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The thesis addresses the problem of Arthur W. Puttee's 1918 breach with the Winnipeg Trades and Labor Council after twenty years of work within the labour move¡ent as a journalist and politician. The breach is accounted for through an exploration of the ideology that underlay his political decisions. Structured biographically, the thesis uses various primary sources, most notably Puttee's weekly newspaper, the Voice, and his speeches as a labour member of parliament, to trace a continuity in his beliefs from the beginning of his career in the 1890s to its end in 1918. The concept of "labourism", recently elaborated by Craig Heron to describe the ideology of Canadian craftsworkers who worked for independent political action by labour, is used to characterize Puttee's beliefs. The study reveals a central contradiction in Puttee's labourism. He challenged many aspects of the emerging system of monopoly capitalism and demanded for labour the right as producers of wealth to full democratic representation in government. He was opposed to monopoly, the crude exploitation of workers, and government by "special interests" rather than the "people". But Puttee had no systematic critique of capitalist social relations and believed that labour constituted only onè segment of a businessmen, and "fair" employers. He viewed the state as ideally the instrument for the will of the "people" and the defender of the "public'' interest. This contradiction in Puttee's beliefs became most apparent in the radicalized labour atmosphere of 1918, when, as a labour member of Winnipeg City Council, he opposed a general strike of unionized city workers in the name of the broader public interest he sought to represent broader community of producers that included farmers, small
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The Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor was the most significant labor organization in nineteenth century North America. Part trade union, part social reform movement, the Knights organized hundreds of thousands of workers across the continent, and initiated countless major strikes, particularly during the 1880's. The Knights were the first major union to attempt to make unions accessible to a broad range of workers. At a time when most unions were the preserve of highly skilled, white, male workers, the Knights organized blacks, some immigrants and women. This thesis examines the relationship between women and the Knights of Labor in Ontario in the 1880's. The Knights organized women workers, and they also supported an impressive 'feminist' platform of social reform. They endorsed every major feminist demand in the nineteenth century, from suffrage to temperance to equal pay. In Canada, they campaigned successfully for the first sexual harassment legislation. This platform is particularly significant when set next to prevailing restrictive notions of femininity and 'true womanhood'. Yet the Knights were also a male dominated organization. While the 'space' they opened for working class women was important, it was not without its own set of limitations and restrictions. Within the context of contemporary debates about the intersections of class and gender, this thesis examines the contradictions and tension in the Order's feminist ideology.
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This thesis examines textile workers, unions and their strikes at Cornwall, Sherbrooke and St. Gregoire de Montmorency from 1936 to 1939. Via a community study approach, several themes important to textile unionism in particular and industrial unionism in general will be covered. All three places were mill towns. How did this affect political, financial and moral support? How did the corporate structure of the firms involved influence the outcome of the strikes? Were there differences between workers in terms of militancy and their reactions to unionism? What was the role of women at the rank-and-file and leadership levels in the union? --Excerpt.
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This thesis is a case study of the Solidarity Coalition, a social protest movement which united labour and community groups In opposition to right-wing restraint legislation. It considers why this unprecedented extra parliamentary force failed to persuade the government to withdraw the offending legislation and attempts to explain the dominance of the labour agenda in the modest successes it did achieve. Interviews with participants in the Coalition and other significant political actors provide the information used in the analysis of this protest phenomena. The thesis incorporates a detailed study of the evolution of the Coalition and its organizational structure and Internal processes within the context of the larger political system and with reference to theoretical literature concerning protest movements. I argue that the emergence of the Coalition as a diverse and broad based movement in reaction to a right wing attack on the social contract is predictable, however, the outcomes of the protest action are less so. Analysis of the Coalition suggests that organizational contradictions within its structure, external and unforseen circumstances, and the strength of government intransigence were influential factors shaping both the development of the protest movement and the outcomes of its actions. The commitment to common cause, fuelled by moral outrage and espoused by labour and community groups, was not sufficient to withstand the divisive tendencies inherent in the structure of the Coalition, or the Inertia that must be overcome by large groups to achieve collective goods. Labour proved to be the more powerful actor within the Coalition due to its financial and organizational resources and its significant noticeabilIty factor as a member of the CoalItion. I argue that consistent with the theory of the logic of collective action that the labour agenda eventually dominated within the Coalition, influencing the parameters of the settlement achieved, and in part, accounting for the failure of the Coalition to meet Its collective goal of withdrawal of the restraint legislation.