Overview

"Smelter Wars examines a radical BC trade union's struggle to survive from the 1930s to the 1950s. 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."

Full Product Details

Author:   Ron Verzuh
Publisher:   University of Toronto Press
Imprint:   University of Toronto Press
Dimensions:   Width: 14.00cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 21.60cm
Weight:   0.480kg
ISBN:  

9781487541125

ISBN 10:   1487541120
Pages:   372
Publication Date:   17 January 2022
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Temporarily unavailable  
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Reviews

Smelter Wars offers an important new contribution to a fascinating period in Canadian labour history. Trail smelter workers faced a tough employer, bent upon installing a company union; governments reacting to the so-called Red Scare; and a reactionary Canadian labour movement, which supported numerous failed raiding attempts. The workers saw through the 'fake news' of their day and stuck with their union leadership. An inspiring message for today's workers. - Paul Moist, President Emeritus, Canadian Union of Public Employees Smelter Wars is the best kind of labour history: rooted in deep connections to place and politics, shaped by direct experience 'on the line, ' and the product of intellectual curiosity and attentiveness to the lessons the past holds for contemporary labour movements. Ron Verzuh has the ability to make connections between the struggles and personalities of a radical union in BC's Southern Interior and the broader contours of extractive capitalism and its social relations in the postwar period in a way that is both highly readable and deeply insightful. - Kendra Strauss, Professor and Director, Labour Studies Program and The Morgan Centre for Labour Research, Simon Fraser University

I love this book and I am particularly happy to be learning things that were important in my early life. - Ronald Shearer, Kootenay-born author and historian It's not often a history like this is a page-turner, but this one definitely is . . . an excellent read and a much-needed contribution. - Tom Wayman, author Smelter Wars is meticulously researched while keeping the reader engaged in fascinating details about the early times of unions in Canada, especially British Columbia. - Marc Belanger, News Producer, RadioLabour Verzuh has synthesized an astonishing amount of detail in an excellent way. - Derek Blackadder, LabourStart Canada This book makes a powerful contribution to the field of labour history. I am very impressed by Ron Verzuh's research and his history of Mine-Mill is path-breaking. Its focus on one specific struggle offers a close-up view of the struggle that tore apart the entire labour movement. It's also a very readable and engaging story that I will recommend to my students. - Julie Guard, University of Manitoba A powerful piece of work, from the studious attention to all of the ins-and-outs and dramatic complications of labour in Trail to the contextual portrayal of life, community, media distractions, group dynamics, and gender politics. As a pro-labour community advocate, I appreciate the clear and critical exploration of relationships on the ground in Trail as well as the broader Canadian/US/Euro-USSR context. Ron Verzuh has captured, distilled, and portrayed - with care and balance - the complexities of left politics at the time. - Lin Nelson, Emeritus, The Evergreen State College Smelter Wars offers an important new contribution to a fascinating period in Canadian labour history. Trail smelter workers faced a tough employer, bent upon installing a company union; governments reacting to the so-called Red Scare; and a reactionary Canadian labour movement, which supported numerous failed raiding attempts. The workers saw through the 'fake news' of their day and stuck with their union leadership. An inspiring message for today's workers. - Paul Moist, President Emeritus, Canadian Union of Public Employees Smelter Wars is the best kind of labour history: rooted in deep connections to place and politics, shaped by direct experience 'on the line, ' and the product of intellectual curiosity and attentiveness to the lessons the past holds for contemporary labour movements. Ron Verzuh has the ability to make connections between the struggles and personalities of a radical union in BC's Southern Interior and the broader contours of extractive capitalism and its social relations in the postwar period in a way that is both highly readable and deeply insightful. - Kendra Strauss, Professor and Director, Labour Studies Program and The Morgan Centre for Labour Research, Simon Fraser University

Smelter Wars is the best kind of labour history: rooted in deep connections to place and politics, shaped by direct experience 'on the line, ' and the product of intellectual curiosity and attentiveness to the lessons the past holds for contemporary labour movements. Ron Verzuh has the ability to make connections between the struggles and personalities of a radical union in BC's Southern Interior and the broader contours of extractive capitalism and its social relations in the postwar period in a way that is both highly readable and deeply insightful. - Kendra Strauss, Professor and Director, Labour Studies Program and The Morgan Centre for Labour Research, Simon Fraser University Smelter Wars offers an important new contribution to a fascinating period in Canadian labour history. Trail smelter workers faced a tough employer, bent upon instilling a company union; governments reacting to the so-called Red Scare; and a reactionary Canadian labour movement, which supported numerous failed raiding attempts. The workers saw through the 'fake news' of their day and stuck with their union leadership. An inspiring message for today's workers. - Paul Moist, President Emeritus, Canadian Union of Public Employees

Author Information

Ron Verzuh is a writer and historian. His previous books include Radical Rag: The Pioneer Labour Press in Canada and Underground Times: Canada’s Flower-Child Revolutionaries.

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