Man Should Rejoice, by Hugh MacLennan by Hill Colin; MacLennan Hugh;

Author:Hill, Colin; MacLennan, Hugh;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: -
Publisher: University of Ottawa Press
Published: 2019-04-23T00:00:00+00:00

20

The warehouse was crowded for the meeting and men were sitting or standing on benches, chairs, boxes or empty oil containers. Nicholas recognized most of the men in the front but there were faces at the back he had never seen. Where did that row of toughs come from? There was a crude platform made of scaffolding on which the speakers sat, Nicholas in the chair, Larsen and Flynn on either side of him. There was a pitcher of water on the table and half a dozen glasses stood around it. The warehouse was fairly well lighted and the scene hideously garish, the men sprawling or standing anyhow about the place, the speakers in bright light on the platform and the whole building full of excited noise.

Jean was in the front row next to a man called Grady, and when Nicholas got up and called for order Grady rose and caught his eye and raised his clenched fists over his head and waved them like a boxer entering the ring. Nicholas wished Jean had not come to the meeting. When he called for order a second time the men in front clapped and the toughs farther back shouted. Some of the workers looked at the men in back with suspicion. There was a rumour that they represented an established labour union and like most stupid rumours it was believed.

“Friends,” Nicholas began, “we all know what we’re here for …”

“Do we?” someone shouted. Nicholas waved at the speaker.

“Some do,” he said. “Some of us know why we’re here. When I came to work at this refinery a year ago last September conditions weren’t good. Well, we all know what they’re like now. I come to you tonight with a definite proposition about this crisis, for it is a crisis we’re in, believe me. If we knuckle under to the company now … we’ll never get a chance to claim our rights at all. But before I go on I want to introduce to you Jim Larsen. Jim has only been with us a little while. I don’t exactly know what he has to say, but I’m willing to bet it will be worth listening to.”

Larsen rose slowly, put one hand behind his back, set his jaw at an angle and began.

“Boys, I guess it’s only fair to you to say who I am and where I hail from. Before I got a job here I was out of work a year and a half and I guess I might as well say why I was out of work. I was out on account of there was a strike where I used to work … a strike that got busted.” His voice was high-pitched and snarling, unlike his natural speaking tone. “I’m a steel worker, as I guess some of you fellows know. Well, time was I was more than just a steel-puncher. I was head of the local in my district and I might as well say right here I don’t like the idea of workin’ in a joint that’s got no union.

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