Radicalism

Avery points out that many immigrants were prepared to forcibly resist what he calls the "demands of exploitative capitalism".67 In discussing the 1896 to 1914 period, he states:

Seasonal fluctuations in labour demand, and the tendency of most mining, lumbering, and railway companies during slack periods to discharge temporarily their unskilled employees, produced deep hostility among immigrant workers. These periods of idleness not only prevented the accumulation of funds, but actually depleted accumulated savings, thereby postponing a profitable return to the Old Country. Immigrant resentment over this cyclical employment pattern often expressed itself in militant demands for higher wages and better working conditions. When these methods failed, at least some immigrant workers were not adverse to collective action, and, in some cases, outright violence. Numerous incidents could be cited from the period 1896 to 1914 of immigrant workers in the rail, mine, and lumber camps resorting to collective action to remedy specific grievances. In many cases worker demands were accompanied by violence or the threat of violence.68

The resistance of immigrant workers to the exploitation they faced at the hands of employers through the 1930's ranged from spontaneous protests to support for industrial unions and socialist organizations. 69 For example, immigrants provided the bulk of the support for militant labour organizations like Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) 70 and the Communist Party. 71 After 1914, Marxist-oriented ethnic organizations became increasingly influential in immigrant communities, particularly among groups like Russians, Ukrainians and Finns. 72

Immigrant radicalism proved to be the one issue which could sometimes unite both nativist elements, like anglo-Canadian businessmen, and normally pro-immigration groups, including employers in labour-intensive industries, around support for anti-immigrant measures like arrests, the crushing of strike action, deportation and even the outright halt of immigration from continental Europe. 73

While the 'open door' was generally dominant in federal government policy in the early decades of the 20th century, it sometimes gave way in response to this pressure.