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Recent attempts to extend Marx's analysis of capitalism by developing a class-based theory of the role and functions of the capitalist state have turned on the debate between the "instrumentalist" and "structuralist" perspectives. Subsequent critiques and extensions of these two conceptions of the relations between the state and the major classes within capitalist society have raised the issues of the role of class struggle in the development of state structure and policy as well as the impact of the capitalists state itself on the nature of class relations. Although theorists have pointed to the mutually conditioning effects characterizing the relationship between the state and social classes, there has bee little empirical examination of this relationship. The precise nature of the kinds of mechanisms linking various social classes and the state together with the concrete effects of these links on state and class relations required further specification. In response to this significant gap in the development of the theory of the capitalist state, the present research was formulated to address the issue of specifying the forms of mediation between the state, industrial capitalists and labour through an analysis of the history of maximum hours, minimum wage, and workmen's compensation legislation in Ontario between 1900 and 1939. These areas of legislation were chosen because of their significance, for both capitalists and workers; they represent a potential drain on accumulated surplus for owners of capital and a potential improvement in subsistence and working conditions for labour. The development of legislation in each of these areas thus provided a focus for examining relations between owners of industrial capital, wage labour, and the state. The major sources of data for the primary analysis covering the period from 1900 to 1939 consisted of private papers, published and unpublished government documents located in the Public Archives of Ontario and the Public Archives of Canada, labour newspapers, and the journal of the Canadian Manufacturers' Association. The analysis of relations between workers, employers, and the state around limitations on working hours, minimum wage regulation, and the establishment of a workmen's compensation program identifies a number of modes by which capitalist domination in the workplace is mediated to the level of political relations. These modes of mediation function through mutually reinforcing economic, political and ideological forms and have as their primary effect the frustration of the political organization of labour as a class. Capitalist modes of mediation are parallelled and supported by the modes of mediation adopted by the state in its role of managing class relations. In the process of the development of the areas of legislation which are the focus of this study, the state functioned to maintain the hegemony of capitalist social relations of production by transforming the economic class struggle and processing labour demands in such a way that subsequent state policy and structure were guided in the direction of comparability with prevailing class relations of domination and subordination.

Throughout its history the Newfoundland Federation of Labour has pursued two primary goals - to spread trade union organization and to lobby government to adopt legislation favourable to the interests of working people. The degree to which the Federation has been successful has depended upon the quality and dedication of its leadership, economic conditions and the willingness of government to be influenced. An unstable, rural economy delayed the emergence of a Newfoundland Labour Movement until the mid-1930s. Once it did emerge, however, Newfoundland workers responded enthusiastically. The NFL's founding meeting in 1937 at Grand Falls was followed by a country-wide organizing drive. Despite a six year lull caused by World War II, by the late 1940s the Newfoundland labour force was the most highly operated in North America. Unlike their counterparts in Britain, however, Newfoundland trade unionists were unable to translate their numerical strength into political power. The explanation lies in a combination of the NFL's relationship to sections of the North American Labour Movement opposed to direct political action, divisions within the Newfoundland Labour Movement, and a set of political circumstances unique to Newfoundland. -- Although the NFL was a national labour central until Confederation with Canada in 1949, it was dominated by unions affiliated to the American Federation of Labour. The AFL's opposition to direct political action is well documented. However, in a country with strong ties to Great Britain the success of the British Labour Party provided an alternate model. Even so, there were only two serious attempts between 1937 and 1963 to emulate British practice. For the most part the NFL was less "political" than even the AFL. Initially this was because from 1933 to 1949 Newfoundland was governed by a commission of civil servants appointed by Britain. In a country without a system of electoral politics, direct political action did not seem a pressing concern. When electoral politics were restored and J.R. Smallwood became premier of Canada's tenth province, Smallwood granted the NFL almost every request it made for legislative reform. As a result the NFL saw no need to develop an independent political base in order to guarantee its influence with government. The fault with this approach was demonstrated during the IWA Strike of 1959. Smallwood suddenly turned against the Federation and without a political base of its own the NFL was powerless to protect the interests of Labour. Smallwood's subsequent attacks on the NFL sent it into a ten year period of decline; however, it is the thesis of this dissertation that the NFL's failure to give sufficient weight to the changed environment brought about by the return to electoral politics was as much the cause of its decline as any external factor.

This thesis deals with the working class of two advanced capitalist countries and focuses upon ideological conflict within working class organizations such as trade unions and political parties. The outcome of such conflicts within working class organizations is considered to be an expression of the state of working class consciousness at a given time. Within this broad context particular attention is paid to the ideology of social democracy which has been dominant in working class organizations in both countries during the modern period albeit to different degrees. The thesis uses a comparative approach and pays considerable attention to the interaction between the working class and its societal environment- the political economies of the two countries, the activities of the capitalist class and the impact of its ideology upon the working class. Using this approach the thesis deals with the emergence of social democracy as the hegemonic working class ideology, its main features particularly as they were developed in the post-war period, the emergence of possible contradictions between social democratic parties and ideology, and their working class supporters, and, utilizing an historical analysis of previous ideological shifts in working class organisations, the possibility of social democracy being superceded in its hegemonic role is considered. In dealing with such matters the issues of nationalization and incomes policies were judged to be especially salient and are discussed in some detail. In the course of this study theories which posited an end to ideological conflict in the advanced capitalist societies are considered and rejected. The past, present and future of social democracy, of ideological conflict, and of the working class itself, was found to be considerably more dynamic, complex and open to change than such theories had imagined.