Party of Conscience
The CCF, the NDP, and Social Democracy in Canada
by Roberta Lexier, Stephanie Bangarth and Jonathan Weier
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Pub Date Sep 03 2018 | Archive Date Sep 28 2018
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Description
Surveying the field of political history in Canada, one might assume that the politics of the nation have been shaped solely by the Liberal and Conservative parties. Relatively little attention has been paid to the contributions of the CCF and NDP in Canadian politics. This collection remedies this imbalance with a critical examination of the place of social democracy in Canadian history and politics.
Bringing together the work of politicians, think tank members, party activists, union members, scholars, students, and social movement actors in important discussions about social democracy delving into an array of topics including municipal, provincial, and national issues, labour relations, feminism, contemporary social movements, war and society, security issues, and the media, Party of Conscience reminds Canadians of the important contributions the CCF and NDP have made to a progressive, compassionate idea of Canada.
Roberta Lexier is associate professor of general education at Mount Royal University. Stephanie Bangarth is associate professor of history at King’s University College at Western University. Jonathan Weier is a historian and historical consultant at the Atkinson Foundation. He worked for the NDP for fourteen years.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781771133920 |
| PRICE | CA$27.95 (CAD) |
Featured Reviews
Willy M, Reviewer
No book can give everything on a subject, but this book on the history of the NDP in a series of essays, comes pretty close. In every case of what are the most important questions currently facing the NDP this volume will ground you in the history and debate that is the most necessary to know.
What is not in the book? Well there are a few things that bear mentioning that perhaps it was not particularly fit to draw attention to in this book as they would have expanded the focus away from the party itself. These are that social democrats of Canada were never part of the Second International and its failure to prevent World War One in any formal sense. It never had to redeem or justify itself as a national party which has been the making and breaking of European Social Democratic parties.
Also social democracy, social reform and even socialism itself found a home in some of the Liberal and Conservative's most successful policies since those ideas were formulated over a hundred years ago. Why should that matter? Well it makes the failure to gain power by the NDP less tragic. It didn't need to gain power for Social Democracy to be part of the bed rock of Canadian economics and politics. As the book does point out, and everyone in Canada knows, the NDP has helped create some of the most important institutions that define Canada.
As the book points out the party development was a mixture of groups across a country that was and is very diverse. The book does not point out a way forward, but it does deal with some of its most contentious and still relevant contradictions. Why did it not have strong roots in Quebec? Why did it fail to advance in the 2017 election? what is the legacy of the Waffle? These and many more questions are answered but the answer for the way forward for the NDP is not.
It is the job of the reader to take this very important book and build that success. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Canadian politics.
