Социалистическая партия Канады (1904–1925)

the Canadian political party that existed from 1904 to 1925

The Socialist Party of Canada (SPC) was a political party that existed from 1904 to 1925, led by E. T. Kingsley. It published the newspaper, Western Clarion.

The Socialist Party of Canada was founded at the Socialist Party of British Columbia's fourth annual convention on December 30 31, 1904. Delegates at the convention were urged to consider organizing the nucleus of a federal party, noting the acceptance of the platform with socialist parties and organizations in other provinces. Socialist organizations quickly approved the party formation, and the new party executive met for the first time on February 19, 1905. The party, which had a revolutionary Marxist orientation, called for the overturn of the capitalist system through militant political action. Given this goal, compromise through trade unionism and limited political reforms was rejected.

The SPC was strongest in British Columbia where it won seats in the province's legislature from 1903 to 1912. In the provincial election of 1907, the SPC garnered over 5,000 votes. The apex was the 1909 election, when it collected over 11,000 votes — about 22 percent of the total ballots cast in the seats contested. consisted of committed SPC members who also played a role in stymying efforts to establish a rival labour party. In 1909, SPC member Charlie O'Brien was elected to the Alberta legislature. In Manitoba, the Manitoba branch of the SPC was initially a rival to Winnipeg's reform labour groups. It may also have been responsible for the defeat of centrist labour candidate Fred Dixon in the election of 1910. The resulting backlash from trade unions weakened the SPC for a number of years. In 1920, George Armstrong was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba on a United Labour list. However, he was defeated in 1922 due in part to opposition from communist politicians in the city.

The SPC paid a heavy price for its opposition to Canadian entry into the world war including harassment and intimidation from government authorities. Individual members were also targeted, including Ginger Goodwin, who died at the hands of police in 1918 while evading conscription. In the fall of 1918 Western Clarion was banned by the federal government. On January 11, 1919, a new publication called The Red Flag was launched by the SPC to work around the proscription of its predecessor.</blockquote>

The ban was lifted in 1920. In the wake of the Russian Revolution and the Winnipeg General Strike, a number of the SPC's supporters became attracted to Bolshevism and the ideas of Lenin and Trotsky. Others gravitated toward an evolutionary or gradualist socialist position. SPC members, notably George Armstrong and William Pritchard, were among the strike leaders put on trial following the Winnipeg confrontation. In 1919, SPC members, including Pritchard, were instrumental in founding One Big Union in Canada. In 1920, a split occurred when many of the party's members left to join the Federated Labour Party, which had been formed by the British Columbia Federation of Labour. Others joined the labour and independent labour parties that were being formed across the country. In 1921, most of the Marxist SPC members left to join the Workers Party, which was the public face of the nascent Communist Party of Canada. In 1925, the Socialist Party of Canada formally disbanded. Many of the remaining members joined the Independent Labour Party.

Year SPC Candidates Votes Popular vote1904 federal election 3 1,794 0.18%1908 federal election56,071 0.52%1911 federal election64,574 0.35%1921 federal election13,094 0.10%1925 federal election11,888 0.06%1926 federal election16720.02%

Socialism, Revolution and Internationalism. Gabriel Deville. 1893/1907. Also published in the SPC's Red Flag series, no. 1. Manifesto of the Socialist Party of Canada. 1st edition, 1910. 4th edition, 1916. 5th edition, 1920. Constitution and Bylaws of the Socialist Party of Canada. 1910. The Proletarian in Politics. C. M. O'Brien. 1910. The Struggle for Existence. Gerald Desmond. 1911. Socialism and Unionism. Donald G. McKenzie. 1911. What is Socialism? W. E. Hardenburg. 1912. The Way to Power. J. B. Osborne. 1913. Wage Worker and Farmer. J. Pilkington. 1914. The Slave of the Farm. Alf Budden. 1914/1918. Economic Causes of War. Peter T. Leckie, reprinted from The Western Clarion, March November, 1920.