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Reminiscences of homesteading, railway construction, logging, mining and life in the farming and resource communities of western Canada in the years since1912 by two populist/socialist participants. Accounts markedly different from the usual picture of rural conservatism and quiescence. --Author's summary

The opening of the twentieth century saw a fervour of radical political movements in Western Canada. Ross McCormack explores the constituencies, ideologies, and development of early reformist, syndicalist, and socialist organizations from the 1880s up to the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919. He distinguishes three types of radicals - reformers, rebels, and revolutionaries - who competed with each other to fashion a gneral western constituency. The reformers wanted to change society for the betterment of the workers, but both their aims and methods were moderate, essentially transfering the philosophy and tactics of the British labour movement to the Canadian west. The rebels, militant industrial unionists, periodically battled the Trades and Labour Congress in order to establish unions strong enough to defeat the employers and, if necessary, the state. The revolutionary Marxists were committed to the destruction of industrial capitalism and the establishment of a society controlled by the workers. The book describes the origins of radicalism, traces the histories of the various organizations that expressed its ideals, and discusses the impact of the First World War on the labour movement. Using previously unexplored sources, McCromack has produced the first comprehensive examination of the early history of the radical movement in western Canada, adding an important dimension to our knowledge and understanding of Canadian labour history. --Publisher's description. Contents: The emergence of the socialist movement in British Columbia -- Militant industrial unionism and the first western rebellion -- The ascendancy of the Socialist Party of Canada -- A case study in labourism: Winnipeg 1899-1915 -- The Industrial Workers of the World and militant industrial unionism -- Western radicals and the Great War: the first phase -- Western radicals and the Great War: the second phase.

If these arguments are correct [i.e., arguments against a sexist psychological interpretation], then we must set ourselves another course to explain the failure of working class women in the 1896 to 1914 [period] to respond to their problems in a more explicitly collective fashion. The framework for such an alternative explanation rests upon a more concrete understanding of the work-life and work-place ecology of working women. Reliance on reliable clichés and "momified" abstractions about feminine psychology has hindered a recognition of the strictures that demographic and occupational influences placed on the possibilities for a concerted action. Combined with an appreciation of some of the thoughts and activity of working women, this approach should help us to reevaluate both the objective constraints and organizing capacities of the woman worker and the interplay of various aspects of her consciousness--particularly her feminism, her sense of feminity and her class consciousness. --From author's introduction

Ken Adachi's historical study of racism in Canada towards those of Japanese ancestry spans almost a century, from 1877 to 1975. He focuses on Japanese immigration, the Japanese Canadian community organization and the forced evacuation and relocation during the second world war. Also included, is an afterword by Roger Daniels that documents the efforts of the Japanese Canadian community post 1975, to gain redress for their unjustified internment and dispossession during World War II. More than four decades later, their struggles successfully lead to the Canadian Government's formal apology and to the Japanese Canadian Redress agreement of 1988. --Canadian Race Relations website

Contents: Theatre our weapon. Maguire. T. Unemployment / T. Maguire -- Looking forward / F. Love --  Eight men speak / O. Ryan, et al. -- Scientific socialism / N.W. Bowles -- Unity / O. Ryan -- Joe Derry / D. Livesay -- War in the East / S. Ryerson -- And the answer is / M. Reynolds.

It is Christmas Eve, 1970. In the shipping room of a Montreal dress factory, the workers get drunk and decide to go on strike. "So many of the guys I knew on the street are gone dead or crazy, man. There's no escape. This whole country is just one big factory, one big jail, Billy … Either you're a good nigger or ya die. Know what I mean? … Black, yellow, white. We're all niggers down on Rockefeller's Plantation, man." "Punks, Billy. All we get now is punks … I used to have this shipping room running like a new machine, remember, Billy? … No trouble, no fuss, 'cause everybody did their job and knew their place, but now … In the last five years, the kids been getting more and more like that Gary Boyce. Shit disturbers. They all got that look in their eye. Know what I mean? Like they don't give a damn." On the Job is David Fennario's post-mortem on the '60s and a look at the Canadian class structure. The play was first performed at Centaur Theatre, Montreal. Subsequently, it has been performed at the National Arts Centre, Ottawa; been revived by Centaur Theatre; and been staged at the Arts Club Theatre, Vancouver. --Publisher's description

The following lengthy study of "The History of Labour Unrest in Canada, 1900-66," was undertaken on behalf of the federal government's Task Force on Labour Relations, which is now sponsoring dozens of separate research projects, in response to what appeared to be a major "crisis" in labour relations in this country during 1965-66. ...One final, and more specific, justification for undertaking a lengthy and detailed history of labour unrest in Canada, as manifested in strikes and other forms of overt conflict, is, to put it simply, that it has not been done before. As noted below, in discussing sources that were drawn upon in writing this study, there is a remarkable paucity of literature on the subject of industrial unrest and conflict in Canada. This is particularly the case in scholarly, academic and literary circles. --From introduction

Part of the new aproach currently transforming the writing of Canadian history, this volume approaches the past in terms of people and the activities and events that shaped their existence. The essays explore the roots of the radical tradition and outline the struggle against industrial capitalism between 1850 and 1925. [This book] increases our understanding of the past, provides a valuable perspective on present struggles, and, in a broader sense, contributes substantially to a new and decisive synthesis of Canadian history. --Publisher's description

This book presents a picture of Canada's labour movement in the mid-seventies - its structure, its leaders, and aims.Two parallel themes run through Canada's Unions: the surge in labour militancy led by teachers, hospital workers, federal government workers and other public employees in response to the pressure of rising inflation; and the rise of nationalism and the increasing independence of the Canadian union movement during the 1970s. Canada's Union offers an unparalleled, immediate portrait of the state of the Canadian labour movement during a crucial decade of its existence. --Publisher's description (Google Books)

It is easy to forget today how desperate the need was for unions in the days of the worst exploitation and abuse of power by powerful companies. Who now could imagine workers being forced to strike to avoid wage cuts even in times of rising prices? Who could imagine them losing such a strike? This moving story of the miners and steelworkers of Cape Breton focuses on the issues which generated the most militant unions in Canada. Wage cuts, blacklisting, mine disasters, pit closings, police killings, collusion between management and government, company unions, bayonets and barbed wire, American interference, hostile legislation — all this and more have contributed to a century of labour violence and bitterness almost unparalleled in North America. This is a piece of Canadian history usually forgotten, a part of our history that affects us today more than we like to think. --Publisher's description

If, as Sir Wilfrid Laurier said, the twentieth century would be the century of Canada, by the end of the first decade of the new century it was already apparent that it would not be the century of the Canadian working man. The twentieth century ushered in the great Canadian boom.The twentieth century ushered in the great Canadian boom. And boom conditions produced a boom psychology. Nothing could stop Canada. Incredible industrial expansion; two new transcontinental railways pushing across the West; seemingly unstoppable floods of capital and immigrants pouring into the country; these were the hallmark of the decade. Indeed, everyone seemed to be prospering. Everyone, that is, but the Canadian worker. To him the twentieth century ushered in no new changes - or at least, no changes for the better. His conditions of work were still appalling, and his wages--though somewhat higher--could not keep up with spiralling living costs. Indeed, the influx of hundreds of thousands of hungry, penniless immigrants even made it difficult to hold a job. And what jobs? Stuffy, unventilated factories; sixty hours a week; back-breaking work; all for a dollar a day. These were the conditions of work for the men, women and children of Canada. And a dollar a day was considered excellent pay for the thousands of boys and girls, some not yet in their teens, who were forced to find jobs. --Introduction

The Communist Party in Canada is the first thorough study of a political party whose limited size and position outside the mainstream of politics have not lessened its impact and the interest it has aroused among Canadians for over sixty years. Drawing on Communist sources in several languages, Ivan Avakumovic outlines the party's ups and downs from its origins at the turn of the century through to the present day, traces its connects with the American and Russian Communist parties, and describes its internal organization, its policies and tactics, its attitude to the rest of the left wing and other political parties, to labour groups, police, and the general public. Here is an objective, scholarly description, with appeal for the historian and the general reader. --Publisher's description

What was the Depression like? This book is made up of memories of it, memories collected by Barry Broadfoot from more than 600 men and women all across Canada. Although the stories they tell are true, anyone too young to remember the Depression will find them almost unbelievable. The Depression - as all its survivors know - was a time when unbelievable things happened regularly.... --Publisher's description

Leonard Hutchinson: Ten Years of Struggle is the first book in a series to be published by NC Press, collectively entitled Toward a People's Art. The series follows on the general study of our culture, The History of Painting in Canada: Toward a People's Art, and was conceived because NC Press, as Canadian Liberation Publishers, recognizes the need for a whole series of such books on our arts. There is a far vaster heritage of people's art in Canada than can be contained within the pages of one book. --From introduction

[The author] has undertaken to prove incorrect the notion previously widely held that the labour movement militancy associated with modern Quebec was a feature born in the post-World War II period, By examing, through the tradition of oral history, several strikes in the thirties and forties in transportation, textiles and other important industries, and by recording the impressions and feelings of some of the surviving strikers, whether leaders or rank-in-file militants, she captures the mood of the period. --Publisher's description, Translation of: Dans le sommeil de nos os [: quelques grèves au Québec de 1934 à 1944] (1971). Contents: Preface to the English edition (pages 11-14) -- Preface to the French edition (pages 15-18) -- The Basic Picture (pages 19-27) -- The Foreigners' Strike (pages 28-42) -- The Shmata Strikes (pages 43-49) -- The "Bleuets" Strikes (pages 70-77) -- The Tramway Strikes (pages 78-100) -- The Sky Will Be Red Hot (pages 101-127) -- Epilogue (pages 128-130) -- Appendix: The Choice of Conflicts and the Framework of the Study (pages 131-145).

Monograph on the work environment in Canada, with particular reference to efforts in quality of working life in Quebec - reviews the historical aspects of working conditions, trade union attitudes, group dynamics, workers participation, etc., and examines the type of work organization with would bring job satisfaction to a wide range of industrial worker. Bibliography and references. --WorldCat record