Asbestos Strike - Significance

Significance

One of the most violent and bitter labour disputes in Quebec and Canadian history, the strike led to great upheaval in Quebec society. The strike was in large part led by Jean Marchand, a labour unionist. Journalist Gérard Pelletier and future Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, then a journalist, also played significant roles. Marchand, Pelletier and Trudeau would eventually become prominent Canadian politicians and were known later in their political careers as les trois colombes (the Three Wise Men). They would largely establish the direction of Quebec federalism for a generation.

Trudeau edited a book, The Asbestos Strike, that presented the strike as the origin of modern Quebec, portraying it as "a violent announcement that a new era had begun." Some historians argue that the strikers were simply pursuing better conditions, and that the resulting change in society was an unintended byproduct.

Popular opinion for most of the strike was broadly supportive of the striking workers. This support, beyond its moral value, manifested itself through monetary support and the supply of provisions. It is likely that the strike would have quickly failed had it not been for the establishment of this kind of support.

In 2004, a French-language book about the strike by author/historian Esther Delisle and Pierre K. Malouf was published under the title Le Quatuor d'Asbestos.