Loggers and the Struggle for Development in Newfoundland
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"WE ARE OmY LOGGERS:" LOGGERS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR DJiXELOPMENT IN NEWFOUNDLAND, 1929-1959 by Dufferin Sutherland B.A., University of British Columbia, 1985 M.A., Memorial University, 1988 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIRENENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department 0f History @ Dufferin Sutherland 1995 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY ~ugust1995 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. APPROVAL NAME: Duff Sutherlmd DEGREE: PhD TITLE: "We Ace: Only Loggess": Lo Newfoundland, 1929 - 1959, EXAMINING COMMITTEE Chair: rryl MacLem, Associa Allen Seager, Associate Professor Jack Gttle, bfessor Pmival Copes, Professor Emeritus, (Internal Examr) Ian McKay, Associate Uivefsity n, ON K7L 3N6 PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENSE I hereby grant to Simon Fraser University the t to lend my thesis, proje extended essay (the title of which is shown be to users of the Simon Fra University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of a iversity, or other educational institutions, on its own behalf or for multi of this work for schol purposes may be granted by me or the Bean of Graduate Studies. It is under copying or publication of this work for financi ain shall not b written permission. Title of Thesis "We Are Only Lo ers and the Stru gle for Development in Newfoundland, Author: iii Abstract A poor but independent Dominion in the British Empire until 1949, Newfoundland and Labrador is now Canadats poorest province. This thesis argues that capital's uneven development of Newfoundland helps to explain its economic, social, and political troubles in this century. The uneven course of development left Newfoundland with an archaic fishery, enclaves of modern industry dependent on outport labour and external forces, and a state which lacked sufficient resources to save itself or its people during the Great Depression. The uneven pattern of development also impeded the full development of a proletariat which mlight have challenged the island's dominant interests and created a more equal and prosperous society. The outcome of these fidevelopmentswwas confederation with Canada and enduring economic and social problems. Focusing on the period 1929-1959, the thesi this argument through a study of the pulp and paper industry, one of Newfoundland's major land-based entemrises in this century. It reveals that forest capital's reliance on seasonal outport labour in its woods operations pro merchant operations in the inshore fi hery, Merchant capital profited from fishers' work in the woods as wages paid and purchased fishin and consumption supplies, Throu the period, the Newfoundland state defended forest capital's interests, and not incidentally the couree of u iv development. It did so because the industry's mills and company towns were among the few successes of a national policy to diversify an economy dependent on the export of a single staple. Forest capital exploited fabled interior resources and employed thousands in its mills and woodlands which reduced pressure on an unproductive fishery and on a state often burdened with heavy relief bills. Although Newfoundland loggers confronted the combined power of capital and the state, they struggled to resist their exploitation and to improve the lives of their households and communities. In this way, they challenged the course of development in Newfoundland. During the 1930s, loggers staged strikes and joined Newfoundland" first loggers' union. In 1940, disruptive class conflict ended when forest capital and the state spearheaded the creation of t Woods Labour Board. The Board, which included representatives of capital, labour, and the state, inaugurated a conservative period of class collaboration, and continuous production until the tumultuous 1959 International Woodworkers of America strike. During the 1940s and 1950~~the Board helped forest capital accumulate profits in an industry dominated by Fordist-like production forces in the mills and primitive production forces in the woods. The Board" domward on wages and conditions, union representatives separ their members, and a work force dominated by outpor who continued to require seasonal wages, explains V conflagration. The dissertation concludes that the log 1959 defeat by the combined forces of capital an followed an historical pattern determined by the uneven pattern of development. This pattern, therefore, helps to explain enduring poverty in outport Newfoundland and the difficulties workers faced to challenge the conditions their existence, Acknowledgements A number of people have helped me during the preparation of this thesis. I would like to thank Dr. Allen Seager for his supervision. Dr. Jack Little also commented on various chapters of this thesis. I am grateful to Bert Riggs, Gail Weir, and Linda White at the Archives of the Centre for Newfoundland Studies at Memorial University, and to Cal at the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador for help locating documents and their general support of my research. I have also benefitted from the support of Neil Sutherland, Janet Sutherland, Lloyd Brown, and Jean Bro Mrs. Manetta Edison kindly put me up for a month while 1 interviewed loggers. Throughout this project, Edena Brown has contributed invaluable encouragement and convinced me that there was light at the end of the tunnel. Finally, I gratefully acknowledge the financial support of Simon Fraser University, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Institute of Social and Economic Research at Memorial University of Newfoundland. vii Table of Contents Abstract iii Acknowledgements vi List of Tables viii List of Figures and Map x Introduction 1 Part One "We Were There to Make a Dollar:@;Woods 42 Work, Logger Unions, and the Outport Social Formation, 1929-1940 Chapter 1. "The Hidden Side of the Moon in the 43 Newfoundland Past:" Woods Work, Capital, and Uneven Development in Newfoundland Chapter 2. "The Men Went to Work by the Stars and 100 Returned by Them:* The Experience of Work in the Newfoundland Woods During the 1930s Chapter 3. Newfoundland Loggers Respond to the 157 Great Depression: The Emergence of the Newfoundland Lumbermen" Association Chapter 4. Newfoundland Loggers' Experience of the Commission of Government: The 1937 Robert's Am Strike Chapter 5. The Emergence of the Newfoundland Woods Labour Board, 1937-1940 Part Two Fordism "in the Wilds of Newfoundland:* 315 The Woods Labour oard, 1940-1958 Chapter 6. The Woods Labour Board During World War I1 Chapter 7. Fordism "in the Wilds of Newfoundland,@l 353 1945-1958 Conclusion 3 Bibiliography 39 viii List of Tables Population Growth in Selected Newfoundland 80 Logging Settlements, 1891-1921 Newfoundland Labour Disputes, 1930s-Yearly 216 Newfoundland Labour Disputes, 1930s-Occupations 217 Newfoundland Logger Disputes, 1930s-Yearly 218 The People of Robert's Arm, 1935 265 Robert's Arm Households, 1935 266 The People of Pilley's Island, 1935 267 Pilleyls Island Households, 1935 268 Newfoundland's Wartime Cost of Living 330 Selected Newfoundland Woods Rates, 1940, 1944 331 Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company Profits, 350 1939-1945 Bowaters Newfoundland Pulp and Paper Mills 351 Profits, 1939-1945 Wood-Pulp and Newsprint Production in Newfoundland, 1939-1945 Average Contract Prices for Newsprint Paper, 363 New York City Delivery, 1945-1958 Bowaters Newfoundland Pulp and Paper Mills Limited Newsprint, Sulphite Pulp Production and Profits Estimates, 1945-1959 Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company Production 3 Estimates, 1945-1959 Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company Consolidated Net Profits, 1946-1958 Newfoundland Woods Labour Board Rates, 19 St. John's Cost of Living Index, 193 3 St. John's Cost of Living Index, 1951-1959 21. Average Daily Wages for Loggers in Eastern 419 Canada and British Columbia, 1952-1954 22. Average Daily Wages for gers in Eastern 20 Canada and British Colu , 1955-1959 23. Standard Hours Per Week for Loggers in Eastern 421 Canada, 1949-1954 24. Standard Hours Per Week for Loggers in Eastern 422 Canada, 1955-1959 List of Figures and Map Figures 1. Newfoundland Strikes, Newfoundland Logger Strikes, 1930s 2. Newfoundland Labour Disputes and Newfoundland Logger Disputes, 19308, Canada Logger Strikes, 1930s Pulp and Paper Company Timber Limits, 1940 Introduction At midnight, 31 December 1958, Newfoundland loggers went on strike against the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company (ANDCO.)~ANDCO was a British-owned company which had operated a profitable pulp and paper mill in Grand Falls for half a century. It also conducted logging operations to feed its mill on huge tracts of freehold and leased forest lands concentrated in central Newfoundland. The loggers, on the other side, were members of the ~nternationalWoodworkers of America (IWA), a well-known forest workers union based in western Canada and the United States. In the late 1950~~ membership in the IWA had attracted Newfoundland loggers who worked 60-hour weeks for low wages and piece rates and lived in squalid bunkhouses. At the same time, the IWA1s western membership was stagnating and the union's leadership wanted I base the following brief description of the 1959 IWA strike in Newfoundland on the standard sources on the 118. 2 to revitalize the organization through expansion in eastern Canada and the southern United state^.^ The 1959 strike followed a two-year IWA organizing campaign in Newfoundland which culminated with loggers overwhelmingly endorsing the IWA as their legal bargaining agent. The IWA leadership called the strike after months of fruitless negotiations with ANDCO, and the company officials' rejection of a provincial conciliation board settlement. In a vote in the camps, loggers almost unanimously favoured a strike. The IWA strike eventually spread to include Bowaters, Newfoundland's other pulp paper company. Bowaters, like ANDCO, was a British-owned company, which operated a pulp and paper mill in Corner Brook and woods operations in western and central Newfoundland.