Alberta Labour & Social Democracy Alberta Labour History Institute 2016 Calendar R HIST OU OR BO RY A I L N S A S T T I R T
R T
U U
E U
U U U U
E U
B B
T T T
B B B B B
T T T T T
L L L
E E E L L L L L
E E E
A A A
A A A
ALHI Collection Preservation Education
January February March
January 2016 February 2016 March 2016 S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S 1 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 28 29 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 27 28 29 30 31 31
April May June
April 2016 May 2016 June 2016 S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S 1 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 29 30 31 26 27 28 29 30
J u ly August September
July 2016 August 2016 September 2016 S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S 1 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 28 29 30 31 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
October November December
October 2016 November 2016 December 2016 S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S 1 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 27 28 29 30 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 30 31 Alberta Labour and Social Democracy
Alberta’s labour movement and allied progressive 1935, it was wiped out in the Social Credit frenzy that movements were overjoyed with the results of the May swept the province. By that time, the CLP had committed 5, 2015 provincial election in Alberta. A majority NDP to joining the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, a government after 43 years of large Tory majorities national organization of democratic socialists formed in was unexpected and augurs well for working people in 1932 and dedicated to ending the Great Depression while Alberta. Kudos to Rachel Notley, her team of candidates ensuring that the political and economic conditions that and organizers for making it happen. had created it never returned.
But the election of a social democratic government in While the CCF, led by printer Elmer Roper, won a Alberta did not happen overnight. The labour movement quarter of all votes cast in the 1944 provincial election, was the chief instigator of almost nine decades of the electoral system turned that huge vote into a mere organizing labour-friendly, social democratic parties in two legislative seats. The party gradually lost support Alberta. It has been involved in both legislative and extra- as a combination of post-war prosperity and the Cold parliamentary movements to create social justice and a War lulled many into believing that the capitalist system better distribution of wealth and power in Alberta and had self-corrected. The labour movement took greater beyond. ownership over social democratic politics by taking the lead in creating the New Democratic Party in 1961, a The province’s social democratic history began with somewhat more moderate version of the CCF. In Alberta, the creation of Labour Representation Committees in oil workers’ trade union leader Neil Reimer became the Calgary and Edmonton in 1917, followed by the creation NDP’s first leader. of an Alberta branch of the Canadian Labour Party (CLP) in 1921, a party launched by the Trades and Labour Growth in electoral support for the NDP proved gradual Congress of Canada. The CLP called for greater state and discontinuous. Though the party won 16 seats in direction of the economy, the introduction of social 1986 and 1989 and formed the Official Opposition, it won insurance programs, and protection of workers’ rights no seats in 1993 and had to gradually rebuild. Labour- to organize. Labour elected four members in 1921, and supported organizations like Public Interest Alberta and one member, Alex Ross, was included by the victorious Friends of Medicare which fought the right-wing Tory United Farmers of Alberta in their Cabinet after that agenda helped to create the atmosphere that allowed New election. Labour went on to win six seats in 1926 but in Democrats to form a government in 2015. Alberta rovincial Arc ives dmonton labour candidates elected to re resent t e Canadian abour arty Origins of Social Democracy in Alberta Social democratic parties everywhere have their origins in the oppose conscription during World War One. labour movement. The establishment of a variety of unions After the war, Roper and other union leaders decided to in Alberta before World War One and the creation of labour create a province-wide Canadian Labour Party which advocated councils in the cities and then the Alberta Federation of the gradual nationalization of industry, the introduction Labour in 1912 provided the groundwork for the emergence of of minimum wages, and improved access to workers’ labour political organizations. These included revolutionary compensation along with higher payments, among other organizations like the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) reforms. Though Alberta was still primarily an agricultural and the Communist Party. But most Alberta labour leaders province and the division of seats discriminated heavily against favoured participation within the existing parliamentary system urban residents, four Labour members were elected in 1921: over the revolutionary overthrow of political and economic rule Alex Ross and Fred White in Calgary, William Johnston in capitalists. n 191 , printer lmer oper pers aded first the Medicine Hat, and Philip Christophers in Rocky Mountain. The Calgary Labour Council and then its Edmonton counterpart first three represented moderate elements in the trade nion to found Labour Representation Leagues that supported movement while Christophers was a radical miner who had independent labour involvement in politics, particularly to been active in the IWW. SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT December 2015 February 2016 S M T W T F S S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 1 2 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 New Year’s Day 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1905 Industrial 27 28 29 30 31 28 29 1966 The Canadian Pension Plan comes Workers of the World into effect founded in Chicago 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 1906 Founding meeting of the Edmonton Trades and Labour Council 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 1962 Alberta New Democrats founding provincial convention 24 31 25 26 27 28 29 30 1946 Rand Formula introduced Alberta rovincial Arc ives A illiam Irvine c one o t e ounders o t e Coo erative Commonwealt ederation Labour’s first participation in government in Alberta When the United Farmers of Alberta formed government in cooperation with the UFA in the legislature and urged party l erta in 19 1, Premier er ert reenfield appointed one of representatives to take a more aggressive stance in favour of the four elected Labour members, stonemason Alex Ross, as policies of nationalization, social programs, and more extensive Minister of Public Works. The UFA and Labour had agreed public works. In the 1926 election, Ross ran as part of a informally during the election not to run in the same seats. a o r slate in al ar , which was a fi e mem er seat. hile While the UFA was not especially sensitive to labour’s needs, Fred White placed fourth and socialist Independent Labour its party philosophy called for the inclusion of representatives candidate o ert Par n placed fifth, oss placed ei hth. of di erent ocations in o ernment. oss pers aded the Though Labour won 6 seats in 1926 and 4 in 1930, the UFA UFA government to expand access to workers’ compensation, did not include a Labour representative in Cabinet after 1926. implement a female minimum wage, and favour unionized Federally, Alberta Labour elected two representatives in 1921, labour in government construction contracts. one of whom, preacher William Irvine, would play a major role But a large faction within the Labour Party opposed direct in social democratic politics for the next four decades.
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT 1 2 3 4 5 6 2002 Alberta’s largest 1906 Lethbridge Trades teachers’ strike begins and Labour Council granted charter 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Family Day Valentine’s Day 1944 PC 1003, federal government recognizes collective bargaining rights for Canadian workers 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
January 2016 March 2016 S M T W T F S S M T W T F S 1 2 1 2 3 4 5 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 28 29 27 28 29 30 31 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 ikkimedia Commons ogo o t e Coo erative Commonwealt ederation The Labour Party’s role in the Formation of the CCF The Great Depression radicalized many Canadians. Before the and their families witnessed the suppression of the strike. The 1930s, democratic socialists created a number of provincial UFA government, unlike the grassroots organization that had organizations that only rarely cooperated across provincial and spawned the government, rejected socialist solutions and fo- social class borders. Now it became more urgent than ever to cused on cutting costs, generally at the expense of unemployed have a national party along the lines of the British Labour Par- workers and farmers struggling to survive both low prices for ty. Both the Labour Party in Alberta and the United Farmers of their products and drought. l erta s pported s ch e orts and oined the new o operati e The failure of the left forces to abandon the UFA and Labour Commonwealth Federation. Party to form a grassroots CCF organization created space for t that top down approach wea ened the ed lin the populist Social Credit Party to emerge. That party had no in Alberta. The UFA government and the Labour-dominated roots in the labour movement and would eventually turn against Edmonton city council joined forces to suppress a Hunger working people and their unions. In 1935, both the UFA and March in Edmonton in December, 1932. Over 12,000 workers Labour lost all of their seats in the Alberta legislature.
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT February 2016 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 1 2 3 4 5 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 International Women’s Day 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Daylight Savings St. Patrick’s Day 1918 Government of 1919 Civil Service 1919 Western Labour Alberta passes Association of Alberta Conference in Calgary workers’ compensation (CSA), precursor to forms One Big Union legislation AUPE, formed 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Spring Equinox Good Friday
April 2016 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 27 28 29 30 31 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Easter Monday 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Artist unknown s election ad or t e Alberta wing o t e Coo erative Commonwealt ederation Rebuilding the CCF After the debacle of the 1935 provincial election, both the reat diffic lt con incin wor ers that the sho ld a andon Labour Party and the UFA gradually withdrew from provincial Social Credit for a social democratic party. politics. The CCF built a grassroots organization in which labour The CCF’s second leader, printer Elmer Roper, was a long- acti ists pla ed a ma or role. he part ’s first pro incial leader, time official of the l erta ederation of a o r. oper edited Chester Ronning, who lead the party from 1939 to 1942, had a the wee l l erta a o r News from 1919 to 19 , the official background as a farmer, teacher, and missionary. He later be- newspaper of the AFL. Afterwards he edited People’s Weekly, came a famo s anadian diplomat who made a ma or e ort to which ecame the official newspaper of the . illiam r ine, get the Americans to withdraw their invading forces in Vietnam. the ’s first l erta president, co edited People’s ee l with The CCF won 11 percent of the vote in the provincial election in Roper for a few years. The newspaper continued to publish until 1940 but no seats. In that election, the Liberals and Conserva- 1953. Roper led the party from 1942 to 1955 and later became tives formed a coalition to defeat Social Credit. The CCF had mayor of Edmonton.
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
March 2016 May 2016 S M T W T F S S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 April Fool’s Day 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 27 28 29 30 31 29 30 31 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 1956 Canadian Labour Congress is formed 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 International Day of Mourning Alberta rovincial Arc ives nc- - olice block marc ers route ust rior to c arging crowd during dmonton unger arc Wartime Successes and Disappointments lmer oper won the first seat for the in l erta in a , Calgary teacher Aylmer Liesemer joined him in the legislature. 1942. Assuming the party’s leadership, he used his labour and Interestingly the Communists won 5 percent of the vote and no farm contacts to build a party membership of 12,000 by the seats, running on a platform similar to the CCF’s. The province time of the 1944 provincial election. Ernest Manning’s Social had a single transferable vote system at the time that could have Credit Party had only 8000 paid-up members at the time. elected 6 CCF members and one Communist had the two parties But Manning had won over the business community to sup- not viciously attacked each other and asked their voters not to port of his part as the est means of fendin o the socialist give their second choices to the other party. hordes.” Roper promised a democratic and gradual transition oper and iesemer were e ecti e mem ers of the le islat re to socialism through the introduction of social programs and in defending labour’s interests. But the membership was quite nationalization of resource industries and big companies. His discouraged by the poor showing in 1944 and within a few years, party won 25 percent of the vote in the 1944 provincial election. the party membership had dropped by two thirds. That translated into only two seats. Roper retained his seat and
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 International 1886 Workers demonstrating Workers’ Day in Chicago for 8 hour day attacked by police on Haymarket Square 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Mother's Day 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 1919 Winnipeg General Strike begins 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Victoria Day 1905 Calgary Trades 1919 Alberta workers and Labour Council strike in solidarity with granted charter Winnipeg General Strike
April 2016 June 2016 S M T W T F S S M T W T F S 1 2 1 2 3 4 29 30 31 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 26 27 28 29 30