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The article reviews the book, "Social Classes and Social Credit in Alberta," by Edward Bell.
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The article reviews the book, "Populism and Democratic Thought in the Canadian Prairies, 1910-1945," by David Laycock.
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Argues that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's effort to reshape understandings of history and national identity, such as the $28 million celebration of the War of 1812, is consistent with Conservative government's "illiberal" agenda for the country going forward. Discusses the research strategy of the Canadian Museum of History, which focuses on the world wars and Confederation rather than working people, as well as the government's labour record.
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In the period following World War II, Alberta's Social Credit government passed several pieces of restrictive legislation which limited labour's ability to organize workers and to call strikes. The enforcement of labour law also reflected an anti-union bias. This article argues that Social Crediters, who had a penchant for conspiracy theories, believed that union militancy was the product of the manoeuverings of an international communist conspiracy. Their labour legislation was intended to foil the conspiracy's plans in Alberta and incidentally to reassure potential investors, particularly in the oil patch, of a good climate for profit-taking. But the path for such legislation was made smoother by the conservatism of one wing of the labour movement in the province and the fear of being tarnished with the communist brush by the other wing. On the whole, the Alberta experience casts a grim reflection on the theory that the post-war period provided a measure of industrial democracy for Canadian workers.
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While Alberta is generally regarded as a conservative province, its early labour movement was class conscious and, for many years had a significant political impact provincially and in many municipalities. The Labour Party, which united trade unions and socialists of every stripe (until its expulsion of the Communists in 1929) reflected the determined independence of Alberta workers: its leaders and members were almost exclusively working-class. But the party was always an uneasy alliance between those who saw politics purely in electoral terms and those who emphasized extra-parliamentary activity. And the election in 1921 of a Farmers' government caused divisions about how closely Labour should work with a non-Labour government. After the purge of the Communists, those who favoured an exclusive concentration on electoral activity and close collaboration with the Farmers, held sway. Their narrow conception of politics turned the Labour Party increasingly into a private preserve of union bureaucrats and created a political vacuum into which Social Credit stepped in.
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The article briefly reviews Doug Smith's "How to Tax a Billionaire: Project Loophole and the Campaign for Tax Fairness;" "The Resilient Outpost: Ecology, Economy, and Society in Rural Newfoundland," edited by Rosemary Ommer; Susan Sleeper-Smith's "Indian Women and French Men: Rethinking Cultural Encounter in the Western Great Lakes;" Mark Franko's "The Work of Dance: Labor, Movement, and Identity in the 1930s;" "Friends of the People: Uneasy Radicals in the Age of the Chartists," by Owen R. Ashton and Paul A. Pickering, ; Steve Wright's "Storming Heaven: Class Composition and Struggle in Italian Autonomist Marxism;" Wendy Z. Goldman's "Women at the Gates: Gender and Industry in Stalin's Russia;" Julie R. Watts's "Immigration Policy and the Challenge to Globalization: Unions and Employers in Unlikely Alliance;" Heidi Tinsman's "Partners in Conflict: The Politics of Gender, Sexuality, and Labor in the Chilean Agrarian Reform, 1950-1973;" Rosa Isolde Reuque Paillalet's "When a Flower Is Reborn: The Life and Times of a Mapuche Feminist," edited and translated by Florencia E. Mallon; and S.A. Smith's "Like Cattle and Horses: Nationalism and Labor in Shanghai, 1895-1927."
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Pays homage to the life and work of Walter Hildebrandt (1951-2021), who published historical studies of Indigenous communities in the Canadian West and Indigenous relations with the Canadian state. A historian for Parks Canada, Hildebrandt later became publishing director of the University of Calgary and Athabasca University presses. Includes an appreciation of Hildebrandt's poetry, with selections from three long poems — "Let Them Eat Grass / The Dakota Wars 1862" and "Winnipeg 1919" — that were originally published in the 2016 collection, "Documentaries: Poems." Also introduces three poems by Tom Wayman — "Reply," "When the Future Wore a Mask: My Parents at War" and "Ars Poetica: Nail" — intended as tributes. A photo of Hildebrandt is also included.