Workers, Growers and Monopolists: The "Labour Problem" in the Alberta Beet Sugar Industry During the 1930s

Abstract

"Workers, Growers and Monopolists'1 is a study of the sugar beet workers of Southern Alberta and their attempt during the Depression to organize a trade union. Radical militants from the Farmers and Workers Unity Leagues organized the foreign born workers and in 1935 and 1936 led strikes which brought the "class struggle" to the farm gate. Observing the exploitative relationship which also existed between the beet growers and the Rogers Sugar Company, union leaders attempted to create a worker-grower movement against the Company. This proved an unrealizable goal, and the collaboration of growers, the sugar company and the state ultimately crushed the beet workers' union.

Cet article étudie la tentative d'organisation d'un syndicat par les travailleurs d'une raffinerie de betterave à sucre du sud de I'Alberta pendant la dépression. Des militants radicaux de la «Farmers and Workers Unity Leagues» ont syndiqué des travailleurs immigrants dont ils ont dirigé les grèves en 1935 et 1936. Conscients aussi de l'exploitation que subissaient les fermiers de la part de la Rogers Sugar Company, les chefs syndicaux tentèrent de les unir aux travailleurs contre la compagnie. Mais cet objectif s'avéra irréaliste et les fermiers se joignirent à la compagnie et au gouvernement pour écraser le syndicat des travailleurs.