The British Collier in British Columbia
Another Archetype Reconsidered
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3982827 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John Douglas Belshaw (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1994 |
| Volume | 34 |
| Pages | 11 |
| Publication date | 1994-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Labour / Le Travail (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0700-3862 • E-ISSN: 1911-4842 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/25143844 |
| OpenAlex | W1797104916 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
It is a widely held axiom of British Columbia's labour history that the province's radical tradition originated among immigrant British workers who formed the social bedrock of Vancouver Island's coaltowns in the 19th century. This paper challenges the stereotype of the British BC worker in the last century by balancing the post-immigration experience against the pre-emigration vocabulary of work, class, race, and politics. I conclude that insofar as a British fountainhead is significant for BC's political history it is in the diffusion of class solidarity to competing claimants for political support. The legacy of the British collier on Vancouver Island was not one of monolithic radicalism or even Labourism; instead it was one of conflicting inclinations which were as politically divisive for labour in Britain as they were on Canada's west coast. Resumes Selon un axiome largement repandu en histoire ouvriere de la Colombie-Britannique, la tradition radicale de la province prend sa source chez les immigrants britanniques qui constituaient la base sociale des communautes de mineurs de charbon de l'ile de Vancouver au dix-neuvieme siecle. Ce article remet en question ce stereotype du travailleur britannique dans la province au siecle dernier en confrontant leur experience post-migratoire a leur vocabulaire pre-migratoire de travail, classe, race et politique. J'arrive a la conclusion que l'origine britannique des ouvriers est significative pour l'histoire politique de la Colombie-Britannique car qu'elle favorise la diffusion de la solidarite de classe chez des mineurs partages par leur quete du pouvoir politique. Le legs des mineurs britanniques sur l'ile de Vancouver ne consiste pas en un radicalisme ou un travaillisme monolithique, mais au contraire en des tendances conflictuelles qui ont divise autant les travailleurs en Grande-Bretagne que sur la cote ouest du Canada
Archetype · Art · Art history · Literature · Canadian Identity and History · History
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.1 |
| Citation span | 2016 - 2016 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |