"We'll hang all policemen from a sour apple tree!" : class, law, and the politics of state power in the Blubber Bay Strike of 1938-39
Year: 1995
Type: article
Abstract: In the wake of President Roosevelt's New Deal for labour in the United States, the International Woodworkers of America (IWA) experienced tremendous organizational growth in both Oregon and Washington.Fea e arrival of the IWA in British Columbia, the provincial government enacted t h b d u s t r i a l Conciliation and ~r b i t r a t i o a 4--e * a means to preserve the industrial peace through state regulation of the class struggle.It was at the company town of BlubJber Bav rn Texada Island that the Act was tested for the first time in an eleven-month strike between Local 163 of the IWA and the Pacific Lime Company.With the failure of the legislation to broker a settlement, the union's campaign for recognition was subsequently enveloped by clashes over the common law rights o m e property which limited workers' mobility in the community and the criminal laws of unlawfuJ&emb~at jailed strike leaders.Through an investigation of the legal struggles between the state, company, and union this project demonstrates that the statutory, criminal, and common laws in question were dedicated to the reproduction of capitalist social relations by regulating or eliminating the collective political activities I C of working people at Blubber Bay and, by extension, the arrival of the IWA in BC.As well, such struggles reveal the fundamentally different conceptions of legality put forth by the union.Furthermore, *is project illuminates the ways in which the expansion of formalcollective barzaining contained class struggle and how the law and legal process shaped C the political choices of working people.Indeed, the Blubber Bay conflict provides a window into the role of the state in labour/capital relations; in particular, its capacity through consent and coercion to legitimize its role as arbiter o f tclassr~e secure allegiance to the rule of law, and diffuse oppositional challenges to the existing order.
Source: Summit (Simon Fraser University)
Author: Andy Parnaby
Language: English
Topic: Labor Movements and Unions
Subfield: Industrial relations
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W116189251