THE RISE OF FACTORIES, 1850-1895
Lobster canning, 1882
© Library and Archives Canada [LAC] , C-85565 / Picturesque Canada, 1882 |
While the export of grain and natural products such as timber and fish continued to drive the Canadian economy after 1850, there was also a major upsurge in manufacturing. In urban centres such as Montréal, Toronto, Québec City, Hamilton, and Saint John, myriad products were fabricated, ranging from hardware to textiles, garments, and boots and shoes. During this period, small workshops were gradually replaced with larger manufactories or factories. The basis of modern class conflict was established during this transition.
The rise of factories meant a marked change in workplace conditions, particularly for skilled labourers. Instead of toiling for masters with the expectation that they could someday own their own shops, crafts people faced a career of wage-labour in larger,
Building and grounds of the Montreal Abattoir Company
© Library and Archives Canada [LAC] , C-76417 / Canadian Illustrated News, 1881 |
more impersonal workplaces where the interests of owners and workers were clearly distinct. Both sought to control the workplace, the former to maximize their return, the latter to exercise traditional artisanal control over production and to increase wages. As industrial capitalism developed, owners focused more single-mindedly on achieving profits. They sought to improve efficiency and decrease labour costs by introducing mechanization wherever possible, for instance, by introducing sewing machines in the tailoring industry in the 1850s. The result was a reduced demand for crafts people and increased demand for cheaper labour, including women and children.
As a result of these changes, skilled workers formed unions to protect their interests. At the same time, workplace conflict increased. In the 1850s, organizations were established in particular towns to represent specific crafts or trades – for instance, carpenters, tailors, and shoemakers. In later decades, these organizations expanded to include several trades in one place, or specific trades in more than one place.
Mining Scenes - Caledonian Mines, 1882
© Library and Archives Canada [LAC] , C-85554 / Picturesque Canada, 1882 |
In particular, crafts workers began gravitating towards international unions, realizing that, as factories recruited workers from across the continent, an international market was forming for labour. During the 1860s, Hamilton’s iron moulders led the way by joining the Iron Molders International Union, an American body established to protect moulders across the continent. A persistent gulf still remained between skilled and unskilled labour, with the latter much less likely to be organized. Often employed for only short periods, less skilled workers tended to conduct short strikes for immediate tangible ends such as wage improvements, rather than for longer-term aims such as preservation of independence and control in the workplace. An exception was the Quebec Ship Labourers’ Benevolent Society. Formed in 1860, it represented dock workers, most of whom were Irish, and became one of the most militant unions in Québec City for several decades.
In the 1880s, the earliest mass movement of working-class resistance to capitalism in North America was organized by the Knights of Labor. Beginning in Philadelphia in 1869,
Stone cutters at work on College Street Baptist Church, Toronto, 1885-1887
© Library and Archives Canada [LAC] , PA-123889 |
this union drew on craft traditions and organization, but sought to unite workers across North America regardless of trade, skill level, or social background. In Canada, it represented the first comprehensive attempt to deal with the new industrialism. Recognizing that Canadian factories often employed large numbers of both skilled and unskilled labour,
women as well as men, and workers of many
ethnic backgrounds other than British or French, the Knights attempted to span the traditional divisions based on skill, gender, ethnicity, and region by recruiting wage earners of all kinds.
In the Maritimes, the Knights were less influential, but Robert Drummond’s Provincial Workmen’s Association, established in Nova Scotia’s Springhill coalfield in 1879, soon became prominent. Like the Knights, it drew on the traditions of craft unions, but recruited workers regardless of skill level or ethnic background. Together, these two bodies organized more of the workforce in Canada than ever before. By the 1890s, however, both were in retreat as economic depression reduced the number of jobs, and business operations continued to introduce methods of work aimed at reducing their reliance on skilled workers.
Oil Springs, Petrolia, Ontario c. 1870
© Archives of Ontario, C280-0-0-0-14, 10020750 |
Clendiging's Foundry - The Moulding Shop, 1872
© Library and Archives Canada [LAC] , C-58597 / Canadian Illustrated News, 1872 |