Canadian Social History

In the song “Hogan’s Lake,” the lyrics to the final verse reveal how lumber workers during the 1860s reveled in the cultural milieu of so-called “shanty songs”:

If you were in the shanty when they came in at night,

To see them dance, to hear them sing, it would your heart delight.

Some asked for patriotic songs, some for love songs did call:

Fitzsimmons sung about the girl that wore the waterfall.

From these lyrics it is evident that songs were important to these workers, but what as historians can we learn from these shanty songs?  Are they simply songs that workers enjoyed?  Are they even reliable primary sources?  Or can these songs reveal more about the lives of workers in the mid-late nineteenth century?  I would argue that both the singing of and the lyrics to shanty songs offer a valuable insight into the lives of lumber workers.  Collectively the workers bonded together to discuss and celebrate their lives through the forum and performance of song.  Of course, by their very nature these shanty songs were insular, in the sense that the lyrics only related to the experience of a single group of workers – lumber workers.  That said, the songs and their lyrics do suggest that analyzing culture is crucial for historians studying the lives of workers.  By studying these shanty songs and treating them as valuable and usable primary sources, the experiences, values, and attitudes of lumber workers can be revealed.  And that from these types of primary sources, historians can piece together the cultural response of workers to the transition to industrialism during the mid-late nineteenth century.

Worksongs and Historians

While the historical value of songs such as shanty songs could be dismissed by historians, I believe it is important for historians to explore songs because of the universal appeal of music.  Although seemingly not carrying the weight of government or newspaper reports, songs can be revealing primary sources.  On one level, music needs no formal training to listen to it, and you even need relatively few tools and training to make it, therefore underscoring its popular appeal.  At another level, songs can be multifaceted in lyrical content, covering a wide range of subjects.  For historians, this means that songs can be used as a vehicle for understanding working-class culture – songs being a reflection of this culture and the lyrics being the language.

For example, take the lyrics of the shanty songs of lumber workers.  From these songs we can etch out the realities of life for these workers, from the rural isolation, to the dangerous working conditions, from the organization of work gangs, to the expressions of masculinity and how they perceived gender relations.  Case in point, in the song “The Shantyboy’s Alphabet,” an alphabetical list of the experience of lumber workers, D referred to the “danger we oft-times are in,” while V stood for the “valleys we force our roads through.”  Other themes are reflected in the lyrics, such as the gang mentality of the workers.  In the song “Hogan’s Lake,” the lyrics refer to a “gang of shantyboys” who work through “storm, frost, and snow.”  While in the song “When the Shanty Boy Comes Down,” the gang mentality dominates the culture.  The lyrics declare, “There’s a gang in command, so the old folks understand.”   Gluing these work gangs together was an overwhelming sense of masculinity.  Lyrics often emphasized the value of physical strength.  In “Hogan’s Lake,” the achievements of one worker is praised because “full fourteen inches of the line he’d split with every blow” and that “he swung his axe so freely, he done his work so clean.”  This hyper-masculinity extended to gender relations.  In the song “When the Shanty Boy Comes Down,” the lumber worker “will look around some pretty girl to find,” then at the end of the relationship “bid adieu to the girl I had in town.”

Shanty songs in the context of working-class culture

From the lyrics of these shanty songs, a historian is able to draw a picture of working life workers sourced directly from the workers themselves.  But what can a historian learn from these shanty songs about other workers during the same era?  On the surface, the answer seems to be very little, due primarily to the lyrics only relating to the experience of lumber workers.  However, if we place our analysis of shanty songs within the larger context of studies on working-class culture during the transition to industrialism certain themes become apparent, most notably the sense of community amongst workers.  Historians such as Gregory Kealey have studied skilled artisans in urban settings, noting how the “custom of workers’ control” became “deeply embedded in working class culture.”  While emphasizing their unique circumstances, Kealey also notes the importance of the wider community to skilled artisans, writing that “they provided the Toronto working class community and movement with important leadership,” and helped design outfits “for the various marches and parades that were so much a part of working life in Toronto in the 1880s.”  Peter Delottinville’s study of working-class culture and a tavern in Montreal during the late nineteenth century also stressed community.  DeLottinville noted how the working-class culture centred on the tavern “could be mobilized to produce benefits for the Canteen’s patrons.”  Even in Bettina Bradbury’s study of non-wage forms of survival, the culture of pig-raising, gardening, and the production of food and goods was family/community based.  So what about lumber workers?  Was community important to them?  As well as references to supporting each other in the work gangs, we also know from the song “The Jam on Gerry’s Rocks” that looking after those less fortunate than themselves was an important part of the culture of lumber workers.  With the death of a foreman, the lumber workers grouped together to support his widow by making up for her “a liberal purse that day.” The fact that this song was one of the most popular and more widely known songs demonstrates the wider cultural connection with supporting community.

Conclusion

So what can we conclude from studying these shanty songs?  As historians analyzing the lyrics of these shanty songs provides a pathway into the experiences, values, and perspectives of lumber workers.  But perhaps more than this, the shanty songs remind us about the importance of culture to workers.  By placing culture at the centre of our understanding of working lives, we can begin to find out the common ground that the diverse workforce believed in when responding to the challenges of the transition to industrialism.  This leads me to believe that rather than producing studies that focus on a single group of workers or union, historians should explore a more diverse range of primary sources, such as shanty songs, for what these sources could reveal would help further understand the common ground amongst workers.

References

“Hogan’s Lake,” Lumbering Songs.

“The Shantyboy’s Alphabet,” Lumbering Songs.

“When the Shanty Boy Comes Down,” Lumbering Songs.

“The Jam on Gerry’s Rocks,” Lumbering Songs.

Gregory Kealey, “The Honest Workingman and Workers’ Control: The Experience of Toronto Skilled Workers, 1860-1892,” 184, 176.

Peter Delottinville, “Joe Beef of Montreal: Working-Class Culture and the Tavern, 1869-1889,” Labour/Le Travail, 8/9 (1981/82), 60.

Bettina Bradbury, “Pigs, Cows, and Boarders: Non-Wage Forms of Survival among Montreal Families, 1861-91,” Labour/Le Travail, 14 (1984), 90.

Scott Nelson, “Who was John Henry? Railroad Construction, Southern Folklore, and the Birth of Rock and Roll,” Labor: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas, 2:2 (2005), 54-55.

Rachel Lee Rubin, “Working Man’s Ph.D.: The Music of Working-Class Studies,” in New Working Class Studies, John Russo and Sherry Lee Linkon, eds., (Ithaca: IHR press, 2005), 170.

On May 14, 1881, around one o’clock about two hundred Chinese labourers working on the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) entered the town of Yale, British Columbia.  They headed toward the “China Department in the Warehouse,” a store for goods that were supplied to the railway labourers.  Approximately a dozen of the men tried to enter the warehouse and confront G.P. White, an overseer stationed at the warehouse. Flanked by two assistants, White resisted attempts by one “riotious character” to “force an entrance.”  In the ensuing tumult the Chinese labourers began “breaking the windows” and “chopping down the doors” to the warehouse.  White responded to the threat, firing two or three shots from his pistol into the crowd.  Soon the police “interferred and quieted them [the Chinese] down, marching several of the ringleaders to gaol.”*

* Daily Colonist, May 17, 1881.

On May 16, 1881, two defendants were brought to trial at the Yale court of assizes.  Ah Loom “the ringleader of the mob of the attack” and Ah King who assaulted a police officer when trying to rescue Ah Loom confronted the prosecution.  Faced with a barrage of evidence against them, both men were held for further trial at a higher court.  On May 17, 1881, G.P. White, the overseer at the warehouse who fired into the crowd of Chinese labourers, faced prosecution.  During the trial several Chinese labourers who were at the warehouse on the day of the violence were called to testify.  Their testimony, translated into English for the court, was reproduced in the Inland Sentinel on May 19, 1881.

The following passages have been extracted from the testimony.  Ah See was the first sworn in.  He testified:

I was there in the afternoon, there were lots of Chinamen there; I saw several Chinamen go in the store; I did not go in; I saw Mr. White shove one Chinaman out of the door, down the steps; I saw White shut the door; I saw one or two Chinamen pushing the door; there were lots of other Chinaman there, who, did nothing. I saw White at the window, a few Chinamen were then standing beside me-15 or 16-I was then on the opposite side of the road, about 17 or 18 yds; I heard three shots fired, it was the first shot that passed my head; there were about two minutes time between each shot; the shots all came from the same window.

Implying that G.P. White as the person who shot into the crowd, Ah See was cross-examined by the defense on the time of the incident and why he was at the warehouse in the first place. Ah See replied:

This happened about 1 p.m.; I came down to see about the two per cent commission, I saw some parties pushing at the door with their hands; I saw no stones thrown at the door or building; did not see anyone attempting to break the door with an axe or crowbar; I stood directly in front of the window, about 18 yds. off; I saw White shut the door before I heard the shooting; I saw three other persons at that time in the store with White; I saw stones thrown at the window; I did not know the names of any of the men I saw about me; I did not know if White intended to shoot me or some one else; I did not see anyone throwing stones at the window, until White fired the shot; the window was closed. I saw the window raised, a shot fired, and then shut down again.

Ah See lay the blame for the violence on the actions of G.P. White (White fired the first shot and incited the crowd to throw stones at the warehouse).

The next Chinese labourer to testify was Ping Sing.  Answering the question why he was at the warehouse, Sing stated:

I came here last Saturday. I came down to the China store to collect some money. I on first going in saw White. I saw the contractor, Lee Lum, and Ah Soon. I was one of the first who entered the store followed by several others, I saw White pushing some of them out; the door was then shut and some Chinamen outside were pushing against it. I was then inside; there were 5 whitemen and 5 Chinamen in the store; White was one of the whitemen. I saw White raise up the window and shoot off a pistol; he fired 3 shots; could not say in what direction he fired. I know there were lots of Chinamen outside; as soon as the first shot was fired, lots of rocks came in; I distinctly swear that the shot was fired before the rocks were thrown into the building, and that there were 3 shots fired. I saw a pistol in White’s hand, an ordinary one.

Sing’s closeness to the action meant he could identify White as the shooter.  The defense cross-examined further, trying to pick holes in Sing’s original testimony.  Sing replied:

I went in the store for my 2 per cent. I cannot tell how long I remained in the store; I was there during the whole of the disturbance; cannot tell how long it was from the time the stones were thrown until the crowd left; there were some goods in the room; I stood in the room on the left hand side; White was walking around the room; when White shut the door I was standing at the side of it. I did not arrange to give any evidence at this court to-day. White told me to go out of the store into the next room, but not till after the shooting and rocks had been thrown.

Clearly frustrated by the questioning, Sing stated that he did not “arrange to give any evidence.“  The final Chinese labourer to testify was Ah Lin.  Like Ping Sing, Ah Lin identified G.P. White as the shooter of the pistol.  Ah Lin testified:

I was at the Chinese store on Saturday; I came down to see about my wages. I came to see Ah Soon, the agent; White asked us to go in; lots of Chinamen followed; someone stopped them from coming in; I saw the door shut; someone outside tried to push open the door; I saw White raise the window, and look out; then raise the pistol and fire, I am positive that White did not order us out until all the trouble was over.

After further cross-examination, Ah Lin stated:

I was in the front part of the room when the shooting was going on. I was about 6 feet from White when he fired; cannot say what kind of a pistol he used; heard 3 shots, could not see into the street. I saw nothing but White shooting, and then I left that part of the building. There were 5 whitemen and 8 Chinese in the room at the time. I knew 2 of the Chinamen within the store. I can see 2 whitemen in the court room whom I recognize as 2 I saw in the store. White ordered 3 of us out after the trouble was over, the axe I had in my hand on Saturday at the store I left there, inside the store.

A song associated with the “Shantymen.” Rural workers who cleared land and created lumber during the early-mid nineteenth century. Songs such as “The Jam on Jerry’s Rocks” can provide historians an insight into the lives these often neglected workers.

Gregory Kealey refers to the term “Autonomous Workman” in his article “Honest Workingman.”  The term is used in regards to skilled workers in the late nineteenth century. These workers had significant control over the quantity and quality of products, the method of wage payment, wages and hours, hiring, and conditions of work.

However, by the early twentieth century, scientific management came into conflict with the control of the “Autonomous Workman.”

Introduction

Sharpening of class differences (the class interests of both the buyers and sellers of wage labour) occurred during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Increase number of strikes, as Canada witnessed labour conflict from coast to coast.  But who were the wage workers and how were they organized?

How did industrialization change the Canadian working class?

Historiography

The historiography has tended to focus on skilled workers who belonged to trade unions. This labour elite enjoyed higher status, more job security, and greater income than unskilled. The trade unions that they were associated to grew out the defensive struggle to preserve skilled workers’ autonomy within the work place, and their place at the top of the working class.

Craig Heron notes that skilled workers, “recognized their exalted status over helpers and labourers.”

However, the majority of wage workers were unskilled. These unskilled workers lacked specialized skills, received lower wages, and more likely influenced by seasonal fluctuations of work.

Significantly, skilled workers tended to be white, males, of mostly British ethnic origin.

Women and ethnic or racial minorities such as Eastern Europeans and Chinese had little place in trade union movement.

Theories

Historians looking for examples of class consciousness have tended to focus on those most likely, the skilled workers.

Controversies

Who represented the working class? How representative were skilled workers? What does the experience of unskilled workers tell us about labour conflict during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries?

Sources and methods

Increase number of strikes

Worksongs – “There Is Power in the Union”

Events and incidents

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) or Wobblies – establishment of one Big Union. Why was there a need for one Big Union?

Conclusion

Industrialization transformed the Canadian working class. Historians should perceive the working class as fragmented by skill, gender, race and ethnicity. Yet the Industrial Workers of the World sought to override this fragmentation by establishing one “Big Union” that would unite all of labour against capital. Although the Wobblies ultimately failed, they popularized the idea of the “grand industrial union” and the “general strike,” ideas that would be revitalized after World War I.

Introduction

From the 1890s to the 1930s, Canada witnessed the transition from industrialism to the age of industry. In the age of industry, capital and labour relations became strained, as industrial expansion transformed the Canadian workplace. Skilled workers were displaced, new immigrants joined the workforce, and business and government bureaucracies became feminized. At the end of World War I, social tensions between capital and labour reached a tipping point. On May 15, 1919, 30,000 workers in Winnipeg walked off the job – the Winnipeg General Strike had begun.

Historiography

Historians have recently placed the Winnipeg General Strike within a larger context of labour unrest from 1917 to 1925. As Craig Heron notes, the statistics on strikes and union membership suggest that long-established divisions within the trade union movement were giving way to a “remarkable spirit of working-class unity and class consciousness.”

Theories

Why? Because of the stresses of World War I. Serious erosion of real wages after 1917 and the sense that the working-class had been asked to make an unfair contribution to the war effort.

The workers’ revolt was a critique of industrial capitalism in Canada.

Steven Penfold article on class and gender.

Controversies

The revolt quickly faded when prosperity collapsed in mid-1920.

Economic reasons – labour stronger when economy stronger.

Business countered with labour management, company pension and health plans.

Old divisions within working-class. Skilled workers undermined by mass unionization.

Sources and methods

American leaders of United Mine Workers of America failed to support radical leadership of Cape Breton miners.

Events and incidents

Winnipeg General Strikes

Increase in strikes and union membership

Conclusion

Consciousness of class topped racial, gender factors post World War I. However, make-up of Canadian working-class is class, race, and gender.

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) or Wobblies were a radical union organization. In comparison to trade unions, the Wobblies aimed to organize all workers in an industry, skilled and unskilled, native and immigrant, men and women. Wobbly theorists believed that industrial unions were eventually to give way to one “grand” or “big” union, in order to unite against capital.

Although the economic downturn of 1913-1915 and World War I eroded Wobbly strength, however, their history testifies to the tension created by industrialization in Canada, and to the very different ways that various elements within the working class responded to such tensions. The Wobblies popularized the idea of the “grand industrial union” and the “general strike,” both of which would guide Canadian workers-skilled and unskilled-in their protest against social conditions at the end of World War I.