town nearest to the Doukhobor colonies. Apparently Crerar
received a statement from St. John, registering the group's complaint
regarding the Hamiota incident. In the beginning of December, McCreary who
had been notified earlier by Crerar, contacted the Office of the Engineer,
Manitoba and Northwestern Railway Company of Canada, in Winnipeg, demanding
an explanation.
This demand resulted in the Engineer's ordering an investigation into the
matter. The correspondence concerning this case is quite extensive:
telegrams and letters from the Engineer, George H. Webster, to his
Roadmaster in Portage la Prairie, Robert Walters, Webster's communication
with McCreary, McCreary's with W. J. Pace, the Accountant to McGillivray and
Company and to Pedley, and, of course, the most emotionally-charged part of
the incident - the letters exchanged between McCreary and Bodyansky who was
then in Yorkton.
To become acquainted with the history and the individual facts of the
dispute it is best to furnish some key correspondence or excerpts from all
the sides concerned. First, the point of view of the Doukhobors will be
presented, on the basis of St. John's and the workers' relation to Bodyansky,
and the latter's interpretation of the incident. Bodyansky sent the
following letter from Yorkton to McCreary, dated 16 December 1899:
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It is very painful to
me to say what I want to tell you, but it will be much more
painful to me if I keep silent. I and my fellow-believers, the
Doukhobors, we left our native land with a feeling of disgust for
the cruelty and injustice which the Russian Government allows
itself to practice. With the hope that in Canada, we should meet
better organization and better men, in a land, where reigns the
most enlightened nation, we came here, but to our great regret and
disappointment our hope is far from being realized. We have met
not a few people from the class which has a greater power in
reality than any Government. I mean the class of capitalists, who
are capable of such inhuman deeds that even the Russian government
is not capable of. The latter Government behaves cruelly with its
opponents, but those who bring advantages to it, many rely on its
help and protection, but those capitalists, I speak of, and whose
names are known to you, have shown that they are even capable of
starving and freezing those "cows from whom they have taken milk."
You know Sir, what I mean. You know, that in October 150 men,
Doukhobors, driven by want, consented to accept the offer of the
Manitoba and Northwestern, and started off for Rapid City and
Hamiota. I saw myself the way they were packed in, they were
huddled up on freight cars - 75 men in a car and they were obliged
to travel all the way standing up, as they were too crowded and
unable to move. It is known that necessity will force a man to
accept the hardest conditions. But what name deserve these people,
who take advantage of the helpless condition of others to suck
from them as much blood as possible? Can these people number among
the civilized and enlightened nations? Can they be Christians; are
they really those who are so reverent that consecrating the
seventh day to God they neither allow themselves, or others, to
attend to business.
The Railway Company of which I speak, did not only send the
workmen like cattle - they did more than that. As you know the
Company promised to take the workmen and bring them back free of
charge; you know that not only the Company did not fulfill its
promise, but mocked them in a senseless way. They sent them on
foot in the frost over 20 miles, telling them that on the station
the train would take them on. But at the station they were sent on
foot again, on to another station, and these unfortunate men were
doomed to walk 100 miles in the frost without warm clothes,
without a cent of money and without bread! On the way they had to
leave the sick and slept on the prairie in a heap of straw. When
their brothers in Yorkton heard of this, we at once begged the
railway company through the agent of the place to take pity on
them, and then only the company condescendingly consented to
comply to our request and to take up the sufferers in the train,
on condition that the fare for their transport should be paid in
advance. We collected amongst ourselves whatever we could and
presented the money.
Another instance. At the end of November another company with Mr.
McGillivray by way of sympathizing with the hard position of the
Doukhobors, consented to employ 150 men. They were sent. Once on
the spot they were obliged to draw themselves and to carry the
supplies at a distance of 25 miles. They fell into the water, and
got drenched, both they and their supplies, and finally when they
reached the place of work, they found everywhere continuous woody
frozen marsh. They were not asked to work per day, but per yard,
on condition that they took all their supplies from Mr.
McGillivray's store. For their transport they were in debt of $8
for each man and they had not a cent to return. Just think. Sir,
if it is not moral to catch wild beast with traps, then how about
enticing industrious people and to take advantage of their flesh
and blood, their muscular work - betray the trust of strangers,
who came to this country to seek refuge and protection - all this
constitutes such cruelty that I do not know what to compare it
with. Just think, Sir, how many lives will be shortened through
these hardships! And yet men are hanged for manslaughter and
murder.
I have only reminded you of two glaring cases - as for the others
just as sad, but with a small number of sufferers, they are so
numerous that one might write a volume about them. Many of these
cases are known to you, and more known to your subordinates.
To sum up, I must tell you that at the present moment, there are
many sick Doukhobors, suffering from exhaustion and cold, and
over a thousand men in the South Colony are on the verge of
starvation. |
The following reply was sent by McCreary to Bodyansky, dated 22 December
1899:
... It is now almost a year since
the Doukhobors arrived here, and during that period I have
laboured hard and earnestly to do the best I could to make these
people self-supporting. In the first place, I procured the
contract for those in the North Colony for clearing the
Right-of-Way on the Swan River Extension. They were allowed about
$13.40 per acre for this work, and still were dissatisfied,
notwithstanding the fact that the same work could have been
contracted for with English-speaking people at about $11 per acre;
and that is the price at which it is now being done on the further
extension of the same road.
I am quite aware that the corporations in this country have no
souls, and that they exert every means to get the most labour for
the least money out of English-speaking people as well as
Doukhobors. However, we have got to take the situation just as we
find it, and I think the Doukhobors have had as much fair play
shown them as any other class.
Now, unfortunately, instead of encouraging the Doukhobors to get
over those difficulties, and do the best they can under their
adverse circumstances, St. John, as you know, is a pessimist and
aggravates their discomforts and discouragements instead of
cheerfully trying to get over them.... While I admit the
Doukhobors have been imposed upon in many cases, I am also
personally aware of many cases where the Doukhobors have acted in
an extremely dishonourable manner towards employers....
Now, fortunately, some time ago I have received the complaint from
Mr. Crerar about these Doukhobors having to walk from Shoal Lake.
I at once sent a communication to the Manitoba and North-Western
Railway people and they have answered in writing, and I beg to
enclose the copy of their reply, which I trust you will either be
able to refute or admit.
When your letter arrived, there came on the same day one from Mr.
Pace, who is accountant for Mr. McGillivray, where 116 Doukhobors
went. I enclose a copy of his reply as to their statements
concerning them, which would indicate that St. John had magnified
the matter very much. It was never intended that these people
should go down by the day, but were to work by the yard at 17 per
yard; camps to be furnished by McGillivray. My letters to St. John
as well as my telegrams pointed this out clearly; and I intend
asking St. John, when he returns here, whether he misinterpreted
this matter to the Doukhobors - if so, it was his fault. When Mr. McGillivray came in, after the first 60 Doukhobors had gone down
by the day, he said that they were so slow in their movements he
would take no more on those terms. Consequently, I notified Mr.
Crerar, Captain St. John and Dr. Weletchkina that no more
Doukhobors could get winter work there. They seemed very
disappointed, and asked me to make another effort. I did so and
secured five miles of work, or about 150,000 yards, at 17 c[ents]
per yard; and St. John perfectly understood it.
Now, if the Doukhobors are going to dissatisfy the Railway
corporations in the manner shown in these communications, then do
not be surprised if the Railway companies agree among themselves
next year not to employ one single Doukhobor on all their works.
Two years ago the Galicians commenced making the same complaints.
The C.P.R took the matter up and told their Foreman to employ no
more Galicians, and not to allow one of them to work between their
rails all along their lines. I saw this was practically going to
mean their starvation, because the Railway companies in this
country employ most labour. I represented this to the Galicians,
and they asked me to intercede to be given another chance. I saw
the C.P.R. President, and he said that if they would agree to work
as other men were working without continually leaving their
employment and complaining without real cause, he would try them
again. I then sent a letter to all the Galician Colonies, stating
these facts. The consequence is that the Galicians have turned out
to be better men and, as you know, are getting along well. It is
surprising that some of these people who have only been in the
country to a year and a half, and who came with no means whatever,
have been able, out of their earnings, besides supporting their
families, to accumulate five or six cows. I regret to say that
they make much more progress than the Doukhobors.
One of the greatest drawbacks to the success of the Doukhobors is
that some of the men in charge of them are not practical, and
although they are supposed leaders, they do not know as much about
work as the Doukhobors themselves. For instance, St. John,
educated as a soldier, knows nothing about manual labour. How can
he instruct others?
Now, the Doukhobors have got to be told, and told very plainly,
that they have to take such work as is offered them and be content
with the same treatment as is being given to English-speaking
people. You know, if you know anything about railroading, that 17
c[ents] a yard, is a good price for station work. They can board
themselves; be their own bosses, and work as they desire. What
more can I do? I am about tired and sick of fighting with
contractors and others in the interests of these people, and if
they are not satisfied with my exertions, then I will just wash my
hands off the whole lot, as there are occasions when forbearance
ceases to be a virtue....
St. John will be here in a couple of days, and I intend reading
him your report, and, if necessary, I will go back with him to
this work, inspect it myself and take sworn affidavits from the
Doukhobors themselves, as well as from the other English-speaking
men working along the line, and endeavour to get at the actual
facts. I trust, however, this will not be necessary.... |
The following letters or excerpts may serve as supporting material
representing the side of railway companies and contractors. In a short
letter, dated 16 December 1899, the Engineer George H. Webster asked Robert
Walters, the roadmaster for a detailed explanation of the incident. He
received the following reply,
Regarding the attached, Mr. Crerar
seems to have only one side of the story. These men in question
were kept after the rest were laid off and I arranged with St.
John and the men, to stay until the work was completed and he
would give them transportation to Yorkton. The men did not fulfill
their promise, but quit their work of their own accord, and left
me without a man to fix the track. They stopped the work-train
coming in from the front, and got on her and rode to Hamiota. I
arrived in Hamiota the same night from the East and saw Duncan,
the Foreman, and Martin, the Interpreter, and both told me that
the men would work no longer, but wanted to go to Yorkton. Both
Duncan and Martin told me that the men would do just as they
thought fit, work as they chose. Eight and ten of them would be in
the Scrub at a time, three and four times a day. If the Foreman
told them to hurry up and get ties packed and dirt cast into the
tracks, they would offer him the shovel and tell him to hurry up.
They told the Foreman and the Interpreter that they have nothing
to do with them. I wanted these men in the worst way, at that
time, and I felt as though, walking to Yorkton was too good for
them. They should have been horsewhipped for leaving this work and
acting the way they did. I consider them the worst lot of men I
have ever had, and have had more trouble with Doukhobors and their
Interpreters, this summer, than I have had with Galicians for
three years. Doukhobors expect a Railway Company to nurse them and
feed them with a spoon, let them do as they choose, stand, sit and
lay down on the work. I consider them the most expensive men in
the Railway Company ever employed and will be, until a change is
made in them.
Allowed to walk to Yorkton will do them good, and if we are not
upheld in this, we had better not employ any more of these men.
The men were well treated by us under the circumstances. They had
plenty to eat, tents and stoves, and everything necessary for
their comfort at this time of the year.
This man St. John is doing a great deal of harm among these men.
He is or pretends to be one of themselves, in religion and all
other acts, sleeps and eats with them, advocates for more wages
for them, board for less than $5.50 per week, wanted men to be
boarded on wet or stormy days when they were not working, for half
rate, whereas it would take a bushel of grub to fill one of these
big Doukhobors. This man St. John is the most useless man I ever
ran across. He will cause an endless amount of trouble among these
men for some one. I have had the same kind of trouble with
Galicians and I found that walking to Yorkton once or twice, did
them good, and I know it will do the Doukhobors a great deal of
good also. It will also have a tendency to stop them from leaving
work before it is completed, same as it had with Galicians.
Regarding these men walking across country to Shoal Lake, I told
the Interpreter to tell them they would get no transportation and
they have better walk across the Shoal Lake and from there to
Yorkton, or get tickets the best way they could. These men in
question were not discharged, but the men that went away with St.
John, were laid off work, and were entitled to free
transportation. |
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Grading railway prior to laying track. Photo courtesy National Archives of
Canada.
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In view of this information, Webster wrote a letter to McCreary on 16
December 1899, excerpts from which are quoted below:
I am sorry to say that the general
opinion of our Roadmaster and all Foreman who have had the
Doukhobors employed this summer is not at all favourable to these
men, in fact they bitterly oppose having to take these men on to
their gangs. It is quite evident from the actions of the
Doukhobors themselves, that they are labouring under the delusion,
that Public work in this Country were being arranged for their
special benefit and that they can desert employment and behave in
any manner which seems fit.
These remarks of course do not apply to all of these men, as I
have heard some of them praised very highly, but it was a very
small proportion of the total number we had employed last summer.
Regarding complaint against Mr. St. John made by Walters in his
letter of the 9th, Mr. St. John may endeavour to justify his
action on the grounds that he is endeavouring to get as much as
possible for his men, but he should not forget that the men are
quite inexperienced, and until they learn to speak English and
have a couple of years experience in track work, that they are not
worth as much per day as men who have this experience, and it is a
mistake to lead the Doukhobors to expect that they should be as
well paid as more experienced men. Owing to the shortage
stringency in the Labour Market this fall, we have paid these men
as high as $1.75 per day, and I can safely say that at least 75%
of them were not worth half that much.... |
The Accountant W. J. Pace sent the following report to McCreary on 21
December 1899,
Referring to that portion of
Bodjansky's letter dated the 16th instant, in reference to the men
who went to work for McGillivray and Company on the Rainy River
Railway, I beg to state that in regard to the statement made by
Mr. Bodjansky that the men had to transport themselves and their
supplies twenty-five miles, such is not the case. The men with
their supplies, clothing etc., were moved to Shebandowan Lake by
McGillivray & Company, and their camps were built - one camp a
mile and a half and the other four miles and a half beyond the
lake.
The Lake being frozen at the time, it was deemed advisable to move
their supplies by sleighs this four miles and a half on the ice —
on account of one portion of the ice being bad and the Doukhobors
congregating round the sleigh, the ice broke and let them into
about two feet of water, but there was only one Doukhobor of the
lot who got at all wet. The rest of them were moved on to their
camp, and were perfectly satisfied there, and are at work.
Captain St. John, the man in charge of the Doukhobors says that
they are perfectly satisfied.
As regards $8 for the fare, this was agreed on before they left
Yorkton.
I might say that the fifty men who came down previously are more
than satisfied with the treatment they received from McGillivray &
Company, and for the month of November they each averaged a net
amount of $31.00. |
All this prompted McCreary to write his own letter of complaint to his
superior Frank Pedley. This communication is dated 22 December 1899, and it
reads:
I wrote the Deputy Minister a few
days ago enclosing copy of a communication I had received from the
Manitoba and North Western Railway Company about a complaint as to
how certain men were treated on their line. Since sending that
communication I have received a long letter from Mr. A. Bodyansky,
one of their leaders at Yorkton, dealing with the same subject, as
well as with some men who went down to work on the Port Arthur and
Rainy River Road. I beg to enclose copy of Bodyansky's letter, as
well as of Mr. Pace's reply — the Accountant for Mr. McGillivray,
the Contractor on the Prince Arthur and Rainy River, and also copy
of my reply to Bodyansky.
I regret to say that no more vexed question ever came before me
than this whole Doukhobor business. I do not know what the result
is going to be, unless they will agree to work as other people do.
Unfortunately, the public sentiment will not permit us to allow
them to starve. The newspapers and others would take it up in such
a way that the Government would be bound to come to the rescue, as
they had to do with the Galicians two years ago. Sensational
articles would appear, and special correspondents sent out, which,
of course, would not be a wise policy. Certainly if we are going
to have this same trouble, I would ask you to send up a man, or
get one here, who would take entire charge of the Doukhobors and
their management, as my time will be fully taken up with other
immigration in the spring and I cannot possibly give the attention
to the Doukhobor matters that I have had to do during the last
year. |
As can be seen from the above presentation, the Doukhobors who worked in
closely-knit groups during their first year in Canada and who were directed
and helped by individuals equipped with a knowledge of the language, but not
of the country, its laws, customs, and ways of life, were in practically the
same position as any other new and inexperienced immigrants, working in
groups or individually. It takes time to adjust to new circumstances. In the
initial period, mistakes and false accusations are likely to be made by both
sides. Due to inadequate knowledge of each other, mutual mistrust and inborn
racial and ethnic preconception are very strong during this time. The
railroad continued periodically to employ the Doukhobors during the next
year or so until the latter became self-sufficient on their farms. Once the
situation became clarified, the men adapted to the rules and demands placed
upon them, and we do not hear any more of any glaring cases of disputes with
their employers.
 This
article originally appeared in the pages of Saskatchewan History, an
award-winning magazine dedicated to encouraging both readers and writers to
explore the province's history. Published by the Saskatchewan Archives since
1948, it is the pre-eminent source of information and narration about
Saskatchewan's unique heritage. For more information, visit
Saskatchewan History online at:
http://www.saskarchives.com/web/history.html.
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