Your search

The problem to be investigated in this study centres on discovering how urban conflict first emerges as a visible force. Those circumstances which led to the outbreak of open conflict in Winnipeg will be examined to test four competitive social conflict theories. Each theory establishes a series of assumptions about how conflict will emerge. The substantive implicatjons of these assumptions will be compared with the available information on the actual conditions evident at the moment of the emergence of the strike. Through this comparison, this jnvestigation will determjne which theory or theories best describes how the incident of urban confljct actualiy emerged to produce the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919. This research has concentrated on urban conflict, rather than rural conflict, because the urban culture more accurately reflects the structural make-up of our society. In Canada, over l6 million people live in cities. That represents 76.1% of the total population of Canada, and this figure is rising by 2.9% per annum. Thus, with an increasing majority of our population residing in urban centres, the problems of urban living and its resultant conflicts, have become an increasingly salient feature of the composition of Canadian society. This investigation will be performed by centering specifically on urban unrest, rather than analyzing turmoi1 at a regiona1 or national level. Canadian history has had few examples of wide-scale conflict. Most forms of insurgence within Canada have been limited to either a single industry or a single city. This may be because Canadian cities are isolated from each other, and extend across the country in a series of pockets located along its southern border. This separation may have made it difficult, in the past, to transport issues to other communities. As telecommunications had greatly improved the linkages between urban centres by l919, this may explain why some sympathy for the Winnipeg General Strike was expressed jn other cities by means of minor sympathy strikes, although there was little long term unified protest outside the city itself. Therefore, limited by Canadian experience, this work will confine itself to the emergence of conflict within an urban centre.

Contents: Chapter 4, Militancy in the Canadian Civil Service, 1918-1920 -- Chapter 5, The Response to Classification and Reorganization -- Chapter 6, The Ascendancy of the "Service Ethic." [Only these chapters are available from the website.]

The impact of rail road development on Canadian society has recently become a much debated topic. A significant interpretation of Canadian economic development posits a fundamental contradiction between mercantilists and industrialists, arguing that the former have maintained supremacy over the latter and that this has retarded the emergence of industrial capitalism. Further, it is claimed that Canada's railways were designed to promote mercantile interests and functioned to impede the transition from a mercantile to an industrial economy. The above formulation, however, largely employs strictly economic criteria to characterize Canadian society. This thesis presents an alternate framework, one which attempts to view social reality from the bottom-up, that is from the point of view of the producers and their work relationship. Using the criteria developed for this framework, it is argued that railroad development between 1850 to 1879 marked the transition from a mercantilist to an industrial capitalist society and, moreover, that these transportation projects were the backbone of this social change.

Labour relations are concerned with the dynamic interactions among workers, unions, employers, and government. These groups are engaged in a struggle for power; that is, the ability to achieve one's objectives despite resistance. This struggle usually results in a power conflict. The power conflict mayor may not create 'good' labour relations; that is, the establishment of mutual cooperation among the groups. The power conflict usually results in 'poor' labour relations as expressed by strikes. Strikes seem to be the main feature of labour relations. Practi­cally all the evidence accumulated on labour relations is concerned with strikes or the threat of strikes. Consequently, the evidence used in this thesis is concerned with the ten strikes which occurred in the coal mines of the Estevan-Bienfait area of Saskatchewan during the 1930s. The ten strikes were concerned with different issues. Strikes on September 8, 1931, October 3, 7, 17, 1938, and October 16, 1939, primarily involved wages, working conditions, and union recognition. The January 28 and February 23, 1932 strikes were caused by the refusal of some miners to join the Mine Workers Union of Canada and pay their dues. The strikes on February 22, 1932 and November l0, 1937 were concerned with the rein­ statement of a dismissed miner. The February 24, 1932 strike involved a sympathy display for the miners striking because their checkweighman was dismissed. These strikes occurred during the depression when both operators and miners found themselves in very difficult situations. There was little cooperation between management and labour as each group sought, in its own way, to increase its power, and to improve its economic position. Government attempts to restore peace and harmony to the troubled coal industry were also fraught with frustration. Labour relations in the Saskatchewan coal mines during the 1930s were characterized by conflict, frustration, and frequent work disruptions. This thesis examines the labour relations of that troubled industry.

Le propos de notre thèse consiste à tracer l'évolution des syndicats nationaux au Québec pendant la période 1900-1930. Par syndicalisme national, nous entendons les syndicats qui ont préféré s'organiser sur une base nationale plutôt que de s'affilier à une fédération internationale. Ces syndicats se divisent entre deux tendances: l'une, non-confessionnelle, basée sur un nationalisme politique; l'autre, confessionnelle, identifiée aux syndicats catholiques. Au tournant du siècle, les fédérations internationales qui se lancèrent à la conquête du Canada, augmentèrent de façon importante le nombre de syndicats affiliés. De 1898 à 1902, leur nombre doubla au Québec pendant qu'il triplait dans le reste du Canada. Au cours de leur expansion, les internationaux se heurtèrent aux syndicats nationaux déjà bien établis au Québec, particulièrement parmi les ouvriers de la chaussure. Il en résulta une série de conflits qui culminèrent avec l'expulsion des syndicatsnationaux du Congrès des Métiers et du Travail du Canada en 1902. Ces syndicats se regroupèrent alors dans le Congrès National des Métiers et du Travail du Canada dont l'objectif était d'amener les travailleurs canadiens â se donner des structures syndicales autonomes. Le Québec répondit à l'appel du CNMTC, mais les autres provinces ne se montrèrent pas aussi réceptives à la cause nationale. Réduit à devoir s'appuyer à peu près uniquement sur le faible réservoir de travailleurs québécois, le Congrès national, tout comme les fédérations nationales d'ailleurs, ne comptaient plus avant la Guerre que des effectifs extrêmement réduits. Plusieurs syndicats avaient incliné vers les fédérations internationales, d'autres - c'est le cas de ceux de la ville de Québec - préférèrent l'indépendance à une affiliation nationale. C'est parmi ces syndicats rëfractaires â une affiliation internationale que le clergé trouva ses éléments les plus dynamiques lorsqu'il s'attela à la tâche de former des syndicats catholiques. Leur nationalisme les rendait rëfractaires au syndicalisme international; restait pour le clergé à les convaincre d'associer à ce nationalisme la doctrine sociale de l'Eglise. A partir de la Guerre, le syndicalisme national se perpétua donc au Québec sous une formule confessionnelle. Ce qui amena le clergé â s'intéresser à l'organisation des travailleurs, ce furent les tendances "socialistes" et "anticléricales" qui se sont manifestées au sein des syndicats internationaux. Certaines de leurs réclamations concernant le système d'éducation et le droit de propriété privée ont alarmé les milieux cléricaux qui cruent pouvoir mettre les travailleurs catholiques à l'abri de leur influence. On chercha donc à implanter des syndicats catholiques, formule qu'avaient mis au point les catholiques sociaux en Europe. Née en période de difficultés économiques et mal adaptée aux réalités du monde du travail, la première vague de syndicats catholiques avant la Guerre aboutit à un fiasco complet. Fort de l'expérience acquise, le second groupe de syndiqués catholiques venus se greffer au mouvement après la Guerre, connut plus de succès. Et, à mesure que croissaient leurs effectifs, les chefs du mouvement crurent le moment venu en 1921 de se structurer au plan national en jetant les bases de la Confédération des Travailleurs Catholiques du Canada. Acculée à de sérieuses difficultés de recrutement et en butte â l'hostilité du patronat, la centrale radicalisa certainesde ses options dans les années 20. La négociation de conventions collectives devint prioritaire parmi ses préoccupations pendant que la grève et l'atelier syndical ferme ne lui sont plus apparus comme aussi condamnables. Dès cette époque, commença à s'établir un fossé entre l'idéologie véhiculée par les syndicats catholiques et leurs pratiques syndicales quotidiennes. Cet écart qui est apparu dès la fondation de la CTCC ira en s'accentuant par la suite.

The railway boom in mid-nineteenth century British North America added a new occupational group to the working class of the area—the men in the 'running trades' who operated the trains. By the mid-eighteen eighties, these men had become members of trade unions, the 'railway brotherhoods,' which had their headquarters and most of their members in the United States. These unions were the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, the Order of Railway Conductors, and the Brotherhood of Railroad Brakemen (which became the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen in 1889). This 'Americanization' of the running trades in Canada had several causes, including a tendency for Canadian railroaders, like industrial workers elsewhere, to think in international terms when it came to unionization. Clearly, however, certain differences between Canada and the United States, and the presence of the border itself, might make it difficult at times for the international brotherhoods to serve adequately the needs of their Canadian members. This study examines their efforts in this regard. The approach is basically chronological. The period examined is from approximatley the middle of the nineteenth century to the outbreak of the World War in 1914, and covers several major areas: the entry of the brotherhoods into Canada and expansion afterwards; the elimination of rival organizations; relations with Canadian governments and railway managements; and the administration of the brotherhoods' Canadian wings....

The poor and destitute have traditionally been ther esponsibility of municipalities in Canada.This responsibility became ananachronism with the mass industrial unemployment of the 1930's. Lacking the resources to provide relief alone, municipalities became dependent on help from the senior governments. Annual Relief Acts of the dominion government gave assistance, but stressed always municipal and provincial responsibility for relief. For the municipalities each new Act demanded both administrative and financial changes which had to be complied with in order to receive the badly needed help. Of all the three levels of government the municipalities bore the brunt of the unemployment problem of the 1930's. Local councils were in daily contact with the unemployed and their plight. Responsibility rested with them. Yet their inflexible and diminishing revenues did not allow them to take the initiative in solving the problem of unemployment. In British Columbia the problems of transients and of Vancouver City have absorbed most attention. Unknown or ignored is the impact of the depression years on the surrounding suburbs. In 1930 Vancouver's bedroom suburbs were Burnaby, North Vancouver City, North Vancouver District and West Vancouver. In the winter of 1932 to 1933, in the depth of the depression, the first three defaulted on bond payments and were taken over by a provincially appointed commissioner. West Vancouver in contrast retained solvency and hence local responsibility and control. The Dominion Acts were not designed to counteract the disparities between provinces and municipalities either in the incidence of unemployment or in their ability to cope with it. Burnaby, North Vancouver City and North Vancouver District were predominantly working class suburbs, many of whose residents and taxpayers lost their jobs. West Vancouver, by contrast, was a consciously middle class, residential suburb whose residents were much less susceptible to unemployment. As suburbs, unlike a city, have no major industries to compensate for non-payment of taxes by their residents, this basic occupational difference led to bankruptcy in Burnaby and North Vancouver City and District. The history of the attempts of these suburban councils to provide relief for the growing numbers of unemployed between 1929 and 1933 not only contrasts the difficulties of providing relief in working class and middle class suburbs, but also illustrates the problems that arose from insistence on municipal responsibility for relief. Daily contact with the growing numbers of unemployed and the obvious inadequacy of municipal and even provincial revenues convinced municipal officials in British Columbia that the dominion government should take control and assume responsibility for unemployment relief.They were not merely 'passing the buck'. The worldwide nature of the depression supported their contention that unemployment was not a local problem with a local solution. Neither the provincial nor dominion governments would accept primary responsibility for relief. Only in the municipalities which wentbankrupt was a senior government forced to assume responsibility and take control.

At the turn of the century, socialist groups of several different hues were active in British Columbia. Out of this variegated skein emerged the Socialist Party of Canada. For almost two decades it dominated left-wing politics in B.C., wielding extensive power in the labour movement and leaving behind it an ideological legacy which eventually filtered into the fledgling CCF. This study documents the conditions which led to the SPC's ascendancy, discusses its relationship with the early labour movement and examines the extent of Marxist influence on later socialist developments in the province. The dissertation employs an historical approach, supplementing library resources with correspondence and interviews with members of the old SPC. When reformist attempts of the late nineteenth century failed to improve conditions for the B.C. worker, labourism lost out to radicalism. The SPC was national in name only, for its doctrinaire Marxism evoked a significant response only in the unique political, industrial and social milieu of British Columbia. The rapid resource exploitation which gave rise to empires early in the province's history created a classical Marxist situation in some areas. The absence of party alignments in the early years of socialist activity, plus a following of radical immigrants from Britain, the U.S., and eastern Canada afforded the Marxists a large audience to which they addressed themselves with tireless propaganda efforts. Many SPC members were active in the labour movement as well, and were able to prevent the formation of a labour party for many years. When other parties finally did form with labour support, they were much farther to the left than were earlier labour parties. In large part this was due to the ambitious education program which characterized the socialist movement from its inception and ultimately became the Marxist's chief raison d'etre. Candidates were run solely for educational purposes. Once elected, however, SPC legislators found themselves in a balance of power position for a time and consequently their legislative accomplishments were considerable. The failure to adapt to Marxist theory to changing B.C. circumstances ultimately cost the Party credibility. Unable to withstand internal pressures or to respond to the political challenges of World War I, inflation, conscription, labour unrest, and the Russian Revolution, the SPC was gradually replaced by other groups on the left. However, the Party's adherence to a one-plank no-compromise platform did preserve the Marxist ideal in the province for later socialist groups.

Not much is known about the origins of the labour movement in the pre-Confederation Canadas. The fifties in particular are well worth a closer examination than they have received at the hands of Canadian labour historians. The mid-century decade saw labour pass through the sunshine of the greatest boom of the century, and the shadow of the severe depression which followed the Crash of 1857. The years between 1853 and 1855 were surprisingly turbulent in terms of strike action among both skilled and unskilled men in the Canadas. After a generation of passivity, Canadian labour embarked on a path which led to the birth of a genuine labour movement in the Canadas. Though the scale of the movement was small by comparison with that of Britain or the United States, it was no less vigorous and dynamic during the years which saw the birth of the "new unionism" in both America and Britain. The labour activism of the fifties was largely a response to inflationary pressures brought on by the great railway development boom. In addition, the Canadas were coming more and more under the influence of the forces unleashed by the industrial revolution, and technological innovation created pressures which helped to spur strike action and union organizing activity. The leaders of the "wages movement" and the "insurrection of labour" were working men in the traditional crafts and trades. The most active were those in what might be called the "middle trades," which took in the building trades, shoemakers, tailors, and others who were not among the labour aristocrats of their time. The labour force was dominated by the recent immigrants, and the men who founded the unions of the fifties were men with strong traditions of labour. Many of them were Irish, and the Irish deserve credit for being the co-founders of the unions of the fifties. In Canada the Irish had successfully penetrated a number of the middle rank trades, and many were active participants in the unions of their day. After 1854, unionism had a foothold in the major Canadian cities. Linkage with the parent movements was precipitated by the post-1857 depression. Pragmatic, wage-conscious, and basically non-ideological in character, the Canadian unions did not differ significantly from the British or American unions of their day, except in ways which were a function of the differing scale of the three societies. The 1854 climax of unrest among skilled men was a significant turning point in the relations between labour and capital in the Canadas. The breakthrough was most visible in the Toronto-Hamilton region, which was the focal point of labour activity. Labour in the two cities exhibited a dynamism which was unprecedented in Canada up to that time. The sixties, which brought the further growth of trade unions, and affiliation with American unions, saw the logical extension of a process which was begun in earnest a decade earlier.

Labour history is frequently equated with the internal workings of trade unions and radical parties in isolation from the society on which they are based. This paper treats these institutions as important, though not the sole expressions of working class activity. It discusses reactions to labour unrest and industrial conflict from within the working class, and from without, and the effect of these reactions on community relationships. This paper demonstrates how the relationship of the working class with the middle class changed from one of amity in 1903 to one of hostility in 1913, and that this came about in two ways: (1) through the changing relationships of the principle sub-groupings within the working class, organized labour, the immigrant communities, and the radical parties; and, (2) through changes in middle class attitudes brought about by reactions to this first development and by changes in the local economy. The primary catalyst for change was violence which occurred in four labour disputes during the period. In examining the source of violence and the means of its suppression, the paper will argue that while cultural conditioning influenced the actions and attitudes of those involved, the nature of their class relationships was the decisive factor.

The B.C.-CCF was formed in late 1932 shortly after the formation of the national CCF party. In November of the following year the B.C. party ran in its first election and secured sufficient support to become the official opposition. The party's executive, spurred by the prospects and hopes of its eventual election as government and in response to its need for a moderate image, selected a retired Anglican minister as House leader. The choice of Robert Connell as House leader was not, however, unanimous. Diehard socialists with different interpretations of society and the role the party should play in achieving social change, fought Connell*s leadership and received sufficient support to mount an intensive intraparty campaign of harassment and criticism. Connell's critics were successful, as a result, in making his leadership intolerable and the subsequent weight of circumstances led him to imprudently reject party convention decisions because they favoured his left wing opponents. This action both isolated him from the rank and file and gave his critics, then in control of the party's executive, an excuse to expel him for his treachery and apostasy. His leadership ended less than three years after it had begun and he became one of three B.C. party leaders dethroned during this period by his party.

This study is concerned with the development of Winnipeg's socialist movement in the 1900 to 1915 period. It will focus on this small segment of the city's labor movement. It is evident that the mainstream of Winni­peg socialism was involved with the trade union movement both in terms of dual membership and political activity. The exception to this occurred in the four years from 1904 to 1908, when Winnipeg's Socialist Party of Canada local was involved neither in cooperative nor in independent muni­cipal and provincial politics. It existed as a set of some 150 dogmatic Marxist propagandists awaiting the inevitable collapse of the capitalist system. The dominance of this group was short-lived, and the Winnipeg social­ists reaffirmed their faith in the democratic-liberal traditions of the British working-class movement. Those European immigrants who became involved in the city's socialist movement after 1907 only helped strengthen this tradition, for their leadership preferred the parliamentary approach of the socialists in Germany to the uncompromising dogmatism of the Socialist Party of Canada.... From author's introduction.

This thesis examines the social organisation of longshoremen and their families and its implications for industrial relations in the Port of St. John's, Canada. The analysis focusses on effects of an extreme in casual labour markets operating against a background of chronic unemployment. Although concentrating on activities within the port it is essential to place these within Newfoundland's geographic, economic, political and legal contexts; these accordingly form the basis of Chapter 1, which also introduces the actors. Chapter 2 sets the longshore family within the context of Newfoundland's rurally based kinship system and shows how structural divisions and alliances derived from within the family are manifest on the dock. It demonstrates how physical strength and prestige are related and as men age, wives and sons assume familial authority. Religion is ezamined in Chapter 3 as providing a social bond for pious women through whom are allocated scarce resources, both economic and social. Economic resources, as collectively organised welfare payments, are offered in cases of family misfortune, whilst piety permits social mobility of children. Mothers are thus able to alleviate some disadvantages of a father's low class occupation. Chapters 4, 5, 6 and 7 concentrate on the longshore work gang as basic unit of work and leisure. Chapter 4 examines how gang workers cooperate and emerge able collectively to modify the foreman's apparently absolute powers in hiring, firing and discipline. The methods by which collective opposition is mounted and prior structural divisions overcome are analysed through an extended case study, the subject of Chapter 5. Chapter 6 examines how pilferage is organised in the docks; analyses alliances and dependencies involved and the institutionalised limits set. It then considers implications of limits as an aspect of longshore morality and an indication of managerial collusion. The articulation of gang organisation derived from work and that found in leisure activities is considered in Chapter 7. The gang is examined as an insurance agency parallel to women's organisations discussed in Chapter 3. Integration and membership within gangs is derived from conformity to work and sociability norms - particularly in drinking. Relationships within drinking groups are then considered in detail. Some men, outsiders to these norms, are found in the gangs; their special role as gang spokesmen against management is considered as they articulate with the Union's political life. Chapter 8 considers Union political activity and relations with employers together. Membership participation is constrained by divisive aspects of membership and Union structure. These are moveable when preconditions allow cross wharf alliances. Resulting turbulence can be focussed on Executives or through them to Employers. In the concluding chapter I briefly summarise the argument.

This study traces the development of union education within the Canadian Labour Congress and its predecessors. During the period when union education in Canada originated immediately after World War II, there were two large Canadian Congresses, the Trades and Labor Congress (T.L.C.), and the Canadian Congress of Labour (C.C.L.). The C.C.L., formed in 1940, and its affiliated industrial unions had a pressing need for union education to familiarize its members with union principles. The T.L.C. as a long-established (1883) affiliation of craft unions had a tradition of loyalty toward union aims and was less interested in educational programs. When the two Congresses merged in 1956 and became the Canadian Labour Congress the expansion and growth of membership increased the need for education within the unions. Before the unions organized educational programs for their own members other agencies such as the Mechanics Institute and the Workers' Educational Association attempted to provide a program of liberal arts programs. The programs contributed toward the development of the individual competencies of workers who were not necessarily union members. The peripheral organizations declined as the unions became more adept at administering union education programs. The C.C.L. with its larger affiliated unions is considered to be the originator of union education in Canada. Howard Conquergood, A.L. Hepworth, and Andy Andras, executives of the first education committee in the C.C.L., had a lasting influence on union education trends. The characteristic methods used in union education programs were week-long and weekend schools devoted to giving the student a thorough knowledge of the union as a viable organization dedicated to furthering the economic and social interests of the member. The rise in membership is identified as a factor in the development of the union education program. With the merger of the T.L.C. and the C.C.L. in 1956 to form the Canadian Labour Congress (C.L.C.), more resources could be directed to education. A description is given of the role of the labour movement in adult education through various co-operative activities such as the Labour University Conference in 1956, the National Citizens Forum, and the Canadian Trade Union Film Committee. The co-operation of the C.L.C., McGill University, and the Université de Montreal, led to the establishment in 1963 of the Labour College of Canada as an institution of higher education for trade union members. The College provides an eight-week residential program for workers of Canada and also those of foreign countries. Also pointed out is the broad interest shown by the unions in International affiliations and the study of education in emerging countries. The study concludes by identifying general trends in union education in the past and suggesting some new directions and program areas for union education in the future.

This study attempts to present an economic background to the Winnipeg General Strike and in particular examine in detail the wages and working conditions that prevailed prior to and during those eventful days. In the past the Winnipeg General Strike has been considered from primarily a political and social viewpoint. If we accept the views of Mr. Robson, K.C., head of the Royal Commission that investigated the strike, the economic issues are of more importance.

Having organized as a local of the Mine Workers' Union of Canada (MWUC) only a few days previously, the miners ot the Souris coalfield walked off the job on September 8, 1931 to reinforce their demands for increased wages and improved working conditions. The seasonal and fluctuating nature of the Saskatchewan industry, the reduction in reali­zation by operators from the sale of lignite, wage reductions in late 1930 and early 1931, and certain unsatisfactory work­ing and living conditions may be identified as underlying causes of the dispute. Three factors ultimately precipitated the wildcat strike: the absence of any established grievance mechanism, the coal operators' refusal to recognize the MWUC, and the refusal of James Sloan, MWUC president, to accede to demands for the establishment of a conciliation board under The Industrial Disputes Investigation Act. On September 29 some 300 to 400 striking miners and their families clashed with police on the streets of Estevan, Saskatchewan in a bloody riot resulting in three deaths, a number of injuries, and the conviction of several participants on charges arising out of the confrontation. The tragic events of "Black Tuesday" helped bring about a settlement, but not an altogether desirable one. The authorities, it would seem, beginning in early October, launched a campaign aimed at placing the bulk of responsibility for affairs on "outside agitators," at depriving the miners of the support and assistance of anyone from outside the district, at undermining unity among the miners, and at bringing the parties together under their scarcely impartial auspicies. The result was a settlement which, while granting some con­cessions to the miners, was violated in varying degrees at once by the operators. Not surprisingly, before a royal commission set up to examine the causes of the strike had completed its report, there was talk among miners of further strike action. It is also not altogether surprising that there was no official inquiry into the riot itself.

The hypothesis of the thesis is that Canadian teachers have sought to gain some control over their professional lives through organisation. The study traces the evolution of the Canadian teachers' organizations from a period of vigorous ascendency between 1916 and 1921 to the middle of the 1950s. By then the organizations had formed their main features and shaped their occupational ideology. The simplest theoretical statement, framework, or model of the thesis is that teachers have attempted to escape from or at least to modify the bureaucratic environment which prescribed the conditions of their vocation. While teachers largely united in seeking this escape, they were not of one mind as to the appropriate means or alternatives: professionalism, unionism, or a combination of both. To most teachers, professionalism and unionism seemed polar and incompatible. The conclusion reached in the study is that teachers’ organizations evolved as "professional unions," largely because of the teachers' need to cope with their salaried and employee status while clinging to the aspiration of professionalism and public service. The thesis rests extensively on primary sources: the records and files of the teachers' organizations, journals of the organisations, contemporary newspapers and magazines, and documents housed in the various archives of Canada. The thesis is not a definitive study of all the issues that have concerned teachers or their organizations. Rather, it is keyed to those issues and situations that have involved a debate over unionism and professionalism, or which have caused teachers to adopt more militant postures. Admittedly the study is pro-teacher, essentially a result of the sources consulted. A deliberate attempt, however, has been made to record the teachers' reactions to their own historical experience, the trustees, and government. The study is divided into six chapters. The first, tracing the years of formation and survival (1915-1930), explains the causes for teacher organization and the teachers' goals. It probes their occupational ideologies. The second chapter investigates the teachers' strikes of the 1920's, and ponders the meaning of these strikes and the issues of teacher militancy. The third chapter deals with the impact of the depression and the war (1930-1945) on the evolution of the organized profession. This chapter reveals the extent of economic retrenchment on teachers' salaries, the spirit of organizational experimentation, and the renewed militancy as the depression receded and the war ensued. The fourth chapter shows how the teachers' "professional unionism" is rooted in their acceptance of the essentials of trade unionism. The fifth chapter records the teachers' courtship with organized labour--affiliation. In particular, it traces in detail the experiment of the British Columbia Teachers' Federation with affiliation, with public admission of trade unionism. The last chapter deals with the achievement of statutory or automatic membership, an organizational development which is singularly the most significant in the history of the Canadian teaching profession.

The Dominion government appointed a Royal Commission in April 1903 to investigate the causes of strikes that began in February between the Canadian Pacific Railway Company and the United Brotherhood of Railway Employees at Vancouver and the Wellington Colliery Company and the Western Federation of Miners at Extension and Cumberland on Vancouver Island. The Boyal Commissioners were instructed to report whether in their opinion these and other American unions should have their activities in Canada curtailed. After a month of hearings the Commissioners reported that the United Brotherhood and the Western Federation were undesirable unions for Canadian workingmen to join. The Commissioners concluded that both unions had conspired to bring about strikes in the Wellington Colliery mines. The Nanaimo Miners' Union, Local 177 of the Western Federation, was accused by the Commissioners of assisting in the conspiracy to tie up the coal mines in the adjacent towns. As the Canadian Pacific Railway Company depended in part on the Wellington mines for steam coal for its trains at Vancouver, it was apparent that the unions concerned tried to break the strike for recognition between the railway company and the union in favour of the union. The Commissioners also reported that these American unions were spreading revolutionary socialism in British Columbia. The main result of this political action, concluded the Commissioners, was to instil in workingmen a belief in the inevitability of class conflict between themselves and their employers. The transportation and mining industries of the province were in danger of having their businesses seriously disrupted if these foreign unions remained in Canada. The Commissioners stated that a few socialists in Vancouver, Nanaimo, Extension and Cumberland were responsible for encouraging these radical unions to organize the workers. The question as to whether the Western Federation actually caused the strikes on the island has never been seriously explored. Historians have been divided on the question and on their assessment of the validity of the Commissioners' Report. The official hearings disclosed that James Dunsmuir, the president and owner of Wellington Collieries, locked out his miners once they had formed unions. The Commissioners argued that the conspiracy plan depended on the predictable reaction of Dunsmuir to the formation of unions in his mines. In the past he had never permitted unions to exist for long in his mines before he dismissed the union leaders. It has never been satisfactorily demonstrated whether the miners joined the Western Federation for reasons of their own and then struck for union recognition or whether they were, as the Commissioners alleged, tricked into the Federation only to find themselves locked out. The Commissioners admitted in the Report that Wellington Collieries and other large employers of labour bore some responsibility for the fact that working men organized unions in order to protect themselves from the arbitrary and unjust treatment they often received from managers and foremen. Although the Commissioners stated that shorter hours and higher wages would make workingmen more content, they did not report that grievances over working conditions and wages were the real reasons why the miners joined the Western Federation. Yet the official hearings of 1903 contained ample evidence that the strikes at Extension and Cumberland occurred for reasons that lay primarily within and not outside the coalfield. The Commissioners misinterpreted the reasons why the miners joined the Western Federation because their attention was directed solely to the issue of the advance of American unions into Canada. An analysis of the official evidence of the Commission reveals that the miners formed unions at Wellington Collieries in 1903 in order to resolve problems that had become traditional sources of dispute on the coalfield. The traditional problems that embittered relations between miners and companies were geological, social and economic in character. The faulted condition of the coal seams made mining both difficult and dangerous. Since 1871 Wellington miners had organized unions to fight for improvements in safety and working conditions underground. However, the increased employment of illiterate and inexperienced Oriental workers increased the dangers of mining to all concerned. Miners demanded the exclusion of Oriental workers from the mines for another important reason than the question of safety. Oriental workers competed for the jobs of mine labourers and were often used in place of white miners during strikes. During strikes in 1877, in 1883 and in 1903 Chinese workers kept the mines running while white miners were locked out. In contrast to the Wellington mines, unions emerged at the Nanaimo mines and working conditions steadily improved after 1883. A miners' union grievance committee was established in the mines by 1883. An eight hour day, oriental exclusion and union recognition were in effect in the Nanaimo mines by 1891. Attempts by union leaders from Nanaimo in the years 1890 to 1901 failed in their purpose of organizing the Dunsmuir mines. When the Nanaimo miners joined the Western Federation of Miners in 1902 in order to improve their weak bargaining power, miners in the adjacent Dunsmuir mines saw their opportunity to join the Federation. With the financial and moral support of a large union behind them the Dunsmuir miners demanded union recognition as the first step in their plan to negotiate improvements in wages and working conditions.

The depression of the 1930's confronted Canadians with shrinking markets, falling prices, a drought-stricken Prairie region and mass unemployment. Consequently there was an enormous burden of relief and welfare. Financial support from the Dominion was needed in all areas, but since not all areas were affected equally some required more assistance than others. The federal government gave grants and loans to the provinces to assist "('with relief costs and Ln some cases increased provincial subsidies. To alleviate distress the Dominion also carried on a public works program and established relief camps for single men. Not everyone viewed the depression in the same way. In 1930 the Workers' Unity League was established to organize labour into "revolutionary unions" for the struggle against capitalism. The League worked under the assumption that a time of crisis was favorable both in terms of the expansion of the League and the onslaught on the existing system. At the midpoint of the 1930's several hundred men on the initiative of a union established in the relief camps by the Workers' Unity League left these camps in British Columbia. After months in Vancouver they started on a trek to Ottawa to present six demands to the government. They were stopped in Regina. On July 1, 1935 a riot, which has been termed the Regina Riot, broke out in the city. Although some writers have referred briefly to this event a detailed study has not been made. The writer hopes to make a small contribution to the examination of the events of the 1930's by examining the Regina Riot. The main purpose of this study is to trace the events which culminated in a serious riot. The examination is primarily concerned with a study of the events in an attempt to explain why there was a Regina Riot. Although the riot was related to the broader problems of the depression and government policies in coping with the depression, these aspects are touched upon only to the extent that they related specifically to the events surrounding the riot. Relief camps are discussed, but it is outside the scope of this study to make a detailed evaluation of this or any other type of relief measure. Although the leader of the trek was an avowed Communist and the organization in the camps had been established by a Communist organization, the question of Communism in the 1930ls is not examined except where it applies specifically to the events of this study. The movement of the men out of the camps to Vancouver and their stay in Vancouver involved to a greater or lesser degree the striking relief camp men, the municipal, provincial and federal governments, as did the trek eastward. The decisions and actions of each are examined. The trek was stopped in Regina by the federal government. that very important decision resulted in a confrontation of the strikers and the federal government and also involved in the dispute the provincial government. The events of this period are examined, along with the incidents that touched off the actual riot. Finally the inquiry into the riot and the eventual disposition of the relief camps are discussed.

The choice of the years 1905 to 1919 as the formative years of the trade union movement in Saskatchewan was by no means arbitrary. The years 1905 marked the formation of the first permanent, non-railway local union. The intervening years until 1919 were years of further formation and consolidation, of recognition and entrenchment, of expansion and demise, of hope and of failure. The fifteen years in question were the heyday of the craft unions, and more specifically of the building trades which expanded to meet the demands of a new and rapidly developing province. Like the people of the province, generally these unions expressed great optimism for the future. At times their expansion showed a distinct lack of rhyme or reason, but then no one was overly concerned with caution. Besides, there was no reason to be cautious when crops were good and there was an ever-increasing number of acres from which these crops could be gleaned. Only with the war was this optimistic speculation checked; only then did organized labour realize that security was an obscure quantity, quick to disappear, and that the position of the workingman had to be bolstered by means which were at variance with the established order. The upheaval of 1919 which resulted produced a Thermidorean reaction, the legacy of which had its effects throughout the 1920's and even into the 1930's.