Project Summary:
Word Cloud for my Dissertation, c. August 2011 (wordle.net)
My dissertation, “Rebel Youth: Young Workers, New Leftists, and Labour in English Canada, 1964-1973,” argues that labour presents a significant lens through which to understand the sixties. Drawing on archival research from ten metropolitan areas across English Canada and a series of interviews, I challenge and complement existing research on the period. Labour formed a backdrop for the experiences of a majority of young Canadians, as nearly 90% moved into the labour market rather than the post-secondary milieux. Just as universities heard cries for a new, more equitable world, picket lines sprang up across the country, many led by young workers demanding that liberal society live up to its ostensible ideals. These young workers and students were shaped by a similarly anti-authoritarian and democratic culture, and their ensuing behaviour took shape in divergent yet fundamentally related ways.
The fruits of New Left organizing at the 1973 Artistic Woodworkers strike can be seen in this undated November 1973 photograph. (MUA, Canadian Textile and Chemical Union Strike Collection, photograph by Janice Acton. Used with Permission.)
Three powerful social, cultural, and political currents converged during the decade. Young people in growing numbers embraced a new culture of defiant anti-authoritarianism and self-expression. Young activists combined this new youth culture with a new brand of radicalism, which became known as the New Left, and aimed to build alliances with marginalized groups. At the same time, young workers defied their aging union leaders in a wave of renewed militancy, including wildcat strikes. My dissertation conceptualizes them as aspects of a single youth phenomenon. This perspective presents a significant lens through which to understand the major intellectual developments, debates, and events that transformed Canada from the mid 1960s until the early 1970s. Labour formed the backdrop for most young Canadians at the time – nearly 90% of youth moved into the paid labour market instead of post-secondary institutions upon graduation. Here, they brought elements of the same culture and spirit that animated New Leftists, with divergent results.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Chapter One: “The Cry of Youth”: The Baby Boom Generation, Class, and Radicalism
Chapter Two: Punching In, Walking Out: The Challenge of Young Workers
Chapter Three: Towards a New Proletariat: Debating Class and Social Change Within the English-Canadian of the Toronto Student Movement
Chapter Four: “The University is for People”: Forging an Outward Looking New Left
Chapter Five: Out to the Picket Lines: New Leftists Support Labour, 1968-1972
Chapter Six: “The Force of All Our Numbers:” The 1973 Artistic Woodwork Strike
Conclusion: Continuities
