Hired Hands: Labour and the Development of Prairie Agriculture, 1880-1930

Steven R. Hewitt teaches history at the University of Saskatchewan.

“Canada’s Invisible Workers” would be an appropriate subtitle for
this book. Studies of the farm economy have traditionally ignored the
role of the farm laborer. Hired Hands attempts to redress that neglect.

At least until 1920, the author observes, farm workers were largely
transient, since the ultimate goal for most was to work long enough to
acquire their own farm. During the 1920s, as the prairie provinces moved
toward a capitalist agricultural system, farmers increasingly sought
cheaper labor in the form of both immigrants and mechanization. As a
result of these changes, the hired hands became tied to the land and
increasingly came to resemble a working-class group.

While Hired Hands attempts to offer some insight into the lives of farm
laborers, it fails to make a strong enough case for viewing them as a
proletariat. The book’s main strength is its readability—a quality
that should gain it a wider audience than that typically enjoyed by
academic works.