"Letters from the Promised Land": The Ambiguous Radicalization of a Swedish Immigrant, 1928-1934 (Note and Documents‪)‬

IN MARCH 1928, 25 years old and bursting with optimism, Martin Johansson left the town of Ulricehamn in south-western Sweden to try his luck as a worker in Canada. It was not easy for a farmer's son to finance such a journey. Like so many others, cap in hand, he had to ask for a loan at the local bank, which his grandfather and four other men co-signed. Once in Canada, Martin proved to be a prolific writer, sending more than 100 colourful letters home, tracing his journeys in Alberta and British Columbia (BC). (1) The full extent of Martin's correspondence is unknown, since the only letters saved were those addressed to his family, in particular to his mother, grandfather, and brother Folke. The letters indicate that Martin was not only optimistic but also politically naive and bound by tradition and the Lutheran faith. When the Depression upended his plans, Martin's time in Canada was spent drifting, dead broke and unemployed, in an often fruitless chase after work that would pay for room and board, and turn a few dollars toward the repayment of his outstanding debt. The letter collection, from which the enclosed Johansson correspondence is drawn, carries the ironic title, "Martin in Harvered--Letters from the Promised Land, 1928-1934." (2) The letters provide glimpses into the contradictory and confusing experiences that shaped the working class during times of extreme distress, and inform on how immigrant workers in Canada perceived labour conditions and came to terms with new social circumstances. Important indications of how the depression hit the logging industry in the interior of BC more than a year before the crash of the Wall Street market in October 1929 are also conveyed. Martin felt frissons of panic as his savings dried up and he found himself competing for temporary, low-income jobs in isolated locations. Painfully aware that his failure to pay the loan instalments meant an extra burden for his grandfather, the Depression scarred Martin's faith in capitalism. His letters provide a unique insight into the complicated and ambiguous birth of a radical political consciousness.