The Socialist Party of Canada (SPC) is a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

political party in Canada This article lists political parties in Canada. Federal parties In contrast with the political party systems of many nations, Canadian parties at the federal level are often only loosely connected with parties at the provincial level, despite ha ...

, affiliated with the

World Socialist Movement The World Socialist Movement (WSM) is an international organisation of socialist parties created in 1904 with the founding of the Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB). The member parties share a common classical Marxist worldview and an adher ...

. It was founded in June 1931 in Winnipeg, Manitoba by British Columbian politician Phyllis Corriveau. The party adopted the policies of the

Socialist Party of Great Britain The Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB) is a socialist political party in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1904 as a split from the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), it advocates using the ballot box for revolutionary purposes and oppos ...

(SPGB) which rejected

Leninism Leninism is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the Dictatorship of the proletariat#Vladimir Lenin, dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary Vanguardis ...

social democracy Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

and

trade unionism A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

in favour of a belief in "revolutionary

Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

and democratic revolution".

History

As the fractured groups of the left coalesced to form the

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialism, democra ...

(CCF), the SPC did not make great headway. The Winnipeg-based Socialist Party of Canada remained outside of the CCF (and its successor, the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...

), rejecting its

evolutionary socialist Eduard Bernstein (; 6 January 1850 – 18 December 1932) was a German Social democracy, social democratic Marxist theorist and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Bernstein had held close association to Karl ...

approach as being "

reformist Reformism is a political doctrine advocating the reform of an existing system or institution instead of its abolition and replacement. Within the socialist movement, reformism is the view that gradual changes through existing institutions can eve ...

". The Socialist Party of Canada (British Columbia), which was founded in 1932 by Ernest Winch independently of the Socialist Party of Canada founded in Winnipeg,Socialist History Project
/ref> joined and eventually merged with the CCF to form the British Columbia CCF, the Socialist Party of Canada remained independent of the broader socialist movement and spread its message by holding town hall meetings, open air rallies and distributing literature at farmers markets and street corners. In October 1933, the party launched the ''New Western Socialist Journal'' to help bring publicity to the party. The first two issues criticized the CCF and the

Communist Party of Canada The Communist Party of Canada (french: Parti communiste du Canada) is a federal political party in Canada, founded in 1921 under conditions of illegality. Although it does not currently have any parliamentary representation, the party's can ...

for allegedly compromising with capitalism. The SPC never found a reason to change its attitude towards the two parties.

World War II

During World War II, the SPC campaigned against the war, stating that working class blood should not be shed. During the war, the Communist Party was outlawed, but the SPC continued to hold anti-war demonstrations and rallies. The party was investigated by the

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...

, but was never taken as a serious threat: The party continued to publish socialist manifesto leaflets through the years. When funds permitted, it ran candidates in elections. In the late 1970s, the head office was moved from Winnipeg to Victoria, British Columbia. The membership of the Socialist Party continued to decline and the party admits that it never managed to live up to the "success and glamour" of the old party. The party has not wavered from the original policies that it adopted seventy years ago.

Election results by year

General elections

By-election, 29 May 1961

Present activity

The party promotes a

post-capitalist Post-capitalism is a state in which the economic systems of the world can no longer be described as forms of capitalism. Various individuals and political ideologies have speculated on what would define such a world. According to classical Marx ...

socialist society. It seeks to achieve this by distributing socialist material around the world and raising class consciousness. The party believes that socialism must be implemented everywhere at the same time in order to work. The bulk of current party members are in British Columbia and Ontario. It publishes a journal titled ''Imagine'' and distributes the literature of the SPGB. The party is a member of the

along with its "companion parties", the SPGB, the World Socialist Party (New Zealand) and the World Socialist Party of the United States.

Publications

* * ''The Meaning of Social Revolution'' (1945) * ''The Russian Revolution: Its Origins and Outcome'' (1948) * ''The World of Abundance'' (1973) * ''Economics Exposed'' (1984)

References

External links

Socialist Party of Canada home page

Socialist Fulcrum archive

Socialist Party of Canada Forum

Socialist Party of Canada Constitution

History of the Socialist Party of Canada
J. M. Milne (1973).

A short history with selections from the press of the Socialist Party of Canada and the One Big Union (1906–1938). {{DEFAULTSORT:Socialist Party Of Canada Federal political parties in Canada Socialist parties in Canada Socialist Party of Canada breakaway groups Companion Parties of the World Socialist Movement Political parties established in 1931