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The article reviews the book, "The Origins of Capitalism," by Ellen Meiksins Wood.

The article reviews the book, "Technology and Gender Fabrics of Power in Late Imperial China," by Francesca Bray.

The Great Depression of the 1930s was the culmination of severe contradictions building within a maturing capitalist world economy, and has been credited, in conjunction with the Second World War, for structuring the post-war compromise around a national welfare state, full employment, Keynesian fiscal policy, demand management, and the expansion of trade union rights. Despite the importance of this decade in Canadian history, and the highly developed literature on the Roosevelt administration and the American New Deal, few writers have attempted to probe the finer contours of the Great Depression in Canada. This thesis is broadly structured around the threat of social disorder which state officials and social workers perceived to be rooted in the economic malaise of the decade. Attempts to manage the poor through municipal welfare schemes and efforts to regulate the family through newly developed “socialized tribunals” were paired with a campaign to contain juvenile delinquency and structure the leisure time of working-class adolescents. The order that social workers sought to impose on the working-class family and child was materially related to struggles to bring order to the economy. The ideological retreat from laissez-faire capitalism by business and the state coalesced with a burgeoning and militant union movement that propelled the state towards active intervention in the economic, social, moral, and political relations of capital and labor. Pushed in part by an escalation in strike-related violence, the state tentatively embarked on a program of economic control through the Industrial Standards Act, opened legal space for union activities, and attempted to introduce the first minimum wage for male workers. The thesis explores the role of unions, representing both men and women, skilled and unskilled, in structuring the re-organization of capitalism in Toronto's transportation, construction, and service industries, yet draws upon the paradigm of state-centered regulatory regimes which emerged in the state's treatment of the unemployed, the family, and youth. Policies designed to contain 'chiseling' employers, wayward youth, and cheating husbands all faltered because the state was unwilling or incapable of stepping too heavily into the private sphere or interfering with the prerogatives of private property. The resulting half-measures produced a set of contradictions inherent in initiatives designed to accommodate both labor and capital and generated intense struggles against the 'sweatshop,' while bringing the twin issues of the family wage and relief-subsidized competition to the forefront of political and economic mobilization. The largely ineffectual attempts to bring order to political, economic and social life witnessed the emergence of a nascent regulatory state, tied to significant pockets of organized capital, and contingently supported by organized labor. This particular constellation of social forces not only attained a degree of ideological prominence during the depression, but was of profound importance in shaping the second-half of the twentieth century.

The article reviews the book, "Le guide Québec inc. 1997. Profil des 500 plus grandes entreprises au Québec," by Jean Auclair, Pierre Auger and Raymond Boisvert.

The article reviews the book, "Fonction formation," by Jacques Sayer.

Research has begun to increasingly document Native peoples' participation in wage employment in Canada. Despite an acknowledgement of native participation in wage labour, little is known of the role of the state in mobilizing Native workers for Canadian industry. Using the case of Native migration to the southern Alberta sugar-beet industry in the 1950s and 1960s, this paper analyzes the role of the state in the mobilization of the native workers for employment. We show that the various levels of the state, acting through federal/provincial manpower committees and the Indian Affairs Branch of the federal government, used a variety of paternalistic and coercive measures to help farmers in southern Alberta recruit and retain Native workers. One of the main measures used by the federal and provincial governments to coerce Native people into migration was to cut off social assistance benefits to those Native people deemed to be employable.

Quality improvement (QI) and downsizing have been 2 popular initiatives to enhance firm competitiveness. When used together, the relationship between them is neither simple nor straightforward. Although there have been many separate studies of QI and downsizing, there is a paucity of empirical work on the relationship between them and their organizational implications. A study is presented that seeks to fill this lacuna by shedding light on: 1. how employees respond to these initiatives when combined, 2. their compatibility, and 3. ways to alleviate the negative effects of one initiative on the other.

Examines the work regimen at Fraser Companies pulp and paper mill in Edmundston, New Brunswick, from 1947-74 to verify the thesis of Marxist political economist Harvey Braverman on the deskilling and degradation of work in the 20th century. Discusses ownership, administrative and technological changes as well as company-union relations. Twenty francophone longtime workers were interviewed. Concludes that although many jobs were eliminated, deskilling is a complex issue.

The article reviews the book, "Un siècle d'histoire industrielle : Belgique, Luxembourg, Pays-Bas, industrialisation et sociétés, 1873-1973," by René Leboutte, Jean Puissant, and Denis Scuto.

The article reviews the book, "Why Unions Matter," by Michael D. Yates.

The history of British Columbia is a history of class struggle. From the time of the fur trade to the present, working people and their battles to make a better world have transofrmed the politics, economics, laws, and workplaces of the province. This bibliography will make this history more accessible to trade unionists, students, and the general public. ...The bibliography was compiled by graduate students of Simon Fraser University's History Department: Dennis Pilon, Todd McCallum, Andy Parnaby, and David Sandquist. --Introduction

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

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.

Cette thèse porte sur la carrière du syndicaliste Gustave Francq (1871-1952). Grâce aux nombreux postes d'importance qu'il a occupés dans le mouvement syndical et à la visibilité qu'il a obtenue par la publication d'un journal hebdomadaire durant près de 30 ans, Francq est considéré comme une figure marquante du syndicalisme international au Québec dans la première moitié du )0(e siècle. Personnage polyvalent, il se distingue des autres syndicalistes de son époque, entre autres, par la multiplicité de ses champs d'intérêt: typographe et syndicaliste, il compte aussi à son actif une carrière d'homme d'affaires, de journaliste, de militant politique et de haut fonctionnaire au gouvernement du Québec. La thèse vise à rendre compte du personnage dans sa globalité et sa complexité, c'està-dire en examinant tant sa vie professionnelle que sa vie privée. Pour ce faire, nous abordons sa carrière sous trois angles: l'action syndicale, l'action politique et l'action sociale. Au Québec, il est certes l'un des plus importants défenseurs du syndicalisme de métiers et de la Fédération américaine du travail (FAT). Il prône l'organisation des travailleurs sur la base des syndicats de métiers, reconnaît la légitimité du système capitaliste, favorise les relations harmonieuses entre le Capital et le Travail et témoigne d'une grande confiance dans l'État comme arbitre des relations de travail. À cet égard, il se distancie des positions fondamentales du syndicalisme de métiers, telles que défendues par la FAT. Au début de sa carrière, Francq touche à l'action politique ouvrière. Défendant des positions travaillistes, il dirige le Parti ouvrier de Montréal de 1906 à 1916 et s'oppose systématiquement aux socialistes. Il remet cependant en question son engagement politique entre 1916 et 1921 avec la montée des socialistes au sein du Parti ouvrier et la multiplication des défaites des candidatures ouvrières. 11 se rapproche alors considérablement du Parti libéral avec lequel il a des affinités. Sur le plan social, il mène plusieurs combats depuis le début du siècle pour améliorer les conditions de vie de l'ensemble de la classe ouvrière. Ses principales revendications touchent la réforme du système scolaire québécois, la démocratisation de l'administration municipale montréalaise, la promotion des coopératives de consommation et de production et l'amélioration de la législation des accidents de travail. Au cours de sa carrière, Francq siège donc à diverses commissions gouvernementales comme la Commission fédérale d'appel du travail (1918), la Commission de la charte de la ville de Montréal (1920), la Commission des accidents de travail (1923) et la Commission du salaire minimum des femmes dont il occupe la présidence de 1925 à 1937. Intellectuel du mouvement ouvrier, Francq défend des positions libérales et travaillistes au début du siècle, pour évoluer progressivement vers une position de libéral réformiste au tournant des années 1920. Or si sa conception de l'action politique ouvrière se transforme rapidement au lendemain de la Première Guerre mondiale, il témoigne d'une grande fidélité idéologique tout au long de sa vie à l'égard du syndicalisme de métiers et de son rôle de réformateur social. Croyant à la nécessité et à la possibilité d'améliorer le système socio-économique et les institutions politiques, il est animé de préoccupations sociales majeures axées sur une meilleure répartition de la richesse et un engagement substantiel de l'État dans le champ des politiques sociales. Malgré leur importance numérique, peu d'historiens se sont penchés sur l'étude des syndicats internationaux au Québec, et ce, même si leurs effectifs dépassent largement ceux des syndicats catholiques depuis le début du siècle. S'inscrivant dans le renouvellement des études à caractère biographique, notre thèse vise donc à mettre de l'avant la carrière d'un des principaux dirigeants du syndicalisme international au Québec.

Prenant appui sur des données collectées auprès des travailleurs de l'usine de la GM à Boisbriand, cette étude cherche à mettre en évidence que leur évaluation du travail en équipe est intimement associée à la dynamique sociale qui prévaut au sein des équipes. Les résultats suggèrent que leur évaluation varie selon la capacité de coopération et d'action des travailleurs, laquelle est fortement liée aux modalités du marchandage de l'effort. Dans le cadre de ce marchandage continue sur les lieux de travail, le rôle joué par les chefs d'équipe apparaît comme un enjeu central. Il peut en effet constituer un catalyseur ou un frein à l'émergence de nouvelles capacités d'agir en commun au sein des équipes.

The article reviews the book, "Making Peace with the 60s," by David Burner.

The article reviews and comments on Kazuo Nimura's "The Ashio Riot of 1907: A Social History of Mining in Japan" (1997) and Yuko Ogasawara's "Office Ladies and Salaried Men: Power, Gender, and Work in Japanese Companies" (1998).

Race and Ethnic Relations in Canada was first published in 1990 by Oxford University Press as a collection of twelve original essays that provided a comprehensive overview of government policies and academic theories that affect the way race and ethnic relations are structured and interpreted in Canada. This second edition takes into account social changes and academic debates of the 1990s and updates materials and arguments in the original edition. The contributors, all leading Canadian sociologists and social scientists, discuss a wide range of topics, including theories of race and ethnicity, demographic trends, the 'vertical mosaic', immigration, multiculturalism, employment equity, policy on Native peoples, and language policy. The book is essential reading for understanding Canada's race and ethnic relations. --Publisher's description. Contents: Part 1: Introduction. Race and Ethnicity / Peter S. Li -- Demographic Overview of Ethnic Origin Groups in Canada / Madeline A. Kalbach, Warren E. Kalbach. Part 2: Race, Ethnicity, and the State. Immigration, Diversity, and Minority Communities / Morton Weinfeld and Lori A. Wilkinson -- State Policies and Practices as Racialized Discourse: Multiculturalism, the Charter, and Employment Equality / Frances Henry and Carol Tator -- Altered State: Federal Policy and Aboriginal Peoples / James Frideres -- The Multiculturalism Debate / Peter S. Li -- Language Policy in Canada / Wilfrid Denis. Part 3: Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity. Revisiting the Vertical Mosaic: Occupational Stratification Among Canadian Ethnic Groups / Hugh Lautard and Neil Guppy -- Studies of Ethnic Identity, Ethnic Relations, and Citizenship / K. Victor Ujimoto -- Intergroup Competition in the Symbolic Construction of Canadian Society / Raymond Breton -- The Political Economy of Race and Ethnicity / Vic Satzewich -- Feminist Intersectional Theorizing / Daiva K. Stasiulis.

Compilation of recent English/French publications on Canadian labour history that emphasize the period 1800-1975. Materials pertaining to the post-1975 period may also be included, although more selectively. [See the database, Canadian Labour History, 1976-2009, published at Memorial University of Newfoundland.]

Examines the strikes waves of pin-boys and golf caddies during the 1930s in Canada. Argues that two distinct typologies may be discerned between bowling alleys and golf courses in terms of workplaces/cultures and work patterns. Considers the roles of various actors including the state, the employer-side YMCA, and the communist Workers Unity League. Concludes by offering observations on the impact of subsequent technological change, mass culture and the commodification of leisure time, and how the strikes illustrate the historic connection between the social wage (relief) and the labour market in the service sector.