This thesis analyzes the experiences of participants of the Canadian Labour Congress and Saskatchewan Federation of Labour radical labour youth activist training program “Solidarity Works.” The theoretical work of Antonio Gramsci and Paulo Freire is used to analyze why radical labour education is important. The theoretical work of Michel Foucault is used, in addition to the work of Gramsci and Freire, to examine the complications of radical labour education. The essential argument of this thesis is that radical labour education programs like Solidarity Works produce an activist subjectivity that ultimately comes into conflict with the institutionalized politics of the labour movement. Solidarity Works is a model radical labour education project, its challenges and successes warrant analysis so those lessons can be used for future radical labour education projects.

This thesis analyzes the experiences of participants of the Canadian Labour Congress and Saskatchewan Federation of Labour radical labour youth activist training program “Solidarity Works.” The theoretical work of Antonio Gramsci and Paulo Freire is used to analyze why radical labour education is important. The theoretical work of Michel Foucault is used, in addition to the work of Gramsci and Freire, to examine the complications of radical labour education. The essential argument of this thesis is that radical labour education programs like Solidarity Works produce an activist subjectivity that ultimately comes into conflict with the institutionalized politics of the labour movement. Solidarity Works is a model radical labour education project, its challenges and successes warrant analysis so those lessons can be used for future radical labour education projects.