The readings of the week focused on themes of frontier living, homogeneity versus individualism, Communism/socialism versus capitalism, man versus woman, and white versus coloured. Frontier Labourers spoke of the rough shared identity that was growing among the working class as just that, being a member of the working class. Though there were many differences between members of different fields, there was a mutual feeling that they were not being compensated enough for their labour. The article provides number to prove that more homogenous groups of workers were more radical in their beliefs than diverse groups of workers. The Fisheries paper backs this up with there being ‘men’ spheres and ‘women’ spheres of work. When women were working in a traditionally male field, or even just in the same factory or place or work, the men would blame the women for their poor fortune instead of their employer. The same goes for when any person of colour or different ethnicity than Anglo-Saxon was working in the same facility. While Labour Unions could be a powerful tool the workers could use, the Labour Movements paper suggests that Canadian unions held no real power, certainly not compared to British or American unions. This sense of being just another cog in the machine lead many to seek some way of self expression, of individuality. Canadian Consumer Identity speaks of methods consumers of the time used to seek out individuality when anything they could buy was a mass produced item. The articles all give valuable insight into the time period and the gender roles, prejudices, and beliefs of the era.
References:
Donica Belisle, “Toward a Canadian Consumer History,” Labour/Le Travail, 52 (Fall 2003),181-206.
James R. Conley, “Frontier Labourers, Crafts in Crisis and the Western Labour Revolt: The Case of Vancouver, 1900-1919,” LabourlU Travail, 23 (Spring 1989), 9-37.
Miriam Wright, “Young Men and Technology: Government Attempts to Create a ‘Modern’ Fisheries Workforce in Newfoundland, 1949-1970,” Labour/Le Travail, 42 (Fall 1998), 143-59.
R. H. Coats. “The Labour Movement in Canada.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 107 (1923): 282-85. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.tru.ca/stable/1014726.
