Harry Bryan - A Man of Fanatical Convictions

...Nowhere in Canada was the trade union movement very strong as employers and governments practiced labour relations behind the barrel of a gun, but in what today constitutes the city of Thunder Bay, it was even weaker than elsewhere. Indeed, until 1902, organized labour was practically non-existent. It was not until Harry Bryan came to the Lakehead in that year that organizational activity began in earnest in a number of trades, although others had organized some workers, like the railway men, during the previous decade. Bryan exemplified an era that would see the creation of a vibrant and diverse socialist culture in the region.1 As a union man he could count his success by the number of unions chartered - as many, some claim, as 22; however, the number is in dispute. Because of his striking achievement, his former associates often referred to him as the father of the labour movement in Thunder Bay. --From authors' introduction