A Communist Life Jack Scott and the Canadian Workers Movement, 1927-1985

This volume is a reprint of a special edition of The Canadian Journal of Sociology.

The essays are gathered around two themes: the relationship of sociology and social history, and the intersection of gender, ethnicity, and region with class. Unlike most Canadian essay collections, the contributors and their subjects cover Canada from British Columbia to Newfoundland, with forays into Cape Breton and central Canada. The volume contains articles by Ian McKay, Gordon Darroch, James R. Conley, Alicja Muszynski, Gillian Creese, and Jim Overton.

An interesting collection of some of the new work being done in Canada by historians and sociologists, Class, Gender, and Region reflects Charles Tilly’s suggestion that “there should be no disciplinary division of labour: simply both doing social history.”

Table of Contents

1. Acknowledgements
2. Introduction
3. 1. Irish Childhood
4. 2. Labouring in a New Land
5. 3. Welcome to the Party
6. 4. Workers Unity League Days
7. 5. Ontario’s On-to-Ottawa Trek and Other Unemployed Struggles
8. 6. Industrial Organizing
9. 7. Up Against It in Toronto
10. 8. War is Hell
11. 9. Returning to Canada
12. 10. Working Out West: Harvey Murphy’s Fiefdom
13. 11. The Back of Beyond: Yellowknife
14. 12. The Reds Beat Themselves: Communists and Unions in British Columbia in the Early 1950s
15. 13. The Pender, Binky Marks, and Making Waves
16. 14. Exit from the Party
17. 15. Progressive Worker
18. 16. Labour Upheaval in the Mid-1960s
19. 17. Canada-China Friendship Association
20. 18. Witness to the Cultural Revolution
21. 19. China in the 1970s
22. 20. New Lefts in Maoist Dress
23. 21. Writing Labour History for New Star
24. 22. Personalities and Politics
25. 23. Reflections on Solidarity
26. 24. China’s 1984
27. 25. A Communist Life

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 2.5 CA). It may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, provided that the original author is credited.