STRUGGLING FOR A NEW LEFT: THE NEW TENDENCY, AUTONOMIST MARXISM, AND RANK-AND-FILE ORGANIZING IN WINDSOR, ONTARIO DURING THE 1970S A Thesis Submitted to the Committee on Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Faculty of Arts and Science TRENT UNIVERSITY Peterborough, Ontario, Canada © Copyright by Sean Antaya 2018 Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies M.A. Graduate Program September 2018 ABSTRACT Thesis Title: Struggling for a New Left: The New Tendency, Autonomist Marxism, and Rank- and-File Organizing in Windsor, Ontario during the 1970s Author’s Name: Sean Antaya Summary: This study examines the emergence of the New Left organization, The New Tendency, in Windsor, Ontario during the 1970s. The New Tendency, which developed in a number of Ontario cities, represents one articulation of the Canadian New Left’s turn towards working-class organizing in the early 1970s after the student movement’s dissolution in the late 1960s. Influenced by dissident Marxist theorists associated with the Johnson-Forest Tendency and Italian workerism, The New Tendency sought to create alternative forms of working-class organizing that existed outside of, and often in direct opposition to, both the mainstream labour movement and Old Left organizations such as the Communist Party and the New Democratic Party. After examining the roots of the organization and the important legacies of class struggle in Windsor, the thesis explores how The New Tendency contributed to working-class self activity on the shop-floor of Windsor’s auto factories and in the community more broadly. However, this New Left mobilization was also hampered by inner-group sectarianism and a rapidly changing economic context. Ultimately, the challenges that coincided with The New Tendency’s emergence in the 1970s led to its dissolution. While short-lived, the history of the Windsor branch of The New Tendency helps provide valuable insight into the trajectory of the Canadian New Left and working-class struggle in the 1970s, highlighting experiences that have too often been overlooked in previous scholarship. Furthermore, this study illustrates the transnational development of New Left ideas and organizations by examining The New Tendency’s close connections to comparable groups active ii in manufacturing cities in Europe and the United States; such international relationships and exchanges were vital to the evolution of autonomist Marxism around the world. Finally, the Windsor New Tendency’s history is an important case study of the New Left’s attempts to reckon with a transitional moment for global capitalism, as the group’s experiences coincided with the Fordist accord’s death throes and the beginning of neoliberalism’s ascendancy. Keywords: New Left, Canada, labour, rank-and-file organizing, autonomist Marxism, working- class history, Windsor iii Acknowledgments I never could have completed this thesis without the help that I received from others. First, I must thank the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program, and Trent University for funding this project. I enjoyed my time at the Frost Centre and I am thankful to the many wonderful people who I got to meet and interact with during my time in the MA program. The administrative assistants at Kerr House, Cathy Schoel and Jeannine Crowe, were always kind, helpful, and jocular. Furthermore, it was a pleasure working as a Teaching Assistant for James Onusko’s Ontario history course. Sean Carleton and Julia Smith were kind enough to welcome me to Peterborough when I first arrived, and they soon introduced me to the Friday Happy Hour group and the Mad Batters softball team (Go Batters!). This great circle of friends lent me considerable support and prevented me from becoming too much of a recluse. Likewise, Mason Godden accompanied me for many late-night gaming sessions, and my oldest friend, Norman Nehmetallah, was always up for beer, baseball, and mild debauchery whenever I found myself in Toronto. Himself an expert on Windsor labour history, Jeremy Milloy played an important role at the beginning of my project, offering sources, feedback on writing, and other insights. Our historical discussions were rivalled only by the intense deliberations on our beloved Detroit Tigers and Toronto Maple Leafs. Gary Kinsman’s help proved indispensable. Gary kindly shared his collection of New Tendency documents and gave me detailed comments on some of my early writings on the group. I am also indebted to Jim Monk, Jim Brophy, Ron Baxter, and Mike Longmoore – the former New Tendency members who were kind enough to speak with me about their experiences and continue to inspire me. I must also thank the staff who helped me at Bata Library at Trent University, the Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State University, the iv City of Windsor Community Archives at the Windsor Public Library, and the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto. My committee members, Dimitry Anastakis and Sam Gindin, proffered excellent critiques and suggestions, and asked challenging, but essential, questions during my examination. I am also grateful to Joan Sangster, whose Canadian history course was without a doubt the best class I have ever taken. Joan’s guidance and recommendations were vital for this project, particularly for my writings on the political and economic context of Windsor in the 1970s. In her role as Frost Centre director, Joan always took students’ issues seriously and was a great advocate to have on our side. It was nothing short of an honour to work with Bryan Palmer, my supervisor. Bryan was incredibly generous with his time, knowledge, and vast book collection, and I enjoyed our many long discussions on labour history and left which often veered into the arcane. I wish him the very best in his so-called retirement, though I am thoroughly convinced he will continue to produce books and articles at a Stakhanovite pace. Most importantly, I must thank my family. My parents are unflinching in their love and support and have always been willing to take my interests seriously – from punk rock to labour history. My grandparents have no doubt played an equal role in my development, fostering in me a deep love of books and history from a young age and providing a caring environment for me to grow up in. Finally, with much love I dedicate this thesis to Crystal Kelly, who puts up with me even when I am at my most curmudgeonly, and to our faithful pup, Arctic, who spent most of the writing process at my side and protects our garden from squirrels, cats, and skunks. v Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………...ii Acknowledgments……………………………......iv Table of Contents………………………………...vi List of Acronyms………………………………..vii Introduction……………………………………….1 Chapter 1………………………………………...10 Chapter 2………………………………………...35 Chapter 3………………………………………...74 Conclusion……………………………………...128 Bibliography…………………………………....135 vi List of Acronyms: AFL – American Federation of Labour AWG – Auto Workers’ Group CAW – Canadian Auto Workers CCF – Co-operative Commonwealth Federation CCL – Canadian Congress of Labour CIO – Congress of Industrial Organizations CLC – Canadian Labour Congress CPC – Communist Party of Canada CPC-ML – Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) CPL – Canadian Party of Labour CRC – Community Resource Centre CUCND – Combined Universities Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament CUOE – Canadian Union of Operating Engineers CUPE – Canadian Union of Public Employees CUPW – Canadian Union of Postal Workers CUS – Canadian Union of Students DRUM – Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement GM – General Motors GWIC – Greater Windsor Industrial Commission JFT – Johnson-Forest Tendency LC – Lotta Continua (trans. Continuous Struggle) LIP – Local Initiatives Program vii LRBW – League of Revolutionary Black Workers MC – Militant Co-op NCM – New Communist Movement NDP – New Democratic Party NLF – National Liberation Front NT – The New Tendency ODS – Out of the Driver’s Seat OFY – Opportunities for Youth Grant OLRB – Ontario Labour Relations Board OPP – Ontario Provincial Police PCI – Partito Communista Italiano (trans. Italian Communist Party) PO – Potere Operaio (trans. Workers’ Power) RCMP – Royal Canadian Mounted Police RFAC – Rank-and-File Action Committee RMG – Revolutionary Marxist Group RUM – Revolutionary Union Movement SAC – Student Administrative Council SAWC – Struggle Against Work Collective SNCC – Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee STO – Sojourner Truth Organization SUPA – Student Union for Peace Action SWC – Socialist Women’s Caucus SWP – Socialist Workers’ Party viii TDU – Teamsters for a Democratic Union TLC – The Labour Centre WFH – Wages for Housework WLG – Women’s Liberation Group WOHIS – Windsor Occupational Health Information Service WPAC – Windsor Political Action Committee WP – Workers’ Party WU – Workers’ Unity WUW – Workers’ Unity Women UAW – United Automobile Workers UFW – United Farm Workers UIC – Unemployment Insurance Commission ix 1 Introduction Within the last two years leftists across all of English Canada have moved more and more out of the universities in an attempt to develop working class politics. […] However, at a deeper level there seemed to exist a need and consequently a searching for a new approach to political organization, the crucial point being that, in practice, these groupings have rejected the two dominant conceptions of revolutionary change, the orthodox communist and the social democratic. – The