On this day in 1918, Canadian socialist and labor activist Albert "Ginger" Goodwin was murdered by police while avoiding his draft into World War I by hiding out in the hills of Cumberland, British Columbia.
Born in Yorkshire, England on May 10th, 1887, Goodwin immigrated to Canada in 1909, at the age of 19, working as a coal miner in Nova Scotia.
In Canada, he organized with the Socialist Party of Canada and became a notable labor leader during the 1912–1914 Coal Miner's Strike against Canadian Collieries. Following the strike, he was blacklisted and was forced to move away from Cumberland to find work.
In 1916, he joined the Mining and Smelter workers Union and was elected as Secretary for the Trail chapter. Following his involvement with trade unions, Goodwin entered politics running as a candidate for the Socialist Party of Canada in the 1916 British Columbian election, although he did not win.
As World War I broke out, Goodwin became an outspoken advocate against the draft, initially refusing to sign up. When conscription became law in 1917, Goodwin was classified as fit for military service even though earlier health concerns had previously rendered him temporarily unfit. By then he had enemies not only in management and the government but also in the union of which he had been president. After twice vainly appealing his reclassification, he and several other draft evaders hid in the bush near Cumberland, where they were provided with supplies by people from the town. Police Constable Dan Campbell tracked Goodwin down and killed him. Campbell was charged with manslaughter but was exonerated before a grand jury, meeting in camera.
Goodwin's friends, both then and in the years since, have pointed out many discrepancies in the official record. On the day of his funeral, August 2, the Trades and Labor and Metal Trades Council of Vancouver called all members out for 24 hours to protest "the shooting of Brother A. Goodwin." The overwhelming response gave BC its first general strike.
"War is simply part of the process of Capitalism. Big financial interests are playing the game. They'll reap the victory, no matter how the war ends."
- Albert Goodwin
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Just finished season 3 of Blowback and let me just say:
Uncritical support for the DPRK in its heroic struggle to liberate occupied Korea from the genocidal American empire.
Death to America.
I have been saying these before, but now even the tiniest shred of irony is gone, a north korean commando unit could come through the door tomorrow to execute me and I'd salute them before they killed me. :juche-tears:
Death to America of course. :amerikkka:
Ooo can't wait to see everyone come around to my take (that used to be considered hot) that North Korea is unironically one of the last bastions of socialism not yet perverted by liberalization in the face of reactionary forces.
That seems a little perverse/idealist.
The dictatorship of the proletariat is so-named because it entails the existence of the bourgeoisie (for the time being).
The DPRK also only had one point in its history when it wasn't being propped up by a perverted or "perverted" socialist state, and that one point (during the 90s) was the bleakest point in its history that took place after the establishment of the DMZ.
Mind you, this is not a criticism of them, they're still hanging in there and have accomplished a lot, but let's not allow communalist dogmas unduly disparage the PRC and company.
for further context i'm an anarchist and an amerikan, i don't believe debating the "socialist"ness of other countries is useful or something i'm interested in. i mainly use it as a rhetorical device to stress the need to also support socialist countries that have a much more crippled economy (DUE TO IMPERIALISM) than China. after all its not like DPRK has ever stopped being a target of amerikan imperialism just because our efforts to undermine their autonomy were successful
Capitalist encirclement is a fact of the world. A materialist philosophy cannot claim that a failure "doesn't count" because its gameplan didn't survive material conditions.
Which is why I think Kim Il-Sung and co. deserve immense credit for how they adapted their gameplan due to the incredibly unfavorable conditions they faced, but let us not use that adaptation to call other socialist states "perverted".
Another reason why I stress this point is that the DPRK semi-recently opened up an experimental economic zone on its northern border that it seems is based on China's reforms, and we should draw from that conclusion "glad they have developed enough for something like that to be useful" and "good thing they haven't fallen into dogmatism" rather than "oh no, even they have been turned into faux-left perverts".
Edit: to be clear, I also agree with you that some leftists are too hasty in dismissing the DPRK and basically just buy into State Department propaganda.
bro i am trying to tell you i don't care if china or the DPRK is "actually socialist." as i say i use it as a rhetorical device, as your edit points out, against people who try to claim that the DPRK is "intentionally" making itself less of a target for the US by not producing factories or whatever, rather than the fact that they'd improve their country's manufacturing capacity if it was materially possible. i know how world trade and real politik and all that bullshit works. I'm not actually calling other countries perverted socialists unless weirdos come out and try and hit me with "favorite country is the only true example of socialism and following anyone else's lead or theory is counter revolutionary"
I remember watching a MLM who had this take and made a video about it, and I mean even Cuba is allowed to participate slightly in the global economy unlike DPRK so it's not like they've had a choice :deeper-sadness:
I will always have a soft spot for Juche ideology because of its heavy influences from anarchism and ecology.