Worker’s Control on the Railroad: A Practical Example ‘Right under Your Nose’ by R.E. (Lefty) Morgan (review)

530 The Canadian Historical Review Bell closes his book with a five-page 'general theory of social movements ' that he claims is warranted by his analysis of Social Credit in Alberta. His earlier empirical analysis demonstrated the importance of carefully handling historical ecological data for analysis of class voting. But in attempting to ride this empirical foundation to compelling theoretical victory, Bell unwittingly proves that the 'conventional wisdom' about Alberta Social Credit is a far more complex and subtle adversary than an author with one big idea can effectively lasso. DAVID IAYCOCK Simon Fraser University Worker's Control on the Railroad: A Practical Example 'Right under Your Nose' R.E. (LEFTY) MORGAN. Edited by G.R. POOL and D.J. YOUNG. St John's: Canadian Committee on Labour History 1995· Pp. 203. $19.95 During the 1960s, railroad engineer R.E. (Lefty) Morgan wrote an extended work on job democracy in the running trades, in part during an enforced layoff while awaiting the decision of an arbitration board on a grievance with his employer, the Pacific Great Eastern Railway Company (PGE). His treatise, originally circulated in lithograph form, is now published with an extended title, helpful notes that decode the technical argot that studs almost every page, and a lengthy introduction by anthropologists G.R. Pool and D.J. Young. That Morgan had academic interests and skills unusual for a 'hoghead' (engineer) is evident from the first pages of the work, replete with reference footnotes. Clearly, this 'organic' intellectual (47) took his membership in the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association seriously. He presented an extract from this work to the Learneds in 1977, and it has been reprinted in Labour/Le Travail. In this examination ofthe running trades, Morgan juxtaposes top-down rules with (less clearly) on-the-job experience. He contends that the train crews' vaunted independence in organizing and carrying out work is 'practical' - humane and ultimately profitable for both workers and management. The editors justify the publication of the manuscript in part by suggesting that it presents a 'detailed description of train crew operations ' (34). It does not. Instead, Morgan offers 'a model or ideal type ... only loosely tied to time and place' (50). To support his argument, the author invites the reader to 'consider the whole history of railroading in North America and the attitudes of the men toward the job in olden days as well as today' (53). The notes reveal that Morgan draws many of his examples from three earlier studies on the topic. Indeed, some of his quotations of early journals ofthe running trades come from one of Book Reviews 531 these works, The Locomotive Engineer (1963), by R.C. Richardson, without acknowledgment. 'DJ.is uncharitable observation leads to an important question: How much and what kind of information was available during the 1960s to a railroader who probably did not have regular access to a major library? 'Die author's surviving papers, which the editors use to review his political and intellectual development from the 1930s through the 1960s, invite more speculation on his library and reading patterns. · Pool and Young should have provided more of the 'historical perspective' that, they declare, is necessary to interpret the work (34). Perhaps unconsciously, Morgan.reflects the most dramatic change in the running trades in the two decades after the war by sometimes describing train crews with a complement of five (steam), and sometimes three (diesel), an inconsistency the editors note but do not explore. While they acknowledge that this treatise rests on Morgan's own work experience, Pool and Young omit a detailed review ofhis rise through the ranks ofthe PGE, and rush past the circumstances that led to his layoff. 'Die most perceptive appraisal of the author as engineer appears in a short preface by a fellow trainman, who was initially put off by Morgan's bookish manner. How often did Morgan rack up 'brownies' (management demerit points for infractions), how did he grieve the layoff that was imposed for a series of these infractions, and on what ground was the case decided in his favour? Surely these matters affected, if not determined, the author's thesis. The grievance documents apparently survive, and...