Labour and Politics in Industrial Cape Breton, 1930
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I Radicalism in Decline: Labour and Politics in Industrial Cape Breton, 1930 — 1950 by Michael Earle Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree oi: Doctor of Philosophy at Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia December, 1990 f?) Copyright by Michael Earle, 1990 I National Library Bibliotheque nationale l+l of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Direction des acquisitions et Bibliographic Services Branch des services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa (Ontario) K1A0N4 K1A0N4 'four lite Voire rilirence Our tile Notre reference The author has granted an Uauteur a accorde une licence irrevocable non-exclusive licence irrevocable et non exclusive allowing the National Library of permettant a la Bibliotheque Canada to reproduce, loan, nationale du Canada de distribute or sell copies of reproduire, prefer, distribuer ou his/her thesis by any means and vendre des copies de sa these in any form or format, making de quelque maniere et sous tnis thesis available to interested quelque forme que ce soit pour persons. mettre des exemplaires de cette these a la disposition des personnes interessees. The author retains ownership of L'auteur conserve la propriete du the copyright in his/her thesis. droit d'auteur qui protege sa Neither the theses nor substantial these. Ni la these ni des extraits extracts from it may be printed or substantiels de celle-ci ne otherwise reproduced without doivent etre imprimes ou his/her permission. autrement reproduits sans son autorisation. ISBN 0-612-15866-7 Canada n TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents iv Abstract v Abbreviations vi Acknowledgements vii Introduction 1 Chapter One: Radical PoJitics in Cape Breton Communities, 1930-5. 30 Chapter Two: The Communist Party and the Coal Miners, 1930-6. 66 Chapter Three: The United Front in Cape Breton, 1936-9. 119 Chapter Four: The Miners' Slowdown of 1941. J 57 Chapter Five: The Building of a Steel Union Local, 1935-46. 222 Chapter Six: The Miners, Mechanization, and the 1947 Strike. 292 Chapter Seven: The CCF in Triumph and Decline, 1940-6. 353 Chapter Eight: An Epilogue to Radicalism, 1949-50. 410 Conclusion 443 Appendices: A: District 26 Votes on Contracts, 1930-50. 450 B: District 26 Elections, 1930-50. 456 C: Local 1064 Officers Elected, 1937-50. 469 D: Wartime Wildcat Strikes, Glace Bay and New Waterford Mines. 472 Bibliography 473 iv I ii id ABSTRACT Cape Breton, the site of major strikes during the 1920s, remained a hotbed of political radicalism and trade union militancy for many years. In the early 1930s the Communist Party had considerable influence, and most of the coal miners joined the Amalgamated Mine Workers of Nova Scotia, a CP-led breakaway from the United Mine Workers of America. Ideological opposition to the communists was spearheaded by the Catholic-inspired Antigonish Co-operative Movement, but this did not prevent the communist leader, J.B. McLacblan, from getting substantial votes in elections. The change of communist policy to the "united front" weakened the party's influence, although communists and the officers of the re united miners' union were able to help the Sydney steelworkers finally establish a union, and to successfully press the provincial government to pass the 1937 Trade Union Act. Left and right in Cape Breton were also able to work together during the 1937 provincial election- The unity line of the communists, along with the impact if the Antigonish movement on Catholic voters, prepared the way for the UMW affiliation to the CCF in 19 38, and during the war CCFers won the local seats in both the federal and provincial legislatures. However, the CCF could never win elections elsewhere in the Maritimes, and the move of CCF policies to the right in the post-war years only servad to gradually undermine its support in Cape Breton. In the UMW the dissatisfaction of the miners with their bureaucratic officers brought about the 1941 slowdown, one of the most costly wartime industrial disputes, and productivity fell. The union policies advocated by the CCF i(and the C? during the war)i, helped end opposition to the mechanization of the mines. Following defeat in the 19(47 strike, the miners had to accept modernization on the company's terms, although this meant the loss of jobs. The steelworkers1 union won a national strike in 1946, but thereafter was unable to hold wage rates for Sydney at a level equal to those paid in Ontario steel plants. The militancy and radicalism of the miners and steelworkers of earlier years had almost completely disappeared by 1950. Dramatic anti-communist episodes in both the steelworkers' and miners' unions in the 1949-50 period marked the triumph of union bureaucrats and Cold War politicians over radicalism in Cape Breton. v • ABBREVIATIONS ACCL All Canadian Congress of Labour AFL American Federation of Labor AMW Amalgamated Mine Workers of Nova Scotia CBLC Cape Breton Labour Council CBTLC Cape Breton Trades and Labour Council CCF Cooperative Commonwealth Federation CLDL Canadian Labour Defence League CPC or CP Communist Party of Canada CIO Committee for Industrial Organization (later Congress of Industrial Organizations) GWU General Workers Union ILP Independent Labour Party LPP Labour-Progressive Party MWIUNS Mine Workers Industrial Union of Nova Scotia MWUC Mine Workers Union of Canada NAC National Archives of Canada OBU One Big Union PANS Public Archives of Nova Scotia PWA Provincial Workmen's Association SWOC Steel Workers Organizing Campaign TLC Trades and Labour Congress TUEL Trade Union Education League TUUL Trade Union Unity League UMW United Mine Workers of America USWA United Steelworkers of Americe WUL Workers' Unity League I I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the preparation of this thesis I have received encouragement and practical assistance from too many people to attempt to list them all The staffs of the Beaton Institute, the Public Archives of Nova Scotia, and the National Archives of Canada were all extremely helpful. The faculty and the office staff at the History Department of Dalhousie University were unfailingly willing to give assistance. I also drew much in encouragement and ideas from my fellow graduate students at Dalhousie. A particular word of thanks is owed to my thesis advisor, Dr. Ruth Bleasdale, whose many suggestions and constructive criticisms added much to this work. All responsibility for errors or weakness of interpretation in this thesis is my own. a i I Introduction Canadian history provides few examples of sharp class conflict to match the record of industrial Cape Breton in the first half of this century. The coal miners, in particular, displayed great militancy in their numerous strikes, and frequently showed themselves willing to support radical political theories and policies. This included widespread backinj for the Communist Party (CP) in some periods, and for the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) at other times. Workinj-class radicalism of tnis type has been rare among Canadian workers. If nothinj else, the history of Cape Breton shows that such radicalism was possible for a sizeable group of native- born workers in what has generally been regarded as the most conservative part of the country, the Maritime .Provinces. This thesis takes up the story of Cape Breton labour politics in the 1930s when the Communist Party had a considerable influence in the area. The theme of this study is the process whereby the local radicalism and union militancy was contained and controlled, and then gradually transformed into political behaviour and ideology acceptable to mainstream capitalist society. Changes in the economy and in the technology at the workplace played an important part in this political transformation, but the emphasis here is on the 1 */- h 2 ideological contention between representatives of different political outlooks aimed at winning influence among the workers. Implicit in this approach is the view that important political changes came from conscious choices made by workers themselves. More precisely, this refers to the options chosen by the politically active layer of working-class men and women out of the range of alternatives made available to them. In most times and places, the inventory of political options accessible to the majority of people is narrow. Some concepts do not provide practical options because indoctrination against them renders them unthinkable, because they appear to have no possible chance of winning wide support and hence have no viability, or simply because there are no articulate spokespersons for them. Nonetheless, the choices made by the people themselves do matter, not least because they tend to widen or constrict future alternatives. With these considerations in mind, the central argument presented in this thesis is that political changes in the Cape Breton union movement in the late 1930s mainly resulted from policies initiated by the Communist Party, but led to a weakening of the communist influence and the triumph of the CCF and "business" unionism in Cape Breton. Once they had become predominant in labour politics in the area, the moderate CCF and union leaders discouraged rather than nurtured the spontaneous w I 3 rebelliousness of the workers, the base from which radicalism had grown. By the years following the Second World War, therefore, Cape Breton radicalism had been greatly diminished. While much attention is paid in this thesis to the changing support given to the Communist Party, the point is not that the party's policies were invariably radical or revolutionary, or that only party members upheld a sincerely radical or socialist viewpoint. During a few war years the CCF policies seemed at least as radical as those of the communists. For most of the period, however, the CP gave the most consistently radical leadership, and usually backed militant union policies. The growth and decline of Communist Party support in Cape Breton, therefore, was closely linked to the rise and fall of radical ideas and union militancy among the workers.