On the Side of the People: A History of Labour in Saskatchewan (review)

For what has largely been a province of individual agricultural producers, Saskatchewan has a great deal of labour history. The Estevan strike of 1931 that saw three miners shot dead by the rcmp, the 'Regina Riot' that ended the On-to-Ottawa Trek, the ccf's Trade Union Act of 1944 that gave public sector workers union rights for the first time, and even the innovative health and safety legislation of the 1970s, are all staples of Canadian working-class history. But, as this engaging volume demonstrates, these events are rooted in a long history of wage labour in Saskatchewan that dates from the first arrival of Europeans. On the Side of the People can be read, in fact, as a working-class history of Saskatchewan.

The authors have made every effort to be inclusive, from the initial discussions of the working lives of servants of the Hudson's Bay Company in the late eighteenth century to the difficulties experienced by the labour movement in addressing the needs of Aboriginal people and of youth in the twenty-first century. Not surprisingly, as a survey history built mostly upon secondary material, there are distinct strengths and weaknesses in the narrative, compounded by the project's long gestation. Fundraising and organizing the research, writing, editing, and design of the volume was the work of many individuals and groups, over very many years. Some of the earlier chapters especially could be more historiographically current by including, for instance, Edith Burley's study of fur trade labour. Similarly, the authors' insistence that the post–First World War labour revolt was entirely a syndicalist moment is a view not shared by current historians who reference the complexity of this moment in Canadian history. Syndicalism implies a turn away from 'political action,' whereas there was a range of electoral activity at this time. This included, as the authors acknowledge, some significant municipal successes and a fairly strong federal showing by James Somerville in Moose Jaw. Without discounting a syndicalist element, workers more broadly were chafing at the constraints of craft unionism and demanding a political voice. These were sentiments that would persist in Saskatchewan's labour history.

More attention to workers' voices in this earlier period could have informed the important shifts of the 1930s. The rapid emergence of a new industrial union movement and, of course, the successful development of labour political movements that coalesced, largely, in the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, have roots that are not sufficiently explained. On the other hand, the important developments of the 1930s and 1940s – the role of the Communists, the emergence of the Canadian Congress of Labour, and the relationship of the labour movement to the ccf government – are all intelligently explored. But it is in the presentation of developments since 1964 that Warren and Carlisle make the greatest contribution. These are framed as struggles to retain and build upon the legacy of the Tommy Douglas government in the face of labour's enemies and putative friends. The tension with the Thatcher and Devine governments was predictable, but the growing animosity between labour and ndp governments was less so. Given that this volume carries the imprimatur of the province's unions, this is a revealing and careful discussion. Labour's complaints are well documented and, at least in the case of the Blakeney government, the former premier was allowed to respond. Perhaps it is a sign of even greater frustrations with subsequent ndp governments that no similar privileges were awarded by the authors.

Growing workplace and political challenges led, of course, to considerable debate among organized Saskatchewan workers, much of it well described here. It is surprising, then, that the authors conclude by criticizing historians for emphasizing labour's ideological divisions. Their point that 'there has always been far more that unites the labour movement than divides it' is well taken. However, the outcomes of the often sharp...