University of Windsor Scholarship at UWindsor Electronic Theses and Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, and Major Papers 2008 The communicative ecology of social democracy: The case of the CCF/NDP Michael Classens University of Windsor Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd Recommended Citation Classens, Michael, "The communicative ecology of social democracy: The case of the CCF/NDP" (2008). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 8199. https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/8199 This online database contains the full-text of PhD dissertations and Masters’ theses of University of Windsor students from 1954 forward. These documents are made available for personal study and research purposes only, in accordance with the Canadian Copyright Act and the Creative Commons license—CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivative Works). 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THE COMMUNICATIVE ECOLOGY OF SOCIAL DEMOCRACY: THE CASE OF THE CCF/NDP by Michael Classens A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies Through the Department of Communication Studies In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree of Master of Arts at the University of Windsor Windsor, Ontario, Canada 2008 © 2008 Michael Classens Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-47020-6 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-47020-6 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Canada Author's Declaration of Originality I hereby certify that I am the sole author of this thesis and that no part of this thesis has been published or submitted for publication. I certify that, to the best of my knowledge, my thesis does not infringe upon anyone's copyright nor violate any proprietary rights and that any ideas, techniques, quotations, or any other material from the work of other people included in my thesis, published or otherwise, are fully acknowledged in accordance with the standard referencing practices. Furthermore, to the extent that I have included copyrighted material that surpasses the bounds of fair dealing within the meaning of the Canada Copyright Act, I certify that I have obtained a written permission from the copyright owner(s) to include such material(s) in my thesis and have included copies of such copyright clearances to my appendix. I declare that this is a true copy of my thesis, including any final revisions, as approved by my thesis committee and the Graduate Studies office, and that this thesis has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other University or Institution. in ABSTRACT A good deal of scholarship on the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation/New Democratic Party has focused on the party's trajectory away from a form of prairie populist, social democratic politics towards a centralized, liberal democratic politics (e.g. Zakuta 1964, Young 1969, Cross 1974). This longitudinal study bears out a similar conclusion, but focuses specifically on changes in the party's communicative ecology over time. Using the work of Carey (1989) and Nancy (1991) the notion of communicative ecology, defined as the ways in which an institution communicates through non-mass mediated means is used to understand both how the party conceives of abstract categories such as democracy and citizenship as well as how they proceed with communicating these ideas. IV DEDICATION For Serena. She knows why. And for my parents. Consider this a kind of abstract scrapbook of every lesson you've ever taught me. (Read closely. You'll even see evidence of the making-the-bed lesson). v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Firstly I'd like to thank my good friend Jim. If I could get you a Tigers World Series ring with your name engraved on it, I'd be partway to showing you the depth of my appreciation. I can only be thankful that a perverse kind of serendipity intervened to pair you, an American Professor of Communication, with me, an impractical student with a penchant for a marginal Canadian political party. I'm glad we both trusted the logic. MA be damned, I got a wonderful friend out of this process. Thanks also to the Honorable Howard Pawley. It is an absolute honor to have had someone of your dedication, service, and esteemed judgment on this committee. Your character and persistence have kept the party from wandering further astray than it has, while simultaneously motivating subsequent generations to keep fighting for it. Finally, thanks to Dr. Susan Bryant. You've inspired me more than you probably know. If only the academy was conducive to fostering more academics with your gracious sense of balance. VI TABLE OF CONTENTS AUTHOR'S DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY iii ABSTRCT iv DEDICATION v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1 Communication for Democracy Considered 5 II. REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE 11 Gramsci, Intellectuals, the Party and The Politics of Resistance 14 Contemporary Democratic Theory 20 Habermas and the Public Sphere 22 The Critique of Habermas: Towards an Ideal Democracy 25 III. METHOD AND EPISTEMOLOGY 33 Relevant Moments/Documents in the History of the CCF/NDP 43 IV. THE TRANSITION OF SOCIAL DEMOCRACY IN CANADA: 46 FROM THE CCF TO THE NDP The Making of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation 49 The Transformation of the CCF 58 V. EMERGENT IDEAS AND THE POLITICS OF DISSENT 67 WITHIN THE NDP: THE CASE OF THE WAFFLE A Crisis on the Left: The Struggle Between Old and New 67 The NDP Meets the New Left 70 After the 1969 Convention: The Waffle in Action, The Death of 77 The Waffle VI. ELECTORALISM, PROFESSIONALIZATION AND 87 POLSTERS: THE NDP IN THE 1980s Elections Act and Political Advertising 89 Dunsky and Fingerhut: The Professionals Take Over 93 1984 Sets the Stage for the "Canada/U.S. Free Trade 100 Agreement" election of 1988 vn VII. CALLS AND REJECTIONS FOR PARTY RENEWAL THE CONTEMPORARY PERIOD New Millennium, Same Party VIII. CONCLUSION Technology and Communication The Division of Political Labour Missing the Mark: Communicating the Status Quo Building a Social Democratic Communicative Ecology: Recommendations for the NDP BIBLIOGRAPHY VITA AUCTORIS Introduction Speculating about the problems of the New Democratic Party (NDP) and proposing solutions has long since been a past time of Canadian progressives (e.g. Berlin and Aster, 2001; Archer and Whitehorn, 1993; Archer, 1990). A theme which remains present throughout much of the discussion is one of considerable frustration and confusion: How can a party so culturally relevant to Canadian society remain so politically marginal? As Canadians, we take considerable pride in our alleged civility (think universal health care) vis-a-vis our American neighbors, while paradoxically ensuring the trivialization of the party (at the polls), to the peril of both existing and future "civilized" infrastructures. Desmond Morton hits on the sentiment when writing that the NDP has been ".. .treated like the Mounties and the Montreal Canadiens, important culturally but somehow not quite serious" (Morton, 1974, p. v). A rich tradition of scholarship has developed over the decades addressing the issue of social democracy in Canada, much of which has been concerned with explaining the struggles of the New Democratic Party to offer a viable, social democratic parliamentary force. Lipset (1950) has detailed the struggles and early successes of social democracy and the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in Canada. Subsequent scholars have focused on the relative decline of organized social democracy in Canada. Azoulay (1997), Zakuta (1964), Young (1969) and Whitehorn (1992) have investigated the party's internal logic, using a sociological analysis in employing Michels' (1962) iron law of oligarchy to explain the decline. More recent scholarship, such as that of Boyko (2006) has looked to external factors and used a political economic 1 analysis to illustrate the degree to which the interests of capital, working with a complicit media, have been responsible for the decline of Canadian social democracy.