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Speaking of Class in the Québec Labour Movement: Interpreting the Relationship

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Speaking of Class in the Québec Labour Movement: Interpreting the Relationship Speaking of Class in the Québec Labour Movement: Interpreting the Relationship Between Class and Identity in the Québec Labour Movement 1850-2010 Richard Bisaillon A Thesis In the Humanities Doctoral Program Presented in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada December 2010 © Richard Bisaillon, 2010 CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES This is to certify that the thesis prepared By: Richard Bisaillon Entitled: Speaking of Class in the Québec Labour Movement: Interpreting the Relationship Between Class and Identity in the Québec Labour Movement 1850-2010 and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (Humanities) complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. Signed by the final examining committee: Chair Dr. S. Betton External Examiner Dr. P. Graefe External to Program Dr. S. High Examiner Dr. E. Shragge Examiner Dr. G. Nielsen Thesis Supervisor Dr. D. Salée Approved by Dr. C. Maillé, Graduate Program Director December 13, 2010 Dr. B. Lewis, Dean Faculty of Arts and Science Abstract Speaking of Class in the Québec Labour Movement: Interpreting the Relationship Between Class and Identity in the Québec Labour Movement 1850-2010 Richard Bisaillon, PhD Concordia University, 2010 An examination of the recent and contemporary Québec labour union movement and its relationship with the nationalist cause might incline the observer to conclude that this powerful synthesis of what are in fact two separate sets of collective interests is a recent phenomenon sparked by Québec’s Quiet Revolution. In fact, these two aspects of collective and individual self and their expression through institutional forms have evolved together over the last two centuries. A further examination of the broader historical pattern demonstrates that aspects of shared linguistic and cultural identity have always at the very least qualified, and most often significantly muted expressions of working class interests and identity. In fact, save for a brief period from the Quiet Revolution to the first mandate of the Parti Québécois in 1976, working class collaboration with other class fractions in Québec ostensibly made in the greater interests of linguistic and cultural solidarity have generally cost the working classes a premium, while actually working to the benefit of other class partners. This historical pattern combined with the increasing influence of a neo-liberal ideological position within the Québec “state” leads to a certain conclusion: that there is an essential incompatibility between institutions calculated to represent working-class interests and movements founded upon a struggle for cultural recognition and the assertion of national interests. While the former seek the elimination or reduction of socio-economic differences, the latter seek only a cycling of dominant elites, resulting in the same dominant class relations under a different cultural elite fraction. iii Acknowledgements I would like to first acknowledge the steadfast forbearance, patience and enthusiastic support of my three core advisors, Dr. Daniel Salée, Dr. Eric Shragge, and Dr. Greg Nielsen whose own superior scholarship has set a standard for all of their students at every level of the academy. If I have had any success in reflecting that standard in the present work, it is due greatly to their own hard work over the last few years. I would also like to thank and acknowledge Dr. Peter Graefe of McMaster University who joined the team above as an external examiner, and whose own work has informed the present thesis. Additionally, thanks must be extended to Dr. Steven High, department of History at Concordia University for having agreed to join the committee so late in the game. To this distinguished committee I am greatly indebted, and any errors contained herein are my own, and are probably attributable to not having listened more closely to my mentors. As well, profound appreciation is expressed here to Dr. Everett Price of Concordia University for his support, advice and guidance over the years. What follows will clearly show that the knowledge of great number of people has informed my examination of the contemporary labour movement in Québec in this thesis. From Concordia University, thanks must be extended to those who have worked together and supported one and other throughout the evolution of the union movement at Concordia. These include union Presidents, Executive Officers, Grievance Officers, and militants past and current, who labour daily in the trenches of labour advocacy. Profound thanks and respect are due to Michael Brennan, Ralph Carter, Susanne Downs, David Gobby, René Lalonde, André Legault, Lisa Montgomery, Maria Peluso, and so very many others not mentioned here. Shared struggles, losses and victories shared over the years have informed this work at every level. In addition to the above, I would like to thank so many of those dedicated militants, advisors, mobilisation councillors, and legal representatives from the CSN with whom I have worked over the years. The list includes, but in no way is limited to Maîtres Mario Evangeliste, Edward Kravitz, and Monique Lauziere, as well as many officers and militants. A profound gratitude is expressed here for the contribution of Mme. Ruth Harvey, who served many of the Concordia unions as technical advisor throughout a decade of change, struggle and active advocacy. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the contribution of my family, including my own as well as that of my partner. The personal knowledge and the history of working class Canadians and Quebeckers as communicated by those around me has proven to be the greatest contribution to the work that follows. A diversity of cultural backgrounds marks this extended family, and includes the full range of old stock Francophones, immigrant Allophones from a broad eastern European tradition, including most proudly and notably Ukrainians, and Anglophones of Scottish descent. One of the things that unites them is their strong sense of social justice and fairness that comes from their roots. Amongst these hard- working individuals I have learned how the relations of power inform the intersection of culture and class. iv Dedication I lovingly dedicate this work to my partner Joanne Bobby, whose precious love, unfailing support, strength and lasting patience have made it possible for me to complete this work. The demands of writing and research alone place demands upon our loved ones, add to these the long series of battles, grievances, court dates and auditions related to thirty years of labour advocacy, and the burden upon family became far greater than those born by this writer alone. Indeed, Joanne has carried far more of the burden than I. Throughout all of the above, whenever I came close to throwing aside my advocacy or my academic pursuits, Joanne was there to support and counsel me. Professionally, her personal experience of many years in the unionised public sector has produced a far more real, grounded and uncompromising sense of social justice than I can ever attain to. Would that all of us were so true to our beliefs, our love of family and our friends. v Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………………P. 1 Chapter 1 Framing the Research Question………………………………….P. 7 The Road to Epiphany…………………………………………...P. 7 Shaken and Questioned Assumptions……………………………P. 10 The Rationality of Individual and Collective Choice……………P. 13 Language: The Sole Determinant, or the Sole Remaining Differentiator?................................................................................P. 15 Speaking the Nation and Speaking of Class: Inclusion, ………...P. 18 Belonging and Solidarity Chapter 2 An Examination of the Contemporary Literature………………..P. 22 Recent and Contemporary Discourse: The Literature of Language and Identity……………………………………………P. 22 The Role of the Past in Constructing the Future…………………P. 34 The Collective Imaginary: A Spontaneous or Constructed Phenomenon?..................................................................................P. 51 Salvoes from the Left: The Québec Nationalist Canon and Socialist Theory…………………… …………………………….P. 67 False Interests of Class and Incomplete Definitions of the Nation…………………………… …………………………..P. 92 Chapter 3 Theoretical Framework: The Language and Methodology of Analysis………………………………..………..P.100 Some Theoretical Considerations: Civil Society, Cultural Hegemony, and the Role of the State…………………...P. 100 Analytical Structure: Régulation Theory, Social, Economic, and Political Context………………………………....P. 128 Chapter 4 1st Historical Period: Institutional Genesis, Evolution and Trajectory………………………………………...P. 137 Embryonic Forms, Rising Class Consciousness, and Early Divisions…………………………………………………..P. 137 The Broad Relationship Between the Economy and Québec’s Working Classes………………………………………P. 146 Early Tendencies: “International” Unions, Trades and Industrial Unions…………………………………………… P. 152 The Foundation is Set: Class, Identity, National Perception and Preservation……………………………………...P. 158 Chapter 5 2nd Historical Period: A Dialectic Between Society, Class and External Forces………………………………………………P. 161 From the Adoption and Adaptation of Institutional Forms to their Construction……………………………………………...P. 161 Perception and Reality in a Shifting Institutional Landscape…....P. 170 The Ascendancy of the International Unions: National
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