In a few short decades before the First World War, Calgary was transformed from a frontier outpost into a complex industrial metropolis. With industrialization there emerged a diverse and equally complex working class. David Bright explores the various levels of class formation and class identity in the city to argue that Calgary`s reputation as a prewar centre of labour conservatism is in need of revision. Bright also delineates the trials of the Calgary labour movement in the 1920s. Internal divisions and dissent prevented the movement from realizing the potential strength of the working class. Instead, even as local capitalism restructured itself, political and industrial labour organizations wilfully fragmented their own base of support. In particular, they failed to address the concerns and needs of the growing number of unemployed in the city, a neglect that foreshadowed events of the 1930s. This failure left the labour movement unable to meet the challenge of the Great Depression. In part, at least, the demise of labour as a viable political alternative in Calgary paved the way for the rise of Social Credit. Using Calgary as a model, The Limits of Labour reasserts the need to place class formation at the heart of the development of western Canada and provides an historical context to the renewed struggle of labour for social justice in the 1990s.
Authors
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references and index
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 331.8/097123/38
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 21
- General Note
- Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- Geographic Area Code
- n-cn-ab
- ISBN
- 9780774852364 0774806966
- LCCN
- HD8110.C352
- LCCN Item number
- B74 1998eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- CaBNVSL
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (x, 275 p.)
- Published in
- Canada
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)jme00326745 (OCoLC)180704216 (CaOOCEL)404284
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- CaBNVSL
Table of Contents
- Contents 8
- Illustrations 9
- Acknowledgments 10
- Introduction 14
- Part 1: Class Formation, 1883-1913 26
- 1 From Cow Town to Hub of Industry 28
- 2 Social Divisions and Class Disposition 42
- 3 Class, Culture, and Politics 62
- 4 Unions and Strikes 87
- Part 2: The Labour Movement, 1913–29 108
- 5 Depression and War, 1913-7 110
- 6 Economic Recession and Restructuring, 1918-24 131
- 7 1919: Revolt Reconsidered 156
- 8 Dissent and Descent: Labour Politics in Calgary, 1918-24 173
- 9 The Limits of Labour, 1925-9 190
- Epilogue 217
- Notes 226
- Bibliography 260
- Index 280
- A 280
- B 280
- C 281
- D 282
- E 282
- F 282
- G 283
- H 283
- I 283
- J 283
- K 283
- L 284
- M 284
- N 284
- O 284
- P 284
- R 285
- S 285
- T 286
- U 286
- V 286
- W 286
- Y 286
- Z 286
