Godless Communists and Faithful Wives, Gender Relations and the Cold War: Mine Mill and the 1958 Strike against the International Nickel Company

Abstract

Soon after a strike at the huge Sudbury mining operations of the International Nickel Company—also known as Inco—had begun on September 24, 1958, a wave of anticommunist hysteria swept the northern Ontario mining town of Sudbury. The press depicted miners’ families held ransom by union bullies and the events as a battle between Godless communists and faithful Catholics: “Two thousand Inco miners’ wives urge men to return to work”; “Inco wives defy goons, yell ‘Go back to Russia’ ”; “Inco wives form anti-Red faction.” 2 Reports by “faithful” workers’ wives challenging the members of the union and their “Ladies’ Auxiliary” dominated the media. They claimed that the union’s “communist leaders” were being unreasonable in their unwillingness to accept the nickel giant’s offer. “It’s time we heard the truth from the union,” declared Mrs. Regina Talbot. “We want our men to go back to work, and they should have some say in the matter.” Ethel Lasalles, acting secretary for the Back to Work movement, a wives’ oppositional group, told the local radio station: “We women have taken the initiative and we feel that it is up to the men to follow through on our resolutions. How much longer are you going to permit yourselves to be hidden behind the Red Curtain?” 3 The International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers (Mine Mill), led by left-wing unionists, was under siege in both the United States and Canada. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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