The myth of the big Swede logger: an arbetskarl in the Vancouver Island Forests, 1920-1948
| dc.contributor.author | St. Jean, Eva Elizabeth | |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | Sager, Eric William | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-08-22T23:45:50Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-08-22T23:45:50Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 1999 | |
| dc.description.abstract | This thesis studies the union involvement of Swedish and Scandinavian loggers on Vancouver Island, 1920-1948. Pointing to the Swedish labour movement, historians have mythologized Swedes in B.C. as the archetypal logger and radical union supporter. Research on the Swedish forest industry, however, indicates that many loggers viewed themselves as independent producers rather than proletarians. Swedish immigration to British Columbia peaked in the 1920s, but Swedes were less concentrated in logging than commonly believed. Neither does evidence suggest that Swedes in Canada were radicals who dominated in forest unions. A Norwegian and a Swede-Finnish union leader were conspicuous activists, and helped create the illusion that loggers' unions were Scandinavian led. Sources are Swedish research, interviews, Census of Canada, employment records from logging companies, and the Harold Pritchett Papers. Scandinavians and Swedes were important in the logging industry, but never dominated the workforce, and were often underrepresented in union membership lists. | |
| dc.description.scholarlevel | Graduate | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1828/22647 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.rights | Available to the World Wide Web | |
| dc.subject.department | Department of History | |
| dc.title | The myth of the big Swede logger: an arbetskarl in the Vancouver Island Forests, 1920-1948 | |
| dc.type | Thesis |