Socialism in Canada

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Socialism in Canada has a long history and along with conservatism and liberalism is a political force in Canada.^[1]

In its early days, Canada's

The Socialist Labor Party was Canada's first socialist party, formed in 1898 by Canadian supporters of the ideas of American socialist Daniel De Leon and the Socialist Labor Party of America.^[2] It became a national party in the 1930s and had its headquarters in Toronto. The party never won any seats. The party ran only a small number of candidates (listed below), all of whom placed last in their respective elections.^[3]

The

The New Democratic Party (NDP) was founded in 1961, as a merger of the CCF and the interests of the Canadian Labour Congress. At the end of a five-day-long founding convention that established its principles, policies and structures, Tommy Douglas, the long-time CCF Premier of Saskatchewan, was elected its first leader.^[6] While the NDP has never won a federal election, its provincial wings have taken power in six out of ten provinces since its inception. In the preamble of its original constitution, the NDP self-described as a socialist party. Since 2013, the party constitution states that "social democracy and democratic socialism are influences on the party".

History

Early 20th century socialism

The Socialist Labor Party was Canada's first socialist party, formed in 1898 by Canadian supporters of the ideas of American socialist Daniel De Leon and the Socialist Labor Party of America.^[7] It became a national party in the 1930s and had its headquarters in Toronto. The party never won any seats. The party ran only a small number of candidates (listed below), all of whom placed last in their respective elections.^[8]

The

The Communist Party of Canada was founded in 1920 and is the oldest active socialist party in Canada, and the second-oldest active political party in Canada.

During the Great Depression, the

By the end of World War II, the Communist Party began to lose its momentum. Its only elected federal representative, Fred Rose, was accused of being a Soviet spy. Rose was expelled from parliament, imprisoned for four years, and then followed at every job site by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). He eventually left for Poland with the intention of returning to clear his name but the government revoked his Canadian citizenship in 1957, preventing his return.

Democratic socialism

By a wide margin, the

Led by Tommy Douglas, the Saskatchewan CCF was elected to power during the 1944 Saskatchewan election. Douglas governed Saskatchewan until 1961. As of 2019, this party is an important force in the politics of the province.

The CCF also has become the official opposition in British Columbia during the election of 1941 and in Ontario during the province's 1943 election. In 1944, it took a quarter of Alberta votes. ^[11]

At the federal level, opinion polls initially indicated a dramatic surge in support for the CCF prior to the

The NDP has also held influence over other Liberal-led minority governments during the Lester B. Pearson government (1963–1968) and the Paul Martin government (2004–2006). Their self-stated goal is to one day form a federal government on their own and introduce social-democratic policies.

In the province of Quebec, the NDP has been considerably less popular, but recently, in the May 2, 2011 Canadian Federal Election a record number of NDP Members of Parliament were elected, including 59 of the 75 available seats in Quebec. The party was the Official Opposition in the 41st Canadian Parliament.

For most of the late 20th century, the strongest social-democratic party in Quebec has been the sovereigntist Parti Québécois. Like the NDP, the Parti Québécois is generally considered to be "social democratic".^[12]

Revolutionary socialism

Many socialists in Canada have attempted to organize outside of the framework of parliamentary politics, to pursue conceptions of socialism that are more radical than the social-democratic politics of either the CCF or the NDP.

Some of the radical socialist organizations operating in Canada today include Socialist Action (Canada) the International Socialists (Canada), Socialist Alternative (Canada), Spring, the Communist League (Canada), Autonomy & Solidarity,^[13] and the London Project for a Participatory Society,^[14] among others.

Socialist parties in Canada

Current parties

• The
  New Democratic Youth of Canada
  . The provincial branches of the NDP are:
  • Yukon New Democratic Party – official opposition
  • British Columbia New Democratic Party – governing party
  • Alberta New Democratic Party – official opposition
  • Saskatchewan New Democratic Party – official opposition
  • New Democratic Party of Manitoba – governing body
  • Ontario New Democratic Party – official opposition
  • New Democratic Party of Newfoundland and Labrador
    – third party
  • Nova Scotia New Democratic Party – third party
  • New Brunswick New Democratic Party – not represented in the legislature
  • New Democratic Party of Prince Edward Island – not represented in the legislature
• The
  Andre Parizeau the leader of the separatist faction, while the party's federalists have regrouped into the PCC/PCQ and are tied to the federal party.^[17] The CPC also has a youth group, known as the Young Communist League of Canada
  .
• The
  Parti marxiste-léniniste du Québec
  ).
• Quebec Sovereignty and alter-globalization. They have gained support amongst left-wing sovereigntist voters who are disillusioned with the Parti Québécois' embrace of neoliberalism
  .
• Socialist Party of Canada (WSM) formed in 1931 publishes a journal called Imagine and is a companion party of the World Socialist Movement.
• Fightback, the Canadian section of the Trotskyist organization called the International Marxist Tendency publishes a self-titled newspaper^[18] and practices Entryism in Quebec Solidaire and the NDP

Historical parties

Leftist parties that have held seats in the House of Commons of Canada and provincial legislatures.

• Dominion Labour Party and the Canadian Labour Party (1917–1942). Helped found the CCF in 1932.
• Ginger Group (1924–1932) was a group of radical MPs of the Progressive Party of Canada, United Farmers of Alberta MPs and Labour MPs
• United Farmers – farmer advocacy groups tied to the Progressive Party of Canada. In Ontario, the United Farmers of Ontario governed from 1919 to 1924 with a fairly social democratic agenda, while the United Farmers of Alberta governed Alberta from 1921 to 1935. The UFA later merged with other parties to form the CCF.
• Socialist Party of Canada was a name used by two political parties. The first existed from 1905 to 1925 and was created by the Socialist Party of British Columbia; it played an important role in the creation of the CCF. The second has existed since 1931 and has been very marginal in terms of support.
• Labor-Progressive Party was the name used by the Communist Party of Canada from 1941 to 1959 while the Canadian government outlawed CPC. The LPP followed a Marxist line. It elected a member of the House of Commons, and also elected representatives to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba and the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
• The Great Depression by members of the House of Commons Ginger Group, the Progressive Party of Canada, the United Farmer parties in Alberta and Ontario, the Canadian and Dominion Labour Parties, and a social advocacy group known as the League for Social Reconstruction. Formed in Calgary in 1932. In 1933, at the party's founding convention in Regina, Saskatchewan, the Regina Manifesto was adopted. This document announced that: "No CCF Government will rest content until it has eradicated capitalism and put into operation the full programme of socialized planning which will lead to the establishment in Canada of the Co-operative Commonwealth." The radical Regina Manifesto was replaced by the more moderate Winnipeg Declaration in 1956. The CCF went on to form one of Canada's most popular and historically significant provincial governments in 1944 in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan under Tommy Douglas. In Ontario the CCF formed the official opposition in 1943 and again in 1948 until losing that position to the Liberals. In British Columbia the CCF also formed the official opposition after 1941. Federally the party never got past third place and in an attempt to broaden their support base the CCF merged with the Canadian Labour Congress
  to create the NDP.
• Cape Breton Labour Party was a social-democratic party from the province of Nova Scotia represented in the Nova Scotia legislature from 1981–1988 by a former NDP member Paul MacEwan.
• Quebec solidaire
  .
• Revolutionary Communist Party was a
  anti-revisionist in character. They describe their ideology as "Marxism-Leninism-Maoism" which they consider the third phase of Marxism. The group does not take part in electoral politics, instead aiming to educate the working class about the need for a revolution
  in the style of the Russian and Chinese revolutions. The PRC-RCP was non-collaborationist and opposed all Canadian political parties, including ones calling themselves communist.

• Anarchism in Canada
• Conservatism in Canada
• Douglas-Coldwell Foundation
• Fascism in Canada
• History of Canada
• History of socialism
• League for Social Reconstruction
• Liberalism in Canada
• Monarchism in Canada
• Politics of Canada
• Republicanism in Canada

References