Smelter Wars

A Rebellious Red Trade Union Fights for Its Life in Wartime Western Canada

Inbunden, Engelska, 2022

AvRon Verzuh

879 kr

Beställningsvara. Skickas inom 7-10 vardagar. Fri frakt för medlemmar vid köp för minst 249 kr.

Finns i fler format (1)

Häftad

389 kr

Skickas inom 7-10 vardagar

In 1938, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) sent communist union organizer Arthur "Slim" Evans to the smelter city of Trail, British Columbia, to establish Local 480 of the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers. Six years later the local was recognized as the legal representative of more than 5,000 workers at a smelter owned by the powerful Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada. But the union’s fight for survival had only just begun.Smelter Wars unfolds that historic struggle, offering glimpses into the political, social, and cultural life of the semi-rural, single-industry community. Hindered by economic depression, two World Wars, and Cold War intolerance, Local 480 faced fierce corporate, media, and religious opposition at home. Ron Verzuh draws upon archival and periodical sources, including the mainstream and labour press, secret police records, and oral histories, to explore the CIO’s complicated legacy in Trail as it battled a wide range of antagonists: a powerful employer, a company union, local conservative citizens, and Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) leadership.More than the history of a union, Smelter Wars is a cultural study of a community shaped by the dominance of a world-leading industrial juggernaut set on keeping the union drive at bay.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2022-01-28
Mått146 x 222 x 25 mm
Vikt580 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
SerieCanadian Social History Series
Antal sidor372
FörlagUniversity of Toronto Press
ISBN9781487541118

Tillhör följande kategorier

DedicationAcknowledgmentsList of Acronyms Preface Introduction: A Smelter City is Born1. A Red Union Comes to Town2. Battling Blaylock’s Company Union3. Women War Workers and Ladies Auxiliary Politics4. Mine-Mill Courts Trail’s Immigrant Enclave5. A Clash of Ideologies in the Kootenays6. Steel Cold Warriors Raid Trail’s Red Union7. Resisting Canadian McCarthyism in British ColumbiaConclusion: The Complicated History of Local 480Epilogue: The Smelter City TodayNotesSources

"Smelter Wars tells a fascinating tale of rebellious trade union resistance and activism in wartime Trail. This book is a riveting account of the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers (Local 480’s) struggle against the powerful Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada."(CUPE Communities) "Smelter Wars was both a very informative book as well as a most enjoyable read. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in labour history, indeed, to anyone interested in BC history."- Ken Novakowski (BC Labour Heritage Centre Newsletter) "As a former CUPE national communications director, Verzuh has synthesized an astonishing amount of detail, prompting one reader to say, ‘it’s not often a history like this is a page-turner, but this one definitely is.’"- Sheri Regnier (Trail Times) "Highly detailed and requiring close concentration, Smelter Wars impresses with its depth of research."- Robert D. Parmet, York College, The City University of New York (New York Labor History Association) "Smelter Wars is the story of the era. The book is wonderful."- Holly Doan (Blacklock’s Reporter)