Today in Labor History, June 18, 1935: The Battle of Ballantyne Pier occurred during a docker's strike in Vancouver, British Columbia, led by the International Longshoremen’s Association. Nearly 2000 relief camp workers had come to Vancouver on April 4. These unemployed men were protesting the conditions in the federal relief camps. They organized with the Workers' Unity League into the Relief Camp Workers' Union. Communists tried to merge the two strikes and spark a General Strike. Police and Shipping Bosses tried to spin it as an attempted West Coast Bolshevik revolution. On June 18, about 1000 strikers and their supporters marched towards Ballantyne Pier, where strikebreakers were unloading ships. Chief Constable Colonel W. W. Foster warned the demonstrators to halt. When they refused, police attacked them with clubs. Vancouver police, British Columbia Provincial Police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police all participated in the assault. They continuing to club people even as they fled and fired tear gas at them. Many fought back, throwing rocks at the police. 28 were hospitalized. Police raided offices of communist and labor organizations.

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