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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 socialist movement gained momentum in Western Canada. The Socialist Labor Party was formed in 1898 in Vancouver. The Socialist Party of British Columbia in 1901. The Socialist Party of Canada was the first Canadian-wide based Socialist party by native Canadians, founded in 1904. Later, the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 and Great Depression (1929–1939) are considered to have fuelled socialism in Canada.
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 Socialist Party of Canada (SPC) existed from 1904 to 1925 led by E. T. Kingsley. It published the Western Clarion newspaper. The party was founded at the Socialist Party of British Columbia's 4th annual convention in December 1904. It elected MLAs in BC, Alberta and Manitoba between 1904 and 1922. The SPC was instrumental in setting up One Big Union in Canada. [4] The SPC strongly opposed Canada's participation in World War I. As a result of the Russian Revolution and the Winnipeg General Strike, a number of the SPC's supporters became attracted to Bolshevism and the ideas of Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky. The party disbanded in 1925.[5]
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) was founded in 1932 as an agrarian socialist party. Its first platform was the Regina Manifesto, adopted in 1933. The CCF gained popularity among industrial workers throughout the 1930s. In 1944, the Saskatchewan wing of the party formed the first Socialist government in a Canadian province and stayed in power until 1964.
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".
- ^ Horowitz, G. (1966). "Conservatism, Liberalism, and Socialism in Canada: An Interpretation". The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science. 32 (2): 143–171. doi:10.2307/139794. ISSN 0315-4890. JSTOR 139794.
- ^ Cronin, Sean (1977). "The Rise and Fall of the Socialist Labor Party of North America". Saothar. 3: 21–33. JSTOR 23195205.
- ^ "Socialist Labor Party of Canada collection". McMaster.ca. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
- ^ Monto, Tom, Protest and Progress, Three Labour Radicals in Early Edmonton, Crang Publishing, 2012 (available at Alhambra Books, Edmonton, p. 71
- ^ History of the Socialist Party of Canada, by J.M. Milne (1973)
- ^ "The evolution of CCF into NDP: 1961 and after". Archived from the original on February 5, 2009.