Your search

The article reviews and comments on three books: "Beer and Revolution: The German Anarchist Movement in New York City, 1880-1914" by Tom Goyens, "Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism" by Michael Schmidt and Lucien van der Walt, and "Anarchism and Authority: A Philosophical Introduction to Classical Anarchism" by Paul McLaughlin.

This paper examines the life of Robert Raglan Gosden, 1882-1961. Gosden was an unskilled worker who joined the Industrial Workers of the World and advocated violent revolution. He took part in the Vancouver Island mining strikes of 1912-1914, and was a key player in the 1916 provincial election scandal. By 1919, however, he was an informant for the RCMP. The paper outlines Gosden's career and analyzes the complex way his class experience shaped his construction of masculinity as well as his radical politics and his later activity as a labour spy.

Examines longstanding conspiracy theories, as well as the reconsideration of forensic evidence given in Susan Mayse's book, "Ginger: The Life and Death of Albert Goodwin," that the British-born miner and labour activist was murdered by Dominion Police on military orders of the federal government in 1918. Concludes that there was no proof of conspiracy nor was there sufficient evidence to show that the police shooter had intent to murder. Argues, however, that this does not absolve the government and business from culpability since they were responsible for taking Canada into an imperial war - and Goodwin, who opposed conscription and the war, was being pursued by the police for evading conscription.

The article reviews the book, "Things That Never Added Up To Me: Songs of Love, War, Theology, Golf and the Great American Railroad," by Al Grierson.

The article reviews and comments on the books, "Hoffa," by William Sloane, and "Labor Shall Rule: Sidney Hillman and the Rise of Labor," by Steven Fraser.

The article reviews the book, "Harvey and Jessie: A Couple of Radicals," by Jessie Lloyd O'Connor, Harvey O'Connor and Susan M. Bowler.

The article reviews the book, "The Damndest Radical: The Life and World of Ben Reitman Chicago's Celebrated Social Reformer, Hobo King, and Whorehouse Physician," by Roger A. Bruns.

The labour and socialist movement of British Columbia before World War One was home to a number of competing tendencies and factions. While the different groups could and did work together on occasion, their relations with each other were often marked by hostility and suspicion. The Vancouver free speech fights of 1909 and 1912 illustrate dramatically the in-fighting between the Socialist Party of Canada. the Industrial Workers of the World, and the Vancouver Trades and Labor Council. The different approaches of the organizations to the issue of free speech reflect their different ideologies, constituencies, and clans strata, and the actions of the SPC suggest that the party was, despite its impossiblist rhetoric, more interested in pragmatic trade unionism and social democracy than revolution. In refusing to put its faith in parliamentary democracy, the IWW demonstrated that it had a more consistent and deeper analysis of capitalist society than moat historians have suggested, but this very analysis and the actions consistent with it meant the IWW could be increasingly marginalized and isolated. (English)

This article reviews the book, "The Soul of the Wobblies: The I.W.W., Religion, and American Culture in the Progressive Era, 1905-1917," by Donald E. Winters.

This article reviews the book, "Roughneck: The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood," by Peter Carlson.

The article reviews the book and CD, "Working-Class Heroes: A History of Struggle in Song," edited by Mat Callahan and Yvonne Moore.

The article briefly reviews Francis Wheen's "Karl Marx," "Compass Points: Navigating the 20th Century," edited by Robert Chodos; William R. Haycraft's "Yellow Steel: The Story of the Earthmoving Equipment Industry ;" "Rosa Luxembourg: Reflections and Writings," edited by Paul Le Blanc; "No Gods, No Masters: An Anthology of Anarchism," edited by Daniel Guérin, with translation by Paul Sharkey; Lynne Bowen's "Robert Dunsmuir, Laird of the Mines;" Nikolai Bukharin's "How It All Began: The Prison Novel;" Neil Tudiver's "Universities for Sale: Resisting Corporate Control over Canadian Higher Education;" Cynthia R. Commachio's "The Infinite Bonds of Family: Domesticity in Canada, 1850-1940;" Harry Fisher's "Comrades: Tales of a Brigadista in the Spanish Civil War;" Eve Blau's "The Architecture of Red Vienna, 1919-1934;" Alan Kidd's "State, Society, and the Poor in Nineteenth-Century England;" "Nationalism, Labour, and Ethnicity, 1870-1939," edited by Stefan Berger and Angel Smith; and "Tough Girls: Women Warriors and Wonder Women in Popular Culture," by Sherrie A. Inness.

Briefly describes the newly released documentary, "The Plywood Girls," which focuses on the hundreds of women who worked at the sawmill in Port Alberni, BC, during the Second World War.

Reprint of an article first published in the Vancouver Sun, entitled "Productivity Latest Stick to Beat Workers." Discusses the debate that it generated.

Brief obituary for Robert Kenney, who died in Toronto on Sept. 28, 1993 at age 88. A bibliophile with a longstanding commitment to Marxist philosophy, Kenney's collections of books, pamphlets, leaflets, and newspapers, as well as the personal papers of A.E. Smith, were donated to the the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto. The Memorial University library has acquired 2,200 pamphlets in the English language representing an international spectrum of opinion include socialist, communist (the Canadian Communist Party is well-represented), trade unionist and anti-war. Saskatchewan labour collections assembled by the Saskatchewan provincial archives include union papers, strike files and secondary sources from the 1940s-1980s. The collection is named after Bob Hale, the former Canadian Labour Congress regional director for the Prairies. Takes note of forthcoming conferences and a newsletter on comparative industrial relations published at McMaster University.

Announces that records of the Laurentian University Faculty Association's 1989 strike have been deposited at the university's archives. Also announces a 60-page bibliography of British Columbia's labour history is available that was compiled by graduate students at Simon Fraser University. Briefly reported are recent conferences of the Pacific Northwest Labor History Association on labour and the environment (University of Oregon) and at the University of Northern British Columbia on new directions in BC history.

The Ontario Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Recreation has provided funds for research, documentation, and publication of Ontario workplace heritage. In 1994, grants were disbursed for four projects, including a video production on the thirtieth anniversary of the postal workers' strike, a video and booklet focused on preserving workers' heritage in Ottawa, a video tour guide (entitled Mapping the Workers' City) on Hamilton, and a audio documentary on the history of the Northern Ontario labour movement. Takes note of a forthcoming labour conference at the University of Oregon.

Reports forthcoming conferences and new publications. The Reuther Archives of Labour and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University is to be added to the National Bibliographic System. The Steel Project at University College of Cape Breton has a wide variety of archival resources on steelmaking technology and workers. The files of the Detroit Red Squad have been deposited at the Detroit Public Library, but will remain closed until 2018.

Discusses Rudyard Kipling's poems, "The Cry of Toil," "The Song of the Dead," and "Tommy," which were lampooned by the Industrial Workers of the World. Concludes that, although Kipling was the bard of the British empire, his sympathy for the common soldier influenced the parodies. Both the Kipling and IWW texts are included in the article.

Reports on the Randall B. Smith Collection on the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) at the New York Public Library. Smith (1916-1989) was a civil war veteran who, in addition to collecting a variety of resources, tape-recorded interviews with other veterans. Takes note of forthcoming conferences.