At War with the Machine: Canadian Workers’ Resistance to Taylorism in the Early 20th Century

This essay looks at the ways Frederick Winslow Taylor\u27s distinctly modern theories of scientific management (i.e. Taylorism) transformed Canadian workplaces in the early 20thcentury. In particular, it shows how Taylorism negatively impacted Canadian workers\u27 lives, and examines the various ways that workers consequently resisted Taylorist methods. The essay argues that though workers were unable to stop the widespread implementation of Taylorism and its normalization in Canadian workplaces, their resistance to Taylorism still played an important role in unionist and radical political movements which gradually gained important concessions and rights for Canadian workers during the first half of the 20thcentury. Additionally, the essay argues that resistance was significant as an outlet for workers to retain bodily autonomy in work environments which increasingly aimed to make workers more machine-like. Ultimately, the essay highlights important ways that the Canadian working class has exercised historical agency via solidarity and perseverance

The Poverty of Bureaucracy: New Left Theory and Practice in the Canadian Labour Movement during the 1960s and 1970s

This essay examines the New Left’s impact on the Canadian labour movement in the 1960s and 1970s. Specifically, it argues that in large industrial unions such as the UAW, New Left ideas that were popular amongst the rank and file were stifled by the more conservative labour bureaucrats. However, in public sector unions and unions unaffiliated with the Canadian Labour Congress, New Left ideas were often able to flourish, and these more radical unions were sometimes able to obtain substantial gains for their members throughout the 1970s while also fostering a broader sense of class consciousness in Canadian society -- culminating most notably in the Common Front’s general strikes in Quebec. Furthermore, this essay suggests that New Left ideas were more popular in public sector and independent unions because these unions had a larger proportion of women in comparison to other unions, and women at this time had a greater incentive to embrace transformative ideologies than men

The New Left at Work : Workers’ Unity, the New Tendency, and Rank-and-File Organizing in Windsor, Ontario, in the 1970s

This article examines rank-and-file organizing in Windsor’s automobile factories during the 1970s. In particular, I look at the history of two organizations: Workers’ Unity and the New Tendency’s Auto Worker Group. I demonstrate how these groups were part of the North American New Left’s broader turn toward Marxism and the working class that contributed to the emergence of radical rank-and-file movements that challenged both management and bureaucratized trade union leaders. In Windsor, New Left auto workers embraced forms of autonomist Marxist politics concerned primarily with working-class self-activity at the point of production, and these activists formed connections with influential theorists and organizations in Detroit and Italy. Putting these intellectual exchanges into action, the rank-and-file organizations in Windsor used direct action in an attempt to improve working conditions and develop a radical culture of democracy on the shop floor. Although these groups were relatively short lived, their history tells us much about the trajectory of the New Left in Canada and the ways that former student activists grappled with the radical potential of 1970s working-class militancy.Cet article examine l’organisation de base dans les usines automobiles de Windsor au cours des années 1970. En particulier, je prends en considération l’histoire de deux organisations: Workers’ Unity et le New Tendency’s Auto Worker Group. Je démontre comment ces groupes faisaient partie du virage plus large de la Nouvelle gauche nord-américaine vers le marxisme et la classe ouvrière qui a contribué à l’émergence de mouvements radicaux de base qui ont défié à la fois la direction et les dirigeants syndicaux bureaucratisés. À Windsor, les travailleurs de l’automobile de la Nouvelle Gauche ont adopté des formes de politique marxiste autonomiste principalement préoccupées par l’auto-activité de la classe ouvrière au point de production, et ces activistes ont établi des liens avec des organisations et théoriciens influents à Détroit et en Italie. Pour mettre ces échanges intellectuels en action, les organisations de base de Windsor ont utilisé l’action directe pour tenter d’améliorer les conditions de travail et de développer une culture radicale de la démocratie dans les ateliers. Bien que ces groupes aient été de courte durée, leur histoire nous en dit beaucoup sur la trajectoire de la Nouvelle Gauche au Canada et sur la manière dont les anciens activistes étudiants ont lutté avec le potentiel radical du militantisme ouvrier des années 1970

Genealogy of a Parish: The 19th Century Records of St. John\u27s Anglican Church

We used the St. John’s Anglican Church records housed in Leddy Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections to research Sandwich, Ontario’s church community as a microcosm of the greater Detroit River region. We examined the church’s Marriage, Baptismal, Confirmation, and Death records from 1828 to 1915 in order to study both unique individual lives and changing demographic trends within the border region. In addition to the records, we examined census materials, local publications, and archival material from the church itself. As a result, our presentation of our research was unique. Through the Centre for Digital Scholarship we created an Omeka based website which serves two functions; first, to act as a digital archive where sections of the record books have been digitally preserved using Dublin Core standards, made searchable for both academic and public use; and second, to showcase our interpretive research and utilize all of the functions of Omeka, including: timelines, geolocation maps through Google, and Neatline maps to help create interactive exhibits featuring the church records. Several of these exhibits illustrate not only how individuals within the church were connected to each other, but also how the church community itself was made up of parishioners throughout the greater Detroit River region. As St. John’s was the only Anglican church in the area for roughly a century, it served members from Michigan, Ontario, Quebec, and even Great Britain as the church was an important incentive for immigrants in choosing to settle in the Windsor/Detroit border region. Our research provides an important contribution to local history in understanding the role that St. John’s played in serving and connecting different communities within the Detroit River Region