Mark Leier is a Canadian historian and, since 1994, a professor of

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colo ...

and

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

history at

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located ...

(SFU). From 2000 to 2010, he was the director of the Centre for Labour Studies at Simon Fraser. Leier was born in

Ladner, British Columbia Ladner is a part of the City of Delta, British Columbia, Canada, and a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia. It was created as a fishing village on the banks of the Fraser River. Named for Thomas and William Ladner, who came to the area in 1868 ...

. Prior to attending university, Leier was employed in various professions, including as a union carpenter and as a member of the

Canadian Union of Public Employees The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE; french: Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique, links=no; french: SCFP, link=, label=none) is a Canadian trade union serving the public sector – although it has in recent years organized workpl ...

. He earned his PhD in History from Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) in 1992. Politically anarchist, Leier's books have mostly reflected on

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

's history of labour radicalism. His first book, ''Where the Fraser River Flows: The Industrial Workers of the World in British Columbia'' (1990) deals with the development of industrial unionism in the province. ''Red Flags and Red Tape: The Making of a Labour Bureaucracy'' (University of Toronto Press) deals with the institutionalization of a non-revolutionary labour movement. In ''Rebel Life: The Life and Times of Robert Gosden, Revolutionary, Mystic, Labour Spy'' (1999), Leier examines the life of an Industrial Workers of the World member (or "Wobbly") turned police labour spy. His fourth book, ''Bakunin: The Creative Passion'' is a political biography of the 19th-century Russian anarchist, Mikhail Bakunin. As part of the Graphic History Collective, he helped produce ''May Day: A Graphic History of Protest''. A former folk singer, Leier is also known for bringing a banjo to his history classes.

Works

*''Where the Fraser River Flows: The Industrial Workers of the World in British Columbia''. Vancouver: New Star, 1990. *''Red Flags and Red Tape: The Making of a Labour Bureaucracy''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995. *''Bakunin: The Creative Passion''. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2009. *''Rebel Life: The Life and Times of Robert Gosden''. Vancouver: New Star, 1999. Rev. Ed., 2013.

References

External links

Mark Leier's page at Simon Fraser UniversityReview of ''Bakunin: A Biography''
by Kirkpatrick Sale in ''The American Conservative'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Leier, Mark Canadian anarchists Canadian biographers Male biographers 20th-century Canadian historians Canadian male non-fiction writers Historians of anarchism Labor historians Industrial Workers of the World members Simon Fraser University faculty Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Historians of British Columbia Historians of the Industrial Workers of the World People from Delta, British Columbia 21st-century Canadian historians