Portrait of a Labour Spy

This paper examines the life of Robert Raglan Gosden, 1882-1961. Gosden was an unskilled worker who joined the Industrial Workers of the World and advocated violent revolution. He took part in the Vancouver Island mining strikes of 1912-1914, and was a key player in the 1916 provincial election scandal. By 1919, however, he was an informant for the RCMP. The paper outlines Gosden's career and analyzes the complex way his class experience shaped his construction of masculinity as well as his radical politics and his later activity as a labour spy. Resume Cet article etudie la vie de Robert Raglan Gosden, travailleur non-qualifie et membre des Industrial Workers of the World, une organisation syndicale engagee dans la violence revolutionnaire. En 1912-1914, Gosden participa aux greves des mineurs de l'ile de Vancouver. Il joua aussi un role de premier plan dans un scandale electoral en 1916. En 1919 toutefois, il se retrouve indicateur pour la Gendarmerie Royale du Canada. Cette etude esquisse la carriere de Gosden et analyse la complexite avec laquelle son experience de classe contribua a sa construction de la masculinite, de ses activites radicales et, plus tard, de sa vie d'espion des travailleurs

Art · Art history · Portrait · Canadian Identity and History