Mathieu Houle-Courcelles

Mathieu Houle-Courcelles, « “Ni Rome, ni Moscou” : l’itinéraire des militants communistes libertaires de langue française à Montréal pendant l’entre-deux-guerres », thèse de doctorat, Université Laval – Université Paris 1, 2020.

This dissertation examines the little-studied libertarian Communists of Montréal, from 1906 to 1937. Through a collective biography, or prosopography, of over 300 participants in this politically diverse milieu, Houle-Courcelles analyzes not only the politics of libertarian communism, but also the social and economic lives of its adherents. Using a creative methodology that combines traditional social history methods with digital humanities, Houle-Courcelles documents the evolving occupational, gender, ethnic, and household characteristics of the movement. Throughout, the findings are expertly situated within the context of pre-war Montréal and within the historiography of the Quebec, Canadian, and global lefts, to which the thesis makes an important contribution.

Honorable Mention

Mason Godden, “That ‘70s Strike Support:  Labour, Feminism, and the Left in three Ontario Strikes, 1972-1979,” M.A. Thesis, Trent University, 2019.

Godden’s thesis focuses on three case studies of strikes in Ontario between 1972 to 1979, during a crucial decade for workers and their communities.  His analysis incorporates extensive primary and secondary sources including archival documents and oral history.  This thesis is a welcome addition to the corpus of post-Second World War Canadian labour and working-class history.