FOR ALL the romanticism of the subject of Where the Fraser River Flows The Industrial Workers of the World in British Columbia (New Star, 138 pages, $24.95 cloth), all of the rallying songs and gypo-camp anecdotes that it calls to mind, its text was originally a thesis, and it still reads as such. Formal, intricate, thorough, cautious - but not what you might expect. There are better histories of the dream of one big union, books that incorporate Wobbly art and literature in ways that conjure those heady, early years of this century when the IWW was still a dissenting force. But there is no other book that concentrates on the union`s activities in British Columbia. In his analysis of how the union`s strength was undermined, Mark Leier intends to raise larger questions, such as "Why is there no socialism in Canada today?" The IWW was at the radical forefront of protest 80 years ago, and now, although its basic platform has not changed, it does not appeal to workers the way it used to. Leier is good at carefully spelling out the steps whereby this happened, and he does a good job of analysing the Free Speech fights of 1909 and 1912, but the best thing he does is convincingly argue that the IWW`s analysis and ideology was a very sophisticated and viable one. Where the Fraser River Flows doesn`t exactly offer hope for socialism, but it does help one to understand how hope got siphoned out of the struggle for solidarity. And it does provide a useful bibliography of Wobbly writings and B.C. labour-history sources. The book`s title is also the title of a great song. After you finish reading the book, listen to the song, or better still, sing it. The music will make you feel better.