Parades and Protest

The Commission of Government refused all the Unemployed Committee's demands. But that didn't stop the group. By August 16 they had an office on Springdale Street and a small newspaper, The Avalon Welfare and Protective Association Bulletin. The paper reported that the commissioners said there was no real poverty in St. John's. Instead, they said some Newfoundlanders were just too lazy to work.

The Committee continued to add to their list of demands. They wanted more coal. They wanted to be able to choose the food they could get on their dole orders. They wanted to be able to choose which stores they shopped in. Merchants cheated the unemployed on the weight of their coal. They gave bad meat for their dole orders, while fresh rabbits hung in the stores. More complaints about the dole office and Mrs. Muir were brought up at every meeting. "She is a professor in the science of starvation," Power told a full house at the Majestic Theatre on August 15. "She will never be removed by the Commission of Government, she knows her job too well."

Power told the audience not to give up. They were just beginning. One hundred more people had been given the dole since they presented their demands to the Commission of Government. That was a start.

"It is the duty of every man, woman and child, unemployed and otherwise to fight for a common cause," he told the crowd.¹⁵ Power believed political protest was the only way to improve the lives of the people of St. John's. He hoped that thousands of men and women from every walk of life would join his group. They needed to be strong to fight for their rights.

Two and three police watched each meeting now. Government employees tried to bribe members of the Committee to leave St. John's. They offered to sign them up for one of the government's new farming communities outside the city.¹⁶ The Committee members were angry, and refused these offers. But other problems did come up. James Kelly was accused of stealing money raised for the Unemployed Committee. He was arrested by police and taken to court. There were other problems within the Committee as well. Members argued over how to protest and what to ask for. Some thought Power was too radical. The membership of the Committee changed several times. But Pierce Power was always voted in as leader.