Acknowledgements

When I sat down to write this book, I naturally assumed that it would be my book—my personal accomplishment. As I soon discovered, however, writing a book is a team sport. No matter how long and hard I might have trained, I could not have done it myself.

The first person to whom I turned for direction and advice was Allen Seager, professor emeritus of history at Simon Fraser University—a patient and supportive teacher, if there ever was one, who challenged me to keep asking questions. For early guidance and appraisals, I also got in touch with two of his other former graduate students, Mark Leier and Gordon Hak, both of whom went on to pursue careers in academia. I am grateful to Mark for sharing his experience as a union insider, as well as for his tireless support, and to Gordie especially for his editorial advice and thoughtful feedback on earlier drafts of the manuscript.

I also wish to thank Grace Palladino, the doyenne of IBEW history. Although not necessarily in agreement with the philosophical direction of this work, she was generous in her corrections and extremely helpful in forcing me to rethink various sections, in particular certain historical assumptions and statements that were initially unclear. My thanks as well to David Yorke for correcting a number of misstatements and for his first-hand knowledge of many of the people I was attempting to describe.

Another very useful early critique came from a former wrestling teammate of mine, Pat Wolfe, a top-drawer intellect and the holder of an MBA, not a history degree. Pat’s use of language is much more precise than mine, and he sent me off on a serious syntactic review, in addition to a search for additional materials and alternate interpretations.

I remain profoundly grateful to two of the key figures in this book, Jess Succamore and Terry Simpson, both now deceased, for retelling the events as they lived them. Their impromptu phone calls, questions, and advice were invaluable in the painstaking and at times frustrating process of attempting to write accurate, thought-provoking trade union history. Without them, this book would not have been possible. They were living examples of the fact that those who aren’t necessarily successful right away often have the sharpest minds and keenest memories, as well as living proof that history’s “winners” should not be the only ones permitted to shape our historical consciousness.

Brian Bethel, Jim Dougan, Alfie Huston, Jim MacFarlan, Barry Sharbo, Colin Snell, Dora Stewart, and Bill Zander filled me in on some of the finer details of trade union activism in the building trades and on the Communist left in Vancouver during the 1960s. So did the late Ernie Fulton, an electrical worker who went on to become a national-level championship wrestler.

At UBC Library, archivist Krisztina Laszlo proved an essential guide. Quite apart from the materials that I donated, Rare Books and Special Collections is home to a small mountain of information about trade unions and their history, provided someone knows where to climb.

Finally, as any writer understands, the game isn’t over when the manuscript is finished. I am grateful to editor Peter Midgley, who was charged with the unenviable task of pruning the original manuscript down to a somewhat more manageable length. His experience and astute judgment were indispensable. At AU Press, senior editor Pamela Holway supported this project from the very beginning and was exceptionally generous with her time. Again and again, her editorial instincts saved me from losing my focus, and the manuscript benefited enormously from her close and preceptive engagement with the material. A step further down the road, production coordinator Karyn Wisselink provided expert advice about illustrations and carefully oversaw two rounds of corrections in proof. I am grateful for her steady patience and good humour.

Last but of course far from least, my spouse, Mary Anne Higgins, has long been my foremost source of sustenance. She knows my ways, and I am forever in her debt.