Early Life
Born in Toronto, Evans travelled west in 1911 and worked in various places, first as a farmer, then a carpenter. In Minneapolis he became involved with the Industrial Workers of the World, (IWW, or "Wobblies"). He was present the 1913 miners' strike in Ludlow, Colorado. Two days after Evans arrived, he was shot by strikebreakers hired by John D. Rockefeller, one of the big coal company owners, during what became known as the Ludlow Massacre. Evans walked with a limp for the rest of his life as a result.
Evans returned to Canada and continued his union activism. He was the leader of the One Big Union local of coal miners in Drumheller, Alberta, where he was sentenced to a three-year prison term for leading a strike. In 1933 he was sentenced again to 18 months for his role leading miners, this time in Princeton, British Columbia. Evans became a member of the Communist Party of Canada, along with other former wobblies after it formed in 1921.
Read more about this topic: Arthur "Slim" Evans
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