New Democratic Party Socialist Caucus
Encyclopedia
The New Democratic Party Socialist Caucus is an unofficial left-wing faction within Canada
's New Democratic Party
. Its manifesto maintains that the New Democratic Party
has moved too far to the right, and is in danger of becoming indistinguishable from the Liberal Party
. Consequently, the Socialist Caucus also opposes Tony Blair
's Third Way
policies because they "[leave] the basic class and economic structures of capitalism unchanged." The policies of the socialist caucus are similar to the Socialist Campaign Group
in the United Kingdom however, unlike the SCG, the Socialist Caucus does not enjoy the public support of any elected parliamentarians.
and others who had been involved in Peter Kormos
' unsuccessful 1996 campaign to lead the Ontario New Democratic Party
. It soon had branches in Ontario
, Alberta
and British Columbia
, as well as supporters in Manitoba
, Quebec
and Nova Scotia
. Currently, it is active primarily in Ontario at both the federal and provincial levels but also has supporters in other provinces.
The NDP SC views itself as the successor to the Waffle
of the 1960s and 1970s and a number of members in the Socialist Caucus were also in the NDP's Left Caucus
and the Campaign for an Activist Party or CAP of the 1980s.
The Trotskyist
group Socialist Action plays a "leading role" in the Socialist Caucus.
and workers' control, full employment
, the nationalization
of large industries and the eradication of poverty and homelessness.
The Caucus is anti-Imperialist
, and condemns many of the actions of the United States' government. It supports the Cuban Revolution
and the withdrawal of Canada from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and North American Aerospace Defense Command
(NORAD), the independence of Quebec
and is opposed to Zionism
.
in a leadership challenge against Alexa McDonough
. Hatch won 120 votes out of 765 ballots cast. Bev Meslo
was the Socialist Caucus' candidate in the party's 2003 leadership election
, winning 1.1% of the vote in the party's first One Member One Vote leadership election, which was won by Jack Layton
.
After an unsuccessful attempt to draft Peter Kormos
to run for leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party
failed, the Socialist Caucus endorsed Michael Prue
leading up to the 2009 ONDP leadership election
.
and nationalize auto, bank and insurance companies. In the wake of the NDP's breakthrough in the 2011 federal election in which they won over 100 seats and formed Official Opposition in the House of Commons for the first time, Socialist Caucus chair Barry Weisleder told the Globe and Mail that “the election on May 2 sent a very clear message: the voters rejected the Liberal Party and the NDP should not strive to become a substitute Liberal Party. That’s the road to ruin,” adding that “To survive, the NDP has to turn left and offer Canadians and in particular working people, an alternative to the corporate agenda.” The faction also opposed a motion to remove the phrase "democratic socialism" from the preamble of the NDP's constitution and supported an unsuccessful resolution to bar the NDP from considering merger with the Liberal Party of Canada
. None of the resolutions proposed by the Socialist Caucus received enough support to reach the floor of the convention for debate.
The Socialist Caucus publishes a newspaper named Turn Left, edited by Sean Cain, for each federal and Ontario provincial NDP convention. Beginning with the 2011 NDP convention issue, the publication took the form of a magazine.
In September 2011, Caucus chair Barry Weisleder won the nomination to be the Ontario NDP's candidate in Thornhill
in the 2011 provincial election
. Within 48 hours, the party's provincial secretary
rescinded the nomination without explanation.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
's New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
. Its manifesto maintains that the New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
has moved too far to the right, and is in danger of becoming indistinguishable from the Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
. Consequently, the Socialist Caucus also opposes Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
's Third Way
Third way (centrism)
The Third Way refers to various political positions which try to reconcile right-wing and left-wing politics by advocating a varying synthesis of right-wing economic and left-wing social policies. Third Way approaches are commonly viewed from within the first- and second-way perspectives as...
policies because they "[leave] the basic class and economic structures of capitalism unchanged." The policies of the socialist caucus are similar to the Socialist Campaign Group
Socialist Campaign Group
The Socialist Campaign Group is a left-wing democratic socialist grouping of Labour Party Members of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. It was formed in December 1982 as an alternative Parliamentary left-wing group to the Tribune Group...
in the United Kingdom however, unlike the SCG, the Socialist Caucus does not enjoy the public support of any elected parliamentarians.
Origins
The Socialist Caucus was founded in early 1998 in Toronto by political activists Barry Weisleder, Sean Cain, Jorge Hurtado, Joe FlexerJoe Flexer
Joe Flexer was a trade unionist and communist activist in Canada. Born in Brooklyn, Flexer was politicized in the mid 1940s through contacts with the American Communist Party in New York...
and others who had been involved in Peter Kormos
Peter Kormos
Peter Kormos is a politician in Ontario, Canada. A former lawyer, he was first elected as an Ontario New Democratic Party Member of Provincial Parliament to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the Welland constituency in a 1988 provincial by-election. He replaced veteran NDP legislator Mel...
' unsuccessful 1996 campaign to lead the Ontario New Democratic Party
Ontario New Democratic Party
The Ontario New Democratic Party or , formally known as New Democratic Party of Ontario, is a social democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. It is a provincial section of the federal New Democratic Party. It was formed in October 1961, a few months after the federal party. The ONDP had its...
. It soon had branches in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
and British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, as well as supporters in Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
and Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
. Currently, it is active primarily in Ontario at both the federal and provincial levels but also has supporters in other provinces.
The NDP SC views itself as the successor to the Waffle
The Waffle
The Waffle was a radical wing of Canada's New Democratic Party in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It later transformed into an independent political party, with little electoral success before it permanently disbanded in the mid-1970s...
of the 1960s and 1970s and a number of members in the Socialist Caucus were also in the NDP's Left Caucus
Left Caucus
The Left Caucus was an Ontario based left-wing pressure group within the New Democratic Party of Canada and the Ontario New Democratic Party from the late 1970s to early 1990s....
and the Campaign for an Activist Party or CAP of the 1980s.
The Trotskyist
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
group Socialist Action plays a "leading role" in the Socialist Caucus.
Policies
The group is a socialist faction and advocates economic democracyEconomic democracy
Economic democracy is a socioeconomic philosophy that suggests a shift in decision-making power from a small minority of corporate shareholders to a larger majority of public stakeholders...
and workers' control, full employment
Full employment
In macroeconomics, full employment is a condition of the national economy, where all or nearly all persons willing and able to work at the prevailing wages and working conditions are able to do so....
, the nationalization
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
of large industries and the eradication of poverty and homelessness.
The Caucus is anti-Imperialist
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
, and condemns many of the actions of the United States' government. It supports the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
and the withdrawal of Canada from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and North American Aerospace Defense Command
North American Aerospace Defense Command
North American Aerospace Defense Command is a joint organization of Canada and the United States that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and defense for the two countries. Headquarters NORAD is located at Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs, Colorado...
(NORAD), the independence of Quebec
Quebec sovereignty movement
The Quebec sovereignty movement refers to both the political movement and the ideology of values, concepts and ideas that promote the secession of the province of Quebec from the rest of Canada...
and is opposed to Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
.
Leadership campaigns
In 2001, the Socialist Caucus ran Marcel HatchMarcel Hatch
Marcel Hatch, born November 4, 1954 in Spokane, Washington, is an American-born graphic designer, gay rights and Trotskyist political activist based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Hatch joined the Freedom Socialist Party while living in Seattle and subsequently launched its Canadian...
in a leadership challenge against Alexa McDonough
Alexa McDonough
Alexa Ann Shaw McDonough OC is a Canadian politician who became the first woman to lead a major, recognized political party in Canada, when she was elected the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party's leader in 1980...
. Hatch won 120 votes out of 765 ballots cast. Bev Meslo
Bev Meslo
Beverley "Bev" Meslo is a Canadian democratic socialist, a New Democratic Party member, and a political activist based in Qualicum Beach, British Columbia, Canada....
was the Socialist Caucus' candidate in the party's 2003 leadership election
New Democratic Party leadership election, 2003
The New Democratic Party leadership election of 2003 was held to replace New Democratic Party of Canada leader Alexa McDonough, after her retirement...
, winning 1.1% of the vote in the party's first One Member One Vote leadership election, which was won by Jack Layton
Jack Layton
John Gilbert "Jack" Layton, PC was a Canadian social democratic politician and the Leader of the Official Opposition. He was the leader of the New Democratic Party from 2003 to 2011, and previously sat on Toronto City Council, serving at times during that period as acting mayor and deputy mayor of...
.
After an unsuccessful attempt to draft Peter Kormos
Peter Kormos
Peter Kormos is a politician in Ontario, Canada. A former lawyer, he was first elected as an Ontario New Democratic Party Member of Provincial Parliament to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the Welland constituency in a 1988 provincial by-election. He replaced veteran NDP legislator Mel...
to run for leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party
Ontario New Democratic Party
The Ontario New Democratic Party or , formally known as New Democratic Party of Ontario, is a social democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. It is a provincial section of the federal New Democratic Party. It was formed in October 1961, a few months after the federal party. The ONDP had its...
failed, the Socialist Caucus endorsed Michael Prue
Michael Prue
Michael D. Prue is a Canadian politician, who represents the riding of Beaches—East York in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. He is the New Democratic Party critic for Finance, Public Infrastructure Renewal, Community and Social Services and the Management Board of Cabinet, and for issues...
leading up to the 2009 ONDP leadership election
Ontario New Democratic Party leadership election, 2009
The 2009 Ontario New Democratic Party leadership election was held in Hamilton, from March 6 to 8, 2009 to elect a successor to Howard Hampton as leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party . On June 15, 2008, Hampton informed the party's provincial council that he would not stand for re-election as...
.
Recent activities
In 2011, the Socialist Caucus proposed resolutions at that year's federal NDP convention to oppose the Alberta Tar Sands, legalize marijuana, boycott “apartheid Israel,” repeal the Clarity ActClarity Act
The Clarity Act is legislation passed by the Parliament of Canada that established the conditions under which the Government of Canada would enter into negotiations that might lead to secession following such a vote by one of the provinces. The Clarity Bill was tabled for first reading in the...
and nationalize auto, bank and insurance companies. In the wake of the NDP's breakthrough in the 2011 federal election in which they won over 100 seats and formed Official Opposition in the House of Commons for the first time, Socialist Caucus chair Barry Weisleder told the Globe and Mail that “the election on May 2 sent a very clear message: the voters rejected the Liberal Party and the NDP should not strive to become a substitute Liberal Party. That’s the road to ruin,” adding that “To survive, the NDP has to turn left and offer Canadians and in particular working people, an alternative to the corporate agenda.” The faction also opposed a motion to remove the phrase "democratic socialism" from the preamble of the NDP's constitution and supported an unsuccessful resolution to bar the NDP from considering merger with the Liberal Party of Canada
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
. None of the resolutions proposed by the Socialist Caucus received enough support to reach the floor of the convention for debate.
The Socialist Caucus publishes a newspaper named Turn Left, edited by Sean Cain, for each federal and Ontario provincial NDP convention. Beginning with the 2011 NDP convention issue, the publication took the form of a magazine.
In September 2011, Caucus chair Barry Weisleder won the nomination to be the Ontario NDP's candidate in Thornhill
Thornhill (provincial electoral district)
Thornhill is a provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 1999....
in the 2011 provincial election
Ontario general election, 2011
The 40th Ontario general election was held on October 6, 2011 to elect members of the 40th Legislative Assembly of Ontario. The Ontario Liberal Party will form a minority government, with the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario serving as the Official Opposition and the Ontario New...
. Within 48 hours, the party's provincial secretary
Provincial Secretary
The Provincial Secretary was a senior position in the executive councils of British North America's colonial governments, and was retained by the Canadian provincial governments for at least a century after Canadian Confederation was proclaimed in 1867...
rescinded the nomination without explanation.