Briseadairean-stailce: ‘Yahie Miners’ ann an Ceap Breatainn

Chan fhaca mi fhathast facal Gàidhlig air strike-breaker, blackleg no scab. (1) Chan eil teagamh, ge-tà, nach do chuir Gàidheil eòlas math air stailcean, gu sònraichte san 19mh linn air adhart, agus air suidheachaidhean nuair a bhiodh buidheann de dhaoine a’ feuchainn ri stailc a bhriseadh — .i. a’ gabhail àite an luchd-stailc, no a’ cumail àite-obrach a’ ruith, air dòigh gum fàilligeadh an luchd-obrach a bha air obair a dhiùltadh. ’S dòcha gun rachadh, mar eisimpleir, Èireannaich a chur gu feum an aghaidh Ghàidheal Albannach, agus cluinnear tric gu leòr gun robh Gàidheil fhèin, agus Èireannaich, nam briseadairean-stailce air a’ Ghalltachd leis gun robh iad deònach gabhail ri pàigheadh na b’ ìsle agus gun robh iad sgaraichte gu h-ìre bhon choimhearsnachd Ghallta. (2)

Bhiodh briathrachas sam bith dhen t-seòrsa seo buailteach a bhith air a chall, gun a bhith air a chlàradh ann am foillseachaidhean, no fiù ’s air a thogail le cruinnichean beul-aithris.

Ach, dh’amais mi air seo anns an Dictionary of Cape Breton English:

Yahie miner noun; also spelled Ya-he, yakie
a non-unionized miner, frequently a Gaelic speaker, known for mentioning home, dhachaigh; strike-breaking miner

[…] 1992 O’DONNELL. Coal Mining Songs 116-17 The term ‘Yahie’ is sometimes taken as a corruption of ‘Yankee,’ referring to seasonal workers from the USA, but a more acceptable explanation popular in Cape Breton is that it actually derives from the Gaelic word for homeward: ‘dhachaidh’ [sic] […]. Because many of the immigrants constantly spoke of home and the better life there, they were castigated as the as the ‘(g)ackey’ or ‘Yahie’ Miners.

[…] 2011 DOYLE CB Facts and Folklore 226 yakie miners: Gaelic-speaking coal miners who went home for the winter, the usual down time for Cape Breton coal mines. The Gaelic term for home sounded like “yakie.” (3)

‘Mèinneadairean dhachaigh’, ma-thà, a bha nam mèinneadairean ràitheil/sealach, bho thaobh a-muigh nam bailtean-mèinne. B’ ann à coimhearsnachdan Gàidhlig Cheap Breatainn air an tuath a bha iad, air neo ’s e coigrich a bha annta às na Stàitean is àitichean eile. ’S e abairt lùghdachail a bha ann, tha e soilleir, agus i air a cleachdadh mu dhaoine a bha ma b’ fhìor a’ dèanamh cron air cor-obrach nan cosnaichean, no fiù ’s a’ briseadh stailcean.

A rèir an fhaclair, ’s e an t-eisimpleir as tràithe den fhacal ann an clò am mith-òran air a bheil na ‘Yahie Miners’, le bàrd gun ainm, a nochd anns a’ chruinneachdadh òran Cape Breton Come All Ye (1929), deasaichte le Stuart McCawley. Ann an cruinneachadh na b’ anmoiche, b’ ann air a’ phort ‘The Blackleg Miners’ a bha e (4) – tha siud ainmeil chun an latha an-diugh, agus a’ ceangal cuspair an òrain ri briseadh-stailce.

Seo e:

Early in the month of May
When all the ice is gone away.
The Yahies, they come down to work
With their white bags and dirty shirts,
The dirty Yahie miners.

Sèist
Bonnie boys, Oh won’t you gang,
Bonnie boys, Oh won’t you gang,
Bonnie boys, Oh won’t you gang,
To beat the Yahie miners.

They take their picks and they go down
A-digging coal on underground,
For board and lodging can’t be found
For dirty Yahie miners.

Into Mitchell’s they do deal,
Nothing there but Injun meal.
Sour molasses will make them squeal,
The dirty Yahie miners.

Join the Union right away,
Don’t you wait until after pay,
Join the Union right away,
You dirty Yahie miners.

Mrs. McNabb, she keeps the Hall
Where the Yahies they do call,
You’ll see them flock around the Hall,
The dirty Yahie miners.

Don’t go near MacDonald’s door,
Else the bully will have you sure;
For he goes ‘round from door to door
Converting Yahie miners.

Jimmie Brinick he jumped in,
Caught MacKeigan by the chin,
Give me Maggie though she’s thin,
For I’m no Yahie miner.

From Rocky Boston they do come,
The damndest Yahies ever found,
Around the office they do crowd,
The dirty Yahie miners.

The Lorway road is now clear,
There are no Yahies on the beer,
The reason why there are none here,
They’re frightened of the miners. (5)

A rèir David Frank, bha an t-òran ag amas air briseadairean-stailce agus chaidh a dhèanamh rè bliadhnaichean de chòmhstri sna 1860 agus 1870an ann an Mèinnean Shidni, Ceap Breatainn. (6)

An e freumhachadh faoin (folk etymology) a tha seo? San òran gu h-àrd, bhiodh a’ chiall ‘Yankees’ ag obrachadh glè mhath, agus an luchd-obrach a’ tighinn à ‘Rocky Boston’. (*) Ach tha gu leòr de dhaoine a’ cumail a-mach gun robh e dha-rìribh a’ gabhail a-steach dhaoine bhon taobh a-muigh a rachadh dhachaigh aig a’ cheann thall. Agus gur ann bho na Gàidheil, ’s bhon Ghàidhlig a thàinig an abairt. Chan eil mi fhìn deimhinne às. Ach fiù ’s ged nach eil e fìor, tha e a’ sealltainn mar a tha eachdraidh nan Gàidheal suainte ri eachdraidh ghnìomhachail thall ann an Alba Nuadh.

(*) [DEASACHADH 17.6.20]: Dh’innis an t-Oll. Wilson McLeod na leanas a tha ag atharrachadh chùisean gu mòr: ‘A thaobh Rocky Boston, seo baile ann an Ceap Breatainn fhèin, air costa an iar an eilein (a rèir Rob Dunbar). Daoine à Leòdhas agus Uibhist a Tuath a thuinich ann. Neartachadh na h-argamaid gu robh ceangal eadar na ‘Yahies’ agus na Gàidheil a-rèist.’ Taing a-rithist don dithis aca airson siud.

Dh’fhaodadh gun robh Rob còir a’ ciallachadh taobh an ear an eilein – no a bheil barrachd air aon Rocky Boston? Tha fiosrachadh eile ann a tha ceangal ‘Rocky Boston’ ri Boston Ùr (New Boston), baile tuathanachais faisg air Louisbourg agus Abhainn Mhira ann an taobh an ear Cheap Breatainn. Mar eisimpleir, b’ ann à Boston Ùr a bha Ailean Ruairidh Aonghais Dhòmhnaill Uilleim (Ailean MacLeòid, a shiubhail ann an 2016). Thuirt Colaisde na Gàidhlig gum b’ ann à sgìre Rocky Boston a bha e. Tha e coltach gum b’ e an aon àite a bha ann, agus gu dearbh fhèin, b’ ann de shliochd Leòdhasach a bha MacLeòid.

Tha iomraidhean eile ann a chuireadh taic ri sin, m.e. thuirt Anne Hyde, à Ceap Breatainn: ‘My father was born in Rocky Boston – that’s out there somewhere by Louisbourg’ (ann an Gary Burrill, Away: Maritimers in Massachusetts, Ontario, and Alberta (1992), td. 67).

Mar sin, ‘From Rocky Boston they do come…’?

Tha iomradh goirid eile aig a’ Bheaton Institute a tha a’ mìneachadh na h-abairt mar a leanas:

Many Gaelic speakers from rural parts of the island moved to the industrial areas to work in the coal mines. Some would stay in lodgings during the week and go home at the weekends. On Friday they would announce, “Tha sinn a’ dol dhachaidh,” meaning “We are going home” (Some were also regarded by the collectivised miners as “blacklegs” or scabs.) Hence, the disparaging of “the Yahie miners,” “yahie” being a phonetic rendering of “dhachaidh.” (7)

Tha co-dhiù dà òran mhèinneadair aig a’ Bheaton Institute ann an Gàidhlig, a’ gabhail a-steach ‘Òran a’ Mheinneadair’, air a ghabhail le Dan MacNèill. (8)

Mar as motha a tha mi a’ leughadh mu na mèinnean agus obraichean-stàilinn ann an Ceap Breatainn, agus Alba Nuadh, ’s ann as inntinniche a tha e a’ fàs. Seo criomag eile a luaidh David Frank san leabhar aigesan mu eagrachadh radaigeach san eilean:

[…] [B]y 1906 the Halifax Herald was reporting on “the Startling Growth of Socialism in Cape Breton”: “now the subject is discussed all over the island, not only in English, but in French and good old-fashioned Gaelic.” (9)

 

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(1) Ann an Gàidhlig na h-Èireann, gheibhear ‘bristeoir stailce’ agus ‘sáraitheoir stailce’ (New English-Irish Dictionary), agus ‘neamhstailceoir’ aig de Bhaldraithe (1959). Tha mi air ‘ceathrú dhubh’ agus na ‘ceathrúnna dubha’ fhaicinn cuideachd aig sgrìobhadairean Èireannach – an tionndadh Gàidhealach de blackleg sa Bheurla. ’S e ‘an ceathramh-dubh’ a tha againn ann an Alba air a’ ghalar seo, ach chan eil iomradh air mar thuairisgeul air briseadairean-stailce.

(2) Graeme Morton, Ourselves and Others: Scotland 1832-1914 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2012), td. 139. Bhiodh e inntinneach fianais nas mionaidiche a lorg air a leithid, ge-tà.

(3) William J. Davey agus Richard MacKinnon, Dictionary of Cape Breton English (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016), td. 189.

(4) Tha am port ainmichte ann an John O’Donnell, And Now the Fields are Green: A Collection of Coal Mining Songs in Canada (Sydney: University College of Cape Breton Press, 1992). Am fiosrachadh seo bho Richard MacKinnon, ‘Protest Song and Verse in Cape Breton Island’, Ethnologies (2009), air-loidhne an seo.

(5) Stuart McCawley Cape Breton Come All Ye: A Book of Come-All-Ye of Cape Breton and Newfoundland (Glace Bay: Brodie Printing Service, 1929), tdd 20-21. Ach fhuair mise e ann am MacKinnon, ‘Protest Song’ (2009).

(6) David Frank, J.B. McLachlan: A Biography (Toronto: James Lorimer & Co., 1999), td. 50.

(7) Ann an tuairisgeul mu ‘Òran a’ Mheinneadair’, air a ghabhail le Dan MacNèill. Beaton Institute (Oilthigh Cheap Breatainn), ‘Music: Cape Breton’s Unity in Diversity’, ri fhaighinn an seo.

(8) An clàradh: ‘Òran a’ Mhèinneadair. Dan MacNeil. T-1189. Beaton Institute, Cape Breton University.’ Agus seo na faclan fhèin, a lorgadh an seo:

Òran a’ Mhèinneadair

Ì ill ù ill agus ò
Mo chridhe trom ’s cha charaich e;
Cha tig na fithich ’n am chòir
Leis an dòigh ’s ’n do chailleadh mi.

Bha mi deas ’s gu robh mi tuath,
Bha mi thall an Sydney Mines,
Bha mi shuas an Glace Bay mhòr,
’S gur iomadh gual a tharraing mi.

Sèist a-rithist.

(9) Frank, J.B. McLachlan, td. 69.