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CRAIG HERON and BRYAN D. PALMER Through the Prism ofthe Strike: Industrial Conflict in Southern Ontario,190144 The troublewiththeheads of manyindustries isthattheybecome money madand drunkwiththepowerthatmoney brings. Theythinkthattheycandoanything and everything inahigh-handed andruthless mannerjustbecause theyhaveafatbank account andgilt-edged securities lyinginsome safety deposit vault. Whenanemployer getsthatnotionintohisheadheisalmost shaking handswith disaster. It isapurelyselfish ideaandismainlyresponsible for strikes. It istheunbusiness-like attitudethatproduces unrestamongthetoilers.It isthe tidalwavethatwillsome dayengulfthegreedy,grasping andgloating galoots who thinktheycandoastheylikebecause theyhappentoberichandpowerful. The wormalways turnsonmenlikethat.• THISOUTBURST fromtheBobcaygeon Independent in •913 reflected a marked upswingin industrialconflictwhich accompaniedthe massiveeconomic expansion in earlytwentieth-century Ontario.2 Its dramaticdescription of Wearegratefulfor thecritical comments onearlierdraftsof thispapermadebyR.C. Brown,MichaelCross, Russell Hann,GregoryS.Kealey,Ian McKay,andEdwardShorter. Whilewehavemadeeffortstoincorporate suggested revisions, some ofourcritics arelikely toremainunappeased. Theybearnoresponsibility for theshortcomings of thepaper. BryanPalmerwouldalsoliketoacknowledge theassistance of theCanadaCouncilandthe •973 LondonLabourHistoryProject. Bobcaygeon Independent, •6 May •9•3, 2,from anarticle'Oneof theCauses of Strikes,' reprintedfrom TheWindsor Record Statistical dataonnineteenth-century strikes does notexist. Comparisons between the nineteenthandearlytwentieth -century experiences aretherefore difficult,andgeneralizationdemands caution. Yetitwouldseem, onthebasis oflocal research currently inprogress, thattheyears•9o•- •4 sawworkersresorttothestrikeandemployers turntothelockout moreoftenthaninpreceding years. BryanPalmer's dissertation research onskilled workers inHamiltonintheyears•86o-•9 •4,aswellashisprevious study oftheemergence ofa labourmovement in London,Ontario,intheyears•867- •9•4 ['"Giveustheroadandwe willrunit":TheSocial andCultural MatrixofanEmerging Labour Movement,' inGregory S.Kealey andPeterWarrian,eds., Essays inCanadian Working Class History (Toronto•976), Vol.v•n No 4 December•977 424 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW the responsibility of the moneyedclassfor the conflictconveys both the characteristic toneandtheanalytical weaknesses ofthe'people's press' of the period?To gobeyondsuchgeneralized condemnation andprobedeeper into the contours and context of industrial strife, we have examined strike activitybetween•9o• and •9•4 in ten southernOntario citiesthat were emerging asmajorindustrial centres. 4In Berlin,Brantford,Guelph,Hamilton , London,NiagaraFalls,Oshawa,Peterborough, St. Catharines,and Toronto,the'toilers' andthe'greedy, grasping, andgloating galoots' clashed frequentlyafter the turn of the century.Throughan examination of this conflict,in whichthe strikeloomslarge, we canlearn much aboutclass relationships inthese earlyyears ofamaturingcentral Canadian capitalism. 5 Whatemerges clearlyfrom eventhemostsuperficial glanceatstrikeactivity in the years19o•-• 4 isthe magnitudeof the conflictbetweenlabourand capital.Stuart MarshallJamieson's portrayalof the 'relativeplacidityof labourrelations' in Ontarioduringtheseyearsseems strangely misplaced: 6 the ten citiesunder discussion experienced the traumaof 42• strikesand •o6-94], suggests this.Kealey's forthcoming dissertation ontheVictorianworkingclass in •Ibrontomakes it veryclearthatthestrikewasfrequently resorted toin theyears•86o-99, butit wasnotascommonasit wasin thislaterperiod,whenTorontoexperienced•98 such industrial conflicts. 3 Onthe'people's press' see theviewpoints inRussell Hann,'Brainworkers andtheKnights of Labor:E.E.Sheppard, Phillips Thompson,andtheTorontoNews,' inEssays inCanadian Working Class History, 35-57; P.F.W.Rutherford, 'ThePeople's Press: TheEmergence ofthe NewJournalism in Canada,•869- •899,'Canadian Historical Review, Lv•,•975, •69-9 • 4 The basic sourcefor muchof whatfollowswastheLabour Gazette. Because thispublication provides onlyanintroduction tothemanystrikes andlockouts of theperiod,andanoften inadequate oneatthat,wehavealsoturnedtonumerous locallabournewspapers, the regional Industrial Banner, andthestandard sources onCanadian tradeunionhistory and strikeactivity: Charles Lipton,TheTradeUnion Movement ofCanada, •8• 7-• 959 (Montreal •968),98- •6•; H.A. Logan,TradeUnions inCanada (Toronto•948);StuartMarshall Jamieson, Times ofTrouble :Labour Unrest andIndustrial Conflict inCanada, •9oo-• 966 (Ottawa•968),69- •57.Finally, because strikes involving national orprovincial transportationnetworks ofteninvolved cities outside oftheregionalconcerns ofthisstudy,wedidnot includethemin ourquantitative analysis of thecontours of strikeactivity. Wheresuch strikes illuminated issues of particularrelevance, however, wehaveincluded themin our impressionistic discussion ofthecontextof industrial conflict. 5 On theimportance of thehistorical studyof strikeactivity seeMichellePerrot,LesOuvriers enGr•e: France •87•-•89o ,• & • (Paris•974); PeterN. Stearns, 'MeasuringtheEvolution ofStrikeMovements,' International Review ofSocial History, x•x, •974,•- 97;EdwardShorter andCharles Tilly, Strikes inFrance, •83o-•968 (London•974);K.G.J.C.Knowles, Strikes-A Study inIndustrial Conflict (Oxford•959).PeterStearns has outlined themainfeatures of matureindustrial society: theregularization andintensification ofwork;newformsof supervision; reduction ofworking time;reduction of personal initiative onthejob;anda newinfusion oftechnological change. Asweshall see, such features weretoplayaprominentroleintheevolution of industrial unrestin thisperiod.SeePeterStearns, Lives of Labour: Work inaMaturing Industrial Society (London•975), 343. 6 Jamieson, Times ofTrouble, 85 INDUSTRIAL CONFLICT IN SOUTHERN ONTARIO •425 TABLE I The contoursof strikeactivity,19ø1--14 Number of Number of City strikes strikers Berlin 13 552 Brantford 14 715 Guelph 24 1020 Hamilton 92 11249 London 38 1650 Niagara Falls 6 1356 Oshawa 1 263 Peterborough 11 302 St Catharines 24 2346 Toronto 198 38903 To,^l•S 421 58356 Industry Building 110 23654 Metal 106 11216 Clothing 48 8675 Woodworking 33 3345 Food,Liquor,andTobacco 31 2184 Miscellaneous 27 1779...

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