The Cape Breton Coal Industry and the Rise and Fall of the British Empire Steel Corporation (journal article)
by David Frank, 1977, Acadiensis.
This article follows the trials and tribulations of BESCO, a corporation whom Frank concludes was in a continuous state of financial crisis throughout their short history. The historian derides BESCO's "notorious labour policies," which did little to improve their financial situation, and credits the tenacious resistance of the Cape Breton coal miners with threatening BESCO's survival. Furthermore the strikes and their ensuing hardship for the strikers did nothing to endear BESCO to the general public and the federal government, whom they were aggressively lobbying to protect Canadian coal and steel. Along with their illogical business practices and plans, BESCO's treatment of the workers destroyed their reputation, and by 1926, the corporation had broken apart with some of its companies going into receivership. Thus, one of the effects of the prolonged disputes between workers and BESCO, was the eventual collapse of BESCO. According to Frank, this dramatically altered the state of Canadian capitalism, as now capital and state had to work together to prop up the national economy.
Frank also suggests that the coal industry in Canada more generally was not going well. After WWI when demand for coal drastically dropped, it had trouble securing markets, and this continued well into the 1930s. With this view, the miners' livelihood wasn't necessarily secured with the end of the labour dispute in 1926, but depended on market demand.
This article follows the trials and tribulations of BESCO, a corporation whom Frank concludes was in a continuous state of financial crisis throughout their short history. The historian derides BESCO's "notorious labour policies," which did little to improve their financial situation, and credits the tenacious resistance of the Cape Breton coal miners with threatening BESCO's survival. Furthermore the strikes and their ensuing hardship for the strikers did nothing to endear BESCO to the general public and the federal government, whom they were aggressively lobbying to protect Canadian coal and steel. Along with their illogical business practices and plans, BESCO's treatment of the workers destroyed their reputation, and by 1926, the corporation had broken apart with some of its companies going into receivership. Thus, one of the effects of the prolonged disputes between workers and BESCO, was the eventual collapse of BESCO. According to Frank, this dramatically altered the state of Canadian capitalism, as now capital and state had to work together to prop up the national economy.
Frank also suggests that the coal industry in Canada more generally was not going well. After WWI when demand for coal drastically dropped, it had trouble securing markets, and this continued well into the 1930s. With this view, the miners' livelihood wasn't necessarily secured with the end of the labour dispute in 1926, but depended on market demand.