When it comes to inspiring Canadian trade unionists, the 1930s stand apart. Few narratives match the era’s dramatic sit-down strikes, the on-to-Ottawa trek and the triumph of modern unionism. Moreover, the 1930s are not just an inspirational marker. It was then that capitalism last faced a degree of economic uncertainty comparable to the present and it was also at the beginning of that decade that labour last experienced an identity crisis akin to what unions now…
Sam Gindin
Sam Gindin is a former research director of the Canadian Auto Workers (now retired) and coauthor with Leo Panitch of The Making of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy of American Empire (Verso, 2012).