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Labour Internationalism in Canada

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Labour Internationalism in Canada TOWARDS TRANSFORMATIVE SOLIDARITIES: WARS OF POSITION IN THE MAKING OF LABOUR INTERNATIONALISM IN CANADA KATHERINE NASTOVSKI A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN SOCIAL AND POLITICAL THOUGHT YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO September 2016 © Katherine Nastovski 2016 Abstract Within the broad debates about neoliberalism, neoliberal globalization and the declining power of unions in the Global North, there has been renewed interest in the possibilities of international and transnational labour solidarity, coordination and action. Drawing from Rebecca Johns’ (1998) distinction between transformative and accommodationist forms of international labour solidarity I argue that we need to critically assess how these practices challenge or reinforce global divisions of labour born of the historical development of capitalism. To this end, this study provides an analysis of the dialectical relationship between the dominant practices of labour internationalism that emerged within the organized labour movement in Canada during the Cold War. I examine both the challenges to and possibilities for building transformative forms of international labour solidarity today. Challenges include the philosophies of social partnership, racism, white supremacy and nationalism that informed the labour imperialism and accommodationist solidarities of the institutionalized internationalism in this period. I argue that the brand of social democratic anti-communism that characterized this institutionalized labour internationalism was shaped by the wars of position over worker justice happening on the national level and internationally between unions, but also by ideas of race and nation. I outline the lessons from these practices by focusing on four cases: Kenya, Southeast Asia, The Caribbean and Palestine. Finally, I assess the grassroots labour solidarity that re-emerged inside the labour movement with the rise of the New Left. I argue that the model of international solidarity they built, called worker-to- worker, arose from the goals and strategies of class struggle unionism and constitutes an example of transformative solidarity that can inform discussions about organizing international soldiarity today. Rooted in anti-racist Marxist feminist theory, my historical sociological analysis draws from both archival research and interviews with union leaders, activists and staff. I make sense of the solidarities that determined these practices by exploring the terrain of class consciousness in which they were formed. Situating my analysis within the social and political contours of class formation in Canada and internationally, I pay particular attention to how these practices of labour internationalism intersect with issues of race, gender, nation and class struggle, and how racialized and gendered class formation in Canada has influenced ideas of worker justice and responses to imperialism, colonialism and national borders. ii Dedication 3A TATE (For my Father) 1942-2015 iii Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank all of the people I had the privilege and pleasure of interviewing for this dissertation. I met and talked with so many wonderful activists who kindly shared their stories with me. I learned a lot through these discussions and was inspired by how much each of these people gave of their lives, their time and energy to organize international labour solidarity. Much respect to all of these people. I am glad I could pay tribute to their work through this study. I hope that I have done their legacy justice. Secondly, I would like to thank my committee members Himani Bannerji, David McNally and Mark Thomas. As activist academics, they very kindly took me on and have been so supportive. In particular, I am forever indebted to my supervisor, Himani Bannerji who encouraged me to write the dissertation and gave me constant encouragement. I also want to thank all the teachers who supported me in becoming an activist and academic and specifically to Al Jantzi and Atul Bahl. Thirdly, I would like to thank all the workers in the coffee shops and libraries I worked in through this process. I would also like to thank my friends and co-workers from Dooney’s, where I worked through my undergrad and Masters. Thanks to all my great students, teaching assistants and co-workers in the School of Labour studies at McMaster University. I have been very lucky to have such an amazing job teaching about workers’ struggles and organizing. Fourthly, I would like to thank my friends from York University. Especially those I worked with on the executive of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 3903 and the undergrad activists we organized with. Some of these people have become close friends who have been there for me throughout the writing process. In particular, I would like to thank Peter Brogan, Karen Walker, Alex Levant and especially Christina Rousseau. Thanks Christina for being such a good friend and such a wonderful Zia to my son Luke. Fifthly, I would like to thank all the activists I worked with inside CUPE as a whole, at conventions, on committees and at union schools and conferences. I met so many smart and skilled trade unionists in my years as a full-time union activist in my MA and in the early days of my PhD. It is this organizing that prompted me to complete the PhD and to write about this work. I learned so much through the process of organizing and through the many insights arising from discussions at countless meetings. In particular, I would like to thank the people I worked with on the CUPE Ontario International Solidarity Committee, the National Global Justice Committee and Labour for Palestine, including the many great activists from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. Special thanks to Ilian Burbano, an incredibly solid and committed organizer, with whom I worked most closely through these years. I would also like to thank all of the people I have had the pleasure to work with on issues of labour internationalism academically. Special thanks to Kim Scipes and Dick Roman. Thanks also to Chris Ramsaroop, who I have been lucky to be friends with for almost twenty years, with whom I always bounce ideas and debate with about organizing. Chris’ dedication as an organizer gives me hope for radical social change. Lastly, I would like to thank my family. First, I would like to thank my brother and sister- in-law as well as my aunts, uncles and cousins here and in Bulgaria, including all of my father’s friends who were part of the close community I grew up in in Toronto. This was an activist community, whose bonds were built through experiences of becoming refugees as children in the early Cold War. I would especially like to thank the many women in this iv community who were examples of committed and skilled organizers in my life and whose work has often gone unacknowledged. To my father. I could not imagine having pursued a PhD without you. An especially thoughtful, funny and loving man, my father was a working-class intellectual who took the time most days after work to give his kids lessons in history and politics. He was the first person to teach me the importance of being a critical thinker. I dearly miss our coffees and daily discussions and debates. To my mother, a very kind, ethical and generous person. The help she has given me is immeasurable. Especially over the last very difficult couple of years. I owe her so much. To my son Luke, you are an absolute joy. I am so unbelievably lucky. Finally, I cannot properly express the love and gratitude I have for my partner Tracy Supruniuk. Through this process I have subjected Tracy to various tortures, including reading through endless drafts and listening to me work through countless dilemmas. He has graciously taken on so many things to help me including more than his share of our reproductive labour. Tracy has also made sure to remind me to laugh and to relax. I would not have finished without you. v Table of Contents Abstract.……………………………………………………………………………………ii Dedication…………………………………………………………………………………iii Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………………iv Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………………vi Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….….1 Chapter 1 Labour Internationalism: Assessing Openings and Contradictions………………………...42 Chapter 2 Analytical Methods: Historical Sociology rooted in Anti-Racist Marxist Feminist Theory...…………………….86 Chapter 3 Setting the Stage: Contextualizing the Wars of Position in Post-WWII Labour Internationalism in Canada ………………………………………………………………………………………….112 Chapter 4 Wars of Position and the Making of Labour Imperialism and Accommodationist Solidarities………………………………………………………………………………152 Chapter 5 The Institutionalization of Labour Internationalism 1945-1968: Between Labour Imperialism and Accommodationist Solidarity …………………………………………………………………………….….…………199 Chapter 6 Wars of Position Heat Up: The Birth of CIDA, the New Left and the Worker-to-Worker Model, 1968-1989……….254 Conclusion Thinking Forward……………………………………………………………………….308 References…………………………………………………………………………….....323 vi Appendices Appendix A: Interview Questions………………………………………………………360 Appendix B: Letter Soliciting Interviewees and List of Unions Contacted………………362 Appendix C: Informed Consent for Research…………………………………………...364 Appendix D: Certificate: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans………….….367 Appendix E: List of Archives Consulted………………….…………………….….……368
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