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Introduces Canadian postage stamps as a form of public identity, memory and iconography, and applies this lens to the representation on stamps of workers and the labour movement. Analyzes the particular stamps where workers and labour are commemorated, reproductions of which are included are in the article. Compares the relatively small number of Canadian labour stamps to those produced in the UK, Australia, France, and the US. Concludes that there should be greater inclusion of workers and unions in the selection and design of stamps, as recommended by the Canadian Committee on Labour History to Canada Post.

The article reviews the book, "Working Stiffs, Union Maids, Reds, and Riffraff: An Organized Guide to Films about Labor," by Tom Zaniello.

The article reviews the book, "Working-Class Hollywood: Silent Film and the Shaping of Class in America," Steven J. Ross.

The article reviews the book, "Nineteenth Century Cape Breton: A Historical Geography," by Stephen J. Hornsby.

The article reviews the book, "'Ole Boy': Memoirs of a Canadian Labour Leader, J.K. Bell," by Sue Calhoun.

The article reviews the book, "Women from Spillertown: A Memoir of Agnes Burns Wieck," by David Thoreau Wieck.

The article reviews the book, "United We Stand: The United Mine Workers of America 1890-1990," by Maier B. Fox.

This article reviews the book, "The wpirg Reader: Case Studies in Underdevelopment," by the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group.

This article reviews the album and book, "Come Hell or High Water: Songs of the Buchans Miners," by Breakwater Recording.

The author discusses his experiences teaching labour history at the university, trade union, and public levels, as well as a media commentator on labour-related issues. Concludes that labour historians can make a distinctive contribution to the historical pursuit of meaning by shifting the terms of public discourse toward a working-class perspective.

The article reviews and comments on "British Coalminers in the Nineteenth Century: A Social History," by John Benson, "Independent Collier: The Coal Miner as Archetypal Proletarian Reconsidered," edited by Royden Harrison, "Keir Hardie: The Making of a Socialist," by Fred Reid, "By the Sweat of their Brow: Womee Workers at Victorian Coal Mines," by Angela John, "Work Relations in the Coal Industry: The Hand-Loading Era, 1880-1930," by Keith Dix, "The Miner's Freedom: A Study of the Working Life in a Changing Industry," by Carter Goodrich, "Life, Work, and Rebellion in the Coal Fields: The Southern West Virginia Miners, ,1880-1922," by David Corbin, and "Power and Powerlessness: Quiescence and Rebellion in an Appalachian Valley," by John Gaventa.

This article reviews the book, "Poems," by Joe Wallace.

This article reviews the book, "Strikes in Nova Scotia, 1970-1985," by C.H.J. Gilson.

The resignation of J.B. McClachlan from the Communist Party of Canada in 1936 is one of the more controversial episodes in the biography of a well-known Canadian labour radical. He was one of the few party leaders to enjoy wide recognition and popular support. His resignation was a difficult personal decision as well as a significant episode in the history of the party. In previous accounts his resignation has been presented ultimately as a repudiation of labour radicalism generally and the Communist Party in particular, as a protest against the adoption of the united front in 1935, or as a form of local and personal political exceptionalism. McLachlan himself made no formal public announcement of his resignation and, except for an impromptu speech at a public meeting in September 1936, he remained largely silent. In response to a letter from party general secretary Tim Buck he prepared a personal explanation of his withdrawal from the party in June 1936. This document, which is reproduced at the end of this article, remains the most important single piece of evidence concerning his resignation. An analysis of the circumstances leading to McLachlan's resignation shows that he did not regard his resignation as a repudiation of basic principles. He had supported the move towards the united front both internationally and domestically but disagreed with the implementation of the policy by the party leadership, especially sa demonstrated in the case of the Amalgamated Mine Workers of Nova Scotia. McLachlan's view of the united front, which he considered to be consistent with the position of the Communist International, stressed the principles of internal democracy and local autonomy in the construction of the united front. In McLachlan's view there were already enough indications to show that leaders such as John L. Lewis had not been fundamentally transformed and that in the long run the decision to endorse an alliance of convenience with the established labour bureaucracy was an ambiguous legacy for the class struggle. In 1936 McLachlan was overtaken by events, but given his own history he was in a position to perceive the difficulties ahead more clearly than most of his contemporaries.

In the years after 1899 a small but vigorous socialist movement emerged in Canada's Maritime Provinces. This article describes the origins, activities, ideas and personalities of the early socialist movement in the region. The socialists gained support in the region's industrial centres and coal-mining districts and contributed a proportionate share of the national support enjoyed by the Socialist Party of Canada and the newspaper Cotton's Weekly. The article concludes that early Canadian socialism found an important following outside western Canada and that "conservatism" is not an adequate explanation of the history of the Maritimes.

This collection of essays provides a generous introduction to the vibrant field of labour and working-class history in Canada's eastern provinces. Organized in four sections covering pre-industrial labour, the industrial revolution, labour's wars of the early twentieth century, and the rise of industrial legality, the book should prove useful in university classrooms and for all readers interested in the history of the region's ordinary people. Concluding chapters address topics of current interest such as public sector unionism, the role of women in the fishery, and the horrors of the Westray mine disaster. The editors provide an introduction, section heads, and suggestions for further reading. The volume is edited by David Frank, Department of History, University of New Brunswick, the former editor of Acadiensis, and Gregory S. Kealey, Department of History, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Dean of Graduate Studies. Authors include T. W. Acheson, Rusty Bittermann, Sean Cadigan, Jessie Chisholm, Patricia M. Connelly, Peter DeLottinville, E. R. Forbes, Eugene Forsey, Harry Glasbeek, Linda Little, Martha MacDonald, Robert McIntosh, Ian McKay, D. A. Muise, Nolan Reilly, Eric W. Sager, Anthony Thomson, and Eric Tucker. --Publisher's description

Historien reconnu à l'échelle internationale, Stanley Bréhaut Ryerson a été un précurseur par sa réinterpretation de l'histoire des peuples de Canada. Ses ouvrages se tiennent une place tout à fait singulièredans l'historiographie canadienne. Intelluelle d'envergure, il a su allier l'excellence scientifique à la responsibilité sociale ; tout au longue une carrière de plus de soixante années, il a conservé ce profil de militant et d'historien engagé. Sa recherche, toujours inspirée des problèmes de société, a été animée par des valeurs de justice, de solidarité et de liberté. Cet ouvrage auquel participent quatorze collaborateurs qui veut faire connaître le plus important historien Marxiste du Canada. Il vise égalment rétracer la trajectoire militante et le cheminement intellectuel progressiste qui a laissé derrière lui une œuvre fort imposante. --Description de l'éditeur

Every day millions of Canadians go out to work. They labour in factories, offices, restaurants, and retail stores, on ships, and deep in mines. And every day millions of other Canadians, mostly women, begin work in their homes, performing the many tasks that ensure the well-being of their families and ultimately, the reproduction of the paid labour force. Yet, for all its undoubted importance, there has been remarkably little systematic research into the past and present dynamics of the world of work in Canada. The essays in this volume enhance our understanding of Canadians on the job. Focusing on specific industries and kinds of work, from logging and longshoring to restaurant work and the needle trades, the contributors consider such issues as job skill, mass production, and the transformation of resource industries. They raise questions about how particular jobs are structured and changed over time, the role of workers' resistance and trade unions in shaping the lives of workers, and the impact of technology. Together these essays clarify a fundamental characteristic shared by all labour processes: they are shaped and conditioned by the social, economic, and political struggles of labour and capital both inside and outside the workplace. They argue that technological change, as well as all the transformations in the workplace, must become a social process that we all control. --Publisher's description. Contents: On the job in Canada / Craig Heron and Robert Storey (pages 3-46) -- Dimensions of paternalism: Discipline and culture in Canadian railway operations in the 1850s / Paul Craven and Tom Traves (pages 47-74) -- Work control, the labour process, and nineteen-century Canadian printers / Gregory S. Kealey (pages 75-101) -- Contested terrain: workers' control in the Cape Breton coal mines in the 1920s / David Frank (pages 102-123) -- Keeping house in God's country: Canadian women at work in the home  / Veronica Strong-Boag (pages 124-151) -- Skill and gender in the Canadian clothing industry, 1890-1940 / Mercedes Steedman (pages 152-176) -- Mechanization, feminization, and managerial control in the early twentieth-century Canadian office / Graham S. Lowe (pages 177-209) -- Work and struggle in the Canadian steel industry, 1900-1950 / Craig Heron and Robert Storey (pages 210-244) -- Logging pulpwood in Northern Ontario / Ian Radforth (pages 245-280) -- On the waterfront: longshoring in Canada / John Bellamy Foster (pages 281-308) -- Life in a fast-food factory / Ester Reiter (pages 309-326) -- Autoworkers on the firing line / Don Wells (pages 327-352).