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Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for

Spring 1997

Cross-Border Ties Among Protest Movements The Great Plains Connection

Mildred A. Schwartz University of Illinois at Chicago

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Schwartz, Mildred A., "Cross-Border Ties Among Protest Movements The Great Plains Connection" (1997). Great Plains Quarterly. 1943. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/1943

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. CROSS .. BORDER TIES AMONG PROTEST MOVEMENTS THE GREAT PLAINS CONNECTION

MILDRED A. SCHWARTZ

This paper examines the connections among supporters willing to take risks. Thus I hypoth­ political protest movements in twentieth cen­ esize that protest movements, free from con­ tury western Canada and the United States. straints of institutionalization, can readily cross Protest movements are social movements and national boundaries. related organizations, including political pro­ Contacts between protest movements in test parties, with the objective of deliberately Canada and the United States also stem from changing government programs and policies. similarities between the two countries. Shared Those changes may also entail altering the geography, a British heritage, democratic prac­ composition of the government or even its tices, and a multi-ethnic population often give form. Social movements involve collective rise to similar problems. l Similarities in the efforts to bring about change in ways that avoid northern tier of the United States to the ad­ or reject established belief systems or organiza­ joining sections of Canada's western provinces tions. They begin with assessments of what is are especially prominent. People in this area wrong and propose a blueprint for action to have all been relatively dependent on resources, achieve new goals by drawing on committed either for extraction or initial processing. 2 Con­ sequently, they have strong ties to a world economy and strong reactions to the same kinds of economic problems. They also share an im­ migrant heritage that ties them to countries A. is Mildred Schwartz professor of sociology and beyond the British Isles. With the closing of political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has published numerous books and articles on the US frontier, population movement into Canadian-American affairs. Her current research Canada, and later, back into the United States, interests concern political parties and movements in enhanced what Marcus Hansen has called "the Canada and the United States. mingling of the Canadian and American peoples."3 All these factors contribute to what some political scientists and geographers be­ [GPQ 17 (Spring 1997):119-301 lieve to be a "borderland"-a geographic area

119 120 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SPRING 1997 straddling two political jurisdictions that dis­ ate the strength of both the free-flow and con­ plays unique or blended characteristics.4 straining arguments. Blended or not, there is still evidence that these are areas with distinct regional cultures.s One AGRICULTURAL CONCERNS can then expect that common problems will lead to common solutions, regardless of politi­ Uncertainties associated with wheat farm­ cal boundaries. ing in the Great Plains/Prairies region led farm­ I concentrate here on the states of North ers, convinced that they were exploited by Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin and the credit agencies and ignored by government, to provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and find their own solutions. Nineteenth century Alberta. The time frame is virtually all of the farmers' movements in the United States moved twentieth century. Contacts are divided into into Canada shortly after they were founded, three substantive areas. The first deals with with both the Grange and the Patrons ofIndus­ agriculture and the concerns of farmers. The try having their greatest success in Ontario. second focuses on industry and the concerns of When the Canadian Prairies became the major workers. The third raises issues of identity re­ source of spring wheat, the locale of agrarian lating to race, ethnicity, gender, or more gen­ movements shifted as well, as farmers in that eral lifestyle concerns. Although not an region formed cooperatives for its purchase and exhaustive inventory, it highlights prominent marketing. The first of these was the T errito­ events and contacts. Accounts of contact em­ rial Grain Growers' Association (TGGA), phasize chronology and the direction they founded in 1901-02, soon followed by the travel. Because I expect that cross-border con­ Manitoba Grain Growers' Association in 1903. tacts among protest movements will be associ­ The TGGA was reorganized in 1905 when ated with times of shared problems, I do not Alberta and Saskatchewan became separate anticipate that they are any more likely to origi­ provinces.7 nate in one country than in the other. The Society of Equity, a US-based farm Cross-border ties exist within the context of group concerned with the cooperative market­ continuing and far-reaching differences be­ ing of grain, did spread into Alberta, but its tween the two countries, documented in a vig­ organizational impact was limited. Instead, orous literature.6 Even those who downplay Canadian cooperatives were of greater interest differences by depicting Canada in a largely to American farmers, impressed with the abil­ colonial-type of relationship to the United ity of Canadians to get higher grain prices on States must acknowledge that the countries the Winnipeg market. Support for a state-built represent two separate sovereignties. Similarly, grain elevator received majority support in even those with but a rudimentary understand­ North Dakota in both 1912 and 1914 and the ing of politics must recognize the sharp differ­ legislature instructed the State Board of Con­ ences between congressional and parliamentary trol to look at Canadian experiences in state forms of government. In fact, it is possible to control.s The fledgling Nonpartisan League argue that the institutions of government are (NPL) in North Dakota at its inception in 1914 the most distinctive features setting apart adopted existing Prairie policy of giving tax Canada and the United States. As a result, there exemptions for farm improvement as a way to is an alternate argument to the one already pre­ dissuade outsiders from profiting from farm sented. Rather than emphasizing the ease of purchases. 9 An ambitious but unsuccessful plan establishing cross-border ties, it is possible to for cooperative grain marketing by the US argue that contacts between political move­ Grain Grower's Company was modeled on the ments confront the constraining effects of na­ Alberta Grain Growers Association. Canadian tional barriers and consequently are weakened representatives of farm movements were "en­ by them. The following discussion will evalu- thusiastically received" at the 1920 Chicago CROSS-BORDER PROTEST MOVEMENTS 121 convention of the National Board of Farm also had formative impact at the local level Organizations, where a resolution was passed organization of the Social Credit movement in recommending the setup of an international Alberta.ls committee representing farmers in both coun­ The extent to which the principles of the tries. lo NPL were congenial to Canadian farmers, at The rise of the Nonpartisan League in North least when they were living in the United States, Dakota changed the nationality of influential has not gone unquestioned, however. Michael movements. In 1916, the year the NPL suc­ Rogin in an ecological analysis of voting pat­ ceeded in winning its slate for the Republican terns, suggests that Canadians in North Dakota primary, S. E. Haight, a Saskatchewan farmer, were supporters of the Democrats and oppo­ returned from North Dakota and told his neigh­ nents of the NPL, but he has no explanation bors of the exciting new movement that was for his findings, and evidence of political lean­ dedicated to changing the life of farmers. In ings is, in any case, difficult to substantiate for Saskatchewan, however, the NPL ran up against the Canadian-born, who were often not distin­ institutional barriers that made its tactics of guished from native-born residents. 16 entering a major party's primary races and of­ More generally, after the initial enthusiasm fering non-partisan alternatives irrelevant. The for the innovative approaches to farm prob­ NPL contested the Saskatchewan provincial lems advocated by political movements in the election in 1917, but with no success. Yet, Prairies, the United States seems to have as­ moving into Alberta, it did attract enough sup­ serted its stronger appeal. This was reflected in port in 1918 to elect two candidates pledged the US origins of the leader of the UFA, Henry to the NPL agenda. 11 Wise Wood and the argument that Alberta went Even more significant than its own limited Social Credit because of ideas and migrants success in electoral politics was the influence from south of the border. 17 Interest in reformist that the NPL exerted on subsequent Canadian or utopian ideas originating in the United political movements. William Irvine, who States seems to have been a widely distributed helped establish the NPL in Alberta in 1916, Prairie phenomenon, not just confined to and served as editor of The Nutcracker, the NPL Alberta. Reform-minded farmers and their as­ newspaper in that province, was one of the sociates read and discussed the works of Henry founders of the United Farmers of Alberta, a George, William Jennings Bryan, Thorstein movement that became the governing party Veblen, Lincoln Steffens, Edward Bellamy, from 1921 to 1935. 12 The NPL became fully and Upton Sinclair. IS As a commentator writ­ Canadianized by its absorption, both organi­ ing during the 1920s in the progressive peri­ zationally and with respect to basic principles, odical The Canadian Forum pointed out, hard into the United Farmers of Alberta (UFA).13 economic times and the pull of geography The NPL also recruited J . S. W oodsworth, who combined to make secession and then annex­ worked briefly as an organizer for the move­ ation to the United States attractive to the ment in Saskatchewan in 1917,14 as I shall dis­ Canadian West. 19 cuss under the heading of industrial concerns. Separatist sentiments still flourish in west­ Extending NPL influence to an industrial ern Canada, though talk of joining the United connection seems appropriate because W oods­ States is not as prominent, partly because na­ worth became a member of parliament repre­ tional boundaries now coincide with increased senting the Independent Labour Party in differences within the borderland and cross­ Winnipeg and a founder and leader of the border contacts among farm movements have Cooperative Commonwealth Federation declined. The new roles assumed by both fed­ (CCF). In some sense, then, the NPL played a eral governments from the Great Depression role in the founding of the UFA and the CCF. onward offered nationally distinct solutions Through its connection with the UFA, the NPL to the problems of farmers. International 122 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SPRING 1997 agreements like NAFTA have accentuated Federation of Miners, had been around since conflicts over trade in farm products. Since early in the century when they organized work­ the 1930s, the shrinking agricultural economy ers in British Columbia and Alberta.23 Accord­ has made farming the concern of fewer people, ing to Gad Horowitz, the influence of these now more widely dispersed than then in even workers' movements was not confined to the the two most comparable areas, Saskatchewan workplace. "The strength of the extreme left and North Dakota. The political environ­ varieties of socialism in British Columbia can ments have changed as well. North Dakota is be traced back to the strong influence of a Republican state where its progressive roots American radical unionism-from the West­ in the Nonpartisan League live on in the ern Federation of Miners to the Industrial Democratic-NPL Party. Saskatchewan has had Workers of the World-on the British Colum­ comparable encounters with Conservative gov­ bia labour movement."24 ernments, yet it stays more loyal to its politi­ It is relevant in this context that many Ca­ cal heritage and now, once again, is governed nadian historians downplay the ties between by the CCF's heir, the New Democratic Party the US and Canadian versions of the OBU. (NDP). Kenneth McNaught and David Bercuson, for example, describe the founders of the Cana­ INDUSTRIAL CONCERNS dian OBU as "overwhelmingly British and Ca­ nadian" and the OBU's ideology as based on The areas discussed in this paper were far Owenite ideals of syndicalism. 25 Yet, even with­ from the industrial heartlands of their respec­ out using the concept, they give a detailed de­ tive countries, yet, early on, they were tied to scription of dual unionism applicable to both industrial developments through their partici­ countries. The IWW defined this as "industri­ pation in critical extractive industries of min­ alism" rather than syndicalism,26 a form of ing and lumber. And, just as in farming, unionization in which all workers would be­ searches for innovative ways of dealing with long to one, highly centralized organization. the special combination of physical environ­ At the same time, for purposes of bargaining, ment, the nature of work, and political depen­ they could belong to a union based on geogra­ dence arose within each country and also phy or industry. Industrialism was also charac­ crossed borders. As I have already noted in terized by direct action in the workplace and discussing agricultural concerns, even the farm­ avoidance of political, especially electoral, ing focus of the Nonpartisan League would involvement.27 have some resonance with the concerns of work­ The historians' rejection of possible influ­ ers. J. S. W oodsworth, one of the most impor­ ence from US ties reflects a larger issue of how tant leaders of the CCF, would make use of the forces of nationalism have affected inter­ what he had previously learned working for pretations of the history of the Canadian labor the NPL to mobilize support for the CCF.20 movement. Yet it is difficult to deny that, with Outside of the Plains/Prairies, a new labor few exceptions, mostly in western Canada, movement swept the west coast between 1917 early trade unions came under the influence of and 1919, creating the One Big Union (OBU), the American Federation of Labor. The Cana­ more radical than other union movements in dian Trades and Labor Congress (TLC) was advocating direct action and dual unionism.21 quickly made up almost entirely of AFL affili­ The Canadian One Big Union, formed in ates. Although the TLC did not fully accept Calgary in 1919, found its greatest test in try­ Gompers's views of socialism or of indepen­ ing to build on the Winnipeg General Strike dent political action,28 it did represent the of that year. 22 In both countries, the OBU had relatively conservative stance associated with its roots in the Industrial Workers of the the AFL. Moreover, its leaders remained un­ World (IWW), which, along with the Western comfortable with nationalist arguments that CROSS-BORDER PROTEST MOVEMENTS 123 did not fully acknowledge the continental founders of the CCF, to address the Minne­ position of Canada. The apparent willingness sota legislature concerning the role of the CCF of the TLC to be subservient to the AFL, taken in 1935, the same year Coldwell began his as the absence of an aggressive nationalism, lengthy tenure as a CCF member of parlia­ and, later, its related unwillingness to treat the ment, The CCF executive reciprocated in CCF as the political arm of labor, have of­ 1942 by requesting greetings from the Minne­ fended nationalist academics active in the sota Farmer-Labor Association on the occasion CCF-NDP. Their assessments, however, do not of Coldwell's election to the national presi­ affect the evidence of US influence as its dency of the CCF.32 During the 1930s, the Min­ unions moved across the border. nesota Farmer-Labor Party, as its name suggests, In 1935, trade unionists in the United was still struggling to tie together competing States, dissatisfied with the AFL's unwilling­ coalitions, among which were dedicated so­ ness to organize workers in mass-production cialist trade unionists. It was the socialists who industries, formed the Congress of Industrial captured the platform committee during the Organizations (CIO). Their activities aroused 1934 convention, leaving Governor Olson the interest of those Canadian unionists dis­ with a campaign platform that he found diffi­ satisfied with the TLC. Irving Abella takes cult to defend. It is Millard Gieske's assess­ the position that, ment that the governor used strategies the CCF had learned from their loss of the 1934 From the beginning, CIO activity in Canada Saskatchewan election to soft-pedal socialism was more the result of the forceful demands as an immediate goal. 33 Influence from the CCF and activities of the Canadian workers than was mediated by Vince Day, advisor to Gover­ of the plans of the CIO hierarchy in the nor Olson. United States .... Because they felt no Ca­ From the 1930s on, the CCF's expected nadian union was in a position to under­ federal victory remained beyond reach, as did take any large-scale organization, by default, government provincial office outside of therefore, they opted for the CIO.29 Saskatchewan. Meanwhile, the merger of the two main union congresses in 1956 opened the Among the first CIO-affiliated unions in possibility of a unified workers' party.34 After Canada was a local of the United Mine Work­ considerable study and negotiation, the CCF ers in Alberta.30 Still, Abella does not want to was reorganized and renamed the New Demo­ give too much credit to US actions. He rests cratic Party in 1961.35 During the transition to his argument for the spread of the CIO on the the new party, resident academic ideologists determined organizing efforts of Canadians, debated its direction. On the one side, Ken­ particularly those affiliated with the Commu­ neth McNaught invoked the authority of the nist Party. late CCF leader, ]. S. Woodsworth, to reject The Communist Party, in turn, had its the Galbraithean tone of Tommy Douglas's cross-border connections.31 The direction of keynote address. In that speech, Douglas, former movement seems to have been both ways, en­ premier of Saskatchewan who would go on to couraged by the legal harassment to which become parliamentary leader of the NDP, had party members were subject and by the party's warned his colleagues not to try to solve the identity as an international movement. problems of the 1960s by defining them as prob­ Other protest parties, even without an in­ lems of the 1930s or by proposing the methods ternational focus, also found sympathetic con­ of the 1930s. Ramsay Cook responded to nections in neighboring areas. Farmer-Labor McNaught by saying it was wrong not to learn Party Governor Floyd Olson invited M.]. from people like] .K. Galbraith and the lessons Coldwell, provincial leader of the Farmer­ they offered about the virtues of a mixed Labour party in Saskatchewan and one of the economy.36 Although it is unclear from their 124 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SPRING 1997 exchange whether Douglas was guilty of being continues to be debated. As a consequence, insufficiently socialistic or too open to US any evidence of US impact on Canada is likely ideas, we can still evaluate the dispute between to be viewed with suspicion and, whenever pos­ McNaught and Cook as further evidence of sible, either denied or explained away. For penet1"ation from the United States. these reasons, the following review of contacts It appears that, more than farm movements, among political movements involving iden­ labor movements have been likely to origi­ tity is even less complete than the two preced­ nate in the United States and to arouse some ing sections. But what it loses in completeness nationalist opposition in Canada. National­ should be compensated for by its continuing ism has often been expressed as anti-Ameri­ relevance. canism, with the result that the importation of Religion and politics provided one of the ideas and organizations from the United States early links between the two countries through is now much less likely than it was up until the the social gospel movement, originating in the 1930s. At the same time, as I will go on to United States. Articles about social gospel show, the relative success of the CCF-NDP has were regularly published in the Prairie Grain continued to exert some attraction in the Growers Guide, which also publicized and sold United States. copies of secular works with reformist messages, including Henry George's Progress and Poverty IDENTITY and Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward. 39 The United States was also the source of less be­ Identity politics, the concern with issues nign influences that, while preaching adher­ and values relating to conceptions of indi­ ence to Christianity, interpreted its principles vidual and group selfhood, has a long history. in destructive ways. The Ku Klux Klan spread One could even say that it involves the most group hatred beginning in the 1920s when en­ primitive basis for the formation of political tering Klansmen moved from Oregon and Wash­ movements. Paradoxically, the sense that ington into British Columbia and from Indiana identity is rooted in the most fundamental into Saskatchewan.4o The Klan, also active in ways of classifying people had led political Manitoba and Alberta at around the same time, theorists to neglect it. Identities based on bio­ had its greatest impact in Saskatchewan, where logical differences were expected to be super­ it preached anti-Catholicism. seded by social evolutionary developments that The Klan found a ready audience among would give primacy to the conflicts, inherent both ordinary residents and opposition politi­ in industrial organization, pitting workers cians, who used the Klan's anti-Catholicism against owners and managers.37 Such theories against the governing Liberals. Liberal Premier have been discarded, however, as age, sex, race Jimmy Gardner himself attacked the KKK prior and ethnicity, language, religion, and geogra­ to the 1928 provincial election, linking it with phy all continue to playa role in today's po­ his political opponents. The year before, litical struggles. In addition, a strong argument Gardner had described the KKK as exemplify­ has been made that the transformations of the ing another, earlier, US scam, the Nonpartisan contemporary world have made many people League! His denunciation of the KKK carried newly sensitive to issues that extend beyond with it a thinly veiled attack on the Progres­ the search for financial security to include sive Party, the main opposition, for its US lean­ their quality of life.38 ings.41 The Liberals were defeated, in some All these developments make it difficult measure, by the KKK's actions, and prominent to establish simple guidelines for what should members of both the Conservative and Pro­ be included under identity politics. In addi­ gressive parties were active in the KlanY tion, there is a special sensitivity to this issue The Klan's disappearance was not complete. in Canada, where national identity itself I t resurfaced in British Columbia in the 1980s, CROSS-BORDER PROTEST MOVEMENTS 125 continuing the anti-Asian message, prominent difficulties even at a time when the NDP was there in the 1920s, with new immigrant tar­ at a relative peak and formed the governments gets. In 1980, Klan leader Wolfgang Droege of British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and announced that the KKK had merged with the Ontario. Moreover, the NDP's advantage lay anti-immigrant Nationalist Party of Canada. 43 in support from a much stronger labor move­ Another kind of identity politics is mani­ ment than exists in the United States. While fested in the actions of the New Left in the these factors might suggest that there was not 1960s. Although part of a world-wide move­ much to be learned from exchanges between ment of young people, the Canadian version the New Party and the NDP, the two parties was overwhelmingly dominated by develop­ did issue a joint news release that included ments in the United States. The drama of events hopes to establish more permanent relations. like the struggle for civil rights and opposition The article ended with a note from the editor, to the war in Viet Nam were made prominent requesting volunteers to work for NDP candi­ in Canada by anti-war emigres from the United dates campaigning in the upcoming federal States, especially those who gravitated to Ca­ election.46 nadian universities.44 To James Laxer, then a Some cross-border contact is also present for student member of the more traditional left, it the Green PartyY Guests are invited to con­ was dismaying that "the Canadian New Left ventions but the primary line of contact ap­ derived much of its style and ideology from pears to be from mutual commitment to the United States, and American-centred is­ environmentalism. In Canada, the Greens have sues filled its political agenda." Laxer found followed the more traditional political prac­ the emphasis on "cultural rebellion" especially tices of other third parties and entered elec­ inappropriate when the enemy was better con­ toral politics. In the United States, they have ceived as "American imperialism." But once more often emphasized moral concerns that the New Left moved westward to Saskatchewan remove them from conventional politics.48 If and British Columbia, he perceived the situa­ these differences persist, we can expect that tion to have improved. Instead of remaining national adaptations will effectively limit alienated from the old left, particularly from close association. the NDP, the New Left reached out for allies Social Credit provides another example of in that party and acquired a more socialist identity politics. Although the Social Credit orientation.45 movement in Canada has suffered sharp set­ In the United States, meanwhile, the search backs in Alberta, where it was historically stron­ for a political voice for the New Left led to a gest, there are still those concerned about its number of attempts to form a viable protest potential influence. Gary North, who describes party. The most recent manifestation is the himself as a Christian economist, recently tried eponymous New Party, a national political to lay bare the unchristian foundations of So­ movement with active members in western cial Credit teachings. Although his principal states. In Wisconsin, for example, activists in­ dispute is with Social Credit's founder, Major clude Bruce Colborn of the Milwaukee Cen­ C. H. Douglas, he must also deal with William tral Labor Council and Joel Rogers, professor Aberhart, the original leader of the movement at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Its in Alberta. Aberhart was a radio evangelist and, affiliate there, Progressive Milwaukee, was according to North, it was through his version successful in electing a state representative in of Social Credit that the damage was done. 1992. Lisa Daugaard described an invitation From the beginning of Aberhart's preaching, from the NDP to visit Canada and receive "Christians have adopted Social Credit as an training in organizing a progressive party. At ideal supposedly consistent with Christian­ the same time that she acknowledged how help­ ity."49 They were encouraged in this path by ful the NDP could be, she was mindful of its the popularity of Aberhart's radio preaching 126 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SPRING 1997

under the auspices of the Calgary Prophetic century until World War I and during the Bible Institute, carried to listeners in the north­ Great Depression, affecting the livelihoods and ern tier states. 50 well-being of farmers and workers, generated The growth of political consciousness protest movements that found adherents on among Native American or First Nations groups both sides of the Canada-US border. Identity is another arena for the politics of identity to concerns continue to proliferate and, with cross borders. On the one hand, even the rec­ them, protest movements that can travel be­ ognition of national boundai'-res meets consid­ tween the two countries._ Although common erable resistance from groups whose identity problems catalyze contact, excitement gener­ predates their imposition. At the same time, ated by the movements themselves attracts the and particularly as some tribes increase their attention of like-minded people across the resources, there is growing awareness of the border. value of helping other Native groups take a At the same time, there are also important political stand. For example, American Indian constraining factors that limit how much con­ Movement activist Leonard Peltier, a fugitive tact will take place and how influential it will in the United States, found refuge in Canada. be. Among the most critical are existing gov­ There he was adopted by the K wakewlth ernmental structures, types of government poli­ people of Vancouver Island and his extradi­ cies, and the anti-American feelings that are tion hearings became an avenue for mobiliz­ part of Canadian nationalism. In essence, these ing Canada's Native Peoples.51 All of North forces place limits on even the non-institution­ America has the potential for such activity, as alized approaches associated with protest move~ evident from the visit of the Grand Chief of ments. the Assembly of First Nations, Ovide Mercredi, Evidence in support of both expectations and other Native Canadian leaders to the about the likelihood of cross-border ties can Chiapas area shortly after the uprising that co­ be reconciled, to a degree, by taking into ac­ incided with the imposition ofNAFTA. But it count the nature and process through which is also a fact, born of national differences in movements spread. In times of shared prob­ how governments respond to their indigenous lems, the promise of a solution has a great ap­ populations, that there are bound to be sig­ peal, regardless of origin. Solutions are ideas nificantly different adaptations to the formu­ about change and all the political movements lation of political identity on both sides of the have in common a transfer of core ideas that border. For example, policies on criminal jus­ have been able to move, at times, from Canada tice are now quite different and appear to have to the United States as well as, more frequently, different outcomesY in the opposite direction. An early observer of Concerns with identity provide a rationale this phenomenon concluded that, "The inter­ for political movements that can travel in ei­ national boundary is an invisible and intan­ ther direction and continue to find potential gible thing. Trade may be controlled, but ideas adherents. In both regards, they differ from cannot be excluded. Owing to the geographi­ movements based on agricultural and indus­ cal situation it is almost inevitable that schemes trial concerns that are more time-bound and of social reform in the two countries will go more likely to originate in the United States. hand-in-hand."53 Ideas are resources that en­ rich the political movements that have them WHY Do TIES FORM? and enable those movements to exert influ­ ence over other movements and organiza­ This overview supports the idea that cross­ tionsY Ideas are carried by individuals in ways border ties among protest movements flow that increase the ideas' mobility. When indi­ freely. Critical periods, mainly early in the vidual carriers share the nationality of those they are trying to mobilize, this can override CROSS-BORDER PROTEST MOVEMENTS 127 the disadvantages that imported ideas might economic and nationalist problems. Laxer pre­ otherwise face. 55 dicted that the New Left would "remain on Movement proselytizers like the Ku Klux the margin of things"59 and, while it did fade Klan can see a ripe field for their message in from view, it also heralded important life style the neighboring country. The Klan was among changes that have had more lasting impact. the most active sending agents, driven, like all The most significant kinds of contacts are political movements, by conviction about the those that a€tively engage the movement's re­ value of its goals but also by opportunities for ceivers, like the native son returning to his prov­ profit. Organizing in Saskatchewan was done ince who initially exposed the NPL to farmers on a commission basIs and, as the legaLauthori­ in the Prairies. Those who argue for the inde­ ties became interested in the three organizers pendence of the Canadian labor movement who had been sent into the province, the latter have some basis for their position from similar absconded with all the money they had raised. 56 activity by those receiving the influence of US The subsequent history of the Klan's impact in unions. Abella, for example, documents how Saskatchewan then rose and fell with the kinds Canadian workers, dissatisfied with existing of organizers despatched to the province. But union leadership, began to organize in the style more important than the senders are those who of the CIO and to even label themselves as receive the message. "The Ku Klux Klan did CIO before there was any initiative from the not invent prejudice in Saskatchewan. It was US-based union.60 already there in abundance, rooted in groups Political movements may not have unlim­ and processes-economic, social and politi­ ited access across borders yet they have one cal-perceived as threatening to the status and great advantage that arises from the problems power of native, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant they challenge. Although it is commonly said Saskatchewanians. "57 that the definition of a problem is the first Similarly, the US content of the Canadian step in finding a solution, problems are much New Left needs to be interpreted in light of easier to define than are viable solutions. As what made that movement attractive to Cana­ a result, any movement that provides solutions dians. Conditions giving rise to the movement also demonstrates a powerful attraction to oth­ were not unique to Canada but they did exist ers who feel themselves in the same boat. This in Canada with as much pressing urgency as offer of solutions gives a rationale for protest elsewhere. One factor was demographic-the movements to cross the border between growth of young people as a proportion of Canada and the United States when related the population. A second was institutional­ regions face similar problems. The content of the growth of post-secondary education their problems may change but new ones are through the expansion of existing universities sure to a.rise and, with them, the continuing and the founding of new ones. The concentra­ search for ways to solve them. In the process, tion of young people on campuses where they those alert to the problems will play an active could be easily mobilized formed the basis for role in selecting and adapting what they see as expressing discontent with university proce­ relevant messages. dures, if with nothing else. 58 Laxer's interpre­ tation of the New Left goes beyond these local NOTES conditions and emphasizes the ways in which influences from the United States continued This paper draws on ongoing research dealing with the organization of protest parties and movements in to detract from an appreciation of Canadian the middle and far west of Canada and the United history and circumstances. Yet the New Left States. Research support comes from the Faculty Re­ could find a fertile setting for mobilizing some search Program, Canadian Embassy, 1990-91; the young people without becoming relevant to Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council 128 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SPRING 1997 of Canada, 1994-97; and a Senior Fellowship A ward 7. Dean E. McHenry, The Third Force in from the Canadian Embassy, 1996. Research assis­ Canada: The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation tance was provided by Csaba Nikolenyi. I make use 1932-1948 (Berkeley: University of California Press, of data beyond those regions normally included in 1950), pp. 5-8,10. the Great Plains, including British Columbia and 8. Theodore Saloutos, "The Rise of the Equity Washington, whenever these are relevant to the Cooperative Exchange," Mississippi Historical Re­ core area. view 32 (June 1945): 38-39, 59. 9. Robert L. Morlan, Political Prairie Fire: The 1. Mildred A. Schwartz, "Canadian Policy Stud­ Nonpartisan League, 1915-1922, new introduction ies in Comparative Perspective," in Policy Studies in by Larry Remele (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Canada: The State of the Art, ed. Laurent Dobuzinskis, Society, 1985), p. 26. Michael Howlett, and David Laycock (Toronto: 10. Paul Frederick Sharp, The Agrarian Revolt in University of Toronto Press, 1996), pp. 346-55. Western Canada: A Survey Showing American Par­ 2. Edward J. Chambers and Rodney E. Schneck, allels (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, "The Political Economy of Western Canada," Busi­ 1948), pp. 131, 134. ness in the Contemporary World 3 (Autumn 1990): 11. Ibid., pp. 77-90, 91-94. 71-81. 12. Leslie A. Pal, "The Political Executive and 3. Marcus Lee Hansen andJohnJ. Brebner, The Political Leadership in Alberta," in Government Mingling of the Canadian and American People (New and Politics in Alberta, ed. Allan Tupper and Haven: Yale University Press, 1940). Roger Gibbins (Edmonton: University of Alberta 4. Lauren McKinsey and Victor Konrad, Bor­ Press, 1992), p. 10; Tony Madiros, "William Irvine derlands Reflections: The United States and Canada, and the Farmer Labour Movement in Alberta," in Borderlands Series 1 (Orono: University of Maine, Western Canadian Politics: The Radical Tradition, 1989), p. 4. ed. D~mald C. Kerr (Edmonton: NeWest Institute 5. For example, Daniel Elazar, American Feder­ for Western Canadian Studies, 1981), p. 19. alism: A View from the States (New York: Crowell, 13. David Laycock, Populism and Democratic 1972), p. 117; Richard Franklin Bensel, Sectional­ Thought in the Canadian Prairies, 1910 to 1945 ism and American Political Development, 1880-1980 (Toronro: University of Toronto Press, 1990). (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1984); 14. Walter D. Young, The Anatomy of a Party: Mildred A. Schwartz, Politics and Territory: The The National CCF 1932-61 (Toronto: University Sociology of Regional Persistence in Canada (Mon­ of Toronto Press, 1969), p. 17. treal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1974); 15. John A. Irving, The Social Credit Movement Mildred A. Schwartz, "Political Protest in the in Alberta (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, Western Borderlands: Can Farmers Be Socialists?" 1959), pp. 271-74. in Borderlands: Essays in Canadian-American Rela­ 16. Michael Paul Rogin, The Intellectuals and tions, ed. Robert Lecker (Toronto: ECW Press, McCarthy: The Radical Specter (Cambridge: MIT 1991), pp. 28-53; Gerald D. Nash, Creating the Press, 1967),pp.l09-10.SeeNathanKeyfitz, "The West: Historical Interpretations 1891-1990 (Albu­ Growth of Canadian Population," Population Stud­ querque: University of New Mexico Press, 1991); ies 4 (1950): 47-63; Leon E. Truesdell, The Cana­ Sherrill E. Grace, "Comparing Mythologies: Ideas dian Born in the United States: An Analysis of the of West and North," in Lecker, Borderlands Statistics of the Canadian Element in the Population of (above), pp. 243-62; Gerald Friesen, The Canadian the United States (Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1943) Prairies: A History (Lincoln: University of Nebraska for problems in distinguishing Canadian-born and Press, 1984); Paul F. Sharp, "The Northern Great US-born. Plains: A Study in Canadian-American Regional­ 17. Nelson Wiseman, "The Pattern of Prairie ism," Mississippi Historical Review 39 (June 1952): Politics," in Party Politics in Canada, ed. Hugh 61-76. Thorburn, 5th ed. (Scarborough, Ontario: Prentice­ 6. For example, David Thomas, ed., Canada and Hall of Canada, 1985), pp. 242-59. the United States: Differences that Count (Peter­ 18. Seymour Martin Lipset, Agrarian Socialism: borough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 1993); Seymour The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation in Martin Lipset, Continental Divide: The Values and Saskatchewan, rev. ed. (Garden City, NY: Doubleday Institutions of the United States and Canada (New Anchor, 1968), pp. 11-12; Sharp, The Agrarian York: Routledge, 1990); Mildred A. Schwartz, The Revolt (note 10 above), pp. 59-60. Environment for Policy-Making in Canada and the 19. Thompson-Hardy, "Secession in Canada. II United States (Montreal and Washington, DC: CD. The Prairies," June 1924; rpt. in Forum: Canadian Howe Research Institute and National Planning Life and Letters 1920-70. Selections from The Cana­ Associates, 1981). dian Forum, ed. J. L. Granatstein and Peter Stevens, CROSS-BORDER PROTEST MOVEMENTS 129

(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1972), pp. 1961, both rpt. in Granatstein and Stevens, Forum 26-28. (note 19 above), pp. 337, 340. 20. Young, The Anatomy of a Party (note 14 37. Mildred A. Schwartz, A Sociological Perspec­ above), p. 180. tive on Politics, Prentice Hall Foundations of Mod­ 21. James Weinstein, The Declineof SocLalism in ern Sociology Series (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice America: 1912-1925, new ed. (New Brunswick, NJ: Hall, 1990), pp. 18-22. Rutgers University Press, 1984), p. 214. 38. Ronald Inglehart, The Silent Revolution 22. Donald Avery, 'Dangerous Foreigner': Euro­ (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1971); pean Immigrant Workers and Labour Radicalism in Ronald Inglehart, Culture Shift (Princeton: Princeton Canada, 1896-1932 (Toronto: McClelland and University Press, 1990); Neil Nevitte, Miguel Stewart, 1979), pp. 80-84. Basafiez, and Ronald Inglehart "Directions of Value 23. Irving M. Abella, "American Unionism, Change in North America," in North America With­ Communism and Canadian Labor Movement: out Borders? IntegratingCanada, the United States and Some Myths and Realities," in The Influence of the Mexico, ed. StephenJ. Randall (Calgary: University United States on Canadian Development: Eleven Case of Calgary Press, 1992), pp. 245-59. Studies, ed. Richard A. Preston (Durham: Duke 39. Richard Allen, "The Social Gospel as the University Press, 1972), p. 207. Religion of the Agrarian Revolt," in The Prairie 24. Gad Horowitz, Canadian Labour in Politics West: Historical Readings, ed. R. Douglas Francis (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1968), p. 26. and Howard Palmer (Edmonton: Pica Pica Press, 25. Kenneth McNaught and David J. Bercuson, 1992), p. 564. The WinniPeg Strike: 1919 (Don Mills, Ontario: 40. Martin Robin, Shades of Right: Nativist and Longman Canada, 1974), pp. 30, 31. Fascist Politics in Canada, 1920-1940 (Toronto: 26. Weinstein, The Decline of Socialism (note 21 University of Toronto Press, 1992), pp. 19,28-29. above), p. 13. 41. Ibid., pp. 63-65. 27. McNaught and Bercuson, The Winnipeg Strike 42. J. F. Conway, The West: The History of a Re­ (note 25 above), pp. 32, 33. gion in Confederation, 2nd ed. (Toronto: James 28. Horowitz, Canadian Labour (note 24 above), Lorimer, 1994), pp. 12-30. pp. 58-61. 43. John D. McAlpine, Report Arising Out of the 29. Abella, "American Unionism," (note 23 Activities of the Ku Klux Klan in British Columbia above), p. 208. (Victoria: Report presented to the Honourable J .H. 30. Irving M. Abella, Nationalism, Communism, Heinrich, Minister of Labour for the Province of and Canadian Labour: The CIO, the Communist Party, British Columbia, 1981), p. 12. and the Canadian Congress of Labour 1935-1956 44. Tim Reid and Julyan Reid, eds., Student Power (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1973), p. 5. and the Canadian Campus (Toronto: Peter Martin, 31. Ian Angus, Canadian Bolsheviks: The Early 1969). Years of the Communist Party of Canada (Montreal: 45. James Laxer, "The Americanization of the Vanguard Publications, 1981), p. 43; Joseph R. Canadian Student Movement," in Close the 49th Starobin, American Communism in Crisis, 1943- Parallel Etc.: The Americanization of Canada, ed. 1957 (Berkeley: University of California Press, Ian Lumsden (Toronto: University of Toronto 1972), pp. 242, n. 10. Press, 1970), pp. 276, 277-78, 285. 32. Richard M. Valelly, Radicalism in the States: 46. Lisa Daugaard, "The NP's Excellent Cana­ The Farmer-Labor Party and the American Political dian Adventure,"NewParty News 2 (Spring 1993): 3. Economy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 4 7. BC Green Party, Green Party News 4-6 (De­ 1989), p. 210. cember 1983). 33. Millard L. Gieske, Minnesota Farmer­ 48. Carl Boggs, Social Movements and Political Laborism, (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Power: Emerging Forms of Radicalism in the West Press, 1979), pp. 189-90. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1986), pp. 34. Frederick C. Engelmann and Mildred A. 219-20. Schwartz, Political Parties and the Canadian Social 49. Gary North, Salvation Through Inflation: The Structure (Scarborough, Ontario: Prentice-Hall of Economics of Social Credit (Tyler, Texas: Institute Canada, 1967), p. 110. for Christian Economics, 1993), p. 23. 35. Alan Whitehorn, Canadian Socialism: Essays 50. For example, in 1935, the local Calgary sta­ on the CCF-NDP (Toronto: Oxford University tion estimated that there were more than 100,000 Press, 1992), p. 52. listeners in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and 36. Kenneth McNaught, "J.S. Woodsworth and Montana. W. E. Mann, Sect, Cult and Church in the New Party," March 1961; Ramsay Cook, "The Alberta (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, Old Man, the Old Manifesto, the Old Party," May 1955), p. 22. Although the Reform Party, one 130 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SPRING 1997 highly visible current heir to Social Credit, is of­ 55. Doug McAdam and Dieter Rucht, "The ten discussed as American influenced, it cannot be Cross-National Diffusion of Movement Ideas," An­ directly linked to a US movement today. nals of the American Academy of Political and Social 51. Peter Matthiessen, In the Spirit ofCrazy Horse, Science 528 (July 1993): 56-74. with an afterword by Martin Garbus (New York: 56. Robin, Shades of Right, (note 40 above), pp. Viking Penguin, 1991), pp. 272-78. 28-35. 52. See Chapter 3 in Royal Commission on Ab­ 57. Ibid., p. 50. See also Friesen, The Canadian original Peoples, Bridging the Cultural Divide: A Prairies (note 5 above), p. 405. Report on Aboriginal People and Criminal Justice in 58. Kenneth Westhues, "Inter-Generational Canada (Ottawa: Canada Communication Group Conflict in the Sixties," in Prophecy and Protest: Publishing, 1996). Social Movements in Twentieth-Century Canada, ed. 53. Charles W. Peterson, Wake Up, Canada: Re­ S. D. Clark,]. Paul Grayson, and Linda M. Grayson flections on Vital National Issues (Toronto: (Toronto: Gage Educational Publishing, 1975), pp. Macmillan, 1919), p. 22. 398-402. 54. Mildred A. Schwartz, "The Role of Ideology 59. Laxer, "The Americanization of the Cana­ in Political Protest Party Movements: Rein­ dian Student" (note 45 above), p. 286. terpreting Western Canadian Experiences," Aus­ 60. Abella, "American Unionism" (note 23 tralian-Canadian Studies 11 (1 and 2,1993): 79. above), p. 209.