Mining and writing in the work of Joe Corrie, Constant Malva and Jules Mousseron

Abstract

In 1933 Henry Poulaille launched Prolétariat, a monthly anthology of international proletarian literature. The first issue was devoted to mining. Among the miner-writers included were the Scot Joe Corrie, the Frenchman Jules Mousseron, and the Belgian Constant Malva. For Poulaille, they gave authentic voice to the subterranean hell of the mine while eschewing political dogma. This article aims to examine and nuance Poulaille's assessment by following the evolution of Corrie, Malva, and Mousseron across a century. I compare their representations of mining, attitudes to class struggle and politics, and relationships to the broader cultural and linguistic fields.