Playful Crowds and the 1886 Toronto Street Railway Strikes

Two linked Toronto strikes of street railway employees in 1886 are used to explore contrasting patterns of behaviour or “contentious performances” in Victorian city streets. Strikers led by the Knights of Labor exercised self-discipline when picketing so as to gain the support of the community and defeat the ironclad contract imposed by their anti-union employer. At a moment of working-class mobilization amid industrialization, these employees of a modern, mass-transportation firm deployed “emergent” union tactics. Positioning themselves as breadwinners and as citizens asserting their right to join a union, they deployed a choreographed masculinity encouraged by Knights leaders who strategized to win the disputes. By contrast, large crowds composed overwhelmingly of working-class men and boys demonstrated their disapproval of the street railway company and its anti-labour policy in unruly actions detailed in lively press accounts. The crowds’ transgressive actions point to a “residual” pattern of protest and spontaneous expressions of masculinity derived from boyhoods spent in the streets. Moreover, at times these crowds engaged in playful behaviour and brought into the streets more people drawn by the fun, thus adding momentum to the strikers’ campaign and helping to prompt the repressive measures taken by law enforcement.

<p>Issue 76, Fall 2015</p>