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At the "Challenging Labour" / «Le défi du travail» conference held at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta, in October 2022, two plenary sessions invited scholars to engage in a dialogue on important historical and theoretical issues in the field of labour and working-class history/studies. One of these, on the entanglement of capitalism and colonialism, featured a paper delivered by Bryan D. Palmer and a response from hagwil hayetsk (Charles Menzies). These presentations are revised for publication here along with a rejoinder from Palmer in what is Labour/Le Travail's first "Forum" section. The aim of this section is to foster conversation, with scholars meaningfully engaging with each other's work across disciplinary, methodological, theoretical, or other kinds of differences in approach and understanding. The merit of this kind of dialogue is well demonstrated here by Palmer and hayetsk, and the editors would invite more such conversations for publication in this section in future issues. --Editors' introduction

Responds to hagwil hayetsk/Charles Menzie's paper, "Capitalism and Colonialism," published in the same issue.

Replies to Michael Piva's "comment" on statistics regarding the proportion of the Ontairo working population who were members of the Knights of Labor. Concedes that there was an error, but argues with Piva's usage of 1891 Canadian census data and his pessimistic assessment of the Knights' impact.

The article presents a comparison of the working classes in Canada and the U.S. It states that a smaller low-wage manufacturing sector exists in Canada where workers are permanently trapped in poverty. The similarity of the levels and nature of unionization and attitudes toward social provisioning between the two countries are also mentioned.

What constitutes proletarianization? The conventional answer to this seemingly simple question often stresses waged labour. Yet many workers, past and present, are routinely unable,to secure paid employment, in part because of the persistence of capitalist crises of various kinds. This study of indigent workers in Toronto from the 1830s to the 1930s is premised on an understanding of proletarianization as dispossession, on the one hand, and, on the other, of the ways in which capitalism necessarily produces recurrent crises, leaving many workers wageless. It addresses how wagelessness and poverty were criminalized through the development of institutions of ostensible charitable relief, such as the Toronto House of Industry, in which those seeking shelter and/or sustenance were required to chop wood or, more onerously, break stone in order to be. admitted to the ranks of those 'deserving' of such support. By the end of the nineteenth century-resistance to such "labour tests" was increasingly evident. Protests took place in Toronto, where the black flag was carried in demonstrations demanding "work or bread." Refusing to "crack the stone" and demands that relief be administered differently were common features of mobilizations of the wageless in the opening decades of the twentieth century, in which socialists often took the lead. By the time of capitalism's devastating collapse in the Great Depression of the 1930s, Toronto's wageless were well situated to mount an outcasts' offensive.

Introduces "The Big Sleep" by Jack Timmerman (1915-1953), an unpublished, graphic account of the Malartic Mine Fire of 1947 that resuled in the deaths of 12 miners at the gold mine in northwestern Quebec. Provides a biography of Timmerman, who was working at the mine at the time, as well as framing the disaster in terms of the persistence and frequency of such events.

The article briefly reviews "Ravished bx the Spirit: Religious Revivals, Baptists, and Henry Alline," by G.A. Rawylk, "The Acadiensis Reader, v. 1: Atlantic Canada Before Confederation and v. 2: Atlantic Canada After Confederation," edited by P.A. Bucknerand David Frank, "The Mysteries of Montreal: Memoirs of a Midwife," by Charlotte Fiihrer, edited by Peter Ward, "The Promoters' City: Building the Industrial Town of Maisonneuve, 1883-I9I8," by Paul-Andre Linteau, translated by Robert Chodos, "Government and Enterprise in Canada," edited by K.J. Rea and Nelson Wiseman, "Collective Bargaining in the Public Service: The Federal Experience in Canada," v. 1-2, edited by Jacob Finkelman and Shirley B. Goldenberg, "The Labor History Reader," edited by Daniel J. Leah, "C. Wright Mills: An American Utopian," by Irving Louis Horowitz, "Foundry Foreman, Foundry men," by Lloyd Zimpel, (San Pedro: Singlejack,1980); "Longshoring on the San Francisco Waterfront," by Reg Theriault, (San Pedro: Singlejack, 1978); and "Night Shift in a Pickle Factory," by Steve Turner (San Pedro: Singlejack, 1980), "The Fight Against Shutdowns: Youngstown's Steel Mill," by Staughton Lynd, "International Labour Reports" (a bimonthly magazine established 1983), "The Idea of Poverty: England in the Early Industrial Age," by Gertrude Himmelfarb, "A History of British Socialism," by Max Beer. with a new introduction by Ken Coates, "English Industrial Cities of the Nineteenth Century," by Richard Dennis, "Shop Floor Bargaining and the State: Historical and Comparative Perspectives," edited by Steven Tolliday and Jonathan Zeitlin, "Wigan Pier Revisited: Poverty and Politics in the 80s," by Beatrix Campbell, " Vision and Method in Historical Sociology," edited by Theda Skoepol, and "Making Sense of Marx," by Joe Elster / reviews by Bryan D. Palmer -- "Agriculture in America, 1622-1860," by Andrea J. Tucher / review by D.H.A. -- "Labor's Joke Book," edited by Paul Buhle / review by Gregory S. Kealey.

The article reviews "Scholars and Dollars: Politics, Economics, and the Universities of Ontario, 1945-1980," by Paul Axelrod, "Language and Nationhood: The Canadian Experience," review by Ronald Wardhaugh"Trouble at Lachine Mill," by Bill Freeman, "The Welfare State in Canada: A Select Bibliography, 1840-1978," by Allan Moscovitch et al.. "The Canadian Prairie West and the Ranching Frontier, 1874-1924," by David H. Breen, "The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790," by Rhys Isaac, "The Divided Mind: Ideology and Imagination in America, 1898-1917," by Peter Conn, "The Hawsepipe: Newsletter of the Marine Workers Historical Association," newsletter started by Jack and Judy McCusker, "Ben Tillelt: Portrait of a Labour Leader," by Jonathan Schneer, "Industrial Democracy at Sea: Authority and Democracy on a Norwegian Freighter," edited by Robert Schrank, "What Rough Beast? The State and Social Order in Australian History," by Sydney Labour History Group, "Politics in the Ancient World," by M.I. Finley / reviews by Bryan D. Palmer -- "A Social History of the English Working Classes," by Eric Hopkins / review by Craig Calhoun.

Toronto’s Poor reveals the long and too often forgotten history of poor people’s resistance. It details how the homeless, the unemployed, and the destitute have struggled to survive and secure food and shelter in the wake of the many panics, downturns, recessions, and depressions that punctuate the years from the 1830s to the present. Written by a historian of the working-class and a poor people’s activist, this is a rebellious book that links past and present in an almost two-hundred year story of struggle and resistance. It is about men, women, and children relegated to lives of desperation by an uncaring system, and how they have refused to be defeated. In that refusal, and in winning better conditions for themselves, Toronto’s poor create the possibility of a new kind of society, one ordered not by acquisition and individual advance, but by appreciations of collective rights and responsibilities. --Publisher's description

This text is a collection of classic and contemporary articles exploring the nature of work in Canadian history from the late eighteenth century to the current day. Class relations and labour form the core of the volume, but attention will also be paid to the state and its relations with workers both formal and informal. The volume is designed as a core text for classes in Canadian labour/working-class history, taught out of history and labour studies departments. --Publisher's description

Bryan Palmer is succeeding Gregory Kealey, who is stepping down as editor after 21 years. Mark Leier is succeeding Palmer as the book review editor; Palmer had held the post for nearly 15 years. In turn, Andrew Parnaby and Richard Rennie are the new co-editors of the Notebook, succeeding Leier. Andrée Lévesque continues as the French book review editor. Various editorial board changes are noted. As incoming editor, Palmer offers a reflection on the journal and its path forward.

The article briefly reviews "A Differerent Kind of State? Popular Power and Democratic Administration," edited by Gregory Albo, David Langille. and Leo Panitch, "Belonging: The Meaning and Future of Canadian Citizenship," edited by William Kaplan, "Policing Canada's Century: A History of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police," by Greg Marquis, "Aberhart: Outpourings and Replies," edited by David R. Elliott, "The Voyages of Jacques Cartier," by Ramsay Cook, "Habitants and Merchants in Seventeenth Century Montreal," by Louise Dechtne, "New England Planters in the Maritime Provinces of Canada, 1759-1800," compiled by Judith A. Norton, "Creed and Culture: The Place of English-Speaking Carholics in Canadian Society, 1750-1930," edited by Terrence Murphy and Gerald Stortz, "While the Women Only Wept: Loyalist Refugee Women in Eastern Ontario," by Janice Potter-MacKinnon, "Cultivation and Culture: Labor and the Shaping of Slave Life in the Americas," edited by Ira Berlin and Philip D. Morgan, "Farm to Factory: Women 's Letters, 1830-1860," edited by Thomas Dublin, "Gender and American History Since 1890," edited by Barbara Melosh, "Industrial Democracy in America: The Ambiguous Legacy," edited by Nelson Lichtenstein and Howell John Harris, "Race in America: The Struggle for Equality" edited by Herbert Hill and Jamcs E. Jones, Jr., "The Land and the Loom: Peasants and Profit in Northern France, 1680-1800," by Liana Vardi, "Harold Laski: A Political Biography," by Michael Newman, "Socialist Parties and the Question of Europe in the 1950s," edited by Richard T. Griffiths, "Keeping Heads Above Water: Salvadorean Refugees in Costa Rica," by Tanya Basok, "The Althusserian Legacy," edited by E. Ann Kaplan and Michael Sprinker, "Capitalism Versus Anti-Capitalism: The Triumph of Ricardian over Marxist Political Economy," by Paul Fabra, and "Labor Demand," by Daniel S. Hamemesh / reviews by Bryan D. Palmer -- "Tramps, Workmates and Revolutionaries: Working-Class Stories of the 1920s," edited by H. Gustav Klaus / review by Gregory S. Kealey.

The article briefly reviews "Love A Solidarity: A Pictorial History of the NDP, by Cameron Smith, "Industrial Relations in Canadian Industry," edited by Richard P. Chaykowski and Anil Verma, "Reaction and Reform: The Politics of the Conservative Party under R. B. Bennett, 1927-1938," by Larry A. Glassford, "The Un-Canadians: True Stories of the Blacklist Era," by Len Scher, "History of Canadian Youth and Childhood: A Bibliography," by Neil Sutherland, Jean Barman and Linda L. Hale, "The Little Slaves of the Harp: Italian Child Street Musicians in Nineteenth-Century Paris, London, and New York," by John E. Zucchi, "In the Floating Army: F.C. Mills on Itinerant Life in California, 1914, by Gregory R. Woirol, "Visions of a New Industrial Order: Social Science and Labor Theory in America's Progressive Era," by Clarence E. Wunderlin, Jr., "The Lost World of the Craft Printer," by Maggie Holtzberg-Call, "The Trucker's World: Risk, Safety, and Mobility," by J. Peter Rothe, "Avoiding the Cracks: A Guide to the Workers ' Compensation System," by Anne Tramposh, "Feminism and the Women's Movement: Dynamics of Change in Social Movement Ideology and Activism," by Barbara Ryan, "Ethnic Minorities and Industrial Change in Europe and North America," edited by Malcolm Cross, "English and French Towns in Feudal Society: A Comparative Approach," by R.H. Hilton, "The Education of Desire: Marxists and the Writing of History," by Harvey J. Kaye, "White, Male and Middle Class: Explorations in Feminism and History," by Catherine Hall, "William Cobbett and Rural Popular Culture," by Ian Dyck, "European Labour Politics from 1900 to the Depression," by Dick Geary, "Women of the Praia: Work and Lives in a Portuguese Coastal Community," by Sally Cole, "New Trends in Employment Practices: An International Survey," by Walter Galenson, "Strikes Have Followed Me All My Life: A South African Autobiography," by Emma Mashinini, "Status Influences in Third World Labor Markets: Caste, Gender, and Custom," edited by James G. Scoville, ,"Labor and Economic Growth in Five Asian Countries," by Walter Galenson / reviews by Bryan D. Palmer -- "The Labor Process and Control of Labor: The Changing Nature of Work Relations in the Late Twentieth Century," edited by Berch Berberoglu, "Culture and the Labour Movement: Essays in New Zealand Labour History," edited by John E. Martin and Kerry Taylor / reviews by Gregory S. Kealey.

The article briefly reviews "The Government Generation: Canadian Intellectuals and the State, 1900-1945," by Doug Owram, "Canadian Labour History: Selected Readings," edited by David J. Bercuson, "Rethinking Canada: The Promise of Women's History," edited by Veronica Strong-Boag and Anita Clair Fellman, "First Contract: Women and the Fight to Organize," by Carole Conde and Karl Beveridge, "Will You Have a Union in 1995?" Vector Union Report, edited by Marc Zwelling, "The Guild at Forty: The Struggle Continues," by Roger Stonebanks, "The Canadian Welfare State: Evolution and Transition," edited by Jacqueline S. lsmael, "The Benevolent Slate: The Growth of Welfare in Canada," edited by Allan Moscovitch and Jim Albert, "The Bedroom and The State: The Changing Practices and Politics sf Contraception ana Abortion in Canada, 1880-1980," by Angus McLaren and Arlene Tigar McLaren, "Power and Place: Canadian Urban Development in the North American Context," edited by Gilbert A. Stelter and Alan F. J. Artibise, "Democracy and Capitalism: Properly, Community, and the Contradicttons oo Modern Social Thought," by Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, "A Vision of Unity: History of the Bakery and Confectionery Workers International Union," and "Challenge and Change: History of the Tobacco Workers International Union," by Stuart Bruce Kaufman, "Labor Leaders in America," edited by Melvyn Dubofsky and Warren Van Tine, "Confrontation, Class Consciousness, and the Labor Process: Studies in Proletarian Class Formation," edited by Michael Hanagan and Charles Stephenson, "The Miners' Strike: Loss Without Limit," by Martin Adeney and John Lloyd, "Women and Work in Preindustrial Europe," edited by Barbara Hanawalt, "Collected Essays: v. 1 — Writing and Revolution in 17th Century England; v. 2 — Religion and Politics in 17th Century England; v. 3 — People and Ideas in 17th Century England," by Christopher Hill, "France: Fin de Siècle," by Egen Weber, and "Bailing Out the System: Reformist Socialism in Western Europe, 1944-1985," by Ian Birchall / reviews by Bryan D. Palmer -- "Morning in His Heart: The Life and Writings of Watson Kirkconnell," by J.R.C. Perkin and James B. Snelson / review by Gregory S. Kealey.

The article briefly reviews "The Structure of the Canadian Capitalist Class," by Robert J. Brym, "Democratic Socialism: The Challenge of the Eighties and Beyond," edited by Donna Wilson, "Old Passions, New Visions: Social Movements and Political Activism in Quebec," by Marc Raboy, "Frank H. Underhill; Intellectual Provocateur," by R. Douglas Francis, "Emerging Identities: Selected Problems and Interpretations in Canadian History," edited by Paul W. Bennett and Cornelius J. Jaenen, "Tobacco and Slaves: The Development of Southern Cultures in the Chesapeake, I680-1800," by Allan Kulikoff, "Will Herberg: A Bio-Bibliography," by Harry J. Ausmus, "Disorderly Conduct: Visions of Gender in Victorian America," by Carrol Smith-Rosenberg, "The Collected Essays of Asa Briggs, Volume 1: Words, Numbers, Places, People and Volume Two: Images, Problems, Standpoints, Forecasts," by Asa Briggs, "The Irish in the Victorian City," by Roger Swift and Sheridan Gilley, "British Economic Growth during the Industrial Revolution," by N.F.R. Crafts, "Language, Gentler and Childhood," edited by Carolyn Steedman, Cathy Urwin, and Valerie Walkerdine, "British Trade Unionism Against the Trades Union Congress," by Gerald A. Dorfman, "Artisans, Peasants, and Proletarians, 1760-1860: Essays Presented to Gwyn Williams," by Clive Emsley and James Walvin,"Labor Migration in the Atlantic Economies: The European and North American Working Classes During the Period of Industrialization," edited by Dirk Hoerder, "The Peculiarities of German History: Bourgeois Society and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Germany," by David Blackbourn and Geoff Eley, "The Development of Capitalism in Northern Nigeria," by Robert Shenton, "Capitalism and Social Democracy," by Adam Przeworski, "Outsiders: A Study in Life and Letters," by Hans Mayer / reviews by Bryan D. Palmer -- "Talkin' Union: Music Lore History," journal edited by Saul Schniderman, "Nature's Noblemen: The Fortunes of the independent Collier in Scotland and the American Midwest, 1855-1885," by John H.M. Laslett / reviews by Gregory S. Kealey.

The article briefly reviews "1919: The Winnipeg General Strike," by Gerry Berkowski and Nolan Reilly,"The Writing of Canadian Histo ry: Aspects of English-Canadian Historical Writing since 1900," by Carl Berger, "A Conjunction of Interests: Bus iness, Politics, and Tariffs, 1825-1879," by Ben Forster, "Vancouver Past: Essays in Social History," edited by Robert A.J. McDonald and Jean Barman, "Quebec before Duplessis: The Political Career of Louis-Alexandre Taschereau," by Bernard L. Vigod, "Canada, What's Left?," edited by John Richards and Don Kerr,"'My Dear Legs': Letters to a Young Social Democrat," by Alex Macdonald, "The Knights in Fiction: Two Labor Novels of the 1880s," edited by Mary C. Grimes, "Uncertain Victory: Social Democracy and Progressivism in Europe an and American Thought, 1870-1920," by James T. Kloppenberg, "The Growth of Working Class Reformism in Mid-Victorian England," by Neville Kirk, "Proletarians and Protest: The Roots of Class Formation in an Industrializing World," edited by Michael Hanagan and Charles Stephenson, "Servants and Masters in Eighteenth-Century France: The Uses of Loyalty ," by Sarah C. Maza, "The German Revolution and the Debate on Soviet Power — Documents: 1918-1919, Preparing the Founding Congress," edited by John Riddell,"The Ties That Bind: Peasant Families in Medieval England," by Barbara A. Hanawalt, "Households and the World Economy," edited by Joan Smith, Immanuel Wallerstein, and Hans Dieter Evers, "Revolutionaries and Reformists: Communism and the Australian Labour Movement, 1920-1950," by Robin Gollan, "The Theory of Monopoly Capitalism: An Elaboration of Marxian Political Economy," by John Bellamy Foster, "An Introduction to Marxist Political Economy," by Bade Onimode, "Workplace Democracy: A Guide to Workplace Ownership, Participation, and Self-Management Experiments in the United States and Europe," by Daniel Zwerdling, "The Future of the Left," edited by James Curran, "Blue Chips," by Herbert A. Applebaum / reviews by Bryan D. Palmer -- "Something in Common - An IWW Bibliography," compiled by Dione Miles, "Samuel Gompers: A Selected List of References About the Man and His Time," by David Myers / reviews by Gregory S. Kealey.

Announces Sean Cadigan's resignation as editor. Bryan Palmer and Gregory Kealey to be interim co-editors until a new appointment is made. Takes note of the Canadian Labour Studies database, an open access bibliography of labour studies resources produced by Laurentian University librarians Desmond Maley and Dan Scott.

As Canada's most industrialised province, Ontario served as the regional centre of the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, an organisation which embodied a late nineteenth-century working-class vision of an alternative to the developing industrial-capitalist society. The Order opposed the exploitation of labor, and cultivated working-class unity by providing an institutional and cultural rallying point for North American workers. By 1886 thousands of industrial workers had enrolled within the ranks of Ontario's local and district assemblies. This book examines the rise and fall of the Order, providing case studies of its experience in Toronto and Hamilton and chronicling its impact across the province. --Publisher's description. Contents: Introduction. Part 1. Overview: The working class and industrial capitalist development in Ontario to 1890 -- 'Warp, woof, and web': the structure of the Knights of Labor in Ontario. Part 2. The Local Setting: Toronto and the organization of all workers -- Hamilton and the home club. Part 3. The Wider Experience: Taking the Bad with the Good -- 'Unscrupulous rascals and the most infamous damn liars and tricksters at large': the underside of the Knights of Labor -- The order in politics: the challenge of 1883-1887 -- 'Politicians in the order': the conflicts of decline, 1887-1894 -- 'Spread the light': forging a culture -- The people's strike: class conflict and the Knights of Labor. Part 4. Conclusion: Accomplishment and failure -- Appendix -- Notes -- Selected bibliography -- Index.

The Order of the Knights of Labor played a determining role in the organization of the world of work at the end of the nineteenth century. Social movement more than union than a trade union, the order addressed all workers without consideration of of sex, ethnic or racial origin, and trade qualification. The Order thus represented to industrial capitalism the most important challenge it had to face in North America. In Ontario, this challenge was as much political and cultural as it was economic as well as in economic matters. We present here the history of the Order of the Knights of Labor in Ontario from 1880 to 1902; in the context of the industrial development of the of the industrial development of the province, the internal structures of this movement and the and the actions that it exercised in the economic, political and cultural fields. [Translation of the French resumé]