Collection search - Fine, Louis - Interview

Record information – Brief

1

Fine, Louis - Interview

Item number (ISN):

379302

Series title:

[The Great War and Canadian Society]

Hierarchical level:

Item (Accession level)

Date:

1974-07-31

Item number (ISN):

379302

Type of material:

Sound recordings

Found in:

Archives / Film, Video and Sound

Link to this record

Add to My Research

Link to this record

This link identifies the web page describing this particular record. Unlike the temporary link in your browser, this link will allow you to access, and reference, this page in the future. To link to this descriptive record, copy and paste the URL where ever needed (wiki, blog, document).

Sign in

Sign in to start saving records using My Research

Sign in
Record information – Details

Fonds/collection:

THE GREAT WAR AND CANADIAN SOCIETY PROJECT

Accession:

1975-0098

Media:

Sound

Part:

1 of 1

Production date:

1974-07-31

Production company:

Opportunities for Youth

Production credit:

interviewer, Deirdre Bekerman

Description:

Show detail Hide detail

Interview of Louis Fine of Toronto, age 80, who was born in Manchester, England in 1894. He worked as a hatter, was vice-president of the Cap and Millinery Workers’ Union and worked for the Ontario Department of Labour. He moved to Canada in 1906 because he wanted to escape the poverty of life in Manchester. His family arrived in groups, each group earning money in Canada to bring the next group over. He talks about: going to work capmaker’s apprentice at a salary of $3 a week when he arrived in Canada; getting piece work a year later; becoming interested in labour unions; going to work for the union; getting arrested and spending a few days in the Don Jail; describing his union positions later in his career; the poor working conditions before there were unions; the “black bag” practice in which workers took piece work home; working for a cap company in Truro, Nova Scotia; union activity in the needle trades; how the cap workers were the first workers to win a 40-hour week, in 1919; describing his union work up to 1934; the election of Mitchell Hepburn; his appointment as an industrial standards officer for the Ontario government; enforcing industrial standards; how he settled the strike at Inglis; a strike at General Motors; difficult living conditions of his family before the war; how the older sons worked to put the younger ones through school; giving his pay to his father; where the family lived and the location of their work; walking to save streetcar fare; the immigrant community; the formation of self-help organizations; Jewish immigrants in the needle trades; choosing to work for Jewish companies rather than Gentile ones so that they could keep all the Jewish holidays; pressure on him to join the army; going to join the army but finding out that the recruiting office was closed; the death of his uncle from being gassed; women taunting men for not enlisting; how “the enthusiasm for war was terrible”; posters exhorting men to enlist; women getting jobs in industry; women working for the railway; opposition by unions because they thought the women would take the jobs; poor wages; hearing about the suffragettes and Sylvia Pankhurst; better wages during the war; making caps for the military; the healthy postwar market for garments because the veterans needed new clothes; his getting involved in union when he was age 17½; his self-education; attending lectures in New York; running for alderman in Ward Five in 1930; being active in politics; the difficulty of organizing unions because of the fear of losing your job; later labour legislation he helped to enact; fights with communists in unions; union dues and sick benefits from the union; going down to Yonge Street for the Armistice celebrations; celebrating the end of the war rather than the victory; his uncle telling war stories about the mud, slime, dirt, muck and trenches; his company’s offer to hire and train 25 veterans, only 1 of which stayed on; his view that soldiers did not stay on because they were so used to doing nothing; how many veterans became alcoholics and bums; being asked by a veteran for money for a coffee; Toronto in the Roaring Twenties; entertainment in Toronto; theatres; the lack of restaurants in Toronto then; the current state of immigration; the predominance of Protestants in Toronto; having to be a member of the Orange Order to get a job at city hall; anti-Semitism; hiring preferences for non-Jews; children in the streets taunting old, bearded Jews; the Kensington Market; peddlers; his wife’s job at the Canada Clock factory; how companies avoided paying the minimum wage; and the cost of medical treatment.

Language:

English

Notes:

Show detail Hide detail

1. The interviews took place in 1974 and resulted in the publication of a book entitled "The Great War and Canadian Society" edited by Daphne Read - copyright 1978 - New Hogtown Press, Toronto.~2. Release forms, data sheets, and summary analysis/transcripts are available in binders labelled Opportunities for Youth - War and Canadian Society in VSA's audio-visual section.~3. Part of a series of recorded interviews with elderly citizens who lived in Canada during the period of World War I. The interview material consists of their opinions and observations about the war, the war years, and the effect on Canadian society during and after WWI.~4. The interviewee signed an agreement giving consent for a recording of this interview to be placed in the Public Archives of Canada for the purposes of historical research and also signed a publication agreement allowing any transcribed portions of the interview to be used in the book under the condition that no full names, addresses or phone numbers would be published.~5. Subject description is based on information found in the fact sheet, deposit agreement, publication agreement and summary analysis.

Detailed holdings information:

Show detail Hide detail

Vault ISN:

436400

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

C01414

Vault code:

GAT

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

R/R

Technical description:

POLY

Made from:

FROM LOANED MATERIAL

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

439413

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

A1 2007-06-0033

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

CD

Duration:

54:30

Status:

REF

Vault ISN:

737089

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

1975-0098/124

Vault code:

GAT

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

CASSETTE

Made from:

DEPOSIT

Status:

ORIG

Vault ISN:

1003853

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

A4 2007-06-0033

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

CD

Made from:

C01414

Status:

MASTER
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

Open

Consultation copy number:

A1 2007-06-0033

Restrictions on consultation:

No Restrictions / Pas de restrictions

Reproduction access:

With written permission of Copyright Owner / Avec la permission écrite du détenteur des droits d'auteur

You can order materials in advance to be ready for you when you visit. You will need a user card to do this.

Cannot visit us on site? You can purchase a copy to be sent to you. Some restrictions may apply.