History of Canadian Labor - Essay Example

History of Canadian Labor Incepted in 1869 by Philadelphia garment cutters, the Knights of Labor was one of the prominent labor reformist organizations in the late nineteenth century. The main objective of this secret organization was to launch a campaign for cooperation and education among the working class fraternity, without gender or racial bias. Fifty years later, the Labor revolt in 1919 marked out the dawn of a new era in the history of Canada. With the onset of spring, the residents of Winnipeg saw an unprecedented instance of labor unification on matters of common interest. Historically known as The Winnipeg General Strike, this unrest paralyzed both the public and private sectors, including banks, mail and food delivery system, telephones, newspapers, water supply and so on. Triggered by a conflict between metal workers and their bosses, the agitation rapidly spread throughout the city's working class. This essay is going to trace the growth and development of the working class people in the history of Canada between 1880 and 1920. A thorough assessment of the period will be made with regards to simultaneous union and splitting of the working class on the basis of race, gender, region and skills. The Knights of Labor made their presence felt by uniting workers of different types. Gradually the organization spread its control over small towns and villages. It was in 1881 when Hamilton became one of the strongholds of the labor organization, followed by Qubec and BC, Nova Scotia and Manitoba. The local neighboring areas of New Brunswick and Alberta were also parts of the 450 local assemblies across Canada. Labor politics rose to prominence as the Knights of Labor reform group coordinated and controlled the Trades and Labor Congress of Canada. The self-governing labor political campaign, which played a crucial role in terms of growth and development of working class militancy in Canada in the end of the nineteenth century, led to parliamentary lobbying, thus bringing the most pertinent issues of the working class before political and administrative authorities. The fundamental rights of the working class people were brought to notice through intensive campaigning and follow-up mechanisms. The dedication of the Knights leaders and more importantly, the spontaneous participation of labors from all areas of manual works helped enormously to turn the campaign into a success story. The Knights approached Ontario and the West in 1886, but the major success as far as voicing peoples' rights and demands is concerned came in Qubec and Ottawa in the 1890s. The development of working class unions in Canada prior to the World War II hastened up when the Knights of Labor organization was forced out on the ground of duality from the TLC at Berlin in 1902. The influence of the Knights of Labor on the working class did not concern just the idea of making unions, but the intent to curb the monopoly and exploitation of the contemporary capitalist social structure by developing alternatives based on equality and justice. To expatiate furthermore on the thesis topic in hand, one needs to gain a clear insight on the value of skilled labors. In any society, skilled labors do have an upper hand over incompetent labors. The age of rapid spread in industrialization necessitated deployment of efficient labors to maximize output in factories. During the span of forty years from 1880 to 1920, the working class fraternity of Canada orchestrated community business to maximize production. In Toronto, skilled and experienced craftsmen exercised far greater control over their employers in terms of production. The individual as well as collective discipline of veteran labors was considered to be an asset in Canada in those times. The labor unions in Toronto and other places acted forthrightly on choosing the right people for the right cause. But when the industrial capitalization threatened to disturb the balance of the working class society, a protest movement was on the cards. By and large, the working class fraternity was habituated with the pre-industrialization work ethics and ethno-cultural sentiments. It was difficult for them to accept open-heartedly the 'new rules of the game' projected through the new market economy. (MacDowell 53) This statement can be verified from another perspective. As observed by David Montgomery, the residual values left from pre-industrial cultural notions held back the labors to get acclimatized to the emerging capitalist setup. The history of Canadian labor in late nineteenth and early twentieth century shows that the trends of capitalism involved persistent opposition and struggle. Keeping this view in the forefront of analysis, one can justify the importance of unions and their contribution to the overall progress of the labor class. Besides, trade unions also ensured that all rights and demands of the workers were met justly and transparently. It has always been a major problem in many nations, especially those that thrive in industrial benefits, to provide a healthy living environment for the working class people. Discrepancies in the disbursement of wages and inconsistent hours of work have been the two primary areas of concern for industrial labors. The Knights of Labor dealt with these issues credibly. Apart from regulating the wage and working hour related issues, the union also interfered into personal decisions of the labors. Apprenticeship rules and union cards were enforced stringently. But the most important achievement, something that would later on prove to be the reason for class division, was the ethical code of the craftsmen. Skilled labors used to carry themselves in a superior manner, never giving up their self-respect or dignity. The concept of identification of 'class' first emerged in the labor-driven society of Canada in the late nineteenth century with the marching of the Salvation Army in 1883. Bulk of the participants in the prayer meetings of the Salvation Army belonged to the working class. But most of them joined the Knights of Labor in 1887 and declared strikes to immobilize production in places such as Kingston's Victoria Foundry, the cotton mill and the Locomotive Works. However, the fact remains that both the Salvation Army and the Knights of Labor attracted the working class of Canada, especially that of Ontario. It won't be an overstatement to suggest that the revolutionary approaches of the Salvation Army and the organizational methodologies of the Knights of Labor shaped the working class lives of Canada. The age of industrialization was preceded by the most significant decade of the 1880s that saw forming of unions in Canada. (MacDowell 78) Organizational aspects of the labor unions and the job opportunities for the immigrants from countries like Japan, India and China are elucidated by Gillian Creese. The Pacific coast of Canada, due to its easy accessibility, pulled in male workers from the eastern world nations. These workers used to get job opportunities in mining, construction, lumbering and domestic jobs. But in British Columbia, white workers' agencies demanded for the expulsion of the Asians on the ground of their radical nature. This demand was later on proved to be correct as numerous Asian workers joined the extremist revolt in Winnipeg. Commonly referred to as the 'Oriental Problem', Asian workers' active involvement in working class militancy is empirically supported by Creese. (Creese 24-51) The distinctive identity of Quebec as a troublemaker is thoroughly discussed by one of the French-Canadian professors, Susan Mann Trofimenkoff. She has used her chosen domains of expertise to trace the growth and development of nationalist viewpoints, feminist and labor unrests in Quebec. She delves deep into the different visions held by the English speaking and the French speaking demographics of Canada, and discusses Quebec's life and society during the days of labor reform movements in the light of feminism. Mention of women workers also appear in her book. (Trofimenkoff et al. 16). One can get an originally conceived idea related to the labor unrest in 1919 from the readings of David Schulze. His essay on the relationship between the unemployed and immigrants provides a concrete research provision for the learners. Talking of immigrants coming to Canada in search of employment in the organized labor class sectors and it might be noted that majority of them, according to Schulze, are "unskilled, migrant, employed in seasonal, labour-intensive industries, who were ignored by the craft unions and too transient to be easy converts to Socialist parliamentarianism". (Schulz 48) Gender specification was already there as majority of women workers were not included in the union movements because of their (women's) preferences not to work in male-dominated, cigar-smoking environment of union rooms. Women workers were appointed in household jobs, garment industries and stores. Moreover, the expansion of banks and insurance companies gave the womenfolk better options to choose their career path. These private service sectors offered bigger remuneration as well as respectable social standings that were missing in factories. Majority of the white, Canadian women availed themselves of lucrative jobs in private sectors. (MacDowell 150) Lack of available resources to study the place of women in the Canadian history of labor, especially the history of women involvement in Winnipeg General Strike is often attributed to the reluctance of the conventional historians to include women in historical researches. According to Gerda Lerner, one of the founding members of women's history, this kind of ignorance only results in scarcity of sources. Now to assess the role of women in Winnipeg General Strike, historians have strived arduously to find credible resources, including the Winnipeg Tribune, the Telegram, the Citizen and the special strike edition named Western Labor New. All these sources being newspapers from the time of the unrest, one can completely depend on the authenticity of the information. A close study of the sources shows that women played various roles in the strike, including rioters, scabs, strikers and terrorists. Besides, the Winnipeg general sympathetic strike in 1919 was crowded with women; they rallied as mothers, daughters, sisters and wives. Helen Armstrong, or as popularly known as mother of four children and a working class housewife, acted as a revered women leader in the Winnipeg General Strike. All along the revolt she maintained her composure and raised the issues of working girls and women. She used to see herself as the labor planner. In the beginning of the twentieth century, many workers joined the new industrial unions that voiced their demands more productively than the older ones. Some union leaders planned to amass as many labors as possible so that assaults can be unleashed on the capitalist sectors. Textile and clothing workers, coalminers and a few other sections from the labor class got involved in some of the longest strikes in the Canadian history. Due to the multiple divisions of the labor unions, employers found it relatively easier to deal with such strikes. Many unions were blacklisted and special armed task forces were deployed to control the growing unrest. By the time of the World War I, working class divisions based on skill, race, ethnicity and gender became apparent, and this issue went out of labor unions' control. It was evident from the turn of the century that the working class unions in Canada were about to face ideological differences in terms of occupation, locality, industry, race, ethnicity and gender. (Heron 29) In many cities, both union leaders and labors were white, male, Anglophone and francophone Canadians. A less radical approach of gaining labor solidarity was adapted by unionists in Quebec, but it eventually failed to produce the intended result. (Heron 28) Labors were divided furthermore with the onset of the war. Politics of the state got detached from the internal industrial conflicts and hence, laborism and socialism - two ideological schools of thought emerged, but only to oppose each other. In the wake of an upsurge of working class militancy during this period, the first instance of a collective working-class response to the issues at hand occurred when the Trades and Labor Congress of Canada interfered at the national level. Top union leaders were asked to abide by the political agenda of keeping the militant labor force under control. Labor officials consented to the government's words of commitment that the most prioritized industrial challenges would be taken care of. Working class militancy was at its extreme in two of the most profitable sectors - shipbuilding and coalmining. Frequent strikes and violence would break out at slightest provocation or no provocation at all. The Congress leaders acted upon promptly to prevent strikes so that the production wings do not get completely immobilized. In order to find an empirical support, it must be mentioned in this regard that a national strike of thirty thousand railway shop workers was avoided by a narrow margin. The federal government also came forward to assist the Congress in curbing working class militancy that ran rampant in the Nova Scotia Steel industry in 1918. In the same year, AFL President Sam Gompers and Secretary Frank Morrison were summoned by Gideon Robertson to prevent halt in work at the Cape Breton coal miners and British Columbia shipbuilders and electrical labors. From a broader perspective, the working class militancy that was generated from a loss of faith and hope assumed an international dimension between 1917 and 1920. The working class militancy in the history of Canadian labor has always been a subject of much controversy among historians. Going back to the 1880s, the degree and extremism of working class militancy was far more moderate than what was to be seen during the labor unrest period mentioned earlier in this essay. In the 1880s, the role of socialists in fuelling the labor movements is a commonly cited debatable issue. According to a particular school of thought, it was the leftist labor union the One Big Union (OBU) that provoked the displeased workers to resort to extreme measures. It has been vociferously argued among historians that whether such extremism at all helped the cause of the labors or not. Had they stuck to a more reticent behavioral approach and followed the conventional labor organizations, they could have gained more in terms of social stability and wages. Any form of radicalism doesn't fetch productive results in the longer run and OBU's socialist leadership eventually failed to control the rising militancy that was ingrained in restless labors. Another contentious issue concerns the distribution of working class people across the country. Many West Canadian historians opine that labor militancy was much more apparent west of the Lakehead. The probable reason behind this has been speculated that the wild environment in the west of the Lakehead indirectly instigated the labors to go extreme. Again, many eastern writers and scholars argue that both the pre and post war revolts were uneven in nature. These revolts occurred is isolated parts rather than assuming a national dimension. Different provisions in political economy, social system and localized cultural aspects are held responsible for the irregular patterns of working class radicalism. (Heron 6) Taking into account the difference of opinion among scholars and historians, it has to be said that during the span of forty years from 1880 to 1920, the working class militancy is arguably one of the most remarkable episodes not just in the history of Canada, but also in international history. The long-term implications of the labor movements, however, are more well-defined. The primary outcome of analytical studies suggests that the working class militancy ultimately paved the path for communism and social democracy. Communists have often attempted to denigrate the immaturity of a radical movement. (Heron 7) The overall picture of the Canadian working class from 1880 to 1920 gives a mixed impression to any observer. At some points, growth and developments were worth the effort put in by the craftsmen who, skilled as they were, also worked under many special privileges. Besides, the Knights of Labor and the Salvation Army were two main organizations where labors could place their demands. But the divisions of labor unions into numerous small ones, onset of the World War II, frequent strikes and other immobilizing measures taken by dissatisfied labor militants and political intervention made the position of the labors precarious. If perceived from a neutral point of view without the communist perspective, it can be said that the extremism of the unrest led to its own undoing. The prospective individual as well as collective development of industries became stifled to a great extent during the Canadian labor unrest. Work Cited Creese, Gillian. Expulsion or Solidarity Vancouver Workers Confront the "Oriental Problem". BC Studies 80 (1988): 24-51. Heron, Craig. The Workers' Revolt in Canada, 1917-1925. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998. MacDowell, Laurel Sefton. Canadian Working-class History: Selected Readings. Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press, 2006. Schulze, David. The Industrial Workers of the World and the Unemployed in Edmonton and Calgary in the Depression of 1913-19. Labour/Le Travail, 25 (Spring 1990), 48. Trofimenkoff Susan Mann, and Susan Mann. The Dream of Nation: A Social and Intellectual History of Quebec. Canada: Macmillan of Canada, 1982. Read More