"For A Socialist ": The New Brunswick Waffle, 1967-1972

by

Patrick Webber

Bachelor of Arts, St. Thomas University, 2004

A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Master of Arts

in the Graduate Academic Unit of History

Supervisor: David Frank, Department of History

Examining Board: Gail Campbell, Department of History David Frank, Department of History R. Steven Turner, Department of History Donald Wright, Department of Political Science

This thesis is accepted by the Dean of Graduate Studies

THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK

March 2008

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1+1 Canada DEDICATION

I would like to dedicate this work to those who contributed so much to my research by sitting down with me and offering their recollections. Their stories and insights were not only instrumental in piecing together this story but also in lending it a human and at times humorous touch. I am indebted to their contributions and sincerely offer my gratitude to them.

Pat Callaghan John Earl Barrie Hould Ronald Lees Bill Ross Maxine Ross Dan Weston Richard Wilbur ABSTRACT

In the spring of 1970, several members of the (NDP) in

Fredericton, New Brunswick, unofficially formed the New Brunswick Waffle. The group

was inspired in part by in and sought to influence the policies and

direction of the New Brunswick NDP. It represented a fusion of Old Left and New Left

politics and was comprised of leftists espousing an eclectic range of political ideas,

including socialists, left-libertarians, and Trotskyists who belonged to the Young

Socialists (YS), the youth wing of the League for Socialist Action (LSA). The NB

Waffle was officially launched in September 1970 and soon became a prominent force

within the New Brunswick NDP. The NB Waffle secured a surprise victory for its

manifesto "For a Socialist New Brunswick" at an NB NDP convention in September

1971. This precipitated a split within the party that resulted in its suspension by the

federal NDP council, and following an NB NDP special convention in late November

1971, the group effectively ceased to exist. Meanwhile, the NB Waffle itself had been

dividing into Trotskyist and non-Trotskyist factions, and the events later sparked an

intense debate within the Canadian Trotskyist movement around the issue of "."

During its short duration, the NB Waffle attempted to provide a radical socialist critique

of the province that anticipated the growing skepticism towards the status quo that

emerged in the Maritimes in the 1970s. The group also had a minor but noticeable

influence on the NB NDP and the province's labour movement. As an episode in the history of the left and the larger political culture of New Brunswick, the NB Waffle was a reflection of the national, continental, and global political ferment of the late 1960s and

early 1970s and represented a unique New Brunswick variation on this theme.

iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The inspiration for this thesis arose from a conversation with Ben Isitt in early

2004, during which he casually mentioned the existence of a Waffle group in New

Brunswick during the early 1970s. This came as a surprise to me. No one else I knew was familiar with the topic and indeed all Ben knew about the New Brunswick Waffle was that it had briefly won control over the New Brunswick New Democratic Party. This obscure yet intriguing bit of data seemed like the perfect sort of topic for an M.A. thesis, both because of the lack of previous research done on it and because of my own peculiar fascination with inner-party conflicts.

I have received much help and assistance in the process of completing this thesis.

I would first like to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of

Canada, whose generous financial assistance made this project possible. The same gratitude is extended to the University of New Brunswick History Department for granting me an assistantship. I am also thankful to the H.H. Stuart Fund and the School of Graduate Studies for providing travel and research assistance. I want to offer special thanks to my supervisor, Dr. David Frank, whose guidance in the conduct of my research and writing were indispensable. His enthusiasm for my project was also greatly appreciated. Ben Isitt, who often was on the other side of Canada (Victoria, B.C.) while I was working on this thesis, offered invaluable research assistance and always shared relevant data discovered during his own research missions. Dana Brown informed me of useful sources that the New Brunswick Labour History Project identified in the New

Brunswick Federation of Labour files at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick.

Several colleagues in the UNB history program also warrant thanks. Lisa Pasolli shared

iv some much-appreciated research that she conducted for her own M.A. thesis; ASC

Hampton was always eager to discuss my work and offer insights and I wish him much luck in his future studies; and Chris Hyland took the time to edit a first draft of this thesis while he was in the midst of completing his own thesis. Eric Hebert-Daly and Janet

Solberg deserve thanks for their willingness to grant me access to restricted documents at

Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa. I also want to thank my family, who offered moral support for this particular venture and who have always supported my various life endeavors. Finally, I want to thank the many friends whom I have made among my fellow graduate students in the UNB history program, some of them already mentioned, others not. Their companionship provided a welcome and at times adventurous respite from the often arduous task of completing this thesis, and I thank them for making my time at UNB an enjoyable and memorable one.

v TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedication ii

Abstract iii

Acknowledgements iv

Table of Contents vi

List of Abbreviations vii

Introduction 1

Chapter One: 21 The Left and the CCF-NDP Tradition in New Brunswick, 1900-1969

Chapter Two: 46 The Genesis of the New Brunswick Waffle, 1965-1970

Chapter Three: 77 A Year in the Life of the New Brunswick Waffle, September 1970 - September 1971

Chapter Four: 103 The Waffle Kafuffle, September 1971 - December 1971

Conclusion 135

Bibliography 158

Appendix A: "For a Socialist New Brunswick" Manifesto 165

Appendix B: Use of Key Terms in Manifestoes 169

Appendix C: The Moncton Transcript offers a view of the split within the New Brunswick NDP, 20 October 1971 170

Curriculum Vitae LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CLC Canadian Labour Congress

CSDS Canadian Struggle for a Democratic Society

CEC Central Executive Council

CCF Co-operative Commonwealth Federation

FYS Fredericton Young Socialists

LSA League for Socialist Action

LAC Library and Archives Canada

NBFL New Brunswick Federation of Labour

NBS New Brunswick Socialists

NDP New Democratic Party

PANB Provincial Archives of New Brunswick

UNB University of New Brunswick

YS Young Socialists

Vll INTRODUCTION

In April 1969, 11 members of the New Democratic Party (NDP) initiated a series

of meetings in where they discussed what they saw as the most pressing political

issues facing Canada and how the social democratic NDP should respond to them. All

from Ontario, the members of this group believed that the NDP had failed to

acknowledge the new realities facing Canada in the late 1960s. These included the rise of

Quebecois nationalism and the New Left. The most prominent concern in the minds of

this group, however, was the ever-increasing foreign ownership of and involvement in the

Canadian economy.' In Canada, during the late 1960s, foreign ownership essentially

meant American ownership.2 It was asserted that the loss of Canada's economic

sovereignty would translate into the loss of its political independence. The answer was

the introduction of socialist economic policies that would combine controls on foreign

ownership and investment with nationalization as a means of protecting Canadian

sovereignty,3 a fusion of nationalism and socialism. The connection between nationalism

and socialism advocated by many Canadian leftists by the late 1960s was a radical

1 Robert Hackett, "Pie in the Sky: A History of the Ontario Waffle", Canadian Dimension 15 (1&2), (October-November 1980), pp. 3-7. 2 Myrna Kostash, Long Way From Home: The story of the Sixties generation in Canada, Toronto: James Lorimer & Company, 1980, p. 197. As Kostash writes, "Between 1945 and 1967 the percentage of foreign long-term investment in Canada that was direct investment increased from 40 percent to 60 percent; 85 percent of this direct investment was American. Through this investment, two-fifths of the Canadian economy, outside the sector of finance, was owned by non-. By 1963 non-Canadians controlled 60 percent of Canadian manufacturing, 74 percent of the petroleum and natural gas industry, and 59 percent of mining and smelting." 3 Hackett, "Pie in the Sky", p. 7.

1 conclusion drawn very much, ironically, from ideas advanced by the conservative

philosopher George Grant in his 1965 book Lament for a Nation?

This group that emerged out of these meetings would come to be known as "the

Waffle." The group's name derived from a comment made by one of the NDP members

who attended the meetings, who commented that if the NDP was "going to waffle, I'd

rather waffle to the left than waffle to the right."5 The initial membership of the Waffle

included Mel Watkins, an economist based at the who had chaired

a recent federal government task force on foreign ownership, and a history graduate

student at Queen's University named , both of whom would become the

dominant personalities in the Waffle. The group also originally included NDP Member

of Parliament and future federal NDP leader , though he left soon after the

group's formation, bothered by the group's anti-American focus. By their third meeting,

the group produced the first draft of the Waffle Manifesto. The manifesto cited the

American empire in general and American control of the Canadian economy in particular

as the major threats to Canada's survival. It argued that independence and socialism

were intertwined, and that socialists should look beyond the welfare state and the

regulation of capital and instead champion extensive public ownership. Apart from

adopting the Waffle's economic prescriptions, it was hoped that the NDP would become

more receptive to the political ferment of the 1960s, namely the rise of social movements

4 George Grant, Lament for a Nation: The Defeat of , 40th Anniversary Edition, Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2005, p. 16. Concerned about the potential (and even inevitable) absorption of Canada by the since the Second World War, Grant suggested that Ottawa use its ability to manage and plan the Canadian economy to prevent American economic domination, therefore halting the first step towards the end of Canada. As Grant stated, "After 1940, nationalism had to go hand in hand with some measure of socialism." Waffle co-founder James Laxer claimed that Lament for a Nation was "the most important book I ever read in my life." (Andrew Potter, Introduction to the 40th Anniversary edition of Lament for a Nation, Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2005, p. xxviii). 5 Hackett, "Pie in the Sky", p. 7.

2 associated with the New Left. In doing so the NDP would become "the parliamentary wing of a movement dedicated to fundamental social change."6

The Waffle Manifesto failed to win over the NDP at the party's convention in late 1969 but it did force the adoption of a compromise document, "The

Marshmallow Resolution," which sought to incorporate elements of the Waffle platform.

The Waffle continued to agitate for its views within the NDP, reaching its peak in 1971, when Laxer came second in the party's leadership contest. A series of conflicts between the Waffle and the rest of the party, particularly labour union officials, forced the expulsion of the Waffle from the Ontario NDP in June 1972. This act also effectively ended the Waffle's involvement in the federal NDP. Laxer and other Wafflers would form the Movement for an Independent Socialist Canada (MISC) as the heir to the

Waffle, yet the group would fold after the 1974 federal election after the dismal showing registered by three candidates running under the MISC banner.7

While most of the prominent Wafflers were Ontarian and the bulk of Waffle strength was in Ontario, the Waffle movement was not confined to the province. There were Waffle sections throughout Canada, often born out of and reflecting the particular circumstances and characteristics of the places that spawned them. The most prominent non-Ontario Waffle organization was in , though Waffle groups stretched from Nova Scotia to British Columbia. New Brunswick also saw an indigenous Waffle

6 Hackett, "Pie in the Sky", pp. 5-7. For the full text of the Waffle Manifesto, along with all CCF-NDP manifestoes drafted between 1932 and 1969, see Michael Cross, The Decline and Fall of a Good Idea: CCF-NDP Manifestoes 1932-1969, Toronto: New Hogtown Press, 1974. 7 Robert Hackett, "The Waffle Conflict in the NDP", Party Politics in Canada, fourth edition, Scarborough, Ont.: Prentice-Hall of Canada, Ltd., 1979, pp. 188-205. This article is perhaps the best brief account of the Waffle movement within the NDP. 8 See Peter Borch's M.A thesis "The Rise and Decline of the Saskatchewan Waffle, 1966-1973", University of Regina, 2005, for the most detailed account of the Saskatchewan Waffle.

3 movement emerge. During its two-year lifespan (1970-71), the NB Waffle would initiate

the most dramatic episode in the history of the New Brunswick NDP. For a brief period

in the fall of 1971, the NB Waffle became the only Waffle group in Canada to win over a

provincial section of the NDP (though the constitutionality of the NB Waffle victory was

challenged by its opponents).

The NB Waffle had little direct connection with the Waffle in Ontario or

elsewhere, and it is only due to the coincidence of time that the group came to refer to

itself as "Waffle." Had it existed at any other time in history, the NB Waffle would most

certainly have been known by another name and regarded as one of the many left-wing

ginger groups that litter the history of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF)

and NDP. The NB Waffle, however, was very much a product of its time and place.

This thesis will examine the NB Waffle: its origins, its influences, its evolution and its

impact. It also will examine the historical context that it emerged and operated in, and

how the story of the NB Waffle contributes to our understanding of numerous aspects of

the era and place in which it existed.

This thesis augments a significant historiography on the Waffle movement. Early

accounts of the Waffle, written while the organization still existed in some form, tended

to have a polemical as well as analytical tone to them. Gary Teeple, writing in 1972,

presented a Marxist critique of the Waffle. He condemned the Waffle for not advocating

a form of socialism beyond one based upon the and argued that the

group failed to understand the "liberal" nature of the NDP. Teeple suggested that the

9 The Regina Manifesto was the founding document of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), adopted in 1933. It proposed a form of which was radical by the standard of the Canadian political mainstream but disappointing for Marxists. Alan Whitehorn, Canadian Socialism: Essays on the CCF-NDP, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1992, pp. 38-45.

4 Waffle had only a lukewarm commitment to workers' control, lacked a detailed plan to

achieve socialism, and put too much emphasis on parliamentary politics.10 He

summarized and dismissed the Waffle as the "non-Marxist, left-wing of a social

democratic party."11 Despite these criticisms, however, he did credit the Waffle with

"helping to develop a consciousness of the colonial nature of Canadian society."12

Desmond Morton, writing in 1974, just as the remnants of the Waffle were

coming undone, presented a largely dismissive critique of the Waffle. He assailed the

group as being too radical and self-righteous and suggested that the Waffle was the

ideological victim of its origins in the New Left and student radicalism. He attacked the

Waffle for squandering the respect and influence it established within the NDP. He

blamed this on the group's New Left commitment to "non-negotiable" demands.13

Morton also described the Waffle as an intellectual branch plant of the American New

Left, suggesting that "in a paradox Wafflers could hardly appreciate, because of a cultural

and intellectual continentalism few of them could even perceive, the Waffle was pressing

the NDP to follow the route of the American Left."14

Morton, however, underestimated the nationalist motivations of the Waffle and

failed to perceive that the Waffle was actually the product of a concerted effort to

Canadianize the New Left. In its promotion of parliamentary politics and the potentially positive role of the state, the Waffle was rejecting the libertarian tendencies of the

American New Left. As James Laxer stated, it was folly for Canadian radicals to adopt

10 Gary Teeple, '"Liberals in a Hurry': Socialism and the CCF-NDP" in Capitalism and the National Question in Canada, ed. Gary Teeple. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1972, p. 245. 11 Teeple, p. 245. 12 Teeple, p. 247. 13 Desmond Morton, NDP: The Dream of Power. Toronto: A.M. Hackett Ltd, 1974, p. 95. 14 Morton, p. 96.

5 the distrust of institutions preached by the American New Left because this would entail

a distrust of the state, the one mechanism that he believed could best secure Canadian

independence, and that if Canadian New Leftists adopted American anti-institution

ideals, it would merely result "in a further softening-up of [Canada] for American

takeover."15

By the late 1970s, with the Waffle no longer in existence, in-depth studies of the

group began to emerge, most notably those by John Bullen and Robert Hackett. The

Ontario Waffle was the subject of Bullen's MA thesis, completed in 1979 and published

as a condensed article in 1983. Bullen acknowledged that most accounts of the Waffle as

of the late 1970s were written about the group's politics and derived from a specific

ideological perspective. His intention was to "trace the growth and development of the

group within the NDP and assess its relationship to other party members and the

Canadian public."16 Focusing on the Ontario Waffle, Bullen presented a chronological

account of the Waffle's creation, growth, and activities within the NDP.

He examined in detail the Waffle's disputes with the party brass and labour

establishment. Indeed, conflict would appear to be the dominant theme in Bullen's

treatment of the Waffle. He concluded by placing blame for the Waffle's failure to win

over the NDP on both Waffle supporters and opponents. However, Bullen also argued

that despite its immediate failures, the Waffle exerted an influence on the NDP and on the

discourse around nationalism and socialism in Canada.17 He credited the Waffle with

creating a new nationalist sentiment in Canada with its linkage of socialism and Canadian

15 James Laxer, "The Americanization of the Canadian Student Movement" in Close the 49th Parallel Etc.: The Americanization of Canada, ed. Ian Lumsden. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1970, p. 278. 16 John Bullen, "The Ontario Waffle and the Struggle for an Independent Socialist Canada: Conflict within the NDP", Canadian Historical Review 64 (2), June 1983, p. 189. 17 Bullen, p. 190.

6 independence. He also suggested that its political influence had been underestimated.

The creation of the Committee for an Independent Canada in 1970, the Canada

Development Corporation in 1971, the Foreign Investment Review Agency in 1973, and the National Energy Program in 1980 were all held up as products of the concerns and analysis popularized by the Waffle.18

Robert Hackett's extensive analysis of the Waffle, entitled "Pie in the Sky" and released as an issue of Canadian Dimension in late 1980, is the most detailed account of the movement. Hackett had written on the Waffle before, including an article in the 1979 edition of Party Politics in Canada.19 In "Pie in the Sky," Hackett argued that the Waffle was the product of a New Left cadre, largely within the NDP, who felt that the party was failing to address certain issues of increasing importance in the late 1960s. These included foreign ownership of the Canadian economy, Quebec nationalism, and the women's movement. The NDP, according to the Waffle, was becoming increasingly irrelevant to the new political climate of the era and needed a radical alteration.20

Hackett's examination of the Ontario Waffle also emphasized conflict between the Waffle and the NDP establishment. The essay established the following battle lines:

Waffle Manifesto vs. Marshmallow Resolution, James Laxer vs. David Lewis, Stephen

Lewis vs. the Ontario Waffle, labour brass vs. Waffle. The theme of conflict is also advanced by his inclusion of extensive statistical tables that revealed gaps between

Waffle and non-Waffle NDP members on various policy issues. The most notable policy disagreements between Wafflers and non-Wafflers, according to Hackett, revolved

18Bullen,p. 215. 19 See Robert Hackett, "The Waffle Conflict in the NDP", in Party Politics in Canada, 4th edition, Hugh G. Thorburn, ed. Scarborough, Ont.: Prentice-Hall of Canada, Ltd., 1979, pp. 188-205. 20 Hackett, "Pie in the Sky", pp. 5-6.

7 around Quebec's right to self-determination, the power of unions within the NDP, and the

nationalization of key foreign-owned resources.21 The demographics of the Waffle

movement were also of keen interest to Hackett. He concluded that when compared to

non-Waffle NDP members, Wafflers were generally younger, better educated, and from

either the lowest or highest income bracket (reflecting the student and academic origins

of many Wafflers).22 This aspect of his study reflects one of Hackett's primary goals: to

understand where the Waffle came from and who constituted its membership.

Hackett concluded that the Waffle was, on balance, a positive development for the

NDP, and that even controversial Waffle policies such as recognition of Quebec's right to

self-determination would have benefited the party in the long run.23 He also regarded the

Waffle's expulsion and its demise as negative developments, suggesting that the end of

the Waffle "contributed to the narrowing of the ideological spectrum in English Canadian

politics."24

Bullen's and Hackett's surveys of the Waffle reinforced the party/movement

dichotomy that had become a popular tool for understanding the history of the CCF and

NDP by the late 1970s. The party/movement dichotomy, also known as the "protest

movement becalmed" tradition, was popularized during the 1960s and early 1970s by many historians of the CCF and NDP, beginning with Leo Zakuta's A Protest Movement

Becalmed in 1964 and utilized as the primary theme in Walter Young's Anatomy of a

Party in 1969. This dichotomy is based upon the simple dictum that "socialists belong to

21 Hackett, "Pie in the Sky", p. 15. 22 Hackett, "Pie in the Sky", p. 19. 23 Hackett, "Pie in the Sky", p. 63. 24 Hackett, "Pie in the Sky", p. 64.

8 movements, capitalists support parties," and that movements are focused on fundamental social change whereas parties are focused on winning elections in order to control the government. The party/movement dichotomy suggests that a movement is gradually displaced by a party, a process marked by tensions and conflicts like those that were supposedly generated by the Waffle.26 While it was seductive as a framework for understanding the Waffle in particular and the CCF and NDP in general, Alan Whitehora has pointed out the problematic elements of the party/movement dichotomy. First, it ignores ideological parties that combine principles with ambitions of power, such as revolutionary communist parties. He also argued that socialist parties tend to be combinations of party and movement elements rather than consist of two incompatible blocs.27 The New Brunswick Waffle itself offers an example of the inadequacy of the party/movement dichotomy as it saw itself as both. The NB Waffle wanted to function as part of the larger social movement of the New Left but it also saw itself as a participant in the major existing party on the Canadian left. While cognizant of the need for electoral success, the NB Waffle was not prepared to moderate its policies in order to achieve electoral success. Moreover, had the NB Waffle maintained leadership over the rest of the NDP, it still would have been a movement, though a movement that was in charge of a party apparatus. The party hierarchy would not have been opposed to the concept of the party as a movement, and thus the primary tension implicit in the party/movement dichotomy would have been absent. Had an NB Waffle-led NDP eventually moderated

25 Whitehorn, Canadian Socialism, p. 18. Walter Young was the historian who coined this phrase in Anatomy of a Party (1969). Whitehorn identified five works on the CCF and NDP that are representative of employing the party/movement dichotomy: Leo Zakuta's A Protest Movement Becalmed (1964), Walter Young's Anatomy of a Party (1969), John Smart's 'Populist and Socialist Movements in Canadian History' (1973), Michael Cross's introduction in The Decline and Fall of a Good Idea (1974), and Robert Hackett's 'The Waffle Conflict in the NDP' (1979). 26 Whitehorn, Canadian Socialism, pp. 18-9. 27 Whitehorn, Canadian Socialism, p. 19.

9 itself, it would have been a shift among movement-oriented NDP members themselves as

opposed to a victory of party-oriented members over movement-oriented members.

Former Waffle supporter and, at the time of writing New Democrat Member of

Parliament, Dan Heap, responded to Hackett's study of the Waffle with a view of the

group that challenged the party/movement dichotomy. Heap admitted that the Waffle

was not entirely pure and that it made mistakes. In particular, he claimed that the Waffle

was guilty of elitism, that it never fully articulated what its relationship to the NDP was

supposed to be, and that it provoked an unintentional battle with labour.28 He also

suggested that the Waffle relied too heavily upon its student base rather than attempting

to broaden its appeal and that the tantalizing prospect of taking over the NDP became a

greater preoccupation rather than building a working-class base of support for the Waffle.

Heap's analysis of the Waffle is interesting in that it proposed that the conflict between

the Waffle and the NDP establishment (including labour officials) was accidental and not

an intended outcome. His comments suggested that the Waffle sought to transform the

NDP into a fusion of a movement and a party, rather than strip the NDP of its party

qualities. He concluded by stating that the left within the party could have more

influence "so long as we do not make seizure of leading office or pre-empting of media

coverage our central preoccupation."29

The party/movement dichotomy and a focus on conflict was, however, the

primary organizing principle of a brief study of the Waffle by M. Janine Brodie, written

in the early 1980s and appearing in the 1985 edition of Party Politics in Canada. Brodie presented the various explanations for the Waffle that existed at the time of writing. One

28 Dan Heap, "The Waffle - the Recipe?...", Canadian Dimension 15 (8) 16 (1), December 1981, p. 43. 29 Heap, p. 44.

10 was a historical position that the Waffle was a "peculiar Canadian variant of the protest decade,"JU this of course being the 1960s. Another was a political science interpretation of the Waffle as a classic example of the internal dynamic of parties on the left, this being the struggle between the forces of radicalism and moderation,31 a key component of the party/movement dichotomy. Brodie also emphasized differences in policy preferences between Wafflers and non-Wafflers, especially between union leaders and Waffle supporters. Brodie's use of the party/movement dichotomy is apparent in her critique of the post-Waffle NDP. The Waffle was attacked by its critics in part on the grounds that their policies were an electoral liability and that moderation was a more fruitful political course to follow. Brodie, however, suggested that the NDP's commitment to moderation "has not reaped significant electoral victories"33 nor established a solid base of support among unionized workers. The one compliment that Brodie allowed for the

NDP was that it championed Canadian control of the resource sector during the 1970s, a policy derived from the Waffle.34

As the 1980s ended and the 1990s began and the Waffle became more of a memory, studies of the group emerged that reflected upon how much influence the group had after its demise. While it may not have won over the NDP in total, the long-term impact of the Waffle on the political life of Canada had become apparent to many observers. The theme of conflict was abandoned in new accounts of the Waffle in favour of acknowledgement of the subtle long-term influence of the group. This trend was

30 M. Janine Brodie, "From Waffles to Grits: A Decade in the Life of the New Democratic Party" in Party Politics in Canada, 5th edition, ed. Hugh G. Thorburn. Scarborough, Ont: Prentice-Hall Canada, 1985, p. 205. 31 Brodie, p. 205. 32 Brodie, pp. 210-1. 33 Brodie, p. 216. 34 Brodie, p. 216.

11 evident in comments on the Waffle that appeared in the autumn 1990 edition of Studies in

Political Economy. The essays, written by Gregory Albo, Varda Burstyn, and Gilbert

Levine, attempted to assess the Waffle not on its immediate goal of winning over the

NDP but on the impact of the group upon the NDP and Canadian politics.

Gregory Albo, writing soon after the Free Trade-dominated 1988 federal election, suggested that the Waffle articulated and popularized a political economic analysis of

Canada that became increasingly relevant during the debates around Free Trade. The late

1980s saw the Waffle's concerns over Canadian economic sovereignty and continentalism suddenly become the most prominent political issues in the country.

According to Albo, the Waffle played a significant role in framing the debate around these issues years before the Free Trade issue emerged.35 Albo also claimed that the

Waffle offered a coherent alternative to the continentalism advocated by Free Trade proponents, and that the universal promotion of this alternative by anti-Free Trade forces would have aided their efforts.36

Varda Burstyn credited the Waffle with making room for feminism within the

NDP. While she did not suggest that the Waffle was directly responsible for the emergence of socialist feminism in Canada, she argued that it did promote feminism within its platform and gave it a hearing within the NDP. She claimed that the Waffle's position within the NDP, and by extension the NDP's position within the labour movement, allowed the group to "contribute in important ways to the growth of the

Gregory Albo, "Canada, Left-Nationalism, and Younger Voices", Studies in Political Economy 33, Autumn 1990, pp. 161-2. 36 Albo, pp. 170-1.

12 English Canadian women's movement." The Waffle thus acted as a springboard for the launch of feminism into formal politics in Canada in general and the NDP in particular, and Burstyn asserted that "the politics that grew out of this phenomenon ... allowed the

NDP to present itself as the party of women in the 1970s and 1980s."38

Gilbert Levine de-emphasized conflict between the Waffle and the labour movement in his assessment of the impact of the Waffle upon the Canadian labour movement. While Levine acknowledged that many disagreements did exist between the

Waffle and labour movement, he argued that relations between the two groups were not exclusively of a belligerent nature. Levine suggested that the Waffle had an immediate impact on the Canadian labour movement. One of the primary objections among labour officials to the Waffle was the group's call for the Canadianization of the Canadian labour movement. It was a significant demand, as "in 1969 over two-thirds of the members in Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) unions belonged to so-called International

Unions, i.e. American unions."39 Waffiers believed that this reality placed Canadian labour in a colonial relationship and their calls for labour independence initially provoked scorn from labour leaders whose careers were based in American unions. However, the

Waffle's recommendations soon found a receptive audience within the labour movement.

As Levine stated, "it was the issue of Canadianizing the labour movement - a key element of the Waffle Manifesto and the Reform Caucus - that had the greatest impact on

[the] 1970 [Canadian Labour Congress] Convention."40 It was at this convention that

Varda Burstyn, "The Waffle and the Women's Movement", Studies in Political Economy 33, Autumn 1990, p. 181. 38 Burstyn, p. 180. 39 Gilbert Levine, "The Waffle and the Labour Movement", Studies in Political Economy 33, Autumn 1990, p. 188. 40 Levine, p. 188.

13 calls for an independent Canadian labour and union movement began, reflecting the

concerns and influence of the Waffle. Levine also credited the Waffle with challenging

sexism within the labour movement, stating that "the Waffle was one of the first groups

to make the subordinate status of women a real issue for the labour movement. It called

for the transformation of union structures so that women would be treated as equals in a

common struggle."41 Therefore, the Waffle helped modernize the Canadian labour

movement by placing both Canadianization and feminism on the agenda.

A reassessment of the relationship between the Waffle and the Canadian labour

movement was also the focus of James Laxer's reflections upon the Waffle during the

1990s. In his 1996 book In Search of a New Left, written during the heyday of neo-

conservatism and a period when the federal NDP was severely weakened, Laxer looked back at the Waffle from the standpoint of someone who was a major figure within it.

While he acknowledged that the Waffle's early relationship with labour was a largely

acrimonious one, he also claimed that the Waffle eventually had a significant impact on the Canadian labour movement. He suggested that the Waffle's critiques of American international unions were instrumental in promoting independent unions in Canada,42 the most notable example being the creation of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) in the mid-1980s, born out of a break from the American United Auto Workers union.43 Laxer also identified policy differences as the main source of disagreement between the Waffle

41 Levine, p. 191. 42 James Laxer, In Search of a New Left: Canadian Politics After the Neoconservative Assault. Toronto: Viking, 1996, p. 162. 43 Sam Gindin, in his historical analysis of the CAW, also acknowledged the role of the Waffle in popularizing critiques of American unions operated within in Canada and in laying the intellectual foundation for the creation of the CAW. As Gindin stated, "The Waffle ... could be defeated, but it could not be ignored. That the stirrings represented by these and other related events would not go away was acknowledged at the CLC's Convention in 1974 with the introduction of new guidelines to increase Canadian autonomy within the 'internationals.'" (Sam Gindin, "Breaking Away: The Foundation of the Canadian Auto Workers", Studies in Political Economy 29, Summer 1989, p. 69.)

14 and the rest of the NDP. He believed that the gap between the Waffle and NDP

establishment was nurtured by the Waffle's greater emphasis on public ownership in the

economy and its recognition of Quebec's right to self-determination.44

Laxer's reflection upon the Waffle also confronted Desmond Morton's earlier

comments on the supposed American influence on the Waffle. Laxer instead suggested

that the Waffle was a reaction against American influence in the Canadian New Left.

Moreover, Laxer noted that the Waffle was part of a larger transition in political thought

in Canada. He stated that "In retrospect, it is evident that the Waffle was only a part of a

much wider movement in English Canada to assert Canadian independence from the

United States, not only in economic matters, but also in terms of politics, the military,

culture and intellectual life."45

Doug Owram, who briefly mentioned the Waffle in his 1996 history of Canada's

baby boom generation, Born at the Right Time, also placed the organization within larger

trends in Canadian society at the time. He suggested that the Waffle was the most

prominent political expression of youth rebellion in Canada during the late 1960s and

early 1970s.46 Owram's analysis of the Waffle was one based largely on demographics,

as he implied that the group was the logical outcome of a large number of post-war babies coming of age in the conditions of late 1960s English Canada. While Owram's

interpretation may explain in part the attraction of certain youth to the Waffle cause, he neglected the fact that none of the founders and leadership of the Waffle were baby-

Laxer, In Search of a New Left, p. 151. 45 Laxer, In Search of a New Left, p. 155. 46 Doug Owram, Born at the Right Time: A History of the Baby-Boom Generation, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996, p. 301.

15 boomers, with Mel Watkins himself approaching 40 at the time of the Manifesto's release.

By the end of the 1990s, a sizeable body of work had been assembled on the

Waffle. However, almost all of the work on the Waffle focused exclusively on the

Ontario Waffle. Only passing references to the Waffle movement in other provinces had been made, the most elaborate being a paragraph on the Saskatchewan Waffle in Robert

Hackett's 1979 article in Party Politics in Canada?1 While Ontario was the strongest and most significant base of Waffle activity, it was not the only part of Canada where the

Waffle was operational.

It was the need to address the Waffle movement in other provinces that was one of the driving forces behind Peter Borch's MA thesis on the Saskatchewan Waffle, completed in 2005. While Borch claimed that there were strong connections between the

Waffle in Saskatchewan and Ontario, he argued that there were specific circumstances that gave rise to the Saskatchewan Waffle and that it had its own unique policies, concerns, and evolution. For instance, the character of the group was in part influenced by the fact that the CCF-NDP had actually governed Saskatchewan between 1944 and

1964, an experience of power unknown to the Ontario NDP. Moreover, the intellectual inspiration for the Saskatchewan Waffle emerged before the Ontario Waffle was formed.

The provincial Waffle movement began as the Committee for a Socialist Movement

(CSM), a group founded in 1966 by two American Marxist intellectuals which eventually became dominated by students. The aim of this organization was to win the

Saskatchewan NDP over to a more Marxist and radical brand of socialism. The CSM

Hackett, "The Waffle Conflict in the NDP", p. 199.

16 even ran candidates in municipal elections. When the Waffle Manifesto

emerged, the CSM was quick to embrace it and establish a Waffle organization in

Saskatchewan.49

Borch's study of the Saskatchewan Waffle revealed key differences between it

and the Ontario Waffle. For instance, the Saskatchewan Waffle was particularly

concerned with agricultural policies, in contrast to the industrial policy preoccupations of

the Ontario Waffle. Moreover, the Waffle in Saskatchewan also had a more immediate

impact on policy in the provincial NDP, most notably in the establishment of a Land

Bank and Saskatchewan Oil by the NDP government of , which won power in 1971.50 The Waffle in Saskatchewan was not expelled from the NDP as it was in Ontario, but rather left of its own accord when it became disenchanted with the direction of the Blakeney government. Borch's assessment of the Saskatchewan Waffle was that it was a product of the CSM, the general political ferment of the era, and the

CCF tradition in the province. His work illustrated the importance of understanding the specific regional stories of the Waffle.

The present thesis contributes to the emerging historiography of regional Waffle movements by exploring the specific story of the New Brunswick Waffle. The story of the NB Waffle is presented in four chapters. Chapter One recounts the history of the left in New Brunswick from the early twentieth century to the late 1960s, and in particular the role of the CCF and NDP in that history. The political culture that the CCF and NDP in

New Brunswick operated in will also be examined, especially the practices and strategies

48 Peter Borch, "The Rise and Decline of the Saskatchewan Waffle, 1966-1973", M.A. Thesis: University of Regina, 2005, p. 1. 49 Borch, p. 2. 50 Borch, p. 125.

17 of the labour movement and the progressive initiatives and appeals of the Louis

Robichaud government in the 1960s. Chapter Two examines the origins of the NB

Waffle itself. The political ferment of the late 1960s and early 1970s that the NB Waffle emerged in is outlined, and the organization is also placed within the context of larger movements during the era, namely the New Left and the resurgence of Marxism. The processes that led to the creation of the NB Waffle and its ideological composition are also addressed. Chapter Three follows the evolution of the NB Waffle during its first year of existence (September 1970 - September 1971) and recounts the interplay between the organization and the NB NDP as a whole. The chapter concludes with an examination and contextualization of the NB Waffle's political platform, "For a Socialist

New Brunswick." Chapter Four focuses on the last four months of 1971, during which time the NB Waffle secured temporary control over the NB NDP and precipitated a split within the party that drew in the federal NDP as well. The fracturing of the NB Waffle into two opposing camps during this period is examined, and the chapter concludes with the final demise of the NB Waffle as an organization. The Conclusion outlines the impact of the NB Waffle and the events it precipitated. The insights that the NB Waffle story offers on the age it existed in and the unique aspects of the organization are also assessed, as is the contemporary relevance of the NB Waffle.

The story of the NB Waffle is the story of a political organization that is referred to as being on the political left. It is therefore useful to briefly elaborate on the terms employed in the thesis. While the author is uncomfortable with the terms "left" and

"right" as universal political definitions, they are the most accessible form of distinction in political discourse and thus are used, though with caution and as much attention to

18 nuance as possible. In broadly defining what the left is, the best definition available is that provided by Ian McKay in his book Rebels, Reds, Radicals. In it McKay defines the left (at least in liberal capitalist societies) as follows: "To be a leftist - a.k.a. socialist, anarchist, radical, global justice advocate, communist, socialist-feminist, Marxist, Green, revolutionary - means believing, at a gut level, 'It doesn't have to be this way.'"51 When

McKay suggests that the left insists there is another way, a means of "living otherwise," he is referring to an alternative to, at the very least, the excesses of capitalism and possibly the blight of oppression.52 There are of course distinctions within the left, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to define the left using even these broad and simplistic terms.53 However, we can define the left as that political community which seeks differing degrees of alternatives to free market capitalism.

Within these broad definitions are the following distinctions: communists who seek the elimination of capitalism and its replacement by a command economy that is a state-owned and/or worker-controlled economy that is planned; anarchists who want the replacement of the state and capitalism by a series of voluntary and regional collectivist

51 Ian McKay, Rebels, Reds, Radicals: Rethinking Canada's Left History, Toronto: Between the Lines, 2005, pp. 3-4. 52 McKay, Rebels, Reds, Radicals, pp. 4-7. 53 The author does not share Ian McKay's implication that the battle against oppression and repression is the monopoly of the left or that those who fight such battles can automatically be regarded as leftists. The author is indeed cautious about using the term left to refer to the non-economic sphere as many so-called leftists have shown little commitment to universal ideals of equality, democracy, secularism or freedom of speech. The rise of an anti-liberal left in the West in the post-Soviet and especially post-9/11 era has thrown into doubt the legitimacy of the concept of a left united by common and basic principles, as many self-defined leftists have abandoned universal principles in the interest of anti-Americanism and cultural relativism and defend illiberal forces such as Islamists. Many left-of-centre and liberal political commentators, particularly in Britain, have written on this phenomenon in recent years. Rather than refer to a catchall definition of "the left," it is better to distinguish between the two factions on the left in the Anglo-American world in the post-Soviet era. One is the anti-liberal left that seeks alliances with anyone who is an opponent of the West and/or Israel and/or capitalism and/or liberalism. The other is a principled democratic left that adheres to the universal principles of political liberalism and directs scorn upon all regimes and individuals who violate such principles, be they Western or non-Western, capitalist or anti- capitalist. A further elaboration on this split within the Western left is articulated in the Euston Manifesto. See Nick Cohen, What's Left?: How Liberals Lost Their Way, London: Fourth Estate, 2007, pp. 362-3 or http ://eustonmanifesto. org/

19 federations; socialists who desire major state involvement in and ownership of the economy (though not total); and social democrats who seek to mitigate the extremes of the market through limited public ownership, social programs and public services.

Progressives, for the purposes of this thesis, are defined as those who promote an array of economic and social policies that advance left-wing economic and/or liberal social aims.

Other political terms used throughout the thesis, such as Trotskyist, New Left, and left- libertarian, are defined in detail as they appear in the body of the work.

The NB Waffle was very much a creature of its particular moment and particular location. It was one of numerous political expressions that reflected the global ferment of the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was also a fusion of the Old Left and New Left, of local and international concerns and analysis, of extra-parliamentary activism and formal politics. It was in the attempts at reconciling these tensions that the story of the NB

Waffle is most colourful. Moreover, the NB Waffle serves as a window through which to view and assess the history of the New Brunswick left in particular and New Brunswick political culture in general.

20 CHAPTER ONE

The Left and the CCF-NDP Tradition in New Brunswick, 1900 -1969

To properly understand the New Brunswick Waffle, one must understand the

historical and political context in which it arose. While the NB Waffle was part of a

larger socialist tradition in Canada and of a larger ferment that was occurring on a

national and global scale in the 1960s and early 1970s, there were specific circumstances

in New Brunswick that determined the nature and course of the movement in the

province. It is important to place the NB Waffle within the history of the left in the

province and within the political culture that existed in New Brunswick during the 1960s

and early 1970s.

The history of the left in New Brunswick still offers much uncharted historical

territory, particularly the left after 1920. Prior to the 1970s, and even after it, many

political observers largely ignored the left as a political force in New Brunswick,

dismissing the left as non-existent and promoting an image of rigid conservatism in the

province's political culture. As Richard Wilbur commented in 1991, "Central Canadian pundits viewing New Brunswick from afar invariably conclude that here is Canada's

most parochial, conservative province, with an aversion for political innovations."1 This tendency to dismiss New Brunswick's political culture as hopelessly conservative has been prominent among academics as well. The most extensive pre-1970 study of New

' Richard Wilbur, "New Brunswick", Our Canada, ed. Leo Heaps, Toronto: James Lorimer & Company, 1991,p. 150.

21 Brunswick politics, Hugh G. Thorburn's 1961 Politics in New Brunswick, declared that

"New Brunswickers ... are conservative and give a cool reception to any doctrine that

seeks to upset the established pattern in the province."2 This comment was Thorburn's

explanation for the failure of the CCF to make inroads in New Brunswick, and P.J.

Fitzpatrick repeated this theme in regards to the NDP in the 1970s. Fitzpatrick suggested

that the weakness of the NDP in the province at the time was due to a sense of

satisfaction on the part of the electorate, and that "if there were a need in the province for

a progressive or ideological mode of politics, then presumably viable alternatives to the

two traditional parties would have arisen."3 The problem with Fitzpatrick's assertion is

that he assumed that progressive or ideological politics are only manifested in the

emergence of overtly progressive or ideological parties, and that if such parties do not

exist or are weak, then the appeal of such ideas is also limited.

A more nuanced and broad understanding of progressive politics not only

challenges the assertions that New Brunswick is conservative and wary of political

innovation, but actually reveals that, as Wilbur suggested, "New Brunswick has always had a reform tradition serving to goad the old-line groups into recognizing the need for

change."4 A re-interpretation of existing literature, combined with new research, offers the best method for re-conceptualizing the history of the left in New Brunswick, and for uncovering the myriad forms in which the province's leftists have organized themselves.

The history of the left in New Brunswick cannot be assessed or examined through the chronology or electoral performance of a single labour or socialist party, in part because

2 Hugh G. Thorbum, Politics in New Brunswick, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1961, p. 103. 3 P.J. Fitzpatrick, "New Brunswick: The Politics of Pragmatism", Canadian Provincial Politics: The Party Systems of the Ten Provinces, ed. Martin Robin, Scarborough, Ont.: Prentice-Hall of Canada, Ltd, 1978, pp. 120-1. 4 Wilbur, "New Brunswick", p. 150.

22 one did not always exist throughout the twentieth century. As Patrick J. Smith and

Marshall W. Conley suggested, an assessment of the impact of democratic socialism in

Atlantic Canada "measured solely in terms of legislative seats won or governments

formed ... may not be the most illuminating basis for examining in the

region."5 This consideration is the most appropriate means of understanding the nature of

leftist politics in New Brunswick in the 1945-1970 period, and thus for contextualizing

the state of the New Brunswick NDP in the decade prior to the emergence of the NB

Waffle.

During the twentieth century, those in New Brunswick who sought a change in

the economic and social status quo, be they socialists, labour unionists, or liberal

reformers, adopted and practised numerous strategies for the promotion of change. At

different times the left in New Brunswick had formed its own parties, backed the existing

mainstream parties, or worked through extra-parliamentary organizations (such as

unions) as a means of influencing government policy. The weakness of the CCF-NDP

tradition in New Brunswick does not suggest the non-existence of a leftist and

progressive political community in the province. This fact must be constantly kept in

mind when recalling the history of the left and labour movement in New Brunswick

during the twentieth century, and it is vital in explaining why the story of the NB Waffle

progressed as it did. Any study of the left and the CCF-NDP tradition in New Brunswick

must always place the story within the context of a leftist community that is not defined

solely by a single party. The CCF-NDP tradition in New Brunswick is the most

5 Patrick J. Smith and Marshall W. Conley, '"Empty Harbours, Empty Dreams': The Democratic Socialist Tradition in Atlantic Canada", in J. William Brennan, ed. "Building the Co-operative Commonwealth: Essays on the Democratic Socialist Tradition in Canada, Regina, Sask.: Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina, 1984, pp. 227-28.

23 important aspect of the province's political history in regards to understanding the NB

Waffle, but it is by no means sufficient.

This chapter will elaborate on the existing history of the left in New Brunswick as

it applies to the history and development of the CCF and NDP. Significant studies of

left-wing parties and movements in the province only date back to the 1970s,6 most

notably James K. Chapman's 1976 study of Henry Harvey Stuart and David Frank's and

Nolan Reilly's 1979 article on the Maritime socialist movement between 1899 and 1916.

Such studies have confirmed the existence of a left-wing and socialist tradition in the

province during the early twentieth century, but fail by virtue of their chronological scope

to address the left in New Brunswick after the 1930s. Moreover, most of the studies of

the left in New Brunswick tend to place it within the larger regional scope of the

Maritimes or Atlantic provinces rather than examining it in the context of New

Brunswick itself. This is also the case with those works on the history of the CCF and

NDP in the province. Ian McKay's "The Maritime CCF," written in 1984, provided a

detailed account of the party's existence in New Brunswick, yet it was contextualized

only vis-a-vis the CCF in Nova Scotia and to a lesser extent Prince Edward Island, rather than vis-a-vis the political situation of New Brunswick. The same method of inquiry was applied in Patrick J. Smith's and Marshall W. Conley's '"Empty Harbours, Empty

Dreams': The Democratic Socialist Tradition in Atlantic Canada," also written in 1984, where the provincial sections of the CCF and NDP in the region are compared to each other and collectively to the Ontario NDP. While some mention of the larger political

6 Among the most notable works on the left in New Brunswick from the 1970s are Gerald Allaby's M.A. thesis, "New Brunswick Prophets of Radicalism: 1890-1914" (1972), James K. Chapman's "Henry Harvey Stuart (1873-1952): New Brunswick Reformer", Acadiensis 5 (2), Spring 1976, pp. 79-104, and David Frank's and Nolan Reilly's "The Emergence of the Socialist Movement in the Maritimes, 1899-1916", Labour/Le Travailleur 4, 1979, pp. 85-113.

24 context that the CCF and NDP existed in each Atlantic province was made, it was often

through the use of broad generalizations such as "long standing ethnic and religious

divisions" in the case of New Brunswick7 and notions of "traditionalism" and "economic

underdevelopment" in the region as a whole.8 Richard Wilbur's short history of the New

Brunswick CCF and NDP, written for Leo Heaps's 1991 book Our Canada, offered a

more New Brunswick-specific and nuanced account of the party, though the short length

of the piece also limited its depth. What is therefore lacking in our understanding of the

history of the CCF and NDP in New Brunswick is an analysis that treats the CCF-NDP

tradition not as the left but merely part of the left. This tradition needs to be

contextualized within the larger political history of New Brunswick as opposed to the

context of sectarian histories, inter-provincial comparisons or regional generalizations.

Prior to the creation of the New Brunswick CCF in 1933 there was a small but

persistent left-wing political community in New Brunswick. Socialist politics started in

New Brunswick at the beginning of the twentieth century, with the formation of a Fabian

Society in Saint John in 19019 and the creation of the Fredericton Socialist League in

1902.10 The League adopted the Socialist Party of Canada (SPC) platform and established

an SPC local in Fredericton in 1905." By 1909, the peak year of SPC activity in New

Brunswick, Socialist Party organizations existed in Fredericton, McAdam, Albert,

1 0

Newcastle, Moncton, and Saint John. In 1911 the Moncton Independent Labor Party

was formed, and would eventually adopt a democratic socialist platform. The early

7 Smith and Conley, p. 235. 8 Smith and Conley, pp. 236-9. 9 Frank and Reilly, p. 87. 10 Frank and Reilly, p. 89. 11 Frank and Reilly, p. 91 12 Frank and Reilly, p. 94. 13 Chapman, p. 99.

25 socialist movement in New Brunswick had several prominent figures, chief among them

Henry Harvey Stuart. Stuart helped found the New Brunswick Teachers' Association

(NBTA) in 190314 and sat on the Newcastle town council from 1911 to 1919 with the exception of 1914 and 1917.15

Socialism's appeal waned in the years before the First World War,16 but re- emerged as a potent force along with agrarian protest between 1918 and 1920. New

Brunswick was part of the larger global rebellion against capitalism by workers and farmers that occurred between 1917 and 1920. Discontented farmers formed the United

Farmers of New Brunswick (UFNB), which in the 1920 provincial election joined forces with Independent Labour candidates. Nine UFNB candidates were elected and the party received 21 percent of the vote, while two Labour candidates were victorious in

Northumberland County.17 The success of these electoral forces, however, was short­ lived. The unity between farmers and labour began to fade by 1921 and the two groups grew apart and both withered away. The Labour Members of the Legislative Assembly

(MLA) returned to their former party allegiances. The UFNB maintained its integrity as a group but did not contest the 1925 provincial election.18 While many leftist political organizations died off between the mid-1920s and the founding of the New Brunswick

CCF, a few did survive. Among the most prominent leftist political formations during the inter-war period were the Moncton Independent Labor Party and the Saint John local oftheSPC.19

14 Chapman, p. 87. 15 Frank and Reilly, p. 97. 16 Frank and Reilly, p. 110. 17 Wilbur, "New Brunswick", pp. 151-2. 18 Chapman, pp. 101-3. 19 Chapman, p. 103.

26 The strength of leftist parties in New Brunswick, however, serves only as a gauge

of the degree of emphasis that the left placed upon forming their own parties at any given

time. To form an overt leftist, labour, or protest party was only one prong in a multi-

pronged strategy practised by most New Brunswick leftists. The sporadic existence of

labour, agrarian, and socialist parties in New Brunswick before the creation of the CCF

conceals the real strength of the left or the appeal of progressive ideas. The labour

movement for instance preferred industrial action to electoral politics, particularly after

9(1

the First World War. Prior to the formation of the CCF, unions were successful in

seeing a series of measures implemented by the mainstream parties.21

The Liberals and Conservatives were indeed often accommodating enough to

pressures for change to attract the support of many seeking political and social reform.

Many social reformers often worked through the mainstream parties, the most notable

being the Fabian W.F. Hatheway. As a Conservative MLA from 1908 to 1912 he was

instrumental in securing minor amendments to the Workmen's Compensation Act and the

creation of a Bureau of Labour. According to Gerald Allaby, Hatheway ensured that

"Fabianism had won a few rounds in New Brunswick."22 Even a stalwart socialist such

as Henry Harvey Stuart was not opposed to backing the Liberal Party in order to achieve

certain aims. While he always agitated for a separate labour party he also saw the value

in applauding the old parties when they rushed to meet the demands of labour. In the

absence of a socialist candidate to vote for, Stuart supported Liberals and even worked 20 Chapman, p. 102. At the 1922 New Brunswick Federation of Labour convention, Henry Harvey Stuart received little sympathy for his urging that labour display "energy and determination on the political as on the economic field." 21 Chapman, pp. 87, 96. 22 Gerald Allaby, "New Brunswick Prophets of Radicalism: 1890-1914", M.A. Thesis, University of New Brunswick, 1972, pp. 121-2. Fabianism was the political philosophy of the Fabian Society, a moderate socialist society that had its roots in Britain. The New Brunswick Fabians were consistent with British Fabianism. (Allaby, p. 95.)

27 for a Liberal candidate in Albert County in the 1903 provincial election. He also

personally endorsed the 1909 Nova Scotia Conservative Convention because the party

approved a resolution calling for the public ownership of public utilities. These few

examples reveal the myriad strategies practised in the province's leftist community. The

non-electoral strategy of most of the labour movement and the responsive nature of the

old parties to desires for change are reasons why overt leftist parties were not a

permanent fixture on New Brunswick's political landscape.

The economic hardships brought on by the of the early 1930s

rekindled the belief among many New Brunswick leftists that a socialist party was

needed, and as elsewhere in Canada the answer lay in the CCF, which was created in

1932. At the request of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour (NBFL), the first

provincial CCF in the Maritimes was formed in the province at a meeting in Moncton in

1933.24 The CCF in New Brunswick was a fusion of the disparate left-wing forces in the

province. These included anti-capitalists, many in the labour movement in the eastern part of the province, adherents of the social gospel, and the Saint John SPC local.25 The

early and enthusiastic organization of the NB CCF, however, soon faced numerous difficulties. While labour initiated the forming of the CCF in the province, it soon displayed little interest in the party. To compound this problem, many early supporters of the CCF drifted to the Communist Party during the late 1930s.26 Only one CCF candidate ran in the 1939 provincial election, in Saint John City, and received less than a

23 Allaby, pp. 62, 69. 24 Ian McKay, "The Maritime CCF: Reflections on a Tradition", Toward a New Maritimes: A Selection from Ten Years of New Maritimes, ed. Ian McKay and Scott Milsom. Charlottetown, PEI: Ragweed, 1992, pp.71. 25 Chapman, p. 103. 26 McKay, "The Maritime CCF", pp. 71-2.

28 tenth of the vote of any of his rivals. The CCF in New Brunswick and the Maritimes in

general, according to Ian McKay, was riddled with differing outlooks and traditions and

"entered the 1940s as a small and divided army of reformers and radicals."28

The CCF's fortunes in New Brunswick soon improved as support for the party

climbed as part of a larger national trend of growing support for the CCF during the

Second World War. By August 1944 there were 87 CCF clubs in New Brunswick, and

the party contested the 1944 provincial election with 41 candidates (out of 48 seats).30

The CCF won 11.7 percent of the vote,31 yet 1944 would prove to be the peak of CCF

strength in New Brunswick.

The popularity of the CCF in New Brunswick began a process of slow decline in

the late 1940s. The provincial party's organization gradually unraveled and the CCF

eventually disappeared from the provincial political scene. Electoral support for the CCF

declined in each subsequent election along with the number of CCF candidates running,

with only ten candidates running in the 1952 provincial election and no candidates in the

1956 provincial election.32 By the late 1950s there were only two active and three semi-

active CCF clubs in the province.33 The outlook for the provincial CCF by the late 1950s

was described as "discouraging" and its few members regarded as "sincere believers."34

There were several factors that limited the extent of the New Brunswick CCF's small breakthrough in 1944 and that led to its decline afterwards.

27 Thorbura, p. 102. 28 McKay, "The Maritime CCF", p. 74. 29 McKay, "The Maritime CCF", p. 75. 30 Robert E. Garland, Promises, Promises...: An Almanac of New Brunswick Elections, 1870-1980, Saint John, NB: Keystone Printing and Lithographing, Ltd., 1979, p. 37. 31 Thorburn, p. 102. The CCF registered some impressive local results in the 1944 NB election, including 32.3 percent in Madawaska, 25.2 percent in Moncton City, and 25.1 percent in Saint John City. 32 Garland, Promises, Promises...,pp. 37-40. 33 McKay, "The Maritime CCF", p. 81. 34 Thorburn, pp. 104-5.

29 The New Brunswick CCF suffered from a lack of detailed policy proposals and

few policies that were geared towards the specific circumstances facing the province.

The CCF therefore had little to offer in the face of much more detailed Liberal and

Conservative platforms.35 There is also some speculation that the New Brunswick CCF

may have discouraged more moderate supporters by being too accommodating to radical

leftists, including Communists. For example, at the CCF's national convention in 1944,

the federal party rejected a motion put forward by the New Brunswick CCF calling for

co-operation between the CCF and Communist Party at the federal level.36 Potential

support for the party was compromised by the departure of popular CCF candidates to

'in

other parties. Support for the CCF was also injured, at least during the mid-1940s, due

to a sustained right-wing propaganda offensive, which was carried out nationwide but

may have had more impact in the Maritimes, where the CCF was less firmly

established.38

The CCF in New Brunswick, however, was also hampered because the Liberals

and Conservatives continued to adopt and promote progressive policies before, during,

and after the Second World War, making the CCF increasingly redundant and pushing

the party onto the political fringes. Indeed, the mainstream parties were even more eager

to adopt progressive policies in the CCF era than they were before, perhaps in part

McKay, "The Maritime CCF", p.79. According to McKay the CCF answer to many problems was to simply advocate vague "CCF planning". The party also lacked a comprehensive regional development plan, vital for any party in the Maritimes. 36 McKay, "The Maritime CCF", p. 77. 37 Thorburn, p. 102. The primary example of a CCF candidate switching parties was that of Harry E. Marmen, a popular figure in Edmundston who secured the highest CCF vote in New Brunswick in 1944, who ran for the Liberals in 1948, though he was unsuccessful in that race too. 38 McKay, "The Maritime CCF", pp. 80-1. Among the propaganda assaults on the New Brunswick CCF was an advertisement in the Saint John Telegraph-Journal that displayed quotes alleging similarities between Hitler and the CCF. There were also accusations of workers being fired by their employers in Edmundston and Hartland for pro-CCF leanings.

30 because of the CCF. The Liberals under the Premiership of Allison Dysart (1935-40) and

John McNair (1940-52) introduced a steady stream of reforms. These included pensions,

investments in education, labour legislation, aid to farmers and rural electrification.39

That the CCF did so well in spite of the measures adopted by the McNair government is a

further testament of the appeal of social democratic and progressive policies in the

province at the time. The Conservative administration of (1952-

60) was preoccupied with reducing poverty and the development of electric power.40

Flemming's victory in 1952 was not based upon typical Tory tirades against Liberal

spending and taxes but rather upon promises of improvements in welfare.41

The Liberal government of (1960-70), however, intensified the

progressive trend in New Brunswick politics and during its decade in power instituted

some of the most sweeping social and administrative legislation in Canadian history.

Robichaud's Programme of Equal Opportunity was, according to Delia Stanley, "a

massive social reform programme related to municipal structure, health care, education,

and judicial improvements."42 Prior to the implementation of Equal Opportunity in the

mid-1960s, health, welfare and education in New Brunswick were still controlled, if not

entirely funded, at the county level, resulting in huge regional discrepancies in the quality

Don Hoyt, A Brief History of the Liberal Party of New Brunswick, Saint John, N.B.: n.p., [2000?], pp. 56-9. It is evident that the book was written between the 1999 N.B. provincial election and the 2000 Canadian federal election. 40 Margaret Conrad, "The 1950s: The Decade of Development", The Atlantic Provinces in Confederation, eds. E.R. Forbes and D.A. Muise, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997, p. 404. 41 Richard Starr, : The Seventeen Year Saga, Halifax, N.S.: Formac Publishing Company Ltd., 1988, p. 12. 42 Delia Stanley, Louis Robichaud: A Decade of Power, Halifax, N.S.: Nimbus Publishing Limited, 1984, Author's Preface.

31 of services provided. Equal Opportunity replaced this antiquated system with a

centralized funding scheme.44

The Robichaud years saw massive real and relative increases in government

spending on health and education,45 so much so that by the end of the 1960s the

Robichaud government was spending a larger percentage of its budget on education than the Canadian national average.46 Post-secondary education also received a boost in 1962 when the government approved the creation of annual fixed operating grants for all New

Brunswick universities. Among other notable progressive moves by the Robichaud government was the adoption of official bilingualism and medicare by the end of the

1960s.47

The Robichaud government was busy creating a modern welfare state and the bureaucracy to manage it in New Brunswick. As part of the process of creating a modern bureaucracy, Robichaud recruited several civil servants who had worked in the recently defeated CCF government of and Woodrow Lloyd in Saskatchewan

(1944-1964). When Robichaud first met with Donald Tansley, one of the civil servants recruited from Saskatchewan, they exchanged views on social reform. As Tansley recalled:

he asked me all these questions about what I believed in, and so on, and I said, well, Medicare, government insurance. [Robichaud responded] 'I'm for all those things too, but I'm not a socialist!' He didn't know it, but he was! If he'd been in Saskatchewan,

43 Starr, p. 21. 44 Starr, p. 23. 45 Pier Bouchard and Sylvain Vezina, "Modernizing New Brunswick's Public Administration: The Robichaud Model" in The Robichaud Era, 1960-70: Colloquium Proceedings. Moncton, NB: The Canadian Institute for Research on Regional Development, 2001, p. 54. The proportion of expenditures devoted to health rose from 17 percent in 1958-59 to 26 percent in 1969-70, while the proportion devoted to education jumped from 15 percent in 1958-59 to 31 percent in 1969-70. 46 Bouchard and Vezina, p. 59. 47 Stanley, pp. 66, 186, 193-4.

32 he'd have been in the CCF.

In other words, Tansley saw Robichaud as a de facto social democrat. The Robichaud

government denounced the socialist label but embraced many social democratic policies.

Throughout the Robichaud era the New Brunswick Tories also believed in an

activist provincial government. Charlie Van Home, Conservative leader between 1966

and 1969, envisioned a New Brunswick that, according to Richard Starr, "featured great

public works, a booming tourist industry, hefty pensions, new roads, new schools - all

paid for by Ottawa." When Richard Hatfield and Charlie Van Home challenged each

other for the Conservative leadership in 1969, both spoke out in favour of such policies as

pollution control, seniors' housing and electoral reform.49

The political culture of New Brunswick therefore from the early 1940s onward,

and especially during the 1960s and early 1970s, was dominated by two large brokerage

parties that accommodated the broad centre (including the centre-left) of public opinion

and that were committed to the steady introduction of progressive legislation. The political culture of New Brunswick was not particularly radical or even polarized between a clearly defined left-wing and right-wing, but it was not characterized by parochial and entrenched conservatism or rigid voting loyalties either. New Brunswick politics was largely pragmatic and accommodating, with both main parties responding to shifting trends and pressures for change, a sort of "progressive centrism." It is the dominance of brokerage politics that accommodated large portions of left-leaning voters

Donald Tansley interview, with Lisa Pasolli, Ottawa, Ont., 30 March 2006. The quote in question is taken from a transcript of the interview, contents of which originally appeared in Pasolli's M.A. thesis "Bureaucratizing the Atlantic Revolution: The Saskatchewan Mafia and the Modernization of the New Brunswick Civil Service, 1960-1970", University of New Brunswick, 2007. 49 Starr, pp. 29,33.

33 that is the most important explanation for the fate that fell upon the New Brunswick CCF

and upon the NDP during its first decade of existence.

When the CCF joined with the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) to form the

NDP in 1961, the reform agenda of the two big parties in New Brunswick limited the

appeal of the new party. The policies of the Robichaud Liberals were a major obstacle to

growth in support for the NDP. Indeed, before the NDP actually formed in New

Brunswick, many active CCF members had switched to the Robichaud Liberals. For

instance, four former CCFers, including a former president of the provincial CCF, ran as

Liberal candidates in the 1960 provincial election.50 The actions of the Robichaud

government, especially the Programme of Equal Opportunity, "stole much of the NDP

initiative and [the Liberal Party] assumed the reform mantle."51 In 1968, Gad Horowitz observed that New Brunswick was the only province in Canada where the Liberals were

"in a position comparable to that of the liberal Democrats in the United States."52 The

American Democratic Party during the 1960s, according to Horowitz, was the party of the centre-left and a party that had absorbed most social democrats and was the party of organized labour.53 The New Brunswick Liberal Party did not hold a total monopoly over the left and labour, and the Robichaud Liberals were both more open to social democracy than the Democrats and did not contain anything resembling the "Dixiecrats" that inhabited the pre-civil rights Democratic Party, but the comparison is still useful. It certainly offers a contemporaneous example of a broad centre and centre-left party that reduced more overt leftist parties to irrelevancy and secured significant labour support.

50 Gad Horowitz, Canadian Labour in Politics, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1968, p. 231. 51 Wilbur, "New Brunswick", p. 155-6. 52 Horowitz, p. 42. Horowitz, p. 35.

34 The impact of the Liberal Party's broad appeal to many on the left and in the labour

movement was that the NDP was pushed to the political margins.

The stance of a majority of the labour movement in New Burnswick during the

1960s was a major barrier to the growth and success of the NDP in the province, as most

unionists continued the strategy of avoiding direct involvement in electoral politics via a

labour party. Organized labour was regarded as the ally that would propel the NDP into

power elsewhere in Canada, but in New Brunswick the bulk of the labour movement was

not particularly receptive to the new party. In a province with two big-tent parties that

were seen as somewhat progressive, few unionists saw the value in fighting for the

interests of labour within a minor and unestablished party. Rather than adopting a

sectarian commitment to an exclusively labour party, many unionists in New Brunswick

(and indeed Atlantic Canada) instead took a bargaining approach to politics. This meant

using their votes to gain influence by backing whichever party was believed to be able to

provide economic stability and prosperity and/or form a government.54 This philosophy

was reflected in a resolution passed at the NBFL convention in 1959. The resolution

stated that the federation "takes a non-partisan part in politics and is not obligated, along

with any of its affiliates, to lean towards any political party."55

The practical application of this policy is evident when one examines the political

loyalties and actions of many labour officials and their unions.5 At the time of the

formation of the NDP in 1961, the NBFL was unique in Canada as "the only [labour]

54 Robert Garland, "The Misfortunes of the Labour - NDP Alliance in Atlantic Canada", Social Science Monograph Series, (4), 1981, pp. 47-8. 55 "New Party Fails To Get Full Support In N.B.", The Telegraph-Journal, 31 August 1961. 56 Horowitz, pp. 230-1. According to Horowitz, the TLC craft unions dominated the province's labour movement during the 1950s and lent their support to the Conservatives in the 1952 provincial election and were instrumental in the Tory victory. The NBFL's president during the 1950s was James A. Whitebone, a partisan Conservative. Another NBFL president, Angus Mcleod, was a Liberal candidate in the 1960 provincial election, and his nominator, James Leonard, was the NBFL's secretary-treasurer.

35 federation which adopted a political policy contrary to that of the CLC." This policy was one of non-affiliation with the party, and though the CLC tried to organize opposition to the NBFL executive's position at the NBFL's 1961 convention in Moncton, it failed to prevent the NBFL from not aligning with the NDP.58 A heated debate about affiliation with the NDP occurred at the convention. Those who argued in favour of affiliation suggested that labour needed a new political party to achieve its aims. William

Dodge, executive vice-president of the CLC, stated that "the only way we can get a job done is to do it ourselves," while another delegate claimed that if the NBFL failed to affiliate with the NDP that "all Canada will laugh tomorrow." Those speaking out against affiliation tended to argue that affiliation with the NDP would only restrict the actions of the NBFL. One anti-affiliation delegate stated that he felt that the federation was a labour organization and that sometimes politics might take the place of labour policies. Another delegate simply said "let politics take care of itself."59 The convention ended with the

NBFL adopting a resolution that read as follows:

Whereas the principles and policies as enunciated by the New Democratic Party coincide in almost every respect with those laid down and supported in the past by this Federation, Be it therefore resolved that this New Brunswick Federation of Labour adopt the policy of the Canadian Labour Congress and endorse the principles and policies of the New Democratic Party without direct affiliation.

NBFL president James A. Whitebone commented that the convention "voted for the policies of the new party - not for the new party" and added that "the policies of the new party are almost identical to those [of] the federation."61 It is important to note that the

" Horowitz, p. 230. 58 Horowitz, pp. 231. 59 "New Party Issue Splits N.B. Labor", The Telegraph-Journal, 30 August 1961. 60 Horowitz, pp. 231. 61 "New Party Fails To Get Full Support In N.B.", The Telegraph-Journal, 31 August 1961.

36 NBFL was not opposed to the social democracy of the NDP, but was merely opposed to

being tied to a single party.

Despite the NBFL's endorsement of social democratic policies, it was evident to

most New Brunswick CCF members in the early 1960s that the majority of the labour

movement in the province would not support the NDP. One leading CCF unionist who

would later become a prominent member of the anti-Waffle camp, Eldon Richardson,

commented in 1960 that "it is rather difficult to foresee any genuine support for the new

party from the labour organization in New Brunswick in the immediate future."62 Rank

and file union members in particular displayed an aversion to voting NDP during the

early days of the party. In the 1962 federal election, for instance, 89 percent of union

households in New Brunswick voted for the Liberals or Progressive Conservatives.63

The NB NDP's first president, Fredericton university professor John Earl, recalled the

difficulties of trying to recruit labour support for the party in Fredericton during the

1960s: "We tried to get union people involved, but they took the attitude, the view that they'd be better off to support one of the traditional parties and would [more] likely get

something from them than from a splinter party."64 The lack of interest among many unionists towards the party was confirmed in a 1964 report compiled by the NB NDP for the federal NDP organizing committee. It reported that the relationship between trade

02 Horowitz, p. 231. 63 Horowitz, p. 42. While data for the percentage of union households in New Brunswick that voted NDP is not provided, it can be assumed to be less than 10 percent. As stated above, 89 percent of union households voted Liberal (56 percent) or Conservative (33 percent). The remaining 11 percent cannot be assumed to be held entirely by the NDP, as the party failed to run candidates in three out of New Brunswick's ten federal ridings and because Social Credit ran candidates in eight ridings, (see Parliament of Canada website, http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/process/house/hfer/hfer.asp?Language=E&Search=Gres&genElec tion=25&ridProvince=4&submitl=Search). By comparison, the percentage of union households voting NDP in other provinces were 57 percent in Saskatchewan, 39 percent in , 35 percent in British Columbia, 27 percent in Ontario and 25 percent in Nova Scotia, (see Horowitz, pp. 41-2.) 64 John Earl interview, with author, Fredericton, N.B., 11 May 2007.

37 unionists and the party was "in the lowest form," and claimed that union members

"looking for something under the patronage system in N.B." were to blame.65 Various

labour policies passed by the Robichaud Liberals reinforced the belief among many

unionists that supporting the traditional parties was still a productive strategy. Among

the most significant labour legislation adopted during the 1960s was the Public Service

Labour Relations Act of 1968, which granted full collective bargaining rights to New

Brunswick's 30,000 technical and professional civil servants.66

While many in the labour movement did not actively back the NDP in New

Brunswick during the 1960s, there were a few committed unionists who did. A steady

but limited stream of labour officials in New Brunswick began actively supporting the

party as the decade progressed. The Moncton Labour Council, for instance, endorsed the

NDP after it was founded. In 1962 the CLC elected John Simonds of Saint John vice-

chairman of the New Brunswick NDP, as the CLC vice-president for the Atlantic Region,

and officers in the NBFL actively supported the NDP in the 1965 federal election.67 That being said, the bulk of the labour movement in New Brunswick during the 1960s

continued to avoid partisan support for the NDP. Those unionists who were actively involved in the NB NDP were instrumental in its survival throughout the decade, but there were simply not enough of them to move the party out of the political wilderness.

By the end of 1965 only four unions representing nine locals and 777 workers were affiliated with the NDP in New Brunswick.

"New Brunswick New Democratic Party Report to Organizing Committee", file 5, "NB: Organization 1960-1971 (1 of 2)", Vol. 455, MG 28 IV-1, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC. 66 Stanley, p. 196. 67 Horowitz, pp. 231-2. 68 "Affiliated Locals, 31 December 1965", file 18, "Unions General 1961-65", Vol. 436, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC. The geographic distribution of the affiliated locals and union members was as follows: four locals

38 The challenges confronting the new party at the start of the 1960s may explain why New Brunswick was the last Maritime province where the CCF made the conversion to the NDP, having done so at a meeting in Fredericton on 2 December 1962.69 The

1960s would prove to be a rather precarious time for the new party as it faced numerous challenges and difficulties. The party operated with significant organizational and financial handicaps. Party membership did increase from 110 in 1961 to 190 in 1963,70 but the NB NDP spent its first two years leaderless, until a unionist from the Newcastle area, John Currie, took up the post in 1965. He served until 1968 when he moved to

British Columbia, and the post remained vacant until 1970.71 The party also suffered some public policy disputes and accusations of radicalism by some members.72 Perhaps the most colourful event for the NB NDP, prior to the NB Waffle, was the brief defection in 1969 of J. Wilfred Senechal, an eccentric Liberal MLA from Restigouche, into the ranks of the party. Senechal's stint as an Independent New Democrat was brief (about five months) and somewhat embarrassing but it did gain the party a great deal of media attention.73

and 191 members in Saint John, three locals and 369 members in Moncton, one local with 187 members in Campbellton and one local with 30 members in Fredericton. 69 "Says NDPs Can Only Offer Blood, Sweat And Tears", The Telegraph-Journal, 3 December 1962. One of those who attended the founding convention was Pat Callaghan, a Fredericton resident who would emerge as a dominant figure in the NB Waffle. He recalled that one of the motions put forward was that the NB NDP would never again hold their meetings on the Sabbath. (Pat Callaghan interview, with author, Fredericton, N.B., 17 December 2006). 70 "New Brunswick New Democratic Party Report to Organization Committee", file 5, "NB: Organization 1960-1971 (1 of 2)", Vol. 455, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC. 71 "NDP Leader Resigns", The Telegraph-Journal, 13 March 1968 and "Newcastle Area Man Leads NDP", The Daily Gleaner 14 September 1970. 72 "NDP Member Quits Following Meeting", The Telegraph-Journal, 3 October 1967. The NB NDP's 1967 convention in Moncton featured a leadership contest between current leader John Currie and Gilbert A. Soucy, a union local business agent from Saint John. After losing to Currie, Soucy publicly quit the party, accusing it of "extremism" (on both the right and left). The adoption of a policy to nationalize the province's transportation system, namely bus lines, was his biggest point of contention. 73 "Deputy Speaker Bolts Liberals", The Daily Gleaner, 6 November 1969; "Senechal Joins N.B. New Democrats", The Daily Gleaner, 14 November 1969; "Senechal Scores Liberal Philosophy", The Daily Gleaner, 6 March 1970; "Senechal Makes Shortest Speech", The Daily Gleaner, 20 March 1970; "Senechal

39 Due to the challenges and difficulties facing the NB NDP during the 1960s, the

party's ability to contest elections was significantly hampered. The party did not run any

candidates in the 1963 election.74 Of the four by-elections held between 1963 and 1967,

the NB NDP contested only one.75 Only three NDP candidates ran in 1967, all of them in

Northumberland County. The decision to run candidates in Northumberland was made at

the request of local party members and was a reversal of an original decision not to run

any candidates.76 The party endorsed this request but decided that it would be financially

premature to mount a province-wide campaign.77 The three NDP candidates garnered 0.2

percent of the total provincial vote.78

During the 1960s the NB NDP relied on three key areas of support: committed

trade unionists throughout the province but based primarily in Saint John, Moncton, and

Newcastle; academics and university staff based largely at the University of New

Returns To Liberal Fold", 10 April 1970; and "Memorandum to Clifford Scotton from Jim Hayes", 18 November 1969, file 5, "N.B.: Organization 1960-1971 (1 of 2)", Vol. 455, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC. Senechal left the Liberals because he believed that the Robichaud government was being unfairly critical of K.C. Irving's monopoly over New Brunswick's Anglophone newspapers, and expressed an immediate interest in joining the NDP. After some hesitation he was accepted into the NB NDP with the urging of the federal party. He spent most of his time as an Independent New Democrat in the Legislature simply attacking the Liberals. He rejoined the Liberal caucus in April 1970. 74 "Two-Party Race Likely For N.B.", The Telegrp>ah-Journal, 28 March 1963. The official reason given by the party for not contesting the election was the "unfair balloting system", whereby ballots at the polls were either provided by the parties themselves or were pieces of paper that voters wrote the names of their preferred candidates on. This was likely not the only or primary reason however for not running. The party was only four months old, plagued by financial and organizational troubles and a small membership base. 75 Elections in New Brunswick, 1784-1984, Fredericton, N.B.: New Brunswick Legislative Library, 1984, pp. 128-9. The by-election was in September 1966 in Saint John, and the party won just over five percent of the vote. The candidate was Gilbert A. Soucy, who would quit the party the following year. 76 "NDP Won't Enter Provincial Election", The Telegraph-Journal, 11 September 1967 and "North Shore NDP Fields 3 Candidates", The Telegraph-Journal, 15 September 1967. At the beginning of the election party leader John Currie declared that "the election will be mainly a personality contest between Mr. Robichaud and Mr. Van Home, and that party policy of either party will not play a major role in the campaign." 77 "Party Endorses Candidates", The Telegraph-Journal, 3 October 1967. 78 "Vote Comparison", The Daily Gleaner, 27 October 1970.

40 Brunswick in Fredericton; and old CCFers who had been active during the 1940s. As

the next chapter will show, even the party's small Fredericton base became largely

dormant by the end of the decade. Most of the party's scant support was in anglophone

areas of the province as well. The only NDP base in francophone New Brunswick was

among a few francophone unionists, most of them centred in Edmundston. According to

Richard Wilbur, a party member during the 1960s, the anti-socialist leanings of the

Catholic clergy restricted the appeal of the CCF during the 1940s and 1950s among

francophones. While the influence of the Church in Acadian society declined during the

1960s, and a "social revolution" emerged among Acadian youth, the lack of any

significant CCF tradition in francophone New Brunswick ensured that the NDP was not

regarded as an obvious political vehicle for those promoting major social change in

French New Brunswick. The social revolution among Acadians during the 1960s

resembled the Quiet Revolution that emerged in Quebecois society during the 1960s.

Just as in Quebec, the Liberal Party became the primary political vehicle for the

legislative implementation of this social revolution in New Brunswick during the decade.

It is worth noting that Robichaud himself attended law school at Laval University in

Quebec City in the late 1940s and was thus immersed in the intellectual milieu that

Q 1 marked the early stages of the Quiet Revolution. The impact this experience had in nurturing Robichaud's political ideas is obvious.

The fact that the NB NDP was so distant from the corridors of power or even a few seats on the opposition benches during the 1960s generated an interesting situation regarding whom the party attracted. The weakness of the NDP in New Brunswick made 79 Wilbur, "New Brunswick", p. 155. 80 Richard Wilbur interview, with author, St. Andrews, N.B., 7 March 2007. 81 Stanley, pp. 9-10.

41 the party attractive to more radically inclined voters and ensured that more radically

inclined members would hold a more dominant position within the party. This

phenomenon was and is common to regions of Canada where the CCF and NDP have

been relatively weak. Robert Hackett suggests that in areas where the party is weak, "the

general tendency in the CCF-NDP for a 'movement' orientation" prevails. According to

Hackett, this movement orientation within the NDP is exacerbated by the absence of a

strong party apparatus, namely elected politicians, with a vested interest in promoting the

NDP as a conventional party offering modest changes rather than radical policies.82 In

other words, where the NDP was nowhere near power, moderates were discouraged from

joining the party while traditional socialists were attracted into the party fold. Moreover,

the NDP in provinces where it was weak was not tempered by the disciplines of power

and thus more radical positions could more easily prevail.83 While strong provincial

NDP organizations did not discourage radicals from joining the party (one thinks of the

Saskatchewan Waffle), what needs to be emphasized is that radicals were never more

than a minority in strong NDP organizations, which was not always the case in weak

NDP regions.

The tendency towards a more radical and/or movement stance within the NDP where the party is weak is important for understanding part of the future success of the

NB Waffle. While most NB Waffle organizers were newcomers to the party, the unexpected support for their platform and manifesto at the party's 1971 convention

8i Robert Hackett, "Pie in the Sky", p. 37. 83 Robert Hackett, "Pie in the Sky", p. 37. Hackett backs up his assertion about the movement orientation of the NDP in areas where it is weak with a survey of delegates to the federal NDP's 1971 convention. While Waffle supporters constituted one-third of the total responses, Waffle supporters represented 50 percent or more of the responses from the Maritimes, Quebec and Alberta, the regions of greatest weakness for the party.

42 demonstrated that the NB NDP already had a base within the party that was responsive to

a more radical and socialist platform. The fact that the person who would become the

most prominent figure of the NB Waffle was Pat Callaghan, a veteran of the party, is

further evidence of this aspect of the party.

In spite of the numerous challenges faced by the NB NDP during the 1960s, the

party did survive, and as Richard Wilbur asserts, "the handful who kept alive New

Brunswick's New Democratic Party deserve great credit for resisting the temptation to

disband the organization, weak though it was."84 By 1970 signs of hope were on the

horizon. Party membership was approximately double what it was when the NB NDP

was founded in 1962,85 and while labour support was still limited it was growing.86 The

party survived the 1960s because it provided a formal political home for those social

democrats and leftists who were not accommodated by the Robichaud Liberals. New

Brunswick New Democrats were those who felt that the Robichaud Liberals did not

extend the reach of state-ownership, a socialized economy and labour legislation far enough.

However, New Brunswick NDP members were not the only leftists who were unimpressed by the Robichaud Liberals, or indeed the post-Second World War social and economic order. While the Robichaud Liberals won over many progressives, the nature

84 Wilbur, "New Brunswick", p. 156. 85 "New Brunswick New Democratic Party Report to Organization Committee", file 5, "NB: Organization 1960-1971 (1 of 2)", Vol. 455, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC and memo from Maxine Ross to John F. Kinsel, 12 December 1970 from Bill Ross private collection. In 1963 NB NDP membership was 110, while by December 1970 it was 240. Some of the latter membership figure can be attributed to the growth of the NDP in Fredericton during 1970, so the actual membership number at the beginning of the year was likely lower but still higher than in 1963. 86 Horowitz, p. 232. When NBFL president Whitebone retired in 1964, the NBFL's 1961 resolution was accepted as an endorsement of the NDP itself and not just its policies, though many unionists still remained only partially supportive of and involved in the NB NDP, as the Waffle episode of 1971 would demonstrate.

43 of their regime was one that was inspired by a form a leftist thought that failed to address

the concerns or incorporate the analysis of a new generation of leftists. The Robichaud

Liberals were inspired by, and the NDP wholeheartedly supportive of, a form of leftist

thought classified by Ian McKay as "radical planning and state-building." This was a

political ideal where the state used planning and public ownership as a means of

mitigating the extremes of capitalism and the business-cycle in the interests of all

citizens. Radical planning had its birth in the 1930s and became the accepted basis of a

socialist vision of society during the Second World War.87 The 1960s, however, saw the

emergence of new leftist visions of society that challenged the radical planning vision,

among other leftist orthodoxies.

New Brunswick was not exempt from such developments. Among those leftists

who were challenging the radical planning vision were young Acadians who were

energized by the nationalist movement in neighbouring Quebec and felt that Robichaud's

reforms were advancing far too slowly.88 There was also a growing body of leftists who

forwarded a critical analysis of the post-1945 consensus in the province, and attacked the

plethora of economic development schemes (often involving public subsidies or tax breaks to capital) and the social and environmental degradation that accompanied them

and other capitalist ventures. This new critique of New Brunswick's political and

economic landscape was most evident in the pages of The Mysterious East, an alternative magazine published out of Fredericton between 1969 and 1972, and in the formation of

activist organizations such as the Conservation Council in 1969. While such developments had a New Brunswick focus, they were merely local expressions of the

87 McKay, Rebels, Reds, Radicals, pp. 169-83. 88 Richard Wilbur, The Rise of French New Brunswick, Halifax, Nova Scotia: Formac Publishing Company Limited, 1989, p. 227.

44 emerging challenge to the status quo throughout the world. New Brunswick's New

Democrats also challenged the status quo in the province, but they were in no way connected to the larger growing ferment of the era in the province. As John Earl recollected, "[the NB NDP] apparently hadn't been keeping tabs on what had been going on in the rest of Canada and the rest of the world for that matter."89 The year 1970 would begin to see a change in that, in the form of new life and activity for the NDP in the

Fredericton area, a place where the NDP had been largely dormant for several years. The source of this new life and activity was primarily a group of people who would form an organization that became the centre of the biggest internal dispute the NB NDP has ever faced.

John Earl interview, with author, Fredericton, N.B., 11 May 2007.

45 CHAPTER TWO

The Genesis of the New Brunswick Waffle, 1965 -1970

The New Brunswick Waffle had its origins in Fredericton's left-wing community

during the late 1960s. This community was primarily focused around, but not exclusive

to, the University of New Brunswick (UNB) campus in Fredericton. It consisted of a

number of old-style socialists, including NDP, Communist and Trotskyist supporters, as

well as New Leftists, left-leaning academics, counter-culture libertarians, and self-

defined radicals of various persuasions. When it came into being, the New Brunswick

Waffle itself was comprised of a range of leftists of different stripes and backgrounds.

Many members expressed support or sympathy for tenets of several political philosophies

at once yet, as we shall see, Trotskyist, socialist and left-libertarian views were the most

commonly held. While supporters of the NB Waffle would appear in other parts of the

province as the movement grew, Fredericton remained the movement's geographic

centre. An exploration of left-wing and radical political activity in Fredericton, and in particular at UNB, during the late 1960s reveals the genesis of the NB Waffle.

While specific local circumstances tailored and influenced the manner in which

the NB Waffle emerged, it was also very much part of a larger national and international

set of developments. The NB Waffle and other leftist organizations in Fredericton during the 1960s did not exist in a vacuum but were local manifestations of larger political trends within the left, and certainly place New Brunswick in the mainstream of the rest of

46 the Western world in this regard. The work that exists on the left in Fredericton and

UNB during the 1960s almost universally focuses on the events of "the Strax Affair,"

giving the impression that it was the only case of radical leftist activity in the city and on

campus during this period.1 However, the much fabled Strax Affair was only part of a

continuum of leftist political action centred around UNB. The origins of the NB Waffle

reveal the diversity within Fredericton's leftist community. The creation of the NB

Waffle was the culmination of a chain of events by which various members of a

succession of different local non-electoral leftist organizations (including the Canadian

Struggle for a Democratic Society, the New Brunswick Socialists, and the Fredericton

Young Socialists) made a leap into formal party politics. The NB Waffle was the vehicle

that moved such leftists into the political world of the NDP. The NB Waffle therefore

marked a larger ideological transition within the radical left in Fredericton and a shift in

strategy, as the group would seek to bridge the gap between New Left activism and social

democratic party politics.

There was a small but active progressive political community in Fredericton in the

early 1960s that represented earlier forms of the New Left and set the stage for the

upsurge in New Left activity in the latter half of the decade. The most notable left-wing

group in the city was the local chapter of the Voice of Women (VOW), a pan-Canadian

peace and nuclear disarmament organization created in Toronto in July 1960 which

sought to, according to Christine Ball, "unite Canadian women in expressing their desire

1 The most notable historical accounts of UNB during the 1960s are both authored by Peter C. Kent. They are "Conflicting Conceptions of Rights in UNB's Strax Affair, 1968-69", The University of New Brunswick Law Journal/Revue de Droit de I'Universite du Nouveau-Brunswick 44, 1995, pp. 87-91 and "The Local, National, and International Contexts of UNB's Strax Affair", The Officers' Quarters 23 (2), Autumn and Winter 2005-06, pp. 24-34.

47 for a peaceful world."2 UNB was key in the formation of the Fredericton VOW, as one

of the founders of the chapter was Norah Toole, an instructor in chemistry at the

university.3 Anxiety over nuclear weapons also surfaced locally in two public

discussions, one entitled "Nuclear Arms for Canada?", held in November 1961, and the

other entitled "The Bomb! - Why Not?", held in January 1962.4 Fredericton also

produced a New Party Club (local groups that were dedicated to remaking the CCF into a

new social democratic party) in 1960, also focused largely on campus.5

The New Left was a global phenomenon, or at least a Western one, with several

contributing factors and numerous manifestations. The original impetus for the

emergence of the New Left occurred in 1956, when the twin events of Nikita

Khrushchev's revelations about the extent of Stalinist brutality and the suppression of the

Hungarian revolt by Soviet tanks disillusioned communists throughout the Western

world.6 This produced a serious break with the Old Left as it ensured that the Soviet

Union ceased being a beacon of inspiration for most Western leftists. The New Left not only expressed doubts about communism, or at least the Moscow variety of it, but also about post-1945 social democracy, which was regarded as a sell-out to bureaucratic

-7 capitalism. Mass political action not confined solely to the ballot box was championed again, often around single-issue campaigns, beginning in Britain in the late 1950s with

2 Christine Ball, "The History of the Voice of Women/La Voix des Femmes - The Early Years", Ph.D. dissertation, University of Toronto, 1994, p. 1. 3 Ball, p. 368. 4 "Panel Outcome: No Nuclear Arms", The Brunswickan, 21 November 1961 and "Panel Outcome: The Bomb? Definitely NOT", The Brunswickan, 17 January 1962. 5 "New Party Club", The Brunswickan, 22 November 1960; "New Party Established", The Brunswickan, 2 December 1960; and "New Party Club To Have Speakers", The Brunswickan, 14 February 1961. 6 James L. Wood, New Left Ideology: Its Dimensions and Development, Beverly Hills, California: Sage Publications, 1975, p. 15. 7 McKay, Rebels, Reds, Radicals, p. 183.

48 the formation of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). The New Left was

also based upon new modes of analysis and broadened notions of oppression and multiple

possibilities for liberation. The New Left focused not only upon economic exploitation

but also denounced racial, gender, and colonial oppression and sought a more

fundamental shift in the whole edifice of society.9 The New Left also had doubts about

the revolutionary potential of workers in an age of post-war affluence, so much so that

many young leftists saw the working class as an enemy of radicalism.10 As the American

socialist Michael Harrington put it, "[The New Left] nominated a number of substitute

'proletariats' - the youth, the blacks, the poor, the dispossessed - to play the role the

working class had been assigned in Marxist theory."11 When the New Left did

incorporate Marx into their analysis, it was, according to Ian McKay, "the passionate

democrat, the 'Young Marx,' [rather] than the sober scientist of Capital."12 According

to New Leftists, the promises and formulas of the Old Left looked hollow and ill-suited to the challenges of the post-war era.

The New Left in the United States (which is the most significant New Left for our purposes) was often ideologically ambiguous but it was committed to action in the interest of social change. It first involved itself in the Civil Rights movement, became entrenched in the opposition to the as the 1960s progressed, and was characterized by a series of single-issue campaigns and targeted criticism of features of

Bryan D. Palmer, The Making ofE.P. Thompson: Marxism, Humanism, and History, Toronto: New Hogtown Press, 1981, p. 55. 9 McKay, Rebels, Reds, Radicals, pp. 183-4. 10 Eric Hobsbawm, Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914-1991, London: Abacus, 1994, p. 447. 11 Michael Harrington, Fragments of the Century, New York: Saturday Review Press/E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1973, p. 132. 12 McKay, Rebels, Reds, Radicals, p. 183.

49 modern society.13 The New Left became increasingly radicalized by the mid-to-late

1960s, in particular because of frustration with the failure to end American involvement

in Vietnam, the persistence of poverty and racial inequality after certain social reforms,

and a growing sense that America might not actually be a liberal democratic society

capable of reform. Reformist tendencies were largely abandoned and New Leftists

instead turned to wholesale criticism of the entire political, economic, and social structure

of American society. The shift in New Left thinking towards critiques of the entire

societal structure in turn spawned a new radicalism within the New Left and an eventual

flirtation with the ideologies originally dismissed by the movement (albeit in a modified

\ 14

version).

UNB was not immune from the New Left ideas that were sweeping through

campuses across North America by the mid-1960s. On the surface, the political ferment

at UNB in the second half of the 1960s paled in comparison to the more notable examples of radical campuses elsewhere in Canada, the United States and Western Europe. Indeed, some student leaders and radicals elsewhere in Canada did not regard UNB as a likely

source of any left-wing or radical political activity. Future Ontario Waffle founder James

Laxer, who at the time was a veteran student activist and graduate student, wrote in 1968

(in a guide published for American "draft-age immigrants" to Canada) that UNB students were "provincial and conservative."15 However, it has been estimated that during the height of student radicalism in the late 1960s, activists on American campuses made up less than 5 percent of the student body, while those more moderately involved constituted

13 Wood, pp. 6-7. 14 Wood, pp. 18-20. 15 James Laxer, "The Schools are Pretty Good...", Mark Satin, ed. Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada, Toronto: House of Anansi, 1968, p. 73.

50 less than 20 percent.16 By this measure, political activity among students at UNB appears

to have been consistent with the larger trends of student activism that were a feature of

campuses around the world during the 1960s.

UNB students were not universally "provincial and conservative" and the campus

did have a left-wing and radical political community which enjoyed varying degrees of

support and enthusiasm from the student body. Fighting racial prejudice appears to have

been the most popular cause among UNB students in the mid-1960s. In October 1965 the

UNB Anti-Apartheid Group was formed; it aimed to provide information about South

Africa's racist regime and combat racial prejudice in Fredericton as well.17 A group

calling itself East African Students at UNB raised awareness about the regime of Ian

Smith in Rhodesia and even wrote British Prime Minister Harold Wilson to urge action

against the Rhodesian government.18 In January 1966 the Student Christian Movement at

UNB sponsored a local performance by the Freedom Singers, a sextet of American civil

rights activists representing the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.19

Opposition to the Vietnam War also generated interest at UNB, the first sign of which

was a teach-in held in November 1965 under the title "Why are the Americans in Viet

Nam?".20 Concern about the Vietnam War was also evident when more than 150

students attended a meeting with three activists (including an American draft-resister)

16 This assessment is noted by Catherine Gidney, "Poisoning the Student Mind?: The Student Christian Movement at the University of Toronto, 1920-1965", Journal of the Canadian Historical Association 8, 1998,p. 151. 17 "Racial Prejudice", The Brunswickan, 13 October 1966. 18 "The Inside: Rhodesia", supplement in The Brunswickan, 25 November 1965. 19 "Freedom Singers Here Monday", The Brunswickan, 14 January 1966. The organization that sponsored the Freedom Singers' visit to UNB was listed as the "SCM." The Student Christian Movement was founded in 1920 and was part of the social gospel tradition. In the late 1950s and 1960s the group was active on such issues as nuclear disarmament and civil rights. (Gidney, pp. 149, 159-60.) 20 "Americans In Vietnam", The Brunswickan, 4 November 1965.

51 from the Student Union for Peace Action in March 1967. Worries over rising tuition

and the state of post-secondary education were a constant issue, most dramatically

expressed in February 1968 when 3,000 students marched on the Centennial Building

(home to the provincial administration) in downtown Fredericton demanding concrete

proposals from New Brunswick's Post-Secondary Education Commission. They were

joined by students from every university in the province, and 500 students staged a sit-in

in the lobby of the building.22 As the 1960s gave way to the 1970s, the feminist

movement emerged as a force at UNB and in Fredericton. A women's liberation group

formed in the city in 197023 and was particularly active in pushing for abortion rights, a

commitment reflected in a march for free abortion on demand on the Legislature in

February 1971.24 TheNDP was also not entirely absent from UNB politics during this

period, as a party club also briefly existed on campus in 1965-66.25

The foundation of New Left activism at UNB was well-established when radical

politics on campus received a boost from an American physics professor in his early 30s

named Norman Strax, who arrived in Fredericton in September 1967.26 Almost

immediately after arriving at UNB, Strax became a major force in campus politics. In

October 1967 Strax organized a contingent of 150 UNB students to travel to Washington,

21 "SUPA Sways UNB", The Brunswickan, 9 March 1967. SUPA was a Canadian student organization formed in Regina in 1964. According to Myrna Kostash, SUPA dedicated itself to "the panoramic aim of working toward the fundamental changes in institutions and attitudes that would abolish war, racism, poverty, undemocratic political and technological procedures, and bellicose and belligerent values." (Kostash, pp. 5-6). 22 "3000 Students March On Government", The Brunswickan, 22 February 1968. 23 Ian McKay, Rebels, Reds, Radicals, p. 199. 24 "New Brunswick Groups March For Abortion", The Brunswickan, 19 February 1971. 25 "NDP Club", The Brunswickan, 25 November 1965. There is no evidence of after 1966. 26 Richard Wilbur, "Go Away.. .(The Strax Affair)", Canadian Dimension 6 (8), April-May 1970, p. 9.

52 D.C. for an anti-Vietnam War protest, which was the largest Canadian student

delegation to attend this event.28

Following the demonstration in Washington many of those who took part joined

Strax in forming an organization called Canadian Struggle for a Democratic Society

(CSDS). The Strax group was inspired by the American organization Students for a

90

Democratic Society (SDS). SDS was one of the most prominent organizations of the

American New Left during the 1960s, and by 1967 had 30,000 members in 227 chapters

across the United States.30 The creation of the CSDS at UNB was one of the most

significant manifestations of New Left politics at the university.

The CSDS was an organization inspired by an American and based on the

concerns, analysis, and philosophies of the American New Left, and this was part of a

larger trend in Canada during the mid-1960s. Canada's proximity to the United States,

the sheer dominance of American culture, the apparent urgency of American issues and

the proliferation of American-born and trained academics on Canadian campuses ensured

that the early Canadian New Left was very much influenced by the American New Left.

Early Canadian New Leftists often discussed and protested American issues and utilized

"Washington Report", The Brunswickan, 26 October 1967. 28 Richard Wilbur, "Go Away...(The Strax Affair)", p. 9. 29 John Braddock, "The Strax Affair: University of New Brunswick", Student Power and the Canadian Campus, ed. Tim Reid and Julyan Reid, Toronto: Peter Martin Associates Limited, 1969, p. 118. The CSDS replaced the word "students" in its name with "struggle" because they were determined to show that "there were more than just students involved." (Dan Weston interview, with author, Fredericton, N.B., 24 May 2007). 30 G. Louis Heath, ed., Vandals in the Bomb Factory: The History and Literature of the Students for a Democratic Society, Metuchen, N.J.: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1976, pp. viii-xiii. The SDS was founded in 1959 as the reorganized youth wing of the socialist League for Industrial Democracy. The SDS quickly adopted a New Left philosophy, articulated by the Port Huron Statement of 1962, and involved itself initially in the civil rights movement. This was followed by activities related to protesting the Vietnam War, and a general opposition to American foreign policy became the primary focus of SDS by the late 1960s.

53 American analysis, granting little attention to the Canadian situation.31 Strax himself was a personification of this phenomenon and represented an importation of American New

Left thought into Canada. Strax's relocation to Canada did not shift the geographic focus of his activism, and as one colleague later recalled, "he was really fighting the U.S. administration [from] Canada."32

The CSDS originally embodied many traits of a standard American-inspired New

Left organization, particularly in its radical yet undefined ideology, its analytical focus on social structures and its insistence upon action. According to the recollections of one prominent CSDS member, Dan Weston, the group included a mixture of self-identified anarchists, left-libertarians, democratic socialists, and New Leftists all united around a general anti-capitalist and countercultural ethos. Weston's definition of the CSDS's political orientation demonstrates that the group was not so much a programmatic organization with a defined ideology, but rather a loose federation of people with some basic common political aims. The CSDS was mostly preoccupied with actions and debates intended to provoke questions about modern industrial and capitalist society in general. As Weston explained:

Basically we were anti-capitalist... our objective was to turn on as many people as we could to the questions that we were asking and ask these questions in public about how the system runs and the justification for this system and its worldwide connections and what this is doing to people in general... we

31 Kostash, pp. 199, 251-3. A sense of the growing American or at least non-Canadian presence on Canadian universities can be illustrated by a few statistics provided by Kostash: between 1961 and 1968 the proportion of Canadians teaching at the nation's universities declined by 25 percent. Between 1961-62 and 1968-69 the proportion of Canadians in the full-time faculty of the University of Alberta dropped from 60.8 percent to 47.2 percent. In 1969 the political economy and political science departments at Glendon College, York, McMaster and University of Toronto all had American chairmen. American academics also flooded into the rapidly expanding social science and humanities faculties. As of 1969, no more than half a dozen courses were offered at Canadian universities on Canada-specific political subjects such as federal- provincial relations, provincial politics, the political sociology of Canada and the politics of French Canada. (Kostash, pp. 199-200). 32 John Earl interview, with author, Fredericton, N.B., 11 May 2007.

54 felt that the state was covertly fascist and that it was overtly democratic, at least in terms of its facade, and that basically organizing was effective when you could force the state to have to live up to its democratic facade.33

Never a very large organization, the CSDS had between a dozen and 30 members from its founding in the fall of 1967 until the fall of 1969, during which time the group's membership grew to between 50 and 100.34

The CSDS garnered the most attention of any group at UNB. That attention would become national during the 1968-69 academic year in what has become known as

"the Strax Affair." This was certainly the most prominent political event to occur at

UNB during the 1960s. In late September 1968 Strax and members of the CSDS protested the introduction of identification cards for UNB students, seeing the cards as the beginnings of a police-state atmosphere on campus. The cards were required to sign out books at the UNB library, and Strax and CSDS members would bring down stacks of books that were subsequently left at the check-out counter because they did not present their cards. The library was thrown into chaos and forced to shut down.35 This act was repeated two more times, and Strax was suspended from his teaching position.36 The

CSDS response was to occupy Strax's office, an event which lasted 48 days and quickly took on the moniker of "Liberation 130."37 Strax initially participated in the occupation,

Dan Weston interview, with author, Fredericton, N.B, 24 May 2007. 34 John Braddock claimed that the CSDS had about a dozen members as of May 1969 (Braddock, p. 119), while former CSDS member Dan Weston claimed that the group had about thirty members during its first two years. (Dan Weston interview, with author, Fredericton, N.B., 24 May 2007). The Fredericton Young Socialists claimed in 1970 that CSDS membership in late 1969 was "between 30 and 50." (The Trotskyist Movement in Fredericton: Results and Prospects, passed by the Fredericton YS on 2 September 1970 to be presented at 8 September 1970 YS/LJS plenum, p. 1, file 78-10, "YS/LJS - Fredericton - Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", container 78, Canadian Trotskyist Movement fonds, MG 28 IV-11, LAC). Dan Weston suggested that CSDS membership in late 1969 was "about 100." 35 "SDS Opens Fire", The Brunswickan, 24 September 1968. 36 Braddock, p. 116. 37 "Bulletin...", The Brunswickan, 1 October 1968; "Admin suspends Strax; protest sit-in continues", The Brunswickan, 1 October 1968; "Forty-eight day siege comes to abrupt end", The Brunswickan, 12

55 but became embroiled in numerous legal battles with UNB. The Canadian Association of

University Teachers would eventually pass a motion of censure against UNB over Strax's

•30

treatment. The immediate outcome of the Strax Affair was that Strax was not rehired

for the 1969-70 academic year and was absent from the UNB campus for most of 1968-

69.39 In the long-term, as Peter Kent has noted, the Strax Affair was responsible for

forcing a greater democratization of UNB in the form of a restructuring of the

governmental structure of the university, as it "was responsible for forcing members of

the university to address the implications of the new university structure which they had

acquired."40

During the summer of 1969, with Strax preoccupied with his legal troubles, the

organization of CSDS activities passed almost entirely into student hands. The group

increased its presence off campus, officially because "the working people" of Fredericton

were in "more urgent need" of CSDS guidance than university students. CSDS actions

during that summer included supporting strikers at a Fredericton shoe factory and

establishing a "people's park" with local youth in downtown Fredericton to protest police

enforcement of a curfew on Officers' Square, where the gates were locked every night.41

During the people's park protest, however, Strax ended up in a dispute with the

November 1968. According to CSDS member Dan Weston, the occupation of Strax's office was not Strax's idea but that of certain students, and Strax needed some coaxing before being convinced of the value of the idea. (Dan Weston interview, with author, Fredericton, N.B., 24 May 2007). The CAUT motion of censure against UNB in February 1969 prompted another occupation of "Liberation 130" by 10- 15 CSDS members and sympathizers, this time for an evening. ("Police presence on campus again ends Liberation 130 occupation", The Brunswickan, 21 February 1969). 38 Wilbur, "Go Away... (The Strax Affair)", p. 10. The CAUT motion of censure lasted from July to September 1969; "Censure Lifted", The Brunswickan, 12 September 1969. 39 Braddock, p. 125. 40 Peter C. Kent, "The Local, National, and International Contexts of UNB's Strax Affair.", The Officers' Quarters 23 (2), Autumn and Winter 2005-06, pp. 32-4. 41 "An Active Summer For Strax", The Brunswickan, 19 September 1969.

56 Fredericton police and faced even more legal problems, further compromising his

involvement in CSDS. With Strax largely out of the picture, students became even more

dominant in CSDS affairs by the fall of 1969.

The events initiated by CSDS during the 1968-69 academic year did garner a lot

of attention from students and even a bit of scorn from other leftists. One student radical

attacked the CSDS people's park by labeling it as "sheer emulation" and claimed that the

CSDS was unaware that "it simply isn't relevant to use Berkley radical language in New

Brunswick."43 Despite such criticism, CSDS membership did grow as the 1969-70

academic year began. At first the growth experienced by the CSDS only helped it stage

more impressive actions. In mid-November 1969 the CSDS organized two days of

activities focused on opposition to the Vietnam War. The activities culminated in a

march from UNB to downtown Fredericton on 15 November 1969, which was attended

by almost 100 people.44

As the only significant left-wing organization on campus45 the CSDS became a

great catch basin for all sorts of radicals and leftists who would not normally associate with each other, and this would produce tensions within the group. The eventual split within the CSDS was the product of the growing appeal of Marxism (and its Trotskyist variant) among Western students, from which students at UNB were not exempt.

However, there were no overtly Marxist organizations of any sort at the university in the late 1960s. Only the CSDS existed as a force for radical political activity on campus,

42 "Strax Charged", The Brunswickan, 12 September 1969. 43 "Free School, Politics, And Colin B.", The Brunswickan, 11 October 1969. 44 "CSDS Plays Local Role In International Moratorium", The Brunswickan, 21 November 1969. 45 "The Trotskyist Movement in Fredericton: Results and Prospects", passed by the Fredericton YS on 2 September, 1970 to be presented at the 8 September 1970 YS/LJS plenum, p. 1, file 78-10, "YS/LJS - Fredericton - Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

57 and, as mentioned above, it was the natural gravitating point for any interested leftists in

Fredericton. Among those who became involved in the CSDS in the fall of 1969 were a

small collection of Trotskyists.46

Trotskyism never developed a large following among workers anywhere in the

Western world,47 but by the late 1960s and early 1970s there was a growing interest in

revolutionary Marxism among students and young intellectuals in the West. It was in the

emerging Western student movement that Marxism would enjoy a mild resurgence.48

Some of the Trotskyists, according to Dan Weston, arrived at UNB from Halifax,49 yet

the most prominent among them was a member of the physics department named Eustace

Mendis.50 Mendis entered the CSDS in the summer of 1969.51 He was 32 years old and

46 is a particular brand of communism that can best be defined by how it asserts itself vis-a-vis other strands of communism, namely Stalinism. Named after its expounder Leon Trotsky, it has been described as the most "uncompromising school of western Marxism." Central to Trotskyism are the notions that a socialist revolution must spread internationally to succeed, the belief that socialism can only be achieved through the armed force of the working class under the leadership of the Party, and the concept of "permanent revolution", which is the assertion that the Marxist transformation of society must continue without interruption. Trotskyism became a subversive ideology in the Soviet Union during the Stalinist era, as Trotsky and Stalin disagreed over the future course of the revolution. The conflict resulted in Trotsky's expulsion from the Soviet Communist Party in 1927 and his exile from the Soviet Union in 1929. In 1938 Trotsky established a new Communist organization known as the . The primary task of the Fourth International in preparing for the revolution was seen as the creation of the national party organizations that would lead the working class. Trotsky himself was murdered by a Stalinist agent in Mexico in 1940. (Peter Shipley, "Trotskyism: 'Entryism' and Permanent Revolution", Conflict Studies 81, March 1977, pp. 1-3). 47 Shipley, p. 13. It should be noted that while Trotskyism failed to gain a toehold among the working classes of the Western world it did attract a working class following in Chile during the 1930s, Bolivia in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and in Sri Lanka (Ceylon until 1972) up to the late 1970s. 48 As Eric Hobsbawm wrote of the Western world during that era, "for the first time since the anti-fascist era, Marxism, no longer confined to Moscow orthodoxy, attracted large numbers of young Western intellectuals ... It was a peculiar seminar-oriented Marxism ... for it came out of the classroom, not the experience of working lives." (Hobsbawm, p. 445). Of the various brands of Marxism that gained currency among Western students during the period, Trotskyism in particular gained wide popularity, though in part because it still had an air of purity to it. As Nick Cohen wrote, "Many revolutionaries of the 1968 generation called themselves Trotskyists rather than communists to avoid taking responsibility for Stalin, a transparent manoeuvre to keep communism alive by pretending that the one-party state would have been fine if only Lenin or Trotsky had stayed in charge of the secret police." (Cohen, p. 87). 49 Dan Weston interview, with author, Fredericton, N.B., 24 May 2007. 50 Bill Ross and Maxine Ross interview, with author, Fredericton, N.B., 14 December 2006.

58 an experienced Trotskyist, having been involved with the Young Socialist Alliance in

Madison, Wisconsin and with the Trotskyist movement in his native Ceylon (now Sri

Lanka).52 Mendis began to attract support within the CSDS for his views, and develop a base of support within the group for Trotskyist ideas. The CSDS began to divide into two broad groups, one centred on Mendis's Trotskyism and the other on the eclectic ideas advocated by Strax's followers. This divide became an open split in mid-November

196953 and was a basic conflict regarding the direction of the CSDS and the political stance it would promote.

According to Mendis, Strax was a negative force in the CSDS. He also claimed that Strax accused him of trying to sabotage the group because he insisted "on reading, thinking and discussing before doing anything."54 According to the Trotskyists, the Strax group felt threatened by the growing support for Mendis within the CSDS and responded with attacks on them.55 The view from the Strax camp was that the Trotskyists were

51 "The Trotskyist Movement in Fredericton: Results and Prospects", presented by the Fredericton YS to the 8 September, 1970 YS/LJS plenum, 2 September 1970, p. 1, file 78-10, "YS/LJS-Fredericton-Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 52 Eustace Mendis to Joe Young, 4 January 1970, file 78-8, "YS/LJS Fredericton-Correspondence and Minutes, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. The Trotskyist movement in Ceylon was dominated by the LSSP (Ceylon Equal Society Party in English), which was the most successful Trotskyist organization in the world, having built up a solid base within trade unions and winning seats in parliamentary elections. At the time that Mendis entered the CSDS, the LSSP was the third largest party in Ceylon. The YSA was the American equivalent to the YS, yet only sympathetic to the USFI rather than affiliated. (Shipley, pp. 8, 16). 53 "The Trotskyist Movement in Fredericton: Results and Prospects", presented by the Fredericton YS to the 8 September 1970 YS/LJS plenum, 2 September 1970, p. 2, file 78-10, "YS/LJS-Fredericton-Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 54 Eustace Mendis to Joe Young, 4 January 1970, file 78-8, "YS/LJS Fredericton-Correspondence and Minutes, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 55 "The Trotskyist Movement in Fredericton: Results and Prospects", presented by the Fredericton YS to the 8 September, 1970 YS/LJS plenum, 2 September 1970, p. 2, file 78-10, "YS/LJS-Fredericton-Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", Container 78„ Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

59 turning CSDS meetings into ideological straggles and wanted to take advantage of the

group's prominence to recast it along Trotskyist lines.56

By the beginning of December 1969 the CSDS fell victim to the incompatibility

of the anarcho or socialist-libertarianism of the Strax group, and the more ideological

socialism of the growing Mendis group, in particular over the question of decision­

making procedures. The Trotskyists claimed that members of the Strax group acted in a

manner that violated the majority decisions of CSDS members. This accusation was also

made when a Strax group member violated a recent CSDS decision that no drugs would

be allowed in the CSDS meeting room by bringing a bag of hashish into a meeting.57 At

this point the animosity between the two emerging cliques within the CSDS became

unmanageable. A decision was made by the Trotskyist members of the CSDS and their

sympathizers to leave the organization and form their own, "a socialist group where

decision-making was to take place by majority vote."58 Mendis himself was viewed as

the natural leader of the splinter group but did not take the initiative in forming the new

political organization.59 This new organization would be called the New Brunswick

Socialists (NBS).

The fracturing of and ideological conflicts within the CSDS that gave rise to the

NBS were not unique to the organization. As the New Left became increasingly

radicalized during the late 1960s, an ever-growing number of New Leftists adopted more

56 Dan Weston interview, with author, Fredericton, N.B., 24 May 2007. 57 Terence Hamilton-Smith, "Decision-Making in Wonderland", 7-13 December 1969, file 10, "E3-1969", Vol. 54, R10995, fonds, LAC. 58 "The Trotskyist Movement in Fredericton: Results and Prospects", presented by the Fredericton YS to the 8 September 1970 YS/LJS plenum, 2 September 1970, pp. 2-3, file 78-10, "YS/LJS-Fredericton- Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 59 "The Trotskyist Movement in Fredericton: Results and Prospects", presented by the Fredericton YS to the 8 September 1970 YS/LJS plenum, 2 September 1970, pp. 2-3, file 78-10, "YS/LJS-Fredericton- Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

60 traditional and ideologically rigid leftist positions, particularly of a Marxist persuasion.

The SDS itself, the inspiration for the CSDS, was torn apart in 1969 by the emergence of

Marxist or Marxist-inspired factions within it, including the Maoist Progressive Labor organization.60 The fracturing of CSDS therefore can be understood not so much as a dispute between the New Left and Trotskyists, but rather between New Leftists who incorporated a dogmatic Marxist or socialist analysis and New Leftists who did not.

While Trotskyists may have initiated the CSDS split, it was competing views on the role of socialist dogma among all New Leftists within CSDS that appeared to be the primary ideological reason for the group's division. The developments that broke apart the CSDS and the impact it had, namely the creation of the NBS, were very much a reflection of a larger process within the radical left during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The original impetus for the formation of the NBS came from Terry Hamilton-

Smith and Tony Hare. Hare's involvement in the new organization would be short, due to frequent absences from Fredericton (a stint of working in Winnipeg and of school in

Toronto). By March 1970, he had left the NBS to become the Young Communist

League's organizer for the Maritimes.61 Hamilton-Smith, on the other hand, would soon become one of the most prominent members of the NBS and the subsequent leader of the

Young Socialists in Fredericton.62 Originally from southern Ontario,63 Hamilton-Smith and his wife Carol were recent converts to Trotskyism. As Hamilton-Smith put it in a letter to League for Socialist Action (LSA) member Jacquie Henderson in April 1970:

60 Todd Gitlin, The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage, New York: Bantam Books, 1987, pp. 382-8. 61 Eustace Mendis to Jacquie Henderson, 13 March 1970, file 78-8, "YS/LJS Fredericton-Correspondence and minutes, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 62 Atlantic Regional Socialist Conference agenda, 13-14 March 1971, file 6/2, York-Sunbury NDP Association collection, MC1089, PANB. Terry Hamilton-Smith is referred to in the programme for the conference as "leader of the Fredericton Y.S." 63 Terry Hamilton-Smith to , 25 February 1970, file 78-8, "YS/LJS Fredericton- Correspondence and Minutes, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

61 "Our own development has been so rapid (six months ago we were innocent New

Left!)."64

At a meeting on 10 December 1969, on the UNB campus, the NBS was officially

formed. The NBS would eventually become the driving force behind the creation of the

NB Waffle. The NBS brought together a mix of local socialists of different persuasions

with the stated objective of building "a strong Socialist movement on the campus and

simultaneously to direct the campus activists into the larger left-wing community."65 The

NBS held the belief that "the ultimate success of the people's struggle will be achieved

only through the elimination of capitalism and the development of a socialist society."66

The group was also informally committed to the concept of democratic-centralist

decision-making (which enforces group discipline once a group decision has been arrived

at) and sought to apply socialist theory to New Brunswick-specific problems. The NBS

hardly started out as a politically homogenous grouping, and by its own admission was

initially "a centrist socialist grouping, containing within it left-liberal, social-democratic,

ultraleft and even Stalinist tendencies in addition to the solid core moving towards

Trotskyism."67 Very soon after the founding of the NBS, however, the Trotskyists

consolidated themselves as the NBS leadership.68

Terry Hamilton-Smith to Jacquie Henderson, 9 April 1970, file 78-8, "YS/LJS Fredericton- Correspondence and Minutes, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 65 "CSDS Splits", The Brunswickan, 13 March 1970. 66 Terry Hamilton-Smith, "New Brunswick Socialists", 3 January 1970, file 37, "New Brunswick, 1970", Box 4, Revolutionary Marxist Group fonds, William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections, McMaster University. 67 "The Trotskyist Movement in Fredericton: Results and Prospects", presented by the Fredericton YS to the 8 September 1970 YS/LJS plenum, 2 September 1970, pp. 3-4, file 78-10, "YS/LJS-Fredericton- Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 68 "The Trotskyist Movement in Fredericton: Results and Prospects", 2 September 1970, presented by the Fredericton YS for the YS/LJS plenum, 8 September 1970, pp. 3-4, file 78-10, "YS/LJS-Fredericton- Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

62 While the NBS drew some members from the CSDS, it started out as a small

organization. The NBS had approximately 15 people interested in it to varying degrees,

and about eight actual members.69 The CSDS, meanwhile, saw a significant drop in its

membership, to around 15 to 20 people,70 and chose to re-organize itself as a collective.

The collective sought to "enable a more effective and realistic approach to the problem of

politicizing youth in the high school, the universities, the streets, and in young non-

unionized workers."71 In a Brunswickan article by Dan Weston announcing the

reformation of CSDS into a collective, the ideological split that gave rise to the NBS was

alluded to, as he claimed that the reformed CSDS operated "without basic ideological

prerequisites such as the necessity of a knowledge of revolutionary socialism."72 The

CSDS persisted for the remainder of the school year and faded out by the summer of

1970.73

The NBS was quick to make itself known among the larger UNB community and

in Fredericton. Literature tables were set up and speakers were sponsored as part of an

educational campaign directed at the student body of UNB and aimed specifically at

those disillusioned with the CSDS.74 Among those contacted by the NBS to speak at

UNB was prominent Ontario Waffler Mel Watkins, who was unfortunately unable to

attend.75 The group also released a series of documents concerning the economic

69 Terry Hamilton-Smith, "Decision-Making in Wonderland", 7-13 December 1969, file 10, "E3-1969", Vol. 54, Dowson fonds, LAC. 70 Dan Weston interview, with author, Fredericton, N.B., 24 May 2007. 71 "CSDS To Form Collective", The Brunswickan, 6 March 1970. 72 "CSDS To Form Collective", The Brunswickan, 6 March 1970. 73 Dan Weston interview, with author, Fredericton, N.B., 24 May 2007. 74 "The Trotskyist Movement in Fredericton: Results and Prospects", 2 September 1970, presented by the Fredericton YS for the YS/LJS plenum, 8 September 1970, p. 4, file 78-10, "YS/LJS-Fredericton-Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 75 Letters between Terry Hamilton-Smith and Mel Watkins, 9 January 1970; 16 January 1970; 22 January 1970; 2 February 1970, Bill Ross private collection.

63 situation of New Brunswick as they understood it, one of which was published in The

Brunswickan under the title "Poverty, Poverty Everywhere."76

As mentioned above, Trotskyists (primarily Eustace Mendis and Terry Hamilton-

Smith) quickly assumed a leadership position within the NBS, and they sought to

influence the organization along Trotskyist lines. In the interest of fulfilling this aim,

Mendis began contacting the League for Socialist Action (LSA). The LSA was the latest

in a long series of Canadian Trotskyist organizations, and was the Canadian affiliate77 of

the United Secretariat of the Fourth International (USFI), the largest Trotskyist

organization in the world, which was formed in 1963 out of a split in the global

Trotskyist movement.78 Since the late 1930s Canadian Trotskyists had organized

nationally under the banners of the Socialist Workers League followed by the

Revolutionary Workers Party, and then split into a series of regional groups during the

7Q

1950s." The LSA was founded in 1960 as a formal fusion of independent Trotskyist

branches in Toronto and Vancouver.80 The LSA's youth wing was known as the Young

Socialists (YS).81

Mendis first contacted the LSA headquarters in Toronto in January 1970,

expressing interest in turning the NBS into a Fredericton local of the YS.82 The

Terry Hamilton-Smith, "Poverty and the Great Leap Forward in New Brunswick", 2 March 1970, file 37, "New Brunswick, 1970", Box 4, Revolutionary Marxist Group fonds, William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections, McMaster University, and "Poverty, Poverty Everywhere", The Brunswickan, 23 January 1970. 77 Shipley, p. 16. 78 Shipley, p. 5. 79 Ross Dowson, The Socialist Vanguard and the NDP, Toronto: Socialist League, 1976, pp. 14-7. 80 "Building the Revolutionary Party in Canada", submitted by the Political Committee of the LSA/LSO, in LSA/LSO Internal Discussion Bulletin 1970, (7) August 1970, p. 9, file 47, Al-1970 (#7), Vol. l,Dowson fonds, LAC. 81 Roger O'Toole, The Precipitous Path: Studies in Political Sects, Toronto: Peter Martin Associates Limited, 1977, p. 14. 82 Eustace Mendis to Joe Young, 4 January 1970, file 78-8, "YS/LJS Fredericton-Correspondence and Minutes, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

64 Hamilton-Smiths were the most interested in the YS and had joined them by April 1970,

though they had some difficulty in convincing other NBS members to follow. Early

attempts to turn the group into a YS local failed.83 They were frustrated by the wing of

the NBS centred around Bill and Maxine Ross, who made it clear that they would not

join a Trotskyist organization.84

Both in their late twenties at the time and originally from Pictou County, Nova

Scotia, Bill and Maxine Ross had married after meeting at Mount Allison University.

After a few years in Colorado (where Bill did graduate work), they moved to Fredericton

in 1968, where Bill became a physics professor at UNB and Maxine started teaching in

the school system. The Rosses' political activism began while they were in Colorado, as

they gradually involved themselves in the Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam War

movements. Converted to socialism by the time they returned to Canada, the Rosses

were drawn to the NDP by the release of the Ontario Waffle Manifesto and the increasing

activity of the Waffle in that province.85

The Rosses' aversion to the NBS becoming a YS local stemmed from a concern that all of the other NBS members would leave the group for the YS and leave them isolated.86 Once it was made apparent that the NBS would continue to function alongside a YS local, the path was cleared for a YS local to be formed in Fredericton. The

Fredericton YS (FYS) was formed in April 1970.87 For a few months the FYS and NBS

83 Terry Hamilton-Smith to Jacquie Henderson, 9 April 1970, file 78-8, "YS/LJS Fredericton- Correspondence and Minutes, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 84 Carol Hamilton-Smith to unknown, 29 March 1970, file 78-8, "YS/LJS Fredericton-Correspondence and Minutes, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 85 Bill Ross and Maxine Ross interview, with author, Fredericton, N.B., 14 December 2006. 86 Carol Hamilton-Smith to Harry Kopyto, 4 May 1970, file 16, "E3-1970", Vol. 54, Dowson fonds, LAC. 87 "The Trotskyist Movement in Fredericton: Results and Prospects", 2 September 1970, presented by the Fredericton YS for the YS/LJS plenum, 8 September 1970, p. l,p. 6, file 78-10, "YS/LJS-Fredericton- Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

65 co-existed with almost identical membership lists (by early May 1970 everyone who was

an NBS member was also a FYS member with the exception of the Rosses).88 The FYS

gradually took over more and more of the roles previously filled by the NBS and by July

1970 the NBS ceased to hold meetings or have active work, effectively fading out of

existence.89

In the spring of 1970, both the Trotskyists and the independent socialists (that is,

the Rosses) of the FYS-NBS shared a mutual interest in involvement in the NDP, even

though none of the FYS-NBS members had had any previous involvement with the

party.90 The Trotskyists of the FYS sought involvement in the NDP out of a commitment

to the policy of entryism, which was central to the LSA's general strategy.

Entryism stipulated that Trotskyists should abandon attempts to create their own

parties and instead enter (often secretly) into existing social democratic or orthodox

Communist parties. This strategy was devised largely as a response to what one writer

called "the problems created by the weakness of Trotskyism and its lack of direct appeal

for the working class."91 The rationale behind entryism was that Trotskyists could reach

the largest number of working class people by working within their biggest political

party. In Canada, this party was regarded at first as the CCF and then as the NDP.

Entryists seek to "exploit left-inclined sections of opinion" within social democratic parties and thus move them further to the left, closer towards Trotskyist positions. The ultimate aim was to swing the balance of power within such a party away from reformist

88 Carol Hamilton-Smith to Harry Kopyto, 4 May 1970, file 16, "E3-1970", Vol. 54, Dowson fonds, LAC. 89 "The Trotskyist Movement in Fredericton: Results and Prospects", 2 September 1970, presented by the Fredericton YS for the YS/LJS plenum, 8 September 1970, p. 6, file 78-10, "YS/LJS-Fredericton-Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 90 "The Trotskyist Movement in Fredericton: Results and Prospects", 2 September 1970, presented by the Fredericton YS for the YS/LJS plenum, 8 September 1970, p. 12, file 78-10, "YS/LJS-Fredericton-Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 91 Shipley, p. 9.

66 social democrats towards revolutionaries, and thus create the party that would provide revolutionary leadership to the working class.92

Entryism was first adopted in the 1930s and gradually became the policy of many

Trotskyist organizations worldwide.93 Entryism was adopted by the LSA the moment that it was formed, and when the NDP was in the process of being created LSA members saw a great opportunity to act as "a socialist tendency whose relationship would be best expressed as an affiliate of a federated labour party."94 The LSA therefore set about to

"win the New Party to a socialist policy."95 The LSA policy of entryism in the NDP was practised throughout the 1960s, including a brief attempt in New Brunswick in 1963,96 and it would become a key factor in the creation of the NB Waffle.

There was, however, one major obstacle to the FYS-NBS desire to begin working within the NDP: there was, for all intents and purposes, no NDP organization in

Fredericton in the spring of 1970. The local NDP riding association was moribund. It had not met in two years and had only four or five members.97 If the FYS and NBS were going to involve themselves in the local NDP, they would have to build it first. They set

92 Shipley, p. 9. 93 Shipley, p. 9. Entryism was first advocated and practised in France, Chile, and the United States, where Trotsky himself had instructed Trotskyists to join the Socialist Party. Trotskyists soon entered the CCF in Canada as well, doing so in 1937, though this first attempt at entryism in Canada was short-lived. (Ross Dowson, The Socialist Vanguard and the NDP, pp. 14-5). 94 Ross Dowson, The Socialist Vanguard and the NDP, p. 25. 95 "Found League for Socialist Action", June 1961, LSA/LSO Internal Discussion Bulletin 1970, (2), July 1970, file 42, Al-1970 (#2), Vol. 1, Dowson fonds, LAC. 96 May Richards to the editors of "Viewpoint", 1 September 1963 and Lyle S. Kristiansen to May Richards, 5 September 1963, "NB YND 1961-71" file, Vol. 472, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC. Richards's letter to "Viewpoint" referred to the presence of two LSA members contacting NDP members in New Brunswick, in particular young members, during the summer of 1963. Richards expressed concern over the political program of the LSA and Kristiansen's response stated that she had "good reason to be wary of these people." 97 "The Trotskyist Movement in Fredericton: Results and Prospects", 2 September 1970, presented by the Fredericton YS for the YS/LJS plenum, 8 September 1970, p. 12, file 78-10, "YS/LJS-Fredericton-Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

67 out to contact the few active New Democrats who resided in the federal riding of York-

Sunbury, the constituency that encompassed Fredericton and surrounding communities.

The most prominent member of the York-Sunbury NDP riding association

(indeed the only really active one)98 was Pat Callaghan, who would come to be a major

figure in the NB Waffle. Callaghan was born in Scotland in 192799 and grew up in

Dumbarton, a major shipbuilding centre in the western end of greater Glasgow.

Dumbarton was part of a larger region known as the "Red Clyde," named so for the river

it was situated along and the dominant political stance of its inhabitants. It was in this

heavily left-wing political atmosphere that Callaghan's own politics developed. As

Callaghan put it, "I was a socialist all my life . . ." Politically he was first involved with

the Scottish Nationalist Party and then moved to the left-wing of the Labour Party. He

emigrated to Canada in 1954, arrived in Halifax and soon settled down in Fredericton, where he started a window-cleaning business. Callaghan became a member of the CCF

shortly after coming to Canada and was among the founding members of the NB NDP in

1962.100 He ran as an NDP candidate in York-Sunbury in the 1965 and 1968 federal elections.1 ' As the primary contact person for the NDP in Fredericton, Callaghan was the person to approach for anyone interested in the party locally, and the FYS-NBS did so in late April 1970.102

Eustace Mendis to Ross Dowson, 11 May 1970, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 99 "The New Democratic Party presents Pat Callaghan and Charles Khoury" pamphlet, 1970 N.B. election, JN25, Harriet Irving Library Government Document stacks, UNB. 100 Pat Callaghan interview, with author, Fredericton, N.B., 17 December 2006. 101 Parliament of Canada website, http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/process/house/hfer/hfer.asp?Language=E&Search=Cres&canNam e=Patrick+Callaghan&canParty=0&ridProvince=0&ridName=&submitl=Search 102 "The Trotskyist Movement in Fredericton: Results and Prospects", 2 September 1970, presented by the Fredericton YS for the YS/LJS plenum, 8 September 1970, p. 12, file 78-10, "YS/LJS-Fredericton-Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

68 Callaghan was an embodiment of those New Democrats who were always

skeptical about the transformation of the old CCF into the NDP between 1958 and 1961.

These were the CCF members who had an almost religious devotion to the Regina

Manifesto and the concept of the CCF as a steadfast socialist party. CCF

"fundamentalists" resented the moderation of the party, initiated by the Winnipeg

Declaration in 1956 and then by the New Party process that would produce the NDP. As

historian Desmond Morton has put it, "veteran CCF voters could only wonder whether

their cherished party had sacrificed its teeth."103 In a place such as New Brunswick,

where the CCF never knew victory, the supposed purity of the party became the primary

attraction for many members. It is easy to see why a committed socialist such as

Callaghan was enthusiastic about the young leftists who approached him in 1970.

Callaghan's politics were, however, at first unknown to the FYS-NBS, and thus

they were apprehensive about their proposed meeting with him. Well aware of past

expulsions of Trotskyists from the CCF and NDP, the FYS members were initially

cautious about meeting the local NDP guru, and at first used the NBS as a front for their

involvement in the NDP. No mention of the FYS was made during the first few months

after their entry into the local party.104 Concerns about Callaghan's reaction to the

expressed interest in the local NDP among a cadre of leftist radicals, however, turned out

to be misplaced. Bill Ross recalled the surprise felt among FYS-NBS members when they "realized that Pat was .. . from the Red Clyde and was as far left as we were too and

Morton, pp. 19-20. The was an attempt by the CCF to update the Depression- born party for the affluent and more conservative 1950s, namely by accepting the mixed economy and affirming a commitment to an anti-Soviet, pro-Western foreign policy. 104 Carol Hamilton-Smith to Harry Kopyto,9 May 1970, file 16, "E3-1970", Vol. 54, Dowson fonds, LAC.

69 certainly pushed a socialist agenda for the NDP."105 Carol Hamilton-Smith was happy to report back to an LSA colleague in Toronto that Callaghan "seems fairly good: he supports Watkins and feels there are too many right-wing elements in the NDP now."106

Callaghan seemed more than re-energized by the sudden influx of interested leftists, and he has credited Bill and Maxine Ross in particular with getting him actively involved in the NDP again.107

Almost immediately after this encounter between Callaghan and the FYS-NBS, the first NDP meeting in York-Sunbury in two years was held. In elections for the riding association's Executive Council, Pat Callaghan became president,108 Bill Ross became vice-president, Eustace Mendis became secretary, and Ron Gaudet, a new recruit to the

FYS, became treasurer.109 The influx of FYS-NBS members into the York-Sunbury NDP was large enough that they had, along with Callaghan, an almost total monopoly over the membership and direction of the riding association. The prospect of forming a Waffle group in New Brunswick was immediately discussed.110

Callaghan, like the Rosses, was attracted to the democratic socialism of the

Waffle Manifesto and provided the initial push for the formation of a Waffle group in

Fredericton.''' The FYS soon saw the formation of a Waffle group as the perfect front for enacting an entryist strategy, and the group intended to put forward a Trotskyist

Bill Ross and Maxine Ross interview, with author, Fredericton, N.B., 14 December 2006. 106 Carol Hamilton-Smith to Harry Kopyto, 4 May 1970, file 16, "E3-1970", Vol. 54, Dowson fonds, LAC. 107 Pat Callaghan interview, with author, Fredericton, N.B., 17 December 2006. 108 Carol Hamilton-Smith to Harry Kopyto, 4 May 1970, file 16, "E3-1970", Vol. 54, Dowson fonds, LAC. 109 Carol Hamilton-Smith to Harry Kopyto, 9 May 1970, file 16, "E3-1970", Vol. 54, Dowson fonds, LAC. 110 Eustace Mendis to Ross Dowson, 11 May 1970, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 111 "The Trotskyist Movement in Fredericton: Results and Prospects", 2 September 1970, presented by the Fredericton YS for the YS/LJS plenum, 8 September 1970, p. 14, file 78-10, "YS/LJS-Fredericton-Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

70 agenda within the Waffle and get it to adopt their program.112 From this position, they would be well placed to win over the NB NDP as a whole. The FYS belief that the

Waffle offered a golden opportunity for entryism into the NDP was held by other

LSA/YS members in Canada.113 A Waffle group was also regarded as a useful shield for

FYS members against potential red-baiting.114 With the York-Sunbury NDP membership almost entirely behind the idea of forming a Waffle group in the province, the New

Brunswick Waffle was unofficially formed in the spring of 1970.

For the remainder of its existence, it is accurate to divide the NB Waffle into two tendencies. The first is best described as the non-Trotskyist wing, which included a cross-section of far-left socialists, New Leftists, and left-libertarians. This non-Trotskyist wing was dominated by Callaghan, the Rosses, and eventually a Scottish UNB student named Alastair Robertson. The second tendency was the Trotskyist wing, dominated by the FYS. Hamilton-Smith had become the most prominent member of the FYS following

Mendis's departure from Fredericton in July 1970.115 These two groups would have differing degrees of involvement in the development of the NB Waffle and eventually represent differing strategies about the future direction of the group. From its onset, therefore, it is best to understand the NB Waffle as a coalition of socialists, left- libertarians, New Leftists and Trotskyists, with some members expressing views that

112 Terry Hamilton-Smith to Anne MacDonald, 19 January 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 113 LSA Political Committee members Dick Fidler and Anne MacDonlad suggested in June 1971 that one of the LSA policies towards the Waffle should be to "encourage die Waffle to take initiatives within the framework of the NDP, to push the party into action in support of the left's anticapitalist demands." (Report for the Political Committee by Dick Fidler and Anne MacDonald, 23 June 1971, file 3, "E3-1971", Vol. 55, Dowson fonds, LAC). 114 Terry Hamilton-Smith to Ross Dowson, 9 August 1970, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 115 "The Trotskyist Movement in Fredericton: Results and Prospects", 2 September 1970, presented by the Fredericton YS for the YS/LJS plenum, 8 September 1970, p. 6, file 78-10, "YS/LJS-Fredericton-Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

71 were mixtures of these ideologies. While the non-Trotskyist wing of the NB Waffle did not necessarily exhibit a single ideology, the organization would eventually split along lines defined by Trotskyists versus non-Trotskyists.

The NB Waffle during the spring and summer of 1970 was not yet a distinct group within the NDP. This was largely because NB Waffle supporters were busy building the NDP's organizational structure in Fredericton rather than promoting their own agenda. The Fredericton Waffle members were also seeking out other Waffle sympathizers elsewhere in the province. If a sizeable body of Waffle sympathizers could be located across New Brunswick, then the NB Waffle would move to become a distinct group. Bill Ross also informed the Waffle leadership in Ontario about developments in

Fredericton, and a small write-up about the emerging Waffle movement in the city appeared in the July 1970 edition of The Waffle News, entitled "You Remember New

Brunswick."116

The FYS wing, meanwhile, was not restricting its activity to the NDP. Indeed, building up and influencing the local NDP and Waffle group was only a small part of their agenda. The FYS was attempting to show a presence throughout Fredericton's activist community, including the local anti-war and feminist movements.117 By July

1970, for instance, FYS members made up about 30 percent of the general membership of the Fredericton Committee Against the War in Indo-China (FCAWIC), though the total membership was no more than 20."° The FYS also tried to organize a women s

116 "You Remember New Brunswick", Waffle News, July 1970, file 18, Vol. 446, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC. 117 "The Trotskyist Movement in Fredericton: Results and Prospects", 2 September 1970, presented by the Fredericton YS for the YS/LJS plenum, 8 September 1970, pp. 9-12, file 78-10, "YS/LJS-Fredericton- Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 118 R-J Gaudet, "Report on the Composition of the Fredericton Committee Against the War in Indo-China. 2 July 1970", file 78-10, "YS/LJS-Fredericton-Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

72 liberation group out of more militant members of the local chapter of Voice of

Women.119 The FYS was also making inroads into Fredericton's only high school, where

several students had become members. In September 1970, the FYS membership was

seven, two of whom were high school students.120 By October 1971, the FYS had 15

members, nine of them high school students.121

These tactics were consistent with the practices of many Trotskyists during this

period. As the 1960s progressed there was little immediate hope of revolution breaking

out on the factory floor, so many Trotskyists in the West began to look to the emerging

New Left and student movement as a source of new support.122 Trotskyists started

involving themselves in the broader student movement and in campaigns promoting such

popular causes as feminism and opposition to the Vietnam War.123 Canadian Trotskyists

were no exception to this trend within Trotskyism, and the LSA sought to gain influence

and support through involvement in the New Left, primarily through the YS.124 During

the late 1960s, the YS believed that the growing radical ferment of the era in Canada held revolutionary potential, that "the women's liberation, anti-war, student and Quebecois

nationalist movements foreshadow the revolutionary action of all working people."125

The FYS also began to make contacts in other parts of the province and

established other YS locals. These locals would provide bases for the geographic

119 "The Trotskyist Movement in Fredericton: Results and Prospects", 2 September 1970, presented by the Fredericton YS for the YS/LJS plenum, 8 September 1970, pp. 15-16, file 78-10, "YS/LJS-Fredericton- Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 120 "The Trotskyist Movement in Fredericton: Results and Prospects", 2 September 1970, presented by the Fredericton YS for the YS/LJS plenum, 8 September 1970, pp. 8-9, 16, file 78-10, "YS/LJS-Fredericton- Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 121 Transcription of the final section of CEC hearings of the FYS local, 25 October 1971, p. 3, file 75-10, "Fredericton Inquiry, n.d., 1971-1972", Container 75, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 122 Shipley, p. 5. 123 Shipley, p. 5. 124 O'Toole, p. 14. 125 "Meet the Young Socialists" pamphlet, file 17, E3-1965-70, Vol. 54, Dowson fonds, LAC.

73 expansion of the NB Waffle. About five people in the Black's Harbour/Beaver Harbour

area of Charlotte County, on New Brunswick's southwest Bay of Fundy coast, expressed

an interest in the NBS (having not yet heard of the FYS) in May 1970, and a YS local

grew out of this. Furthermore, the FYS began to operate openly within the York-

Sunbury NDP by July 1970, breaking the usual code of secrecy adopted by Trotskyist

entryists.127

The increasing involvement of the FYS in the NDP attracted the attention of Ross

Dowson, the LSA's national secretary. Born in 1917, Dowson was a veteran of the

Canadian Trotskyist movement. His involvement in the Trotskyist movement began in

the late 1930s, a period of intense repression against Trotskyists.1 These early

experiences in Trotskyist politics would come to play a major role in Dowson's attitude

towards the FYS. Dowson's only communication with the FYS between its founding and

the summer of 1971 was a letter sent to the local in June 1970 advising them not to

intervene in the NDP at either the riding or provincial level, fearing that such activity would result in their expulsion from the party. A mass expulsion of FYS members from the NDP would obviously disrupt the whole entryist project. The FYS, however, viewed the situation differently and believed that Dowson's fears were misplaced. Their decision was to ignore his advice. As far as they were concerned, the FYS was secure from expulsion because of the nature of the NDP in New Brunswick and because their NDP

126 Carol Hamilton-Smith to Harry Kopyto, 9 May 1970, file 16, "E3-1970", Vol. 54, Dowson fonds, LAC. 127 "The Trotskyist Movement in Fredericton: Results and Prospects", 2 September 1970, presented by the Fredericton YS for the YS/LJS plenum, 8 September 1970, p. 6, file 78-10, "YS/LJS-Fredericton-Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 128 Richard Fidler, "Ross Dowson, 1917-2002", Socialist History Project website, http://www.socialisthistory.ca/Remember/Profiles/Dowson2.htm

74 involvement was making significant gains in the name of their cause.129 The FYS and

Dowson had a fundamental disagreement about how to practise the policy of entryism.

This conflict between the stated goals of the LSA/YS entryist policy and Dowson's actual reaction to the execution of that policy in New Brunswick would eventually cause a major rift between the FYS and the LSA leadership. For the time being, however,

Dowson offered only his single piece of advice and nothing more.

The York-Sunbury NDP enjoyed a spate of growth throughout the summer of

1970. Party membership in the riding rose to about 25 by September.130 Though still small, York-Sunbury now had the second largest NDP membership base in the province after Northumberland County, where the party had a moderate amount of labour support.131 The NB NDP as a whole was beginning to become more organized and sought to contest provincial elections. In the summer of 1970, an election was expected very soon.

The Waffle-dominated York-Sunbury NDP was beginning to make itself known to the rest of the provincial party, and many moderate New Democrats were not particularly impressed. At a provincial council meeting in early August 1970 the

Wafflers (FYS members in particular) were attacked by some other party members,

"Redbaited and Wafflebaited" in the words of Terry Hamilton-Smith. Despite these attacks, the Wafflers had acquired a reputation as party builders. This was indeed the

129 Terry Hamilton-Smith to the Political Committee of the LSA/LSO, 25 October 1971, pp. 2-3, file 13- 19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 130 Terry Hamilton-Smith to Regina Modlich, 23 September 1970, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 131 Terry Hamilton-Smith to Ross Dowson, 9 August 1970, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

75 reality in York-Sunbury, and this managed to swing a majority of the moderates to their defence.132

Meanwhile, in York-Sunbury, there was an increasing desire to make the informal

NB Waffle group official.133 The York-Sunbury Waffle was officially launched at a riding association meeting on 23 August 1970. The group decided that a provincial

Waffle would be formally organized at the NB NDP convention scheduled for 12

September 1970 in Fredericton.134 A week before the convention, Premier Louis

Robichaud called an election for 26 October.135 Thus, just as the NB Waffle was planning to make its official debut, the New Brunswick NDP would also be facing its first major electoral test.

Terry Hamilton-Smith to Ross Dowson, 9 August 1970, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 133 Terry Hamilton-Smith to Ross Dowson, 9 August 1970, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 134 Fredericton Young Socialists NDP Fraction Report, 13 August 1970, file 78-10, "YS/LJS-Fredericton- Reports and Correspondence, n.d., 1970", Container 78, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 135 "N.B. Votes On Oct. 26", The Telegraph-Journal, 3 September 1970.

76 CHAPTER THREE

A Year in the Life of the New Brunswick Waffle, September 1970 - September 1971

During the first twelve months of its formal existence, the New Brunswick Waffle enjoyed an increase in support, greater influence within the NB NDP, and geographic expansion beyond Fredericton. The first twelve months would also, however, nurture a schism in the NB NDP between the Waffle and party members who believed that the group's policies were too radical. Tension between pro and anti-Waffle forces within the party emerged almost immediately after the Waffle formally organized itself within the

NB NDP. The NB Waffle would conclude its first year by hastily drafting a manifesto and platform for the NB NDP, and preparing for a showdown with its opponents for control of the party. The conclusion of the NB Waffle's first year of existence would also see the emergence of the first cracks in the unity of the organization, namely between Trotskyist and non-Trotskyist members, as the eclectic nature of the NB Waffle became a problem.

On 12 September 1970, about 60 delegates gathered in Fredericton's Monsignor

Boyd Centre to establish the NDP as a legitimate political force in New Brunswick. One of the matters to be dealt with was the election of a provincial council and a new leader, a post that had been vacant going into the convention. J. Albert Richardson was elected leader in a two-way contest against James Bradley. Richardson was a 3 3-year-old woods

77 contractor from the Miramichi. A former Liberal,1 he was in the words of party member

and observer Richard Wilbur, "an old-style labour man,"2 someone focused on the basic

realm of jobs, wages and working conditions. His politics had a populist tone, as he had

left the Liberals because he felt that, in his words, "the rank and file [had] nothing to say

about policy and programs."3

The September 1970 convention saw the NB Waffle make its presence felt in the

structure of the party. Wafflers were elected to several important party positions,

including Pat Callaghan as president and Maxine Ross as executive secretary.4 The

Waffle-dominated York-Sunbury riding association presented several policy resolutions.

Among those that passed were resolutions calling for a $2.00 per hour minimum wage, a

condemnation of the Vietnam War and "American aggression," the socialization of

medical services not covered under medicare, the creation of a mass public transit system

(which included limiting automobile use in urban areas to certain times of day), the

placing of limits on media ownership, the establishment of Crown corporations to

develop natural resources, and a resolution in favour of women's liberation. A resolution

on industrial democracy, which advocated workers' control over decision-making in the

workplace, received a less welcome response and was referred to the new executive for

further study.5 Finally, a resolution supporting the Waffle Manifesto produced by Mel

Watkins and James Laxer was defeated by a vote of 24 to 18, with 10 abstentions.6 The

1970 NB NDP convention was the first instance of an obvious split between the new

1 "Newcastle Area Man Leads NDP", The Daily Gleaner, 14 September 1970. 2 Richard Wilbur interview, with author, St. Andrew's, N.B., 7 March 2007. 3 "Newcastle Area Man Leads NDP", The Daily Gleaner, 14 September 1970. 4 "Silverwood Man To NDP Position", The Daily Gleaner, 14 September 1970. 5 "Industrial Democracy Bid Referred For Study By NDP", The Daily Gleaner, 14 September 1970. 6 "NDP making serious bid in N.B. election", Labor Challenge, 5 October 1970.

78 Waffle and the labour-dominated moderate wing of the party. Eldon Richardson, a

unionist from Saint John, characterized the nature of the emerging split when he openly

dismissed the York-Sunbury NDP as "university oriented."7

The NDP went straight into election mode after the convention. The party

managed to nominate 31 candidates (out of 58 seats in the province), almost all of them

in anglophone districts and primarily in areas where the party had a degree of union

support or Waffle strength. Both Pat Callaghan and Bill Ross ran as candidates,

Callaghan in Fredericton and Ross in Sunbury.8 J. Albert Richardson began the NDP

campaign by stating that as premier he would aim to create 50,000 jobs.9 He campaigned

on a platform that included enhanced welfare provisions, public auto insurance, a

nationalized forest industry and telephone system, and a series of democratic reforms.10

As election day approached, Richardson boldly predicted that the NDP would win

seven or eight seats and hold the balance of power.11 On 26 October 1970, this prediction failed to materialize. Richard Hatfield's Progressive Conservatives defeated Louis

Robichaud's Liberals, and in the process the NDP received only 2.8 percent of the provincial vote.12 Every NDP candidate lost his or her deposit.13

The NDP's performance was hampered in part by the platforms of the Liberals and Tories, both of which either included planks of, or at least addressed the same

7 "Industrial Democracy Bid Referred For Study By NDP", The Daily Gleaner, 14 September 1970. 8 "Keep Your Own Election Score Monday Night", The Daily Gleaner, 24 October 1970. Only two NDP candidates ran in districts that could be regarded as francophone (one in Gloucester and one in Restigouche). The party did, however, contest all five seats in Northumberland, all seven in greater Saint John, and all three in Moncton, all areas where the bulk of the party's union support resided. The NDP also ran candidates in all nine ridings that made up the greater Fredericton area (Fredericton, Carleton, York, and Sunbury), reflecting the Waffle base of the party there. Three out of four seats in Westmorland (home to the NDP base at Mount Allison University in Sackville) were also contested. 9 "Newcastle Area Man Leads NDP", The Daily Gleaner, 14 September 1970. 10 "The New Democratic Party Election Program", The Daily Gleaner, 9 October 1970. 11 "Richardson: Seven Or Eight Seats?", The Evening Times-Globe, 24 October 1970. 12 "Vote Comparison", The Daily Gleaner, 27 October 1970. 13 "Lost Deposits Tell NDP Tale", The Daily Gleaner, 28 October 1970.

79 concerns as, the NDP platform. Richardson himself, however, blamed a second factor

for the NDP's disappointing result. On 5 October, with three weeks remaining in the

campaign, Front de liberation du Quebec (FLQ) extremists kidnapped James Cross, the

British Trade Commissioner to Canada. This was followed on 10 October by the

kidnapping (and subsequent murder on 17 October) of Quebec Labour Minister Pierre

Laporte. Prime Minister had responded to the crisis by invoking the War

Measures Act on 16 October.15 The majority of the federal NDP caucus, led by Tommy

Douglas, opposed Trudeau's action on the grounds that it constituted a violation of civil

liberties.16 Richardson believed the federal NDP's stance was the major reason for the

party's poor showing, publicly stating that, "from this everybody got the impression the

NDP favored the FLQ. It just killed us."17

Regardless of whether the federal NDP's stance during the October Crisis did

cripple the NB NDP's chances in the election, the October Crisis did trigger another split

in the party between the Waffle and moderates. While Richardson himself supported the

War Measures Act,18 Wafflers and other left-wing members of the party participated in demonstrations protesting Trudeau's decision. The split in party ranks over the employment of the War Measures Act prompted one NDP candidate, Charles Khoury in

Fredericton, to emphatically deny press reports that the party supported a protest in

Fredericton against the Act.19 While this particular disagreement within the party did not

14 Stanley, p. 209. 15 Stanley, pp. 209-10. 16 Morton, pp. 119-20. 17 "Lost Deposits Tell NDP Tale", The Daily Gleaner, 28 October 1970. 18 Wilbur, "New Brunswick", p. 156. 19 "City Students, Tutors Protest", The Daily Gleaner, 20 October 1970.

80 persist, it was another example of the NB Waffle causing grief for some moderate party

members.

Despite the split in NB NDP ranks over the War Measures Act and the failure of

the party to win a seat, let alone seven or eight, the party did establish a presence in

anglophone New Brunswick. The NB Waffle as well established itself as a force within

the party. As was the case before its formal creation, the NB Waffle remained a coalition

of Trotskyists fused with democratic socialists and left-libertarians. The two wings of the

NB Waffle cooperated but had some different areas of focus. The FYS was intent upon

expanding the YS into other parts of the province, in part to augment the NB Waffle. It

also continued its involvement in Fredericton's feminist and anti-war movements and in

the local high school. The non-Trotskyist wing meanwhile was preoccupied with

building up the Waffle both provincially and federally, including assisting James Laxer's

candidacy in the federal NDP leadership campaign, which occurred in the spring of

1971.20

It is important to note, however, that while the two wings of the NB Waffle had

differing areas of emphasis, they were not operating either secretly or separately from

each other. Moreover, the NB Waffle membership was almost evenly split between its

Trotskyist and non-Trotskyist sections. As of late September 1970, the NB Waffle had

about 40 members, 22 of whom were YS members.21 The next major expansion of the

YS, and by extension the NB Waffle, occurred in the Black's Harbour/Beaver Harbour

20 The NB Waffle supported James Laxer's leadership campaign in two primary ways. The NB Waffle sent several pro-Laxer delegates to the convention; See "Attendance of Delegates - N.D.P. Federal Convention - 1971", in the private collection of Bill Ross. Cash donations were also made. Bill Ross contributed $110 to the Laxer campaign, making his donation the 13lh single largest to the campaign. ("James Laxer - NDP Federal Leadership Campaign Statement of Donations and Expenditures", file 137-11, "Waffle- Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 137, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC). 21 Terry Hamilton-Smith to Regina Modlich, 23 September 1970, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

81 area, located in the southern part of the federal riding of Carleton-Charlotte in New

Brunswick's southwestern corner. NB Waffle members became involved in a union organizing drive in Black's Harbour, where the Connors Brothers sardine plant was located. By November 1970, there was a YS local and NB Waffle group in the area

(made up of the same people), and the Waffle had control of the local riding association.22

By the spring of 1971 the NB Waffle was progressing. A moderate rise in NB

NDP membership was largely the result of growth in the two Waffle-dominated districts.

In Fredericton, with its two universities, there was a natural base for the Waffle (as FYS founder Eustace Mendis had correctly predicted the year before) and that was reflected in the membership totals for York-Sunbury. NDP membership growth in the riding was particularly impressive, rising from 48 in mid-December 1970 to 77 in mid-February

1971. By late February, the two Waffle-controlled ridings had the first and second largest number of NDP members in the province.23 The NB Waffle also had identified supporters in Moncton and Saint John.24

Terry Hamilton-Smith to Regina Modlich, 23 September 1970, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 23 Eustace Mendis to Ross Dowson, 11 May 1970, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC and memos from Maxine Ross to John F. Kinsel, 12 December 1970 and 20 February 1971, private collection of Bill Ross. NDP membership in New Brunswick on 12 December 1970 was 240, of which 48 were in York-Sunbury and 35 in Carleton-Charlotte. By 20 February 1971 NDP membership in New Brunswick was 292, of which 77 were in York-Sunbury and 46 in Carleton-Charlotte. While NDP membership in total showed a net increase of 21.7 percent, the net increase was 48.2 percent in the two Waffle-controlled ridings. The share of total NDP members in these two ridings rose from 34.6 percent to 42.1 percent during these three months. It is also worth noting that membership in J. Albert Richardson's home riding of Northumberland- Miramichi declined from 42 to 29, and that there were zero NDP members in the largely francophone ridings of Gloucester, Madawaska-Victoria, and Restigouche in December 1970, while there were only three in Gloucester in February 1971. 24 Terry Hamilton-Smith to Regina Modlich, 23 September 1970, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

82 The YS was also expanding in New Brunswick in early 1971. The Black's

Harbour/Beaver Harbour YS local had seven members as of February 1971,25 and locals were soon established in Saint John and Sackville as well, though the Sackville local was relatively short-lived. The FYS became more heavily involved in student politics at

Fredericton High School and UNB. The FYS organized a "Socialist Workers Party" for the high school's Model Parliament. It also ran two candidates, including Ron Gaudet for

President, in the UNB Student Representative Council (SRC) elections in February, garnering 23 percent of the vote.27 YS growth in the Maritimes was not limited to New

Brunswick. By mid-February, there was a Halifax local with 9 members, and total YS membership in the region was 29 (up from 2 a year earlier).28 For the remainder of the time that the YS existed in the Maritimes, Fredericton and Halifax would be the two most prominent locals in the region.

In the first half of 1971, the Trotskyist and non-Trotskyist wings of the NB

Waffle collaborated on several projects, apart from building up the Waffle organization itself. The NB Waffle participated in a pro-choice rally in Fredericton in mid-February and organized (with FYS prompting) a protest against the U.S. invasion of Laos later that same month.29 NB Waffle members in Fredericton were also holding regular meetings, often in Pat Callaghan's own home. Meetings at Callaghan's residence often featured the

25 Terry Hamilton-Smith to Joe Young, 21 February 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton- Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 26 "Contact socialists in your area", Labor Challenge, 12 April 1971. The Sackville YS chapter is listed in issues of Labor Challenge, the LSA/YS paper, dating from 15 February 1971 until 26 April 1971. 27 Letters from Terry Hamilton-Smith to Joe Young, 5 February 1971 and 21 February 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton-Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 28 Terry Hamilton-Smith to JohnRiddell, 21 February 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 29 Terry Hamilton-Smith to Joe Young, 21 February 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton- Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC, and "New Brunswick Groups March For Abortion", The Brunswickan, 19 February 1971.

83 drinking of homebrewed beer and smoking of marijuana. As Callaghan himself recalls,

"there was quite a few meetings where you didn't have to bring any [pot] with ya. All

you had to do was inhale."30 Among the new party members attending Waffle and York-

Sunbury NDP meetings (which were essentially the same thing) was Alastair Robertson,

a Scottish student at UNB who would become one of the most prominent members of the

NB Waffle.31

The NB Waffle continued to enjoy gradual expansion, and the moderates within

the NB NDP were becoming increasingly aware of the Waffle's increased strength. In an

open letter appearing in the March 1971 edition of The New Democrat, Ray LeBreton,

the president of the Chatham NDP, stated that "it would appear that we have a Waffle

movement within our party ranks. This, I feel, we will have to contend with.. ."32 While

he claimed that he was supportive of some aspects of the Laxer-Watkins Waffle

Manifesto, he also stated that he would "fight tooth and nail against anything that would

hinder this party's chances of electing New Democrat MLAs."33 He called upon

Richardson to "take a strong step in coming to grips with the tension that is building up

within this party."34

Tension was indeed building up within the NB NDP. The first major open split

between the Waffle and moderate sections of the party occurred in March 1971 at a

Pat Callaghan interview, with author, Fredericton, N.B., 17 December 2006. 31 The earliest evidence that the author could locate of Alastair Robertson's involvement in the NB Waffle is in the minutes of the York-Sunbury NDP meeting of 24 January 1971, file 1/2 , "Minutes", Box 2759, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB. It is interesting to note that Robertson was also the UNB SRC President between November 1968 and February 1969. ("Robertson quits, calls administration deceitful", The Bmnswickan, 21 February 1969). 32 Ray LeBreton, "New Democrats, Let's Find Ourselves", The New Democrat, March 1971, p. 19, file 2/2, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB. 33 Ray LeBreton, "New Democrats, Let's Find Ourselves", The New Democrat, March 1971, p. 19, file 2/2, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB. 34 Ray LeBreton, "New Democrats, Let's Find Ourselves", The New Democrat, March 1971, p. 19, file 2/2, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB.

84 policy meeting held in Renforth, outside Saint John. While the Trotskyist wing of the

NB Waffle had attracted the most scorn among moderates up to that point, it was the non-

Trotskyist wing of the NB Waffle that provoked this particular split. The YS members in the NB Waffle were not even present at the policy meeting and were instead attending the

Atlantic Regional Socialist Conference in Halifax, held on the same weekend of 13-14

March.35 Presented with a scheduling conflict, the YS members decided that the Halifax conference was more important.36

At the 14 March meeting, a resolution calling for the removal of marijuana possession from the Narcotics Control Act and the government-administered sale of the drug was passed by a vote of 20-8. A subsequent motion to table the resolution to allow for more debate and discussion was defeated by a similar margin. A resolution calling for abortion on demand was also passed, though not with the same level of controversy.

The coordinator of the meeting, Waffler Gary Zatzman, declared that all resolutions passed at the meeting were to automatically become party policy. Richardson, who did not attend the meeting due to snow conditions, disagreed and stated that only resolutions passed at conventions became party policy, while the Renforth meeting was merely a conference?1 The resolutions were later ratified at a council meeting in Fredericton but this was not recognized by Richardson and other moderates, who accused the Wafflers of manipulating the party constitution.38

35 Terry Hamilton-Smith to Richard Ramsey, 1 March 1971, file 6/2, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB. 36 Terry Hamilton-Smith to Joe Young, 21 February 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton- Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 37 "Narcotics Control Act Amendments Urged By NDP", The Telegraph-Journal, 15 March 1971. 38 "NDP Leader Says Party Split", The Telegraph-Journal, 24 March 1971.

85 The split within the party became public, with Callaghan calling for Richardson's

resignation from his position as leader and Richardson calling for Callaghan to resign as

president.39 The conflict prompted resignations on both sides. Ray LeBreton resigned as

president of the Chatham NDP, claiming that "extremist radicals were taking over."40

Meanwhile, both Bill and Maxine Ross resigned from the party executive. Bill Ross

stated that he felt that he could not "in good conscience hold an executive position in a

party in which the majority of members are not interested in anything other than a social

club or debating society,"41 while Maxine resigned on the grounds that she was "not

willing to donate anymore [time] to a party which is clearly not interested in building

socialism."42

Callaghan and Richardson met and concluded that any disagreements within the

party were of "a minor nature" and resolved to put party unity first.43 It was more of a

temporary ceasefire than an actual peace treaty. In practice, it also was more of an

agreement to keep any inner-party disputes out of the public eye. The split within the

party soon moved into the Saint John NDP riding association. On 6 April 1971, Eldon

Richardson, a long time party member and unionist, was ejected from the local

executive44 and the NB Waffle effectively gained control of the riding association. This put the NB Waffle in charge of three ridings within the province.45 It was becoming obvious that a struggle for control of the whole party was quickly developing, and it

39 "NDP Leader Says Party Split", The Telegraph-Journal, 24 March 1971. 40 "Differences In NDP Patched Up", The Telegraph-Journal, 27 March 1971. 41 Bill Ross to Pat Callaghan, 4 April 1971, Bill Ross private collection. 42 Maxine Ross to Pat Callaghan, 3 April 1971, Bill Ross private collection. 43 "Differences In NDP Patched Up", The Telegraph-Journal, 27 March 1971. 44 Letter from Gary Zatzman to Maxine Ross, 5 April 1971, Bill Ross private collection. The note about the Saint John executive was written in ink as an attachment to the main letter, hence the discrepancy between the date of the letter and the date of the events mentioned. 45 "Atlantic Organizer", 13 April 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton-Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970- 1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

86 seemed likely that it would be addressed at the NB NDP convention, scheduled for

September.46

Fearing that the NB Waffle might lose its will to win in the face of a struggle with

the rest of the party, the Trotskyist wing sought to strengthen their position in the NB

Waffle in order to be prepared for the convention.47 The resignations of the Rosses from

the party executive gave their fears credibility. It can also be assumed that the YS

members feared expulsion on issues that were not important to the Trotskyist wing. For

these reasons they were prompted to seek greater control over the direction of the NB

Waffle in preparation for efforts to take control of the NB NDP. By May 1971, the

Trotksyist wing of the NB Waffle, therefore, set about to prepare the group for a fight

against the non-Waffle section of the party.

There was also a Trotskyist-encouraged excursion into municipal politics by the

NB Waffle at this time. The FYS local in particular decided that the NDP should run

candidates in the upcoming civic elections to be held in the province,48 perhaps to refocus

the direction of the NB Waffle. In the civic elections of 14 June, the NDP ran nine

candidates (six of whom were YS members). In Fredericton, the NDP ran candidates for

mayor (Ron Gaudet), two council seats (including Alastair Robertson), and three school board seats, while three candidates ran for the school board in Black's/Beaver Harbour.

Gaudet managed to win 6.5 percent of the vote for mayor of Fredericton.49

There is mention of preparations for the September 1971 NB NDP convention to be held in Saint John in a letter from Gary Zatzman to Maxine Ross, 5 April 1971, Bill Ross private collection. 47 "Atlantic Organizer", 13 April 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton-Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970- 1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 48 "FYS NDP Fraction Report", 5 May 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton-Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 49 "Fredericton NDP in mayoralty bid", Labor Challenge, 7 June 1971 and "NDP gains in N.B. civic elections", Labor Challenge, 5 July 1971.

87 By July 1971, the Trotskyists were focused on preparing the NB Waffle for the

showdown with the moderates. All YS members who had not yet joined the NDP were

encouraged to do so.50 YS contacts were made in Moncton as well. Ron Gaudet, who

was in Moncton in July in a largely unsuccessful attempt to generate interest in the YS at

the Universite de Moncton campus, met an anglophone student radical there named Hans

Durstling. It was hoped that Durstling could recruit other anglophone student radicals in

Moncton for the NDP and, along with existing NB Waffle members, secure NB Waffle

control over a fourth riding association in New Brunswick.51

The FYS local in particular was also discussing convention strategy. Among the

items being considered were the creation of a Waffle slate for leadership positions in the

NB NDP and the development of a complete platform for the party, including a labour

platform designed along Trotskyist lines. The FYS also decided that, at the convention,

the Trotskyists would support Pat Callaghan for leader of the party and Maxine Ross or

Alastair Robertson for president.52 The Trotskyists decided to avoid running for

leadership positions in the NB NDP and to withdraw from leadership roles within the NB

Waffle itself as it came closer to power. This strategy was adopted so as to not give the

federal NDP a pretext for moving against the NB NDP in a red-baiting campaign directed

at YS members.53 The Trotskyists preferred to exert influence on the NB Waffle from

"Fredericton Young Socialists Organizers Report", 3 July 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton- Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 51 "Report on Regional Work in Moncton", 23 July 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton- Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 52 "Fredericton Young Socialists Organizers Report", 19 July 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton- Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 53 Terry Hamilton-Smith to the LSA/LSO Political Committee, 25 October 1971, p. 3, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

88 behind the scenes, using the group as a front, much as the NBS was used as a shield

during the initial organization of the York-Sunbury NDP.

The FYS also discussed the options open to them in the post-convention (and

anticipated post-Waffle victory) NDP. They decided that they would form a

revolutionary caucus that would seek to split the party into social democratic and

revolutionary factions.54 To be planning the creation of such a split within the NB NDP

following a Waffle victory, as opposed to exercising subtle long-term influence, was

somewhat contrary to the understanding of entryism advanced by the LSA/YS leadership.

This would imply that the Trotskyists within the NB Waffle were very fluid in their

strategies, perhaps a reflection of the fact that all of the YS members of the group were

recent converts to Trotskyism and not experienced veterans.

The activities of the FYS were not going unnoticed by the LSA leadership in

Toronto, or by its national secretary Ross Dowson. As Dowson had already made clear

in an earlier letter to the FYS in June 1970, he was concerned that the open activities of

the FYS in the NB NDP would risk the expulsion of YS members from the party, and

thus defeat the whole LSA/YS entryist strategy.55 Dowson's advice of June 1970 was

ignored by the FYS,56 and Dowson repeated his concerns again, in July 1971, in a letter

to the YS locals in both Fredericton and Halifax.

What prompted Dowson to write this second letter was the YS decision to motivate the NDP to contest the municipal elections in Fredericton and Black's/Beaver

54 "Fredericton Young Socialists Organizers Report", 19 July 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton- Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 55 Terry Hamilton-Smith to the LSA/LSO Political Committee, 25 October 1971, pp. 2-3, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 56 Terry Hamilton-Smith to the LSA/LSO Political Committee, 25 October 1971, pp. 2-3, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

89 Harbour. Dowson wrote that the YS activities within the NB NDP (and in particular the

article about the election in Labor Challenge authored by Terry Hamilton-Smith and Ron

Gaudet) might provoke the leadership of the provincial and federal parties. His ultimate

fear was that the provincial and federal NDP brass would panic at the prospect of a

Trotskyist takeover of the NB NDP and expel the YS members wholesale from the party

across Canada. Dowson was convinced that a "wave of radicalization" was sweeping

across Canada and that this was being reflected in the NDP, particularly with the

emergence of the Waffle, and that any expulsions of Trotskyists from the party would

"constitute a serious rupture in our work to further radicalize the NDP".57 Essentially,

Dowson believed that the YS had to proceed more cautiously to avoid expulsion and the

loss of their chance to radicalize the NDP.

Dowson also feared that the Ontario Waffle leadership (which was in his words

"extremely sensitive" about the Trotskyists' relationship with them) would ally with the

leadership of the federal NDP against a possible Trotskyist takeover. His attitude

towards the Waffle was one of support for and activity within the Waffle, but not of

aspiring to lead the Waffle. He was worried that the actions of the YS in the NB Waffle

would jeopardize the tenuous Trotskyist relationship with the Waffle elsewhere in

Canada. He concluded his letter to the Fredericton and Halifax YS locals with the

suggestion that the FYS adopt a more cautious policy of working within the NB Waffle

and NDP, so that the LSA could "discuss fruitfully the nature of [their] NB work."58

Ross Dowson to the Fredericton and Halifax YS locals, 11 July 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch- Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. The article that worried Dowson was in the 5 July 1971 edition of Labor Challenge, entitled "NDP gains in N.B. civic elections". 58 Ross Dowson to the Fredericton and Halifax YS locals, 11 July 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch- Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

90 The FYS was not particularly sympathetic to Dowson's concerns. They believed that, in the previous year, they had proven they were immune to expulsion attempts. A major factor in the thinking of the FYS was that they were founders of the NB Waffle rather than later entrants and that the left in the province was small and radical enough to make "formulations which would be anathema in Ontario" acceptable in New

Brunswick.59 They believed that the Trotskyist position within the NB Waffle, and the

NB Waffle's position within the NB NDP, was strong enough to brush aside Dowson's expulsion concerns. It would appear that the FYS believed that Dowson did not adequately understand the local situation in New Brunswick and that he was trying to force an NDP strategy for Trotskyists in Ontario upon Trotskyists in New Brunswick.60

Believing that Dowson's worries were misplaced and knowing that the NB NDP convention was quickly approaching, the Trotskyist wing of the NB Waffle went about preparing the group for a decisive showdown with the non-Waffle (or "right-wing" in their words) elements of the party.

By August the non-Trotskyist wing of the NB Waffle was well organized and the

Trotskyists had enacted their strategy of pulling out of leadership positions within the group so as to not risk an expulsion. The primary focus of the NB Waffle as a whole in the late summer of 1971 was preparing for victory at the convention, scheduled for the weekend of 25-26 September in Saint John. ' Alastair Robertson, by now a prominent

59 Terry Hamilton-Smith to the LSA/LSO Political Committee, 25 October 1971, p. 3, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 60 Terry Hamilton-Smith to the LSA/LSO Political Committee, 25 October 1971, p. 3, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 61 "NDP Report", passed by the Fredericton YS executive 28 September 1971, to be introduced to the Fredericton YS 2 October, 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970- 1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

91 member of the non-Trotskyist wing of the NB Waffle, seemed to be the major organizer for the NB Waffle's actions at the convention. In late August, he authored a report on the challenges that would face the group at the convention and outlined a strategy for winning at the convention. Robertson clearly laid out what he saw as the NB Waffle's aims at the convention: to present themselves openly and united as the NB Waffle, to

"muster a sufficient majority at the convention to pass a series of left-wing policy statements in key areas," and to elect a full slate of Wafflers to all party offices.62

Robertson drew specific attention to the need of NB Waffle members to draft policy resolutions, since the deadline for resolutions was 15 September. He recommended that policy resolutions be either sent directly to the party's Resolutions Committee or be brought to a meeting of NB Waffle supporters scheduled for 12 September at UNB's

Student Union Building.63

The NB Waffle manifesto and platform, which would become such a point of contention, was therefore a last-minute affair, largely cobbled together on the eve of the convention. The NB Waffle manifesto was entitled "For A Socialist New Brunswick," and was accompanied by several policy resolutions.64 It is important to note that the platform was a fusion of different resolutions written by different people, reflecting both the Trotskyist and non-Trotskyist influences within of the NB Waffle.

The NB Waffle manifesto itself and the bulk of the policy resolutions appear to have been written by Pat Callaghan and Alastair Robertson. Along with the manifesto, their initials appear on the resolutions on "Housing & Environmental Planning,"

"Common Ownership & Workers' Control," and "Education." Robertson appears to be

62 "Waffle News", 25 August 1971, file 6/1, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB. 63 "Waffle News", 25 August 1971, file 6/1, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB. 64 For the full text of "For A Socialist New Brunswick", see Appendix A.

92 the sole author of the resolutions on "Co-operatives" and "Cultural Affairs." It should

be noted that one YS member assisted in the writing of the manifesto preamble.66 Two

resolutions, meanwhile, were written entirely by FYS members. These were the

resolution on "Women's Rights," written by Ron Gaudet, and the resolution on "Trade

Unions and Labour Organization," written by Terry Hamilton-Smith.67

The opening salvo of the NB Waffle program, the "For A Socialist New

Brunswick" manifesto, was a scathing assault on the political and economic situation of

New Brunswick in 1971. The use of tax dollars by provincial governments to entice

corporations to locate in New Brunswick was attacked as resulting in low wages and

environmental destruction. Strip-mining corporations in particular were regarded as

"producing impressive moonscapes of mud, crushed rock and uprooted soil."68 Ottawa-

inspired regional economic plans were also targeted as a "euphemism for planned

capitalist underdevelopment."

After discussing the exploitation of the province's labour force and natural

resources by largely foreign-owned corporations, the manifesto turned to denouncing

Maritime Provinces-based capitalists. Fraser Ltd. was attacked for generating clear-cuts,

pollution, and unemployment. The potato-growing region in the upper St. John River

65 "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB. The initials "PSC" and "AHR" appear after all of the relevant resolutions, while the two resolutions written by YS members lack these initials, giving evidence to the notion that Callaghan and Robertson were the primary authors of the resolutions with their initials on them. 66 "NDP Report", passed by the Fredericton YS executive 28 September, 1971, to be introduced to the Fredericton YS 2 October, 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970- 1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 67 "NDP Report", passed by the Fredericton YS executive 28 September, 1971, to be introduced to the Fredericton YS 2 October, 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970- 1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 68 "For A Socialist New Brunswick", in "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB. 69 "For A Socialist New Brunswick", in "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB.

93 valley was described as "virtually a feudal fiefdom" of Carleton County-based French-fry

producing giant McCains Ltd.70 The Saint John-based Irving empire in particular was

given a thorough beating.

Founded in 1926 by Bouctouche-native K.C. Irving, the Irving empire grew from

a Ford dealership into "the single most powerful economic force in eastern Canada."71

Irving was primarily based in the oil and gas industry and forestry but owned numerous

other operations. The manifesto attacked Irving for clear-cutting and polluting,

controlling "the size of the welfare rolls in Saint John"72 and for their extensive

ownership of media outlets. The attacks drifted into the conspiratorial when the

manifesto also suggested that Irving's ownership of municipal bus systems in Saint John

and Moncton and the long-distance SMT busline were designed to convince New

Brunswickers "that public transport is a privilege rather than a right, and that we should

therefore all become motorists so that we can buy his gasoline."73 The attention paid to

the Irving empire in the manifesto was definitely a unique New Brunswick feature of it.

Irving was a particular source of scorn among New Brunswick leftists at the time, most

often expressed in the pages of The Mysterious East. The focus on Irving in the

"For A Socialist New Brunswick", in "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB. 71 Russell Hunt and Robert Campbell, K.C. Irving: The Art of the Industrialist, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Limited, 1973, pp. 16-9. As of the early 1970s Irving's assets included "the major financial interest in the [Saint John] oil refinery, some 3,000 retail outlets for gas, oil and auto accessories; fuel oil and fuel oil retail distribution; residential propane gas distribution; shipbuilding and repair; a fleet of deep sea vessels; tug boat company; fishing vessels; a major pulp mill; saw mills; approximately two million acres of forest land ... aircraft; plumbing and heating, electrical and industry supporting and building supplies and equipment, manufacturing of light and heavy industrial equipment and machinery." (Hunt and Campbell, p. 31). Irving also owned all five English language daily newspapers in New Brunswick and a radio and television station in Saint John; See Hunt and Campbell, (p. 155). 72 "For A Socialist New Brunswick", in "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB. 73 "For A Socialist New Brunswick", in "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB.

94 manifesto provides yet another reflection of the place occupied by the company in the

imagination of many New Brunswick leftists.

The overview of the New Brunswick economic situation was followed by an

assertion that the "system of corporate capitalist control over people's material

existence"74 must be replaced by socialism, defined as "the common ownership of the

means of production, distribution and exchange under workers' control, with production

for need rather than profit."75 A political struggle for socialism by the powerless and

exploited was prescribed, with the NDP playing a key role in such a struggle by unifying the powerless and exploited with a socialist analysis and program.76

The manifesto proceeded to attack moderate social democratic politics as being disconnected from anti-capitalist movements. Merely demanding uncoordinated reforms was denounced as misguided, for they would only be "accommodated within the present system" and "reinforce the basic power relationships" of capitalism "by leaving them intact."77 The manifesto continued by stating that a socialist party must provide a coherent set of policies that provide for the transition from a capitalist order to a socialist one. This was followed by a synopsis of the policy resolutions promoted by the NB

Waffle, along with a declaration of solidarity with causes such as Quebec self- determination and national liberation struggles, namely the cause of the Vietnamese

National Liberation Front. The manifesto concluded as follows:

74 "For A Socialist New Brunswick", in "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB. 75 "For A Socialist New Brunswick", in "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB. 76 Those whom the manifesto claims the NDP can provide a base of organization for are listed as "the movements of workers, farmers, women, native peoples, Acadiens, tenants, poor people and young people", "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB. 77 "For A Socialist New Brunswick", in "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB.

95 We call upon all the oppressed and exploited people of our province to join with us and our sisters and brothers elsewhere in Canada and throughout the world in this struggle for a government of the working class. Its achievement will be a world in which the dominion of the many by the few, that blight of all times past, is ended.78

The manifesto was augmented by the NB Waffle's seven policy resolutions. The

resolutions were on housing and environmental planning, common ownership and

workers' control, women's rights, co-operatives, trade unions and labour organization,

cultural affairs, and education. The policy resolutions of the NB Waffle reflected the

eclectic nature of the group, as they were very much a mix of Trotskyist, socialist, New

Left and left-libertarian positions.

On economics the NB Waffle's positions were a fusion of standard state-directed

socialism with workers' control and industrial democracy. The resolution on common

ownership and workers' control called for the "common ownership of all extractive

resource, manufacturing, processing, commodity distribution, construction,

communication, transportation and service industries and enterprises."79 This standard

stance was complemented by the resolution on co-operatives, which were celebrated for

their "anti-capitalist, socially-oriented nature." This resolution called for the integration

of credit unions into the co-operative movement and the encouragement of producer,

integrated producer-consumer, service and total-community co-operatives.81 It should

also be noted that all of the resolutions that called for nationalization or common ownership insisted that this be done without compensation. The mix of socialist and co-

78 "For A Socialist New Brunswick", in "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB. 79 "Resolution on Common Ownership & Workers' Control", in "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York- Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB. 80 "Resolution on Co-operatives" in "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB. 81 "Resolution on Co-operatives" in "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB.

96 operative stances present in the NB Waffle's economic policies was also present in the

resolution on housing and environmental planning. The resolution called for a massive

program of public housing, the encouragement of housing co-operatives, the common

ownership of all large-scale rented housing and construction industries, and democratic

control of housing projects.82

The resolution on trade unions and labour organization was certainly reflective of

its Trotskyist authorship, with its emphasis on trade unions as a major vehicle for

working class political action and its call for the leadership of said trade unions by a

socialist party. The resolution called for active support and encouragement of the growth

and extension of trade unions, and the encouragement of trade unions and union members

to affiliate with the NDP. It called for "the formation within unions of a militant,

politically-conscious and socialist leadership,"83 and unconditional support by the NDP

of all strikes. The resolution endorsed an "escalator clause" in all union contracts, the reduction of the work week to 30 hours with no cut in pay, and the encouragement of

"international working-class solidarity."84

Although the resolution on women's rights also had a Trotskyist author, its content can be regarded as having broad left-wing appeal. It promoted equal pay for equal work and an end to sex-based pay discrimination, the provision of maternity leave with full pay, free, user-controlled, twenty-four-hour child care centres, free abortion on demand, the abolition of "role stereotyping" in the educational system, and the outlawing

82 "Resolution on Housing & Environmental Planning", in "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB. 83 "Resolution on Trade Unions and Labour Organization", in "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB. 84 "Resolution on Trade Unions and Labour Organization", in "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB.

97 of advertising which portrayed women as sex objects, housewives, or mothers. It is

important to note that many of the planks contained in the resolution were regarded as the

most acceptable to NB Waffle opponents, and anti-Waffler Barrie Hould recalled that the

NB Waffle's position on abortion was the one that became the most embraced by the

party after the NB Waffle faded.86 In forwarding their women's rights resolution, the NB

Waffle was very much part of a larger trend within the NDP at the time, in which the

party, as noted earlier, became the political vehicle of much of the feminist movement

and presented itself as the party of women during the 1970s and 1980s.87

It was in the resolutions on cultural affairs and particularly on education where

the left-libertarian and counter-cultural influences in the NB Waffle were most evident.

The resolution on cultural affairs promoted the amendment of laws related to patents,

intellectual property, and copyrights in the interest of creators, and the "elimination of all private profit-making and entrepreneurial exploitation"88 of artists. Common ownership of cultural enterprises and institutions, government support for artists, and an end to all censorship were also promoted. The resolution on education advocated the abolition of compulsory education, "except for the requirement that children complete, at some time between the ages of five and ten years, a program of appropriate length, not to exceed

85 "Resolution on Women's Rights", in "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB. 86 Barrie Hould interview, with author, Moncton, N.B., 21 May 2007. 87 Burstyn, p. 180. The leadership race of Rosemary Brown, an NDP MLA from British Columbia, was very much a reflection of the niche carved out by the feminist movement within the NDP by the mid-1970s, though she also had support from the anti-establishment and left-wing of the party. An account of Brown's leadership campaign, and in particular the support she garnered from the women's movement in the NDP, can be found in Rosemary Brown, Being Brown: A Very Public Life, Toronto: Random House, 1989, pp. 147-77. 88 "Resolution on Cultural Affairs", in "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB. 89 "Resolution on Cultural Affairs", in "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB.

98 three years, suitably designed to develop basic language and mathematical skills." It also called for the elimination of all forms of grading, streaming and competitive evaluation in educational institutions, democratic control of all educational institutions, and the provision of adequate technical and vocational training.91

The resolution on education, with its inherent distrust and denunciation of compulsory education, in particular had a strong left-libertarian and counter-cultural streak to it and was inspired by a larger analysis of the education system popular among radicals at the time. The education system was a major target of the counter-cultural political left beginning in the 1960s and culminated with the publishing of Ivan Illich's

Deschooling Society, in 1971. Compulsory education according to counter-cultural theory was a key component of a system of repression and nothing more than a tool of the powers that be, a means of indoctrinating young people into accepting and supporting the status quo and capitalist system. If a political revolution depended upon a change in consciousness, a key counter-cultural tenet, then there would have to be a change in the education system. Illich himself called for a "deschooling" of society, a de­ institutionalizing of society from the bottom up.92

The NB Waffle manifesto and program differed greatly from not only the social democratic policies of the federal and provincial New Democratic parties, but also the

Waffle Manifesto of Watkins and Laxer. One key difference between the two was their respective definition of socialism. The Waffle Manifesto defined socialism as the

"national planning of investment and ... the public ownership of the means of production

90 "Resolution on Education", in "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB. 91 "Resolution on Education", in "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB.

92 Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter, The Rebel Sell: Why the Culture Can't be Jammed, Toronto: Harper Perennial, 2004, pp. 175-9.

99 in the interests of the Canadian people as a whole." "For A Socialist New Brunswick,"

on the other hand, defined socialism as "the common ownership of the means of

production, distribution and exchange under workers' control, with production for need

rather than profit."94 The "public ownership" of the Ontario Waffle was replaced by the

"common ownership" of the NB Waffle, a term that implied a less state-directed and

more localized economic system. The economic scope of socialism was much broader in

the NB Waffle manifesto, for it extended beyond the means of production into all fields

of economic activity. The Ontario Waffle Manifesto promoted worker influence in

industrial decision-making and greater power vis-a-vis management.95 "For A Socialist

New Brunswick," however, advocated total worker control within economic enterprises.

Another major difference between the two manifestoes was the differing emphasis on Canadian nationalism in each. The Waffle Manifesto identified the survival of the

Canadian nation against absorption by the American empire as the primary reality for

Canadians and suggested that socialism was the only answer for the creation of an independent Canada.96 While the NB Waffle manifesto declared its support for the

"movement for an independent socialist Canada," it was primarily occupied with capitalism in and of itself. That the NB Wafflers were living in a chronically depressed economic region of Canada was evident in their manifesto, as regional economic underdevelopment was given greater prominence in "For A Socialist New Brunswick"

93 "The Waffle Resolution 133", in Michael Cross, The Decline and Fall of a Good Idea: CCF-NDP Manifestoes 1932 to 1969, Toronto: NewHogtown Press, 1974, p. 44. 94 "For A Socialist New Brunswick", in "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB. 95 "The Waffle Resolution 133", in Cross, p. 44. 96 "The Waffle Resolution 133", in Cross, pp. 43-4.

100 than foreign economic control. The opposite was the case in the Ontario Waffle

Manifesto, authored by residents of Canada's industrial and commercial heartland.

The NB Waffle manifesto focused just as many attacks on Maritime-based family

capitalists as on faceless foreign or non-Maritime corporations, which was another key

regional difference between the two manifestoes. The different make-up of the Maritime

economy was apparent in the attention towards resource-based enterprises and lack of

attention towards industrial ventures. These aspects of the Maritime economy contrasted

with the modern industrial and commercial economy of Central Canada, the primary

concern and focus of the Ontario Waffle Manifesto. The different nature of the New

Brunswick economy compared to southern Ontario was also apparent in the NB Waffle's

environmental concerns, namely the ecological impact of the province's resource-

extraction industries.

A quick comparison of the two manifestoes can also be achieved by examining

the frequency of key terms in each document. This method for comparing party or

political manifestoes was used by Alan Whitehorn in his study of CCF and NDP

manifestoes. The terms used in the chart are a combination of key terms that he

identified when comparing CCF and NDP manifestoes and additional key terms that the

author has identified as also relevant to both the Waffle Manifesto and "For a Socialist

New Brunswick." A chart displaying the number of times a key term is used in each manifesto appears in Appendix 2. A comparison of the use of key terms in the two manifestoes reinforces the differences between the two documents, namely by demonstrating the emphasis placed on certain issues. For instance, the preoccupation of the Waffle Manifesto with Canadian independence and American imperialism compared

97 A chart featuring Whitehorn's use of this model can be found in Whitehorn, Canadian Socialism, p. 38.

101 to "For a Socialist New Brunswick" is evident.98 What is also notable are the terms that appear exclusively in "For a Socialist New Brunswick," as these reveal the broader scope of the NB Waffle vision and the New Brunswick context it emerged in. Terms that appear only in "For a Socialist New Brunswick" include "Irving" (four times),

"Pollution/pollute/pollutants" (four times), "Women" (three times) and "Native peoples"

(three times).

With a manifesto and platform prepared, the NB Waffle readied itself to win over the NB NDP at the Saint John convention. There was a sense of an impending struggle among Wafflers. This feeling was exemplified by Alastair Robertson's observation in an internal document he prepared in late August. He warned fellow Wafflers that their victory would depend upon good organization. If they failed to carry the convention, he suggested that they "may have to say goodbye to the NDP before it says goodbye to us."99 Less than a month before the convention, however, the organization and unity of the NB Waffle was beginning to break down, as the Trotskyist wing of the group was suddenly thrown into confusion.

98 The terms "America," "American," or "United States" are mentioned 17 times in the Waffle Manifesto and the terms "Independence" or "independent" are mentioned 17 times as well. None of these terms appear in For a Socialist New Brunswick. 99 "The Waffle News", file 6/1, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB.

102 CHAPTER FOUR

The Waffle Kafuffle, September 1971 - December 1971

The autumn of 1971 saw the NB Waffle come to the crescendo of its existence, as

the group achieved an unexpected victory within the NB NDP. The victory, however,

would almost immediately become hollow. The NB Waffle victory not only fractured the

party that it sought to win over, but also accompanied a larger split into Trotskyist and

non-Trotskyist camps within the Waffle group itself. The fracturing of the NB NDP

precipitated by the NB Waffle victory was understandable given the extreme differences

between the proposals in "For a Socialist New Brunswick" and moderate social

democracy. The fracturing of the NB Waffle itself, however, was the product of the

inconsistency of a group that featured one wing that was its own master (the non-

Trotskyists) and another wing that was ultimately driven by the dictates of outside forces

(the Trotskyists). The two factions of the NB Waffle were able to work together until the

outcome of such cooperation raised the ire of LS A/YS headquarters, at which point the

unity of the group unraveled. The culmination of the NB Waffle's simultaneous battle

with itself and with the rest of the NB NDP (and eventually the federal NDP) would be

the collapse of the entire movement. The dramatic series of events that revolved around

the NB Waffle in late 1971 in many ways represented a confluence of several themes that

dominated this era. These included conflict within the left, including tension within the

NDP vis-a-vis its radical fringe, tensions between the New Left and Marxists, and

103 eventually basic strategic differences that were brewing within the Canadian Trotskyist

movement.

The beginnings of the eventual fracturing of the NB Waffle occurred on 1

September 1971, when the Central Executive Council (CEC) of the YS, the Toronto-

based body that oversaw YS activities across Canada, decided to suspend "from all rights

of membership but not from any of the obligations of membership," the members of the

Fredericton and Halifax YS locals. These suspensions were to be followed up by an

investigation conducted by a YS-established commission. This decision was made

known to the members of both locals in a letter which elaborated on the terms of the

suspensions:

This means that you will issue no statements in the name of the YS/LJS and that you will carry on the activities which are clearly within the framework of well-established positions of the movement. You will not be freed from the obligations of membership, as stated, and we will expect dues and pledges and other commitments of membership to be fulfilled.1

This decision was made on the grounds that the YS CEC did not know the future

direction of the two locals. The CEC further accused these locals of dishonest practices

in their dealings with the LSA/YS leadership and claimed that the activities of the

Fredericton and Halifax YS members were jeopardizing the entire Canadian Trotskyist movement.

The YS CEC had been developing a case against the FYS for a few months.

Throughout the summer of 1971 the YS CEC had criticisms of the FYS that formed the

1 "Report on the Suspension and Censure of Members of the Halifax and Fredericton Locals of the YS/LJS", prepared by the Central Executive Council of the YS/LJS, p. 1, file 1, "B2-1971", Vol. 20, Dowson fonds, LAC. 2 "Report on the Suspension and Censure of Members of the Halifax and Fredericton Locals of the YS/LJS", prepared by the Central Executive Council of the YS/LJS, p. 1, file 1, "B2-1971", Vol. 20, Dowson fonds, LAC.

104 basis of the charges against the local. These criticisms included accusations that the FYS

was producing two sets of minutes (one being a false set drawn up for the CEC), that the

FYS held a "mini-conference" with the Halifax YS in July 1971 without informing the

CEC, and that the FYS failed to pay its share of the costs for a YS conference in

Waterloo, Ontario held over the summer. The most serious accusation against the FYS,

however, was that the local's work within the NB NDP was not in line with LSA/YS

policy and that they could jeopardize the efforts of Trotskyists throughout the NDP.

These concerns, expressed by Ross Dowson in a letter to FYS leader Terry Hamilton-

Smith in July 1971, were obviously exacerbated by Hamilton-Smith's refusal to respond

to the letter.3

The impact of the suspensions was to throw the FYS into immediate confusion,

largely around the question of whether working within the NDP constituted a "right" that

was to be abandoned or an "obligation" that ought to be continued. The FYS sought

immediate clarification, especially as the NB NDP convention was quickly approaching.

A letter was sent to the CEC on 22 September, yet no response was received.4 The

confusion that plagued the FYS in September is likely the reason why it made only a

half-hearted effort in drafting the NB Waffle platform (with but two policy resolutions

having been written by FYS members). Two YS members attended the final pre-

convention meeting of the NB Waffle in Fredericton, on 12 September, where they hoped

3 "Report on the Suspension and Censure of Members of the Halifax and Fredericton Locals of the YS/LJS", prepared by the Central Executive Council of the YS/LJS, pp. 1-4, file 1, "B2-1971", Vol. 20, Dowson fonds, LAC. 4 Letter from Terry Hamilton-Smith to the LSA/LSO Political Committee, 25 October 1971, p. 4, file 13- 19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

105 to intervene in the direction of the group, but this effort had little success. Uncertain as to how to proceed, the FYS slowly began to withdraw from working within the NB

Waffle and NDP. Non-Trotskyist Wafflers, well aware that the FYS was part of a larger

Trotskyist movement, assumed that the FYS was merely following discipline. The sudden withdrawal of the FYS from NB Waffle activities was resented by non-Trotskyist

Wafflers, and one leading Waffler described the FYS action as "coitus interruptus."5 The

Trotskyist influence within the NB Waffle immediately began to decline.7 Despite the withdrawal of the Trotskyist wing from significant activity within the NB Waffle, a few

YS members still attended the convention in Saint John,8 although they seemed uncertain of their role.

The NB NDP convention commenced at the University of New Brunswick's Saint

John campus on the weekend of 25-26 September 1971. Among the 89 delegates in attendance9 were all of the leading figures of the non-Trotskyist wing of the NB Waffle.

It was on the morning of 25 September that the NB Waffle platform made its debut. The

5 "NDP Report", passed by the Fredericton YS on 28 September 1971, to be introduced to the Fredericton YS on 2 October 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 6 Terry Hamilton-Smith to the LSA/LSO Political Committee, 25 October 1971, pp. 4-5, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 7 Terry Hamilton-Smith to the LSA/LSO Political Committee, 25 October 1971, pp. 4-5, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 8 "NDP Report", passed by the Fredericton YS on 28 September 1971, to be introduced to the Fredericton YS on 2 October 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 9 The number of delegates is mentioned in a letter from John Boyle to Cliff Scotton, 29 September 1971, file 13, "NB: Provincial Convention, 1971", Vol. 455, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC. The location of the convention is mentioned in "Waffle News", file 6/1, York-Sunbury NDP Collection, PANB.

106 group's manifesto and resolutions were to be voted on, along with 13 resolutions presented by non-Waffle party members.10

The morning began with votes on four NB Waffle resolutions.1' The Waffle resolutions encountered mixed reactions from the delegates in attendance. The first vote was on the NB Waffle's resolution on women's rights, which passed by a wide margin.

The second vote was on the NB Waffle's resolution on labour and workers' organization.

After extensive debate, it was referred back to committee by a majority of one vote. The next item was the NB Waffle's resolution on housing, which passed by a wide margin.

This was followed by the NB Waffle's resolution on education, which was narrowly defeated. After a lunch break a few non-Waffle resolutions were voted on and passed.

Next was the NB Waffle's resolution on common ownership, which passed by a narrow margin. Then came the vote on the NB Waffle manifesto itself, which passed by a vote of 41-40, with four abstentions.12

There was immediate shock among both pro and non-Waffle members. The

Wafflers themselves were stunned by the result, with Alastair Robertson himself admitting to the media that he was "surprised" and that they "didn't expect the support that [they] got."13 Pat Callaghan has recalled that there were plenty of party members who sympathized with the NB Waffle's aims, even though they were not self-declared

"New Brunswick New Democratic Party Annual Convention, 1971: Resolutions Booklet No. 2", Bill Ross private collection. Among the non-Waffle resolutions presented to the convention were resolutions on implementing pollution controls, assisting small businesses, expanded health care coverage, and regulations on campground toilet facilities. 11 "NDP Report", passed by the Fredericton YS on 28 September 1971, to be introduced to the Fredericton YS on 2 October 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 12 "NDP Report", passed by the Fredericton YS on 28 September 1971, to be introduced to the Fredericton YS on 2 October 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 13 "Waffle Manifesto Wins One-Vote Majority", The Telegraph-Journal, 27 September 1971.

107 NB Waffle supporters. Callaghan commented that "there was a left-wing, you know,

who would support the Waffle but they would never join us as a Waffle member of the

NDP."14 There were even many party members who did not back the NB Waffle's

platform, but expressed cautious sympathy for it, and several delegates prefaced their

statements of opposition with, "there is much here that I can agree with, but.. ,"15

NB Waffle opponents, meanwhile, were caught completely off-guard by the

voting results. Barrie Hould, a railway union organizer from Moncton, recalled that

while everyone knew that the NB Waffle would make a showing at the convention, they

expected that the NB Waffle would be nothing more than a mild irritant. As he stated:

We felt that everything was secure and that we were going to be able to do our thing and this group would have a voice and the rest of it but they would never reach the point at which they could organize and throw a convention. So 'whoops,' it happened . . .16

For NB Waffle opponents, the passage of the NB Waffle manifesto was not only a

surprise but a problem. The manifesto was regarded as a far too radical document that

transgressed the limits of social democracy. Opponents attacked the manifesto fiercely

after it passed. David Webster, the Moncton and District Labour Council president,

claimed that the manifesto "crossed the line" between socialism and communism.17 Paul

LePage, president of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour (NBFL), told the media

that "we can't ask labour to back this." Eldon Richardson, a unionist from Saint John,

simply denounced the manifesto's supporters as "Marxists." John Boyle, a prominent

NDP member from Sackville, expressed frustration with the success of the NB Waffle by

stating "I'm fed up with these revolutionaries who conduct revolution from armchairs....

14 Pat Callaghan interview, with author, Fredericton, N.B., 17 December 2006. 15 "Waffle presents manifesto to NDP, calls for more freedoms for people", The Brunswickan, 1 October 1971. 16 Barrie Hould interview, with author, Moncton, N.B., 21 May 2007. 17 "A Responsible Attitude", The Moncton Transcript, 28 September 1971. I don't think we are doing the political movement, the revolutionary movement or the goal of a classless society any good by passing this resolution."18 Party leader J. Albert

Richardson called the manifesto "totalitarian"19 and maintained that it would be revoked. There were also charges by anti-Waffle party members of irregularities in the conduct of the convention.21 It is important to note that not all of the NB Waffle opponents were present at the vote, including Richardson himself. Richardson had left the convention to pick up the guest speaker (Saskatchewan NDP MP A.P. Gleave) from the local airport, a suggestion that came from Callaghan.22

After the manifesto passed, those NB Waffle opponents who were present decided to express their disapproval with their feet. Nine labour delegates walked out of the convention, and they were soon joined by others. The number of delegates remaining was insufficient for a quorum, and the convention was thrown into confusion.23 With the convention in shambles, an NB NDP provincial council meeting was held in which the delegates who had walked out participated.24 Both pro and anti-NB Waffle delegates came to an agreement that the convention should be postponed due to the situation and continued at another time, with the Wafflers pushing for an earlier date and the non-

Wafflers aiming for as late a date as possible. The date of 16 October was the compromise selected, with the reconvened convention to be held in Fredericton.25 The

1S "NDP Passes Waffle Manifesto", The Daily Gleaner, 27 September 1971. 19 "Walkout breaks up N.B. NDP convention", Labor Challenge, 11 October 1971. 20 "NDP Passes Waffle Manifesto", The Daily Gleaner, 27 September 1971. 21 "Waffle Manifesto Wins One-Vote Majority", The Telegraph-Journal, 27 September 1971. 22 Pat Callaghan interview, with author, Fredericton, N.B., 17 December 2006. 23 "Waffle Manifesto Wins One-Vote Majority", The Telegraph-Journal, 27 September 1971. 24 "Split in New Brunswick NDP", Labor Challenge, 8 November 1971. 25 "NDP Report", passed by the Fredericton YS on 28 September 1971, to be introduced to the Fredericton YS on 2 October 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC, and "Waffle Manifesto Wins One-Vote Majority", The Telegraph-Journal, 27 September 1971.

109 Saint John convention effectively came to an end, with a few remaining delegates staying

for a banquet and the guest speaker. Both sides left determined to come out victorious

in the ensuing struggle for control of the NB NDP.

The anti-Waffle forces wasted little time trying to regain control of the party. The

assistance of the federal NDP was sought as part of this process. A petition expressing

the grievances of the anti-Waffle party members was sent to federal NDP headquarters

within a week of the Saint John convention. The petition declared the Saint John

convention to be invalid for the following reasons: that the convention call was not issued

to all party members; that the resolution committee was not summoned; and that the NB

Waffle manifesto was moved, debated and voted upon in defiance of rules adopted by the

convention.27 The petition was signed by 28 party members. Among them were party

leader Richardson, the provincial secretary, two vice-presidents, two federal council

members, five candidates, five members of the provincial council, and NBFL president

LePage.28 John Boyle also wrote to federal NDP secretary Clifford Scotton within days

of the Saint John convention to express his concern about recent events. His major

criticism of the convention stemmed from the fact that the NB Waffle manifesto

contained references to several policy planks that were voted down as separate

resolutions, such as the education proposal, thus contradicting the earlier defeat of these

26 Report from A.P. Gleave to David Lewis, 27 September 1971, file 22-19, "NDP New Brunswick 1971- 1974", Vol. 76, MG 32, C 23, David Lewis fonds, LAC. 27 Petition from members of the NB NDP to the NDP Federal Council, received 3 October 1971, file 13, "NB: Provincial Convention 1971", Vol. 455, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC. 28 "Re: New Brunswick New Democratic Party", file 13, "NB: Provincial Convention 1971", Vol. 455, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC. All but two of the petition signatories (Richardson and LePage) wrote the name of their federal riding next to their signature. A tally of the home ridings of the petition signatories reveals the geographic divide between Waffle and non-Waffle forces in the NB NDP. Thirteen of the signatories were from Moncton, seven from Saint John-Lancaster, four from Westmorland-Kent, and two each from Northumberland-Miramichi and Fundy-Royal. There were no signatories from the Waffle dominated ridings of York-Sunbury and Carleton-Charlotte.

110 policies. He also expressed concerns that the rules of procedure were not followed at the

29 convention.

The charges of irregularities at the Saint John convention revealed much about the strategy employed by anti-Waffle members in confronting the NB Waffle. While they were obviously unimpressed with the policies and content of the NB Waffle platform, the procedural argument seemed to be the most effective one available. As Barrie Hould recalled: Our concern was with what happened to the party, you know, the [Waffle] policies. It wouldn't have been the party that a lot of us had joined ... so that was the first concern. Secondly, how do we do something about it? Well ok, then you get technical, and we raised the technical points and that's what we did. We pulled every, you know, we were concerned so we pulled every rabbit from out of the hat, you know.30

The campaign against the NB Waffle was soon well underway. The day after the

Saint John convention, a meeting of non-Waffle party members was organized for 3

October at Moncton's Union Centre.31 Clifford Scotton was invited to attend the

Moncton meeting.32 The request for him to attend did not come as a complete surprise to the federal NDP organization, for by the time that the meeting in Moncton was held the federal party was aware of the situation in New Brunswick. The convention's visiting guest speaker A.P. Gleave had already informed federal NDP leader David Lewis of what happened in New Brunswick in a letter sent on 27 September. He wrote that "there was a very large disagreement in the Convention" and reported that it was breaking up as he arrived in the mid-afternoon. He mentioned that the convention would be reconvened on

29 Letter from John Boyle to Clifford Scotton, 29 September 1971, file 13, "NB: Provincial Convention 1971", Vol. 455, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC. 30 Barrie Hould interview, with author, Moncton, N.B., 21 May 2007. 31 Letter from J. Albert Richardson to Greg Murphy, 26 September 1971, Box 109, MC1819, New Brunswick Federation of Labour files, PANB. 32 "Re: New Brunswick New Democratic Party", file 13, "NB: Provincial Convention 1971", Vol. 455, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC.

Ill 16 October and concluded that "It will certainly result in some further unfortunate

publicity for us if the Party Convention three weeks from now should repeat the

performance of September 25th."33

Scotton attended the Moncton anti-Waffle meeting, along with about 30 other

people. He ordered anti-Waffle organizers to "get the troops out" and thought that labour

was "not doing its job,"34 its job apparently being to prevent the party from falling into

the hands of radicals. He also expressed concern over what repercussions the events in

New Brunswick might have on the Ontario provincial election campaign, which was

already in full swing with the polling date scheduled for mid-October.35 The impact of

the situation in New Brunswick on the NDP's prospects in the Ontario election (and in a

federal by-election in Saskatchewan) appeared to be Scotton's primary concern, since he

urged the two sides to resolve the dispute in private and if possible to wait until after the

two elections were over.36

The events in New Brunswick had, in fact, already found their way into the

Ontario election campaign. Soon after the Saint John convention, Ontario NDP leader

Stephen Lewis, campaigning in Toronto, was asked by a reporter what he

thought about the NB Waffle manifesto victory. Obviously annoyed, Lewis responded by saying, "maybe it's something in the air in New Brunswick that gives us this special bent" and "thank God we don't have an NDP member of the legislature in New

Brunswick if that's what the Waffles are suggesting. I can't see it ever taking hold in

33 Report from A.P. Gleave to David Lewis, 27 September 1971, file 22-19, "NDP New Brunswick 1971- 1974", Vol. 76, David Lewis fonds, LAC. 34 Minutes of non-Waffle NDP meeting, 3 October 1971, Box 109, NBFL files, PANB. 35 Minutes of non-Waffle NDP meeting, 3 October 1971, Box 109, NBFL files, PANB. 36 "Re: New Brunswick New Democratic Party", file 13, "NB: Provincial Convention 1971", Vol. 455, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC.

112 Ontario." The events in New Brunswick were not welcomed by an Ontario NDP campaign that had high expectations and was trying to sidestep the issue of the Waffle in

Ontario itself.38

Scotton offered to act as a mediator between the two sides of the division within the NB NDP, and on 3 October he wired both Richardson and Callaghan to suggest that the meeting scheduled for 16 October be suspended, as it would be a continuation of the

Saint John convention that was in dispute. He added that the federal party executive would arrange to hear submissions from all parties involved in the dispute.39 The non-

Wafflers apparently agreed with this proposition, but the Wafflers felt otherwise.

Callaghan, acting in his role as party president, defiantly responded to Scotton via telegram. Callaghan declared that the NB NDP convention would continue on 16

October as planned and that "provincial matters should be referred to [the] provincial president, not [the] federal secretary."40 Scotton phoned Callaghan to express his concern about the situation and to again offer mediation, but Callaghan stated that no mediation was possible. He noted that the non-Waffle provincial secretary refused to mail out notices for the 16 October convention and that he was "disturbed" that Scotton had attended the anti-Waffle meeting in Moncton. Callaghan also rejected an offer by

37 "Lewis Rejects NDP Action", The Telegraph-Journal, 29 September 1971. 38 Hackett, "Pie in the Sky", p. 52. 39 "Re: New Brunswick New Democratic Party", file 13, "NB: Provincial Convention 1971", Vol. 455, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC, and "Copy of a wire sent CN-CP Telecommunications" sent by C.A. Scotton to J.A. Richardson, P. Callaghan, and Mrs. C. Leonard, 3 October 1971, file 13, "NB: Provincial Convention 1971", Vol. 455, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC. 40 Copy of telegram sent by Pat Callaghan to Clifford Scotton, 4 October 1971, file 13, "NB: Provincial Convention 1971", Vol. 455, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC

113 Scotton to confer with NB Waffle members in Fredericton, claiming that he saw little

point in such a meeting.41

In response to this apparent deadlock, the non-Waffle provincial executive of the

party held a meeting in Moncton on 10 October. Attending the meeting were party leader

Richardson, the two party vice-presidents, the provincial secretary, and five executive

members. At this meeting it was decided that the convention scheduled for 16 October

would be converted into a provincial council meeting. Party president Callaghan

regarded the 10 October meeting and the proposed provincial council meeting to be

illegal and stated that he would not attend.42 Both sides agreed that a meeting of some

sort would be held on 16 October but disagreed over its status, as Callaghan and the NB

Waffle claimed that it would be a continuation of the convention.

While the anti-Waffle forces were busy doing what they could to counter the NB

Waffle, the non-Trotskyist Wafflers were making preparations to complete their victory

over the NB NDP at the meeting to be held in Fredericton. The NB Waffle recruited people in the Fredericton area who were supportive of their aims into the NDP. Signing up new pro-NB Waffle party members was part of a strategy to win over the NB NDP with raw numbers. While the bulk of Waffle activity was in Fredericton, Waffle members throughout the province were also gearing up for the meeting.43 Moreover,

"Re: New Brunswick New Democratic Party", file 13, "NB: Provincial Convention 1971", Vol. 455, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC. 42 "Re: New Brunswick New Democratic Party", file 13, "NB: Provincial Convention 1971", Vol. 455, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC, and "Memorandum from the President of the Party to All Provincial Council Members", 11 October 1971, file 14, "NB: Provincial Convention 1971", Vol. 455, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC. 43 "NDP Report", passed by the Fredericton YS on 28 September 1971, to be introduced to the Fredericton YS on 2 October 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

114 Callaghan announced that he would run for the leadership of the party at the 16 October

44

meeting.

Not all NB Waffle members, however, were actively involved in preparation for

this meeting. The Trotskyist wing of the group, already thrown into confusion by the

suspension of the Fredericton YS local, was further perplexed by the events at the Saint

John convention. The need for clarification as to what to do was made even more urgent

with the NB Waffle victory. LSA national secretary Ross Dowson was made aware of

the details of what happened at the Saint John convention when Terry Hamilton-Smith

phoned him on 28 September. Prior to Hamilton-Smith's phone call, the only news that

Dowson had had of events in New Brunswick was through reading 's

comments about the NB Waffle in the Toronto Star.45 On 29 September, Hamilton-

Smith sent a letter to Dowson clarifying what they had discussed on the phone. While

the FYS understood that they were in trouble with the leadership of the LSA/YS, they believed that the NB Waffle victory offered a great opportunity for the Trotskyist movement in Canada and requested that they be allowed to intervene actively in the NB

NDP again to seize this opportunity.

Not only did they feel confident that the NB Waffle would win at the 16 October meeting, enhancing the Trotskyist influence in the NB NDP, but they also believed that there was the possibility for Trotskyists to establish a foothold within the province's labour movement.46 The FYS strategy aimed at maximizing the strength and influence of the NB Waffle's newfound labour support. They also sought to prevent any splits within

44 "Will The Provincial NDP Convention Be Continued?", The Telegraph-Journal, 14 October 1971. 45 Ross Dowson to the Fredericton YS, 3 October 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton- Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 46 Terry Hamilton-Smith to Ross Dowson, 29 September 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d. 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

115 the NB NDP. According to their analysis, the emerging division within the NB NDP

prompted a minor divide within the New Brunswick labour movement, or at least that

portion that was involved in the party. The split was largely between the labour union

officials and the rank-and-file membership, with the former being anti-Waffle and the

latter including several NB Waffle supporters and sympathizers. The FYS reckoned that

the NB Waffle could mobilize about 12 unionists for the 16 October meeting.

Dowson was not impressed by the FYS assessment of the situation in New

Brunswick and was actually rather distressed by it. Dowson still had several serious reservations. First, he regarded the NB Waffle manifesto in particular and platform in general, as unrepresentative of the interests of the Trotskyist movement. He expressed particular distaste for the NB Waffle's call for the nationalization of most basic industries without compensation and informed the FYS that "the matter of compensation is by no means a principle with revolutionary socialists - particularly in New Brunswick where the NDP and the entire left is as yet quite undeveloped."49

The other major reservation was shared by the LSA/YS leadership in general and went beyond the permanent fear of expulsion from the NDP. This involved the risk that the NB Waffle would cause a split within the NB NDP and that this would ruin the party

"NDP Report", passed by the Fredericton YS on 28 September 1971, to be introduced to the Fredericton YS on 2 October 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 48 "NDP Report", passed by the Fredericton YS on 28 September 1971, to be introduced to the Fredericton YS on 2 October 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC, and Terry Hamilton-Smith to Ross Dowson, 29 September 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d. 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. The names of some pro-Waffle unionists were mentioned in the NDP report of 28 September 1971. They were scattered throughout the province, with supporters in Black's/Beaver Harbour, Saint John, Moncton and Bathurst. Among them were Adolphe Bernier, a Steelworker who organized a strike against Brunswick in 1968 and was subsequently fired by Paul LePage, and Yvonne Cavanaugh and Eugene Dugas who organized the CFAWU local in Black's Harbour. 49 Ross Dowson to the Fredericton YS, 3 October 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton- Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

116 as a vehicle for Trotskyist influence. The main argument was that the NDP lacked a

working class or union base in the province, and that this base had to be established

before Trotskyists could hope to influence the party in any meaningful way. Preventing, a

split in the party remained the primary concern for the LSA/YS, a concern that they

feared the FYS did not share.50

With these concerns in mind, Dowson attempted to clarify matters for the FYS.

In a letter sent on 3 October, he stated that he expected the local to follow the "declared

and defined line of the movement" towards the NDP, and that the LSA political

committee would not take responsibility for any FYS actions that fell outside of this

policy.51 While Dowson's letter expressed dissatisfaction with the events in New

Brunswick, his actual suggestions were somewhat ambiguous and failed to offer the clear

directional advice that the FYS was seeking. As a result of this letter the FYS terminated

all intervention in the NB NDP and decided to wait for specific instruction from Dowson

as to what to do. One YS member, Gary Zatzman, who was heavily involved in the NB

Waffle but had joined the YS only in mid-August, soon quit the YS out of disgust with

the Fredericton local's behaviour.52

From early October on, the NB Waffle, already weakened by the suspension of

the FYS by the LSA/YS leadership, had completely ceased to function as a unified entity.

The NB Waffle was effectively split into Trotskyist and non-Trotskyist factions. The

influence of the FYS within the NB Waffle, already in decline due to the withdrawals of

early September, completely evaporated. The non-Trotskyist wing of the NB Waffle was

50 "Walkout breaks up N.B. NDP convention", Labor Challenge, 11 October 1971. 51 Ross Dowson to the Fredericton YS, 3 October 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton- Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 52 Terry Hamilton-Smith to the LSA/LSO Political Committee, 25 October 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

117 frustrated with what they saw as the Trotskyists' slavish obedience to LSA/YS dictates.

They knew that the sudden shift in the Trotskyist members' position towards the NB

Waffle was not due to any genuine change of opinion, but to their having been scolded by

Dowson and the LSA/YS leadership. The growing animosity between the two sections of the NB Waffle was further exacerbated on 11 October when Dowson instructed the FYS to intervene in the NB NDP, following the policy outlined in an article in Labor

Challenge, the LSA newspaper,53 to avoid any further confrontation with the non-Waffle wing oftheNB NDP.54

All attempts by the FYS to influence the NB Waffle to resist a confrontation with the rest of the party at the 16 October meeting failed miserably. The non-Trotskyist wing of the NB Waffle suggested that the FYS members either break ranks with the LSA/YS or face reprisals. This threat was made clear when a York-Sunbury constituency association meeting was held by the local Waffle members on 15 October. The main item of business at this Waffle-dominated riding meeting was the removal of Hamilton-

Smith as the riding's representative on the provincial council. The removal was proposed so that Hamilton-Smith could not intervene against the NB Waffle at the provincial council meeting scheduled for the next day, and despite his protests, the action was voted on and passed.55

53 Terry Hamilton-Smith to the LSA/LSO Political Committee, 25 October 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 54 "Walkout breaks up N.B. NDP convention", Labor Challenge, 11 October 1971. 55 Terry Hamilton-Smith to the LSA/LSO Political Committee, 25 October 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. These developments only exacerbated the FYS' woes, as the local had also recently been subjected to a disciplinary hearing by a Toronto-based member of the LSA's Central Executive concerning the reasons for the local's suspension. (Al Cappe to the Fredericton YS, 23 October 1971, file 75-10, "Fredericton Inquiry, n.d., 1971-1972", Container 75, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC). The suspension of the local was lifted on 22 October, and replaced by the censure of those who were responsible for acts of "gross disloyalty." ("Report on the Suspension and Censure of Members of the Halifax and Fredericton locals of

118 The NB NDP meeting of 16 October went ahead as planned, yet the event actually became a series of meetings. During the morning of 16 October, just before the provincial council meeting called by Richardson, Callaghan called his own provincial council meeting which was attended by about ten members. Those members who attended Callaghan's gathering all adjourned the meeting to participate in what they saw as the continuation of the convention, to be held in the afternoon.56 Following this quick gathering, the non-Waffle wing of the party held a meeting of the provincial council, with

45 NB NDP members gathered in room 139 of UNB's Carleton Hall. Pat Callaghan was not present, but Alastair Robertson and several other NB Waffle members were. No prominent members of the FYS attended the meeting. The meeting was brief, with a vote being held on a motion calling for a special convention to be held in Chatham on 13

November.57 This special convention would aim to settle the dispute sparked at the Saint

John convention. The date chosen was after the Ontario provincial election, which appeased the concerns of the federal NDP.58 After an amendment that reset the special convention date to 27 November, the vote was held. There were 29 votes in favour of the motion, 10 against, and two abstentions. With the motion passed, the meeting adjourned.59

the YS/LJS", by the Central Executive Committee of the YS/LJS, file 1, "B2-1971", Vol. 20, Dowson fonds, LAC). 56 "Split in New Brunswick NDP", Labor Challenge, 8 November 1971. 57 Minutes of "New Brunswick New Democratic Party Provincial Council Meeting, Oct. ? 1971", file 14, "NB: Provincial Convention 1971", Vol. 455, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC, and "Re: New Brunswick New Democratic Party", file 13, "NB: Provincial Convention 1971", Vol. 455, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC. The minutes of the meeting feature an attachment that displays the names of every party member who attended and how they voted. While the date in October 1971 of the provincial council meeting is not listed, the vote totals match the vote totals mentioned in Clifford Scotton's account of the 16 October 1971 provincial council meeting in a paper on the events in New Brunswick; "Re: New Brunswick New Democratic Party", file 13, "NB: Provincial Convention 1971", Vol. 455, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC. 58 "Crisis Within NDP Party May Reach Peak Saturday", The Moncton Transcript, 14 October 1971. 59 Minutes of "New Brunswick New Democratic Party Provincial Council Meeting, Oct. ? 1971", file 14, "NB: Provincial Convention 1971", Vol. 455, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC.

119 The NB Waffle, however, regarded this meeting as invalid and asserted that the

16 October meeting was supposed to be a resumption of the Saint John convention. They

proceeded therefore with what they saw as the NB NDP convention. On the afternoon of

16 October, 74 people entered the same room in Carleton Hall to continue the

convention.60 The afternoon meeting was basically a large NB Waffle gathering, and

included Callaghan, about eight pro-Waffle trade unionists and several members of the

Trotskyist wing. The number of Wafflers in attendance was obviously also inflated by

the recent membership recruitment drive. The most prominent non-Waffler in attendance

was Peggy Prowse, a Nova Scotia member of the federal NDP executive. The Trotskyist

members tried to convince the Wafflers to reverse certain policy positions and make

concessions to the anti-Waffle group in order to avoid a split in the party. However, there

was little sympathy among those in the room for the stance of the Trotskyist members.61

The meeting began with a session dealing with various aspects of the NB Waffle platform. Following this, Peggy Prowse took the floor. She stated that she did not recognize the validity of the convention, that unity with the non-Waffle wing of the party was vital, and attacked the "Communist Party" members who were infiltrating the NB

NDP. This assault was reciprocated by attacks from the NB Waffle leadership. After this exchange more resolutions were discussed and voted on. Then came the election of party officers, which saw Pat Callaghan elected party leader by a vote of 63 to 2 against

Richardson (who was nominated in absentia). Alastair Robertson was acclaimed as

"Re: New Brunswick New Democratic Party", file 13, "NB: Provincial Convention 1971", Vol. 455, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC. 61 Terry Hamilton-Smith to the LSA/LSO Political Committee, 25 October 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

120 president. The meeting concluded with a session on party constitutional matters, during

which several amendments to the existing constitution were made.62

As a result of the events of 16 October, the NB NDP was completely split, with

both Richardson and Callaghan claiming to be party leader and possessing rival party

executives. Scotton was quick to announce that the reconvened convention had no

validity.63 Richardson agreed, adding that the provincial council had the power to call a

special convention but not to reconvene a disputed convention.64 The non-Waffle wing

requested that the federal NDP deal with the matter at the meeting of the federal council

scheduled for 12-14 November, and the federal party responded that it would.65 A siege

mentality had taken over both sides in the dispute and any contact between the two

ceased.66

The NB Waffle itself was also completely split after the 16 October meeting. The

Trotskyist-wing was unsuccessful in their attempts to bring the Waffle and non-Waffle

camps together, and their influence within the NB Waffle sank to a new low. With no

support in the non-Waffle section of the party either, the Trotskyists within the NB

Waffle were very much isolated.67

The FYS local in particular was also becoming increasingly frustrated with the

central leadership of the LSA/YS. The LSA/YS was told by the FYS that their decision

62 Terry Hamilton-Smith to the LSA/LSO Political Committee, 25 October 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC, and "Split in New Brunswick NDP", Labor Challenge, 8 November, 1971. 63 "NDP Now Has Two Leaders", The Telegraph-Journal, 18 October 1971. 64 '"No Validity' Under NDP Constitution", The Telegraph-Journal, 18 October 1971. 65 "Re: New Brunswick New Democratic Party", file 13, "NB: Provincial Convention 1971", Vol. 455, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC. 66 Terry Hamilton-Smith to the LSA/LSO Political Committee, 25 October 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 67 Terry Hamilton-Smith to the LSA/LSO Political Committee, 25 October 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

121 to suspend the local was "the single largest setback in our work," and the FYS viewed

the LSA/YS as having acted in such a manner as to nullify the progress made by the local

within the NB NDP in the previous year and a half. The leadership of the FYS was not

silent and denounced the LSA/YS leadership's application of a doctrinaire and rigid line

towards the NDP, which they regarded as disastrous. In a letter to the Political

Committee of the LSA, Terry Hamilton-Smith stated:

The only effects of the application of this line have been to pluck us out of the leadership of the Waffle, to undercut our work in the Waffle, to diminish our influence in the N.B. labour and student movements and to alienate a number of contacts from us who are potential recruits to the LSA/LSO or YS/LJS. With our diminished influence we can predict that the application of this line will have a totally insignificant effect on the present struggle in the NDP except to render our own role ineffective. As long as this particular line remains in force we will be crippled in New Brunswick.69

The position of the FYS was clear: that the LSA/YS leadership was practising a line

towards the NDP that was killing the Trotskyist movement in New Brunswick. What

also frustrated the FYS was that here was a case where a Waffle group had won control

over a provincial section of the NDP, and with Trotskyist input was about to "win the

NDP to socialism" (as the popular LSA slogan exhorted). Was this not what the whole point of entryism in the NDP was supposed to be about? Instead they saw their coming

victory aborted by their own leaders. The FYS believed that the LSA/YS leadership did

not understand the situation in New Brunswick and were enforcing an entryist strategy

designed for Ontario.70 Dissent towards the LSA/YS leadership's handling of the

situation in New Brunswick was not confined to the province. One self-declared

68 Terry Hamilton-Smith to the LSA/LSO Political Committee, 25 October 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 69 Terry Hamilton-Smith to the LSA/LSO Political Committee, 25 October 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 70 Terry Hamilton-Smith to the LSA/LSO Political Committee, 25 October 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

122 revolutionist from Toronto wrote to Labor Challenge to criticize the LSA leadership's view of the situation in New Brunswick.71 However, the fears of Dowson and the

LSA/YS leadership of an expulsion of Trotskyist members from the NDP trumped any desire to win the party to a more radical program, and there is no evidence that the

LSA/YS changed its stance towards the FYS.

The fears of expulsion were also exacerbated by the results of the meeting of the federal council of the NDP, held between 12 and 14 November. The outcome of this meeting would be decisive in determining the fate of the NB Waffle within the NB NDP.

About 50 people attended the council meeting, which featured almost all of the major figures within the NDP, including federal leader David Lewis, former NDP leader

Tommy Douglas, and former CCF leader M.J. Coldwell. Prominent Ontario Wafflers

James Laxer and Mel Watkins (neither of whom had made any major statements about the NB Waffle up to this point) were also present, as were Clifford Scotton and Peggy

Prowse, both of whom were already quite familiar with the situation in New Brunswick.

Five New Brunswickers attended the meeting: Pat Callaghan, Alastair Robertson, J.

Albert Richardson, John Boyle and Ronald Lees. The situation within the NB NDP was the first item of business.72 Richardson and Boyle represented the anti-Waffle wing of the party, while Callaghan, Robertson and Lees (a party member who was elected to the federal council at the 16 October NB Waffle meeting) were the pro-Waffle members in attendance.

"Reader says we're wrong on the NDP", Labor Challenge, 8 November 1971. 72 "New Democratic Party: Minutes of Federal Council Meeting, 12-14 November 1971-Ottawa", book 9(1 of 2), file 367-4, Vol. 367, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC. 73 Ronald Lees interview, with author, by correspondence, 1 November 2007.

123 Several of those in attendance commented upon the crisis in the NB NDP.

Scotton opened with a report on recent events in New Brunswick. Robertson followed

with a presentation whose central point was that the NDP's federal council had no

constitutional authority in provincial NDP matters. Boyle was up next, and he stated that

constitutional requirements were not met at either the Saint John or Fredericton

conventions, and he urged the federal council to support the special convention called for

27 November.74 Lees has recalled that several major figures in the NDP were not kind

towards the NB Waffle. The impact of the NB Waffle upon the NDP's performance in

the recent Ontario election was the primary item of concern, and Stephen Lewis "blamed

the NB Waffle people for bad press and contributing to the loss in Ontario."75 David

Lewis weighed in on the events in New Brunswick with a passionate attack on the NB

Waffle manifesto. He stated that it "may be Maoist, or Trots or simply old-fashioned

Communism, but whatever it is, it isn't New Democratic."76 According to Lees, David

Lewis "really put the boots to us, and I was certainly annoyed and put off by what I regarded as an extremely undemocratic attitude."77

Following Lewis's tirade, a motion was presented to the federal council which read as follows:

That until such time as the New Brunswick NDP can produce evidence satisfactory to the federal NDP officers, that they have conducted a proper convention, that we do not have a New Brunswick NDP.78

"New Democratic Party: Minutes of Federal Council Meeting, 12-14 November 1971-Ottawa", book 9 (1 of 2), file 367-4, Vol. 367, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC. 75 Ronald Lees interview, with author, by correspondence, 1 November 2007. 76 "NB party unifies", NDP Ottawa Report, 1 December 1971, Bill Ross private collection. 77 Ronald Lees interview, with author, by correspondence, 1 November 2007. 78 "New Democratic Party: Minutes of Federal Council Meeting, 12-14 November 1971-Ottawa", book 9 (1 of 2), file 367-4, Vol. 367, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC.

124 Lees recollected that Mel Watkins tried to express sympathy for the NB Waffle, though

the opposition of the NDP establishment ensured that any attempt to do so was not well

received. The New Brunswick members in attendance were not permitted to vote on the

motion. The vote was 39 in favour, five against, and three abstentions.79 The New

Brunswick wing of the NDP was suspended. The federal NDP also froze the funds in the

NB NDP's bank account.80

For the federal NDP to respond in such a manner to the actions of a troublesome

leftist group within the party, was not exceptional. The history of the CCF and NDP was

filled with other instances in which the party brass responded to perceived threats from

the far left, usually Communists, in the same manner. Soon after the CCF was founded

in 1933, the Ontario wing of the party was disbanded by the national executive after

accusations of Communist infiltration in the party's labour section. In 1936, the leader of

the British Columbia CCF was expelled. In Manitoba, between 1945 and 1949, three

CCF members of the Legislature were suspended on claims of being too close to

Communists.81 The 1960s saw the expulsion of Trotskyists within the NDP on several

occasions. In 1962, 11 LSA members and supporters were expelled or suspended from the British Columbia NDP's Youth Section for being associated with the organization.

The expulsion of up to 14 members of the Ontario NDP occurred in 1963 for the same reason,82 and 1963 also saw 30 Trotskyists belonging to the NDP's youth wing

79 "New Democratic Party: Minutes of Federal Council Meeting, November 12-14, 1971-Ottawa", book 9 (1 of 2), file 367-4, Vol. 367, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC. 80 Clifford Scotton to A.N. Clarkson, 15 November, 1971, file 12, "NB: General Correspondence 1968- 1971", Vol. 455, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC. 81 George Ehring and Wayne Roberts, Giving Away A Miracle: Lost Dreams, Broken Promises and the Ontario NDP, Oakville, Ont.: Mosaic Press, 1993, p. 11. 82 Lyle S. Kristiansen to May Richards, 5 September 1963, file "NB YND 1961-71", Vol. 472, CCF-NDP fonds, LAC. Kristiansen stated that "between eight and fourteen" members of the Ontario NDP were expelled in early 1963 for being LSA members or supporters.

125 expelled. This purge of Trotskyists from the New Democratic Youth was repeated in

1967 with the expulsion of NDP youth members who were either members or supporters

of the LSA. The impact of these expulsions was to temporarily negate any Trotskyist

influence in the NDP's youth wing.84 These events, fresh memories in 1971, certainly

must have influenced LSA/YS thinking regarding events in New Brunswick.

While the CCF-NDP tradition of expelling radical leftists who caused grief

certainly explains part of the federal party's reaction to events in New Brunswick, the

personality of federal leader David Lewis also offers insights into what happened at the

Ottawa meeting. Born in 1909 in Russian Poland, Lewis witnessed Bolshevik brutality

first-hand as a child during the Red Army's occupation of his village during the Soviet-

Polish War of 1919-20. Red Army brutality included the near-execution of his father.

His childhood experiences would be the beginnings of Lewis' fierce anti-communism,

and would continue after his family immigrated to Montreal in 1921. During his tenure

as federal secretary of the CCF (1938-52), Lewis often combated communist influence in

labour unions affiliated with the party.85 While the Waffle in Ontario was not by any means Communist, it was becoming an increasing irritant within the Ontario NDP and

certainly ignited old fears. For Lewis, the Waffle would "touch a nerve still raw with memories of thirty years of bruising struggle."86 According to federal secretary Clifford

Scotton, Lewis "saw the Waffle as another manifestation of the Trots, the Commies, or

on whatever, so he would go back to the old battle." In the case of the NB Waffle it

Benjamin Isitt, Tug-of-War: The Working Class and Political Change in British Columbia, 1948-1972, unpublished PhD dissertation, University of New Brunswick, 2007, p. 364. 84 Isitt, pp. 381-2. 85 Whitehorn, Canadian Socialism, pp. 152-61. 86 Cameron Smith, Unfinished Journey: The Lewis Family, Toronto: Summerhill Press, 1989, p. 427. 87 Smith, p. 426. actually was partly true that it was "another manifestation of the Trots" and there was an

obvious element to the group that was definitely beyond social democracy. It is very

possible that the extremism of the NB Waffle, though unrelated to the Waffle elsewhere,

further convinced Lewis that the Ontario Waffle itself could not be accommodated.

The non-Trotskyist wing of the NB Waffle was outraged by the decision made in

Ottawa. Callaghan claimed that the federal council decision violated an article of the

party constitution providing for fully autonomous provincial sections. He spoke out

against David Lewis, telling the media that it was up to the people of New Brunswick "to

decide whether to accept or reject our policies, not David Lewis or the union brass of

Ontario."88 Callaghan was not optimistic about the NB Waffle's future within the NB

NDP, as he expected the non-Waffle forces in the party to accumulate enough votes at the

Chatham special convention to thwart any attempts by the NB Waffle to control the

party. Sensing that the Waffle's days in the NB NDP were numbered, group members

began to consider their options. The non-Trotskyist members of the NB Waffle started to

entertain the notion of forming a separate party, and Callaghan himself publicly talked

about reviving the CCF in the province.90 The future of the NB Waffle would be

discussed at a meeting scheduled for 21 November in Fredericton. '

The isolation of the NB Waffle was compounded even further by statements made by Mel Watkins, soon after the federal council meeting. Watkins publicly stated that the

NB Waffle was not associated with his own Waffle organization. One can infer what

Watkins thought about the NB Waffle by what he said the following year at a lecture he

88 "Claims NDP Constitution 'Violated'", The Telegraph-Journal, 15 November 1971. 89 "NDP Waffle Members To Form Own Party?", The Telegraph-Journal, 19 November 1971. 90 «CCF TQ Be Revived In province?", The Daily Gleaner, 15 November 1971. 91 "NDP Waffle Members To Form Own Party?", The Telegraph-Journal, 19 November 1971. 92 "NDP Splinter Group Not Part Of Waffle?", The Evening Times-Globe, 20 November 1971.

127 delivered in Fredericton. In reply to a question forwarded by Callaghan himself, Watkins

said that the NB Waffle manifesto was "a totally unacceptable thing" and that it "lay

beyond the pale of social democracy."93 He added that the NB Waffle should not have

proposed its policies under the Waffle name and that the Waffle would be "irresponsible"

if it casually accepted left-wingers who wished to use the movement's title.94 It is likely

that, after the 12-14 November federal council meeting, Watkins realized the damage that

was being done to the Ontario Waffle by the activities of the NB Waffle, especially as

much of the NDP establishment blamed the NB Waffle for the NDP loss in the recent

Ontario election. The fallout from these accusations would certainly have hurt the

position of the Ontario Waffle within the Ontario NDP, and Watkins was perhaps

attempting to distance the Ontario Waffle from the NB Waffle so as to avoid the wrath of

the party establishment.

Meanwhile, the FYS calls for the NB Waffle to recognize the authority of the

NDP federal council, to remain within the NB NDP "at all costs," and to attend the 27

November special convention, all received little support. Indeed, relations between the

Trotskyist and non-Trotskyist wings of the NB Waffle had degenerated even further.

Following the suspension of the NB NDP, an active "Trot-baiting" campaign was launched within the group, led by Bill Ross and Norman Strax (who joined the NB NDP to back the NB Waffle in the rush of recruitment in preparation for the 16 October meeting). Strax circulated a letter within the NB Waffle attacking the FYS members as

"sectarian Trotskyites" and recommended their exclusion from the group. The FYS

"N.B. Leftist Plan 'Was Unacceptable'", The Telegraph-Journal, 5 April 1972. "N.B. Leftist Plan 'Was Unacceptable'", The Telegraph-Journal, 5 April 1972.

128 concluded that any hope of winning over the majority of the NB Waffle was lost.

Having been so instrumental in creating the NB Waffle, the FYS now felt that they had

created a monster that they no longer controlled.

The FYS prepared for a split of the NB Waffle to occur at the 21 November

meeting. The FYS plan was to lead a minority group out of the NB Waffle and

reconstitute a new NB Waffle that would be capable of remaining within the NB NDP.

This new group would adopt the Ontario Waffle Manifesto as its program, though add a

modified labour resolution. They would also seek recognition and support from James

Laxer, Mel Watkins, and the Nova Scotia Waffle. Their plan was to present their

program at the NB NDP's special convention in Chatham but they would not challenge

the leadership of the party. As further insurance against any expulsion attempts, the FYS

members of the new NB Waffle would not operate openly as Trotskyists and Hamilton-

Smith himself would remain out of public view.96

The NB Waffle meeting went ahead on 21 November. The demoralization of

both the Trotskyist and non-Trotskyist wings of the NB Waffle was evident by the

number of people who attended. Just over 30 Wafflers were present, less than half the

number who attended the 16 October meeting. The meeting featured a debate about the

future direction the group should take. Arguments in favour of forming a separate party

suggested that involvement in the NB NDP would merely entail a constant battle with the

right-wing of the party. Arguments in favour of remaining within the party claimed that a

separate socialist party would not survive. One member in attendance said that she was

95 Terry Hamilton-Smith to Ross Dowson, 17 November 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 96 Terry Hamilton-Smith to Ross Dowson, 17 November 1971, file 13-19, "Fredericton Branch-Minutes and Correspondence, n.d., 1970-1972", Container 13, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

129 there because of the NB Waffle's resolutions, not because of the NB NDP. Another member from Black's Harbour (presumably from the defunct YS local there, which ceased to exist by mid-November) stated that the NDP in Charlotte County had been ruined and party members were simply sitting back and waiting to see what happened to the party and the NB Waffle. Following this exchange, the FYS motion was put forward for a vote. The motion called for recognition of the federal council's authority and its decisions and called on NB Waffle members to attend the 27 November special convention in Chatham. The motion passed by a vote of 17 to 14.97 The FYS had managed to gain control over the direction of the NB Waffle, though in its truncated form. The non-Trotskyist leadership of the NB Waffle accepted the decision of the vote and retreated from the group.

On 27 November, 72 delegates gathered at the Exhibition Pavilion in Chatham for the NB NDP's special convention.98 Among the delegates were about 17 Wafflers, including six YS members. None of the non-Trotskyist NB Waffle leadership, including

Callaghan and Robertson, attended. The primary aim of the Trotskyists in attendance was to avoid any expulsions of NB Waffle supporters. Ray LeBreton, an anti-Waffle member, was planning on introducing a motion that sought the expulsion of NB Waffle members. News of this plan forced the Trotskyist members into seeking alliances and pacts with other non-Waffle sections of the party, particularly the Sackville-Moncton group led by John Boyle, in order to halt such a move. A deal was eventually concluded

97 "NDP Waffle To Stay Within Provincial Body", The Daily Gleaner, 22 November 1971. The last listing of the Black's/Beaver Harbour YS local was in the 8 November 1971 issue of Labor Challenge. 98 "Province's NDP Mends Its Differences", The Telegraph-Journal, 29 November 1971.

130 with LeBreton himself where by he would drop his call for expulsions in exchange for

NB Waffle support for his candidacy for the provincial council."

In the elections for party officers, J. Albert Richardson was acclaimed leader and

Barrie Hould was acclaimed as president. All of the primary positions in the party (with

the exception of Richardson) were won by non-Wafflers from the Moncton-Sackville

area. No YS members ran for provincial council and only two NB Waffle supporters,

Jim Wallace and Andy Watson, were elected to the body. The convention concluded

with a series of three speeches, the last one by Terry Hamilton-Smith. Hamilton-Smith

stated that the NB Waffle (the first time the word was used all convention) would support

the NB NDP. He was applauded twice, once in the middle of his speech. The convention

was declared valid by Donald MacDonald, a former Ontario NDP leader and a member

of the federal council, who was sent by the federal NDP to observe the gathering.100

An executive meeting of the NB NDP was held immediately after the conclusion

of the convention. It was agreed (with the exception of the two Wafflers on the

executive) that the leading NB Waffle members should be expelled. Seven names were

circulated, including Pat Callaghan, Alastair Robertson, Bill Ross and Gary Zatzman. No

YS members were mentioned. MacDonald suggested that the matter be handled "like we do it in Ontario" by simply letting the memberships of those in question expire and

99 "NDP Report", Fredericton YS, 4 December 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton- Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. Of the six YS members who attended the convention, five were from the Fredericton YS local and one was from the Saint John YS local. ioo llNDp ^0!^ Fredericton YS, 4 December 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton- Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

131 refusing to renew them. This move was adopted,101 and the three-month-long conflict

within the NB NDP came to an end.

The NB Waffle spent the month after the Chatham special convention slowly

unraveling, this time for good. The organization was fractured, demoralized and

depleted. Only two NB Waffle supporters sat within the governing structure of the party,

and in minor roles. The former leadership of the group had largely fled the NDP and was

facing a drawn-out expulsion from the party in any case. NB Waffle supporters remained

the majority in the York-Sunbury and Carleton-Charlotte NDP, but the upheaval within

the group left the constituency associations in these ridings disorganized.102

The FYS had some bold plans for the NB Waffle after the patch-up with the rest

of the party, including establishing links with the federal Waffle and building the NB

Waffle's presence in Moncton, Saint John and the labour movement.103 Yet, reality

ensured that these plans were never put into practice. The FYS local still had to resolve the censure of most of its members by the LSA/YS leadership. The battle with Dowson and the LSA/YS leadership had severely weakened the YS in New Brunswick, and by the end of the year only the Fredericton local remained active, with no more than nine members coming to meetings.104 The decline of the FYS was further exacerbated when

Terry Hamilton-Smith announced in December 1971 that he would be leaving

1U1 "NDP Report", Fredericton YS, 4 December 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton- Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 102 "NDP Report", Fredericton YS, 4 December 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton- Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 103 "NDP Report", Fredericton YS, 4 December 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton- Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 104 The final listing of the Saint John YS local was in the 20 December 1971 issue of Labor Challenge. Minutes of FYS meeting from December 1971 all listed between four and nine people in attendance. File 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton-Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

132 Fredericton in the next year to continue his education elsewhere.105 By mid-December all

mentions of the NB Waffle at FYS meetings ceased, as the shrunken group became

preoccupied with work at Fredericton High School as well as appealing their censure.106

Little of consequence came from those NB Waffle members who wished to create

a new party and refused to attend the Chatham special convention. Those who were

involved in the leadership of the group faded away in a variety of directions. Former

Wafflers Gary Zatzman and Jay Baxter decided to form a "revolutionary" group in

Fredericton out of local disillusioned Wafflers, which attracted a small nucleus of support

but little else. Robertson decided to withdraw from active involvement in the NDP,107

and as a student from Scotland would soon be leaving New Brunswick. Pat Callaghan

meanwhile denounced the Chatham special convention as "a sham and a fiasco"108 and

largely withdrew from active involvement in the NDP. In February 1972 he resigned as

president of the York-Sunbury NDP, considered leaving the party altogether and briefly

contemplated joining the newly-formed Parti Acadien.109 A general decline in student

radicalism in North America as the 1970s progressed was also becoming evident at UNB,

and Bill Ross recalled that this further eroded the potential motivation to initiate any meaningful post-Waffle organization.110 The non-Trotskyist wing of the NB Waffle never made any serious attempt to form a new party, while the FYS quickly abandoned

Terry Hamilton-Smith to Ross Dowson, 13 December 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton- Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 106 Minutes of FYS local, 18 December 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton-Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 107 "NDP Report", Fredericton YS, 4 December 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton- Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 108 "NDP Meeting A Sham, Fiasco'", The Telegraph-Journal, 1 December 1971. 109 "Callaghan Quits As President Of York-Sunbury NDP", The Daily Gleaner, 22 February 1972. 110 Bill Ross interview, with author, Fredericton, N.B., 14 December 2006.

133 any interest in reconstituting the NB Waffle in a new form. By January 1972, the NB

Waffle was, for all intents and purposes, dead.

Thus came to an end the brief and caustic life of the NB Waffle. In less than two years it had resurrected the NDP in Fredericton, emerged as the most powerful force within the NB NDP and garnered nationwide attention, though often of a scornful nature.

However, internal ideological conflicts combined with battles with the establishment of the party and the federal NDP to fracture and defeat the movement. Though its existence was brief, the NB Waffle would leave a mark upon left-wing politics in Canada, particularly the New Brunswick NDP and Canadian Trotskyist movement. It is in these impacts and the larger historical insights that the NB Waffle provides that the importance of the group is most apparent.

134 CONCLUSION

There are numerous ways to assess the story of the NB Waffle, or indeed any

political movement. These include what impact a movement had in the arena of politics

and political action, what a movement represents in historical terms, what sort of window

it provides on a specific time and place during a historical transformation, what a

movement can contribute to the larger understanding of a historical trend or era and

finally what relevance and insights a movement can offer in the contemporary era. The

NB Waffle can be assessed according to these criteria. An understanding of the history

of the NB Waffle can contribute to the history of New Brunswick and Canadian politics,

to the history of the Canadian left, and to the history of late 1960s and early 1970s

radicalism.

The impact of the NB Waffle upon political life in New Brunswick and Canada

varies. In the case of the very party that the NB Waffle sought to transform, the New

Brunswick NDP, the most immediate and important impact was to shift the balance of power within the party. During its brief existence, the NB Waffle made Fredericton, and to a lesser extent Charlotte County, a major base of NDP activity in New Brunswick where previously little had existed. The dispute within the NB NDP brought about by the

NB Waffle weakened the influence of these areas in the party and shifted geographic control of the party to Moncton, Sackville, Saint John, and Miramichi. This geographic

135 shift was in part engendered by the election of the new set of officers at the Chatham

special convention, and in part by the increased involvement of the province's labour

movement leadership in the party, very few of whom lived in areas of NB Waffle

strength.

The limited labour involvement in the NB NDP prior to the NB Waffle episode

was one reason that the NB Waffle was able to generate so much relative support within

the party. The strength of the NB Waffle, demonstrated at the Saint John convention in

September 1971, prompted the Canadian Labour Congress to pressure the NBFL to

participate more actively in the NB NDP. The CLC backed up this suggestion by sending

a staff person to organize support for the party in the heavily-unionized Bathurst area.

Following the Chatham special convention, trade unionists were more heavily

represented on the party executive than ever before. There was also a slight movement of

NBFL officials into the party and an increase in the number of NDP-affiliated union

locals in the province.1

The NB Waffle contributed to further rooting the labour movement in the NB

NDP by scaring it into more active support for the party. Trade unionists both inside and

outside New Brunswick saw what could happen if they granted only moral support to the

party. The NB Waffle did encourage some rank-and-file union members to become

involved with the party out of enthusiasm for their platform, but the more significant and

permanent movement of labour leadership into the party was born, not out of support for but rather out of opposition to, the NB Waffle. The increased involvement of the New

Brunswick labour movement in the NDP that resulted from the NB Waffle has a

1 "NDP Report" Fredericton YS, 4 December 1971, file 74-24, "YS/LJS Local-Fredericton-Miscellaneous, n.d., 1970-1971", Container 74, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

136 somewhat ironic twist to it. The Trotskyist wing of the NB Waffle was commanded by

the LSA leadership to cease activity in the NB NDP in part because the party was not yet

rooted in the province's organized labour movement, and yet greater labour involvement

in the party was indirectly generated by Trotskyist activity.

While the NB Waffle indirectly nurtured greater involvement on the part of the

labour movement in the NB NDP, in the short-run the group alienated the wider New

Left community from having any interest in the party. The New Left in New Brunswick

had little use for the NDP prior to the NB Waffle, and the party was dismissed in the

pages of The Mysterious East as "the refuge of political malcontents who couldn't get far

enough into the Grit or Tory establishments to get any graft."2 The NB Waffle sought to

remedy this, and encouraged many anglophone New Leftists in New Brunswick to make

a political investment in the party for the first time. More moderate New Leftists,

however, were dissuaded by the more radical portions of the group's platform: The

Mysterious East claimed that the NB Waffle manifesto paid "the same sort of attention to

reality that you find in the publications of the Flat Earth Society."3 Moreover, the chaotic

episode of late 1971 eradicated the notion of the NB NDP as a useful political vehicle

among those New Leftists whom the NB Waffle did attract, and the party was detached

from the wider New Left community for some time. Only towards the late 1970s did the

NB NDP become relevant to members of the New Left.

While the NB Waffle did not immediately compel the NB NDP to universally welcome the New Left or warm up to its concerns and positions, it did force the party to

acknowledge the existence of the New Left. Prior to the emergence of the NB Waffle,

2 "NDP Duck", The Mysterious East, November 1971, p. 31. 3 "NDP Duck", The Mysterious East, November 1971, p. 32.

137 the NB NDP was rather oblivious to New Left issues and showed little sign of recognizing the New Left. The NB Waffle provided the NB NDP with a crash course in

New Left politics and analysis and made the party aware of the New Left whether it wanted to be made aware of it or not. The Waffle experience may very well have paved the way for the eventual acceptance of New Left concerns, namely feminism and environmental!sm, in the NB NDP by the late 1970s.

The NB Waffle had less long-term influence on the policies and platform of the

NB NDP than their Ontario counterparts did upon the Ontario NDP. This minimal influence, however, is to be expected considering just how distanced from traditional

Canadian social democracy the NB Waffle program was. Only in the realm of social and environmental policy can it be suggested that the NB Waffle had an impact on party policy. Barrie Hould recalled that the group's abortion policy gained the most currency among party members as time progressed.4 It may be a stretch, however, to imply that the prominence of abortion rights and other women's issues in the NB NDP after the NB

Waffle was a direct result of the group. The NB Waffle was really just barely ahead of the curve of popular opinion within the NDP across Canada during the 1970s as the party became the political choice of a significant portion of the feminist movement.

The NB Waffle's concern for environmental issues found a place in the NB NDP after J. Albert Richardson resigned as party leader in 1976. The party selected John

LaBossiere, a school teacher based in Kent County, as Richardson's replacement.5

4 Barrie Hould interview, with author, Moncton, N.B., 21 May 2007. For evidence of the rise of women's issues in the NB NDP platform, see the NB NDP 1978 election platform, "A New Choice For New Brunswick: Programme '78, New Brunswick New Democratic Party", New Democratic party file, pamphlet files, New Brunswick Legislative Library. 5 "Former N.B. NDP leader John LaBossiere dies at age 70", The Moncton Times & Transcript, 13 January 2006.

138 During his four-year tenure as NB NDP leader, LaBossiere gained new members and

publicity for the party in part by opposing aerial spraying and the construction of the

nuclear power plant at Point Lepreau. The emphasis placed on environmental issues such

as these by LaBossiere, however, irritated many of the party's enlarged labour support,

many of whom contended that such stances placed too many jobs at risk.6 Any

assessment of NB Waffle influence on the NB NDP's policies must acknowledge that

such influence was most likely not direct and that such policies were adopted gradually.

In the 1974 provincial election the party ran on a platform that resembled NDP platforms

elsewhere in Canada, with little hint of NB Waffle inspiration.7

By the yardstick of electoral success, the impact of the NB Waffle on the NB

NDP was either neutral or negative. In the 1974 election the party's 35 candidates

secured 3 percent of the vote, almost a mirror of the party's 1970 result (with 31

candidates).8 Barrie Hould, upon recollection, believed that the base of the party was so

small in the early 1970s that the division within the NB NDP was of marginal

significance: there basically was nowhere to go but up, regardless of what happened

within the party.9 While the NB Waffle episode did not depress support for the NB NDP,

it is possible that any potential growth in support was either compromised or postponed

by the events of late 1971. Former NB NDP president John Earl believed that the split

6 Wilbur, "New Brunswick", p. 157. 7 "NDP Would Help N.B. Working Man", The Telegraph-Journal, 8 November 1974. The main planks of the NB NDP platform included the gradual phasing out of the 8% sales tax, the implementation of public auto insurance, the nationalization of NB Telephone Co. Ltd., the raising of minimum wage from $1.90 to $3.00, the inclusion of dental care under Medicare, the establishment of an agricultural land bank, and the scrapping of plans to build a nuclear power plant at Point Lepreau. 8 "New Democrats 'Will Have To Work Harder'", The Telegraph-Journal, 19 November 1974, "PC Leader Awaits Call From Premier", The Daily Gleaner, 27 October 1970, and "All NDP Candidates Lose $100 Deposits", The Daily Gleaner, 27 October 1970. The new geographic balance of power in the party was evident in the results however, as the only two ridings where NDP candidates won over 10 percent of the vote were in union-heavy Miramichi-Newcastle (17.4 percent) and Sackville-dominated Tantramar (15.1 percent). (Elections in New Brunswick: 1784-1984, pp. 136-7). 9 Barrie Hould interview, with author, Moncton, N.B., 21 May 2007.

139 within the party over the NB Waffle "held the NDP back for years," namely because

many party supporters were temporarily "turned off by the extreme positions ... that the

Waffle group wanted to take."10 Party member Richard Wilbur, who was living in

Caraquet between 1969 and 1973, recalled that the NB NDP went into an eclipse

following the NB Waffle episode, and that the party was, at least in francophone New

Brunswick, "largely upstaged by the Parti Acadien."11

Regardless of whether or not blame can legitimately be placed upon the NB

Waffle for the NB NDP's electoral showing in 1974, the results were certainly frustrating

for party members. Richardson blamed the party's showing on the voters themselves,

suggesting that New Brunswickers "are born into the (old) political parties" and that

"they don't really look at the alternatives presented to them."12 He articulated a

mythology that became an article of faith for many New Brunswick New Democrats, the

preferred explanation for electoral defeat that has persisted into the twenty-first century.13

The party would enjoy a period of growth afterwards, in part due to dissatisfaction among

voters in response to mounting scandals in both the Conservative and Liberal parties.

The party's support doubled to six percent in the 1978 election (despite the existence of a

10 John Earl interview, with author, Fredericton, N.B., 11 May 2007. 11 Richard Wilbur interview, with author, St. Andrew's, N.B., 7 March 2007. The Parti Acadien was formed in 1972 by members of the new generation of Acadian nationalists, many of whom belonged to the emerging economic and intellectual elite within Acadian society. The party sought to work in the interests of Acadians in the legislature and promoted the decentralization of government services and departments and espoused a socialist economic platform. The party would come to advocate the creation of a separate Acadian province. The party contested the 1974, 1978 and 1982 provincial elections and folded in the mid- 1980s, its supporters having gravitated largely to Hatfield's Conservatives. (Monique Gauvin and Lizette Jalbert, "The Rise and Fall of the Parti Acadien", Canadian Parliamentary Review 10 (3), Autumn 1987, pp. 13-7). 12 "New Democrats 'Will Have To Work Harder'", The Telegraph-Journal, 19 November 1974. 13 Robert Jones, "No victory in losing for the NDP", 9 June 2003, CBC website, http://www.cbc.ca/nbvotes2003/factcheck/04.html.

140 rival social democratic party in the form of the Parti Acadien), and the Sackville-

dominated riding of Tantramar elected the province's first New Democrat, Robert Hall,

in 1982.15 Party membership also enjoyed an upswing during the late 1970s and 1980s, rising to 1,136 in 1987.16 In the two decades following Robert Hall's victory the NB

NDP would be a minor but persistent force in New Brunswick politics and at times mold political discourse, most recently during the 2003 election when the party made auto insurance the dominant issue of the campaign and even forced the Liberals to at least flirt with the idea of introducing a public auto insurance system.17 In this sense the NB NDP was continuing a characteristic of New Brunswick politics, whereby the strength of the left could not be measured by electoral returns but by influence exerted through a variety of methods. The collapse of support for the NB NDP in the 2006 election18 may signal the effective end of the party and the passage of its members into other political organizations, be they a new party (such as the Green Party),19 the mainstream parties (in particular the Liberals),20 myriad extra-parliamentary movements, or a combination of the

14 Bonny Pond, "New Brunswick's Third Force", Canadian Dimension, 13 (5), (January-February 1979), p. 11. The economic platforms of the NDP and Parti Acadien were similar enough that as early as 1973 a member of the Parti Acadien executive advocated a merger of the two parties, (Roger Oullette, Le Parti acadien: De la foundation a la disparition, 1972-1982, Moncton, N.B.: Chaire d'etudes acadiennes, 1992, p. 35) and following the 1974 election both parties mused about the possibility of an electoral "entente." ("NDP-Parti Acadien: Would They Join Forces?", The Telegraph-Journal, 20 November 1974). 15 Agar Adamson and Ian Stewart, "Party Politics in the Mysterious East", Party Politics in Canada, fifth edition, Hugh G. Thorburn ed., Scarborough, Ontario: Prentice-Hall Canada Inc., 1985, pp. 322-3. 16 Alan Whitehorn, "Alexa McDonough and NDP Gains in Atlantic Canada", in Hugh G. Thorbum, ed., Party Politics in Canada, eighth edition, Toronto: Prentice-Hall, 2001, p. 269. 17 "All three parties have a little something to hide from us", The Telegraph-Journal, 15 May 2003. 18 In the six provincial elections between 1982 and 2003, the NDP received an average of 10 percent of the vote. In the 2006 provincial election, NDP support dropped to 5.1 percent. 19 "Green Party sees growth potential in N.B.", 10 October 2006, CBC website. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2006/10/10/nb-greens.html. The article claimed that Erik Millet, a Green organizer in New Brunswick, commented that the struggles of the NDP in New Brunswick have created a void and that people are looking for a new alternative like the Green Party. 20 In 2006, Terry Albright, a former NB NDP president and federal NDP candidate in Saint John in 2004 and 2006, joined the Liberal Party. Kelly Comer, nominated as the federal NDP candidate in Fredericton in 2007, quit the party before an election to join the Liberals. ("NDP position on Taliban 'naive,' says floor- crosser", The Telegraph-Journal, 24 October 2007).

141 above. This has been the implicit strategy of the left in New Brunswick since the

beginning of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first may be

witnessing another reassessment of the political vehicles utilized by leftist and

progressive forces in the province.

The impact of the NB Waffle on the NDP at the federal level and in other

provinces (namely Ontario) is quite ambiguous. The basic question regarding the NB

Waffle's impact on the NDP as a whole is as follows: were David Lewis and Stephen

Lewis so alarmed by the brief Waffle takeover of the NB NDP that they were moved

towards actively dealing with the Ontario Waffle once and for all, or would the eventual

expulsion of the Ontario Waffle from the NDP in July 1972 have occurred regardless of

the events in New Brunswick? While there is no direct connection, it can be suggested

that the rather swift destruction of the NB Waffle, following the federal party's

suspension of the New Brunswick party, may have contributed in part to strategic

thinking on how to handle other troublesome elements within the NDP at the time. The

federal party was certainly more forceful towards the contentious Quebec wing of the party after the events in New Brunswick than it was before/' If the NB Waffle had any impact on the NDP outside of New Brunswick, it would be limited to the suggestions mentioned above. Otherwise the matter was, and is, largely forgotten within the party.22

21 The federal NDP was less willing to exert force against the Quebec section of the NDP in early 1971 (Morton, pp. 122-4) than in mid-1972, when David Lewis declared that all NDP candidates in Quebec must share the party's stance on federalism or be disavowed ("Lewis disowns Que. NDP program", Labor Challenge, 17 July 1972). 22 The only published non-New Brunswick reference to the NB Waffle located by the author is a brief mention in Desmond Morton's volumes on the NDP, the first being NDP: The Dream of Power, Toronto: Hakkert, 1974 and the most recent being The New Democrats, 1961-1986: The Politics of Change, Toronto: Copp Clark Pitman Ltd., 1986. In each case the reference to the NB Waffle does not even mention the word "Waffle" and simply refers to the group as a "coterie of Fredericton revolutionaries."

142 The greatest impact of the NB Waffle, or rather the events that it initiated, was on

the Trotskyist movement in New Brunswick and Canada. The nascent Trotskyist

movement helped nurture the NB Waffle, yet paradoxically the LSA/YS assessment and

handling of the NB Waffle snuffed the movement in the province. Demoralized and

discredited by the actions of the LSA/YS leadership during the fall of 1971, the LSA/YS

in New Brunswick soon fell apart. Only the weakened Fredericton YS local remained at

the beginning of 1972, and it faded out as the year progressed. The FYS began 1972 with

an active attempt to participate in the 16 January "Day of Concern" march in Bathurst

and even sought to intervene in the local NDP again in April.23 The FYS membership,

however, continued to decline. Terry Hamilton-Smith quit the LSA/YS in July 1972,

stating that he still supported the Trotskyist cause but could no longer accept the

"factionalism and opportunist realpolitiK'' that characterized the LSA/YS.24

Hamilton-Smith left Fredericton, as planned, to continue his studies. Other FYS members left Fredericton during the summer of 1972, some disillusioned with the

Trotskyist cause and others seeking more promising Trotskyist activity in Montreal and

Toronto. Regular meetings of the FYS ceased in June 1972 and by the fall there was no activity by the local. The few remaining members were too demoralized even to pick up the local's mail.26 The FYS was essentially extinct by the end of the year and any

Trotskyist intervention in the NB NDP ended with it.

23 "Fredericton YS Executive 'Day of Concern" Report'", 21 December 1971, and minutes of Fredericton YS meeting, 30 April 1972, file 75-11, "Fredericton-Correspondence and Minutes, n.d. 1972", Container 75, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 24 Terry Hamilton-Smith to Ross Dowson, 3 July 1972, file 75-11, "Fredericton-Correspondence and Minutes, n.d. 1972", Container 75, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 25 Don Tapscott to the Fredericton YS, 10 June 1972, file 75-11, "Fredericton-Correspondence and Minutes, n.d. 1972", Container 75, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 26 Ron Gaudet to "Comrade Trew", 7 November 1972, file 75-11, "Fredericton-Correspondence and Minutes, n.d. 1972", Container 75, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. There is no evidence of

143 Yet the NB Waffle episode had a profound impact upon the Trotskyist movement

in Canada. The fallout from the manner in which Ross Dowson and the LSA/YS

leadership handled the NB Waffle victory cast serious doubt on the organization's entire

entryist strategy towards the NDP and provoked disputes within the movement that

ultimately fractured it. Doubts about the LSA/YS actions began during the NB Waffle

episode itself and proliferated in late 1972 and early 1973 as the Trotskyist movement

suffered further setbacks in their interventions within the NDP in general and the Waffle

in particular.28

As more and more LSA/YS members began to criticize the organization's NDP

line, the actions of Dowson and the LS A/YS leadership against the NB Waffle were often

cited as the initial event that warranted a re-examination of the LSA/YS NDP strategy.

Indeed, the LSA/YS's dogmatic pursuit of an established line on the NDP was regarded

as having aborted a potential major victory for the movement in New Brunswick and

Canada. The first major salvos fired against Dowson and the LSA/YS leadership came in late 1972. Walter Davis, a member of the Toronto West local, released a scathing attack on the LSA leadership. He accused the LSA Political Committee of practising a failed line that "led to a debacle that has set back the left in [New Brunswick] for years to

correspondence between the FYS and the LSA/YS headquarters after November 1972, implying that the local faded out. 27 RCMP files on the NB NDP, initiated when the NB Waffle won the Saint John convention, reported in April 1973 that "At present there are no known members that fall into the categories of New Left, Trotskyist or Communist which are involved in political parties in New Brunswick." File AH-2000/00182, part 1, Vol. 113, RG146, Canadian Security Intelligence Service fonds, LAC. 28 Marv Gandall, "Our Liquidation into the Ontario Waffle: The Lessons to Learn from it", LSA/LSO Discussion Bulletin 1972-73,44 (9 April 1973), pp. 1-2, file 162-3, "Discussion Bulletins-Nos. 41-58, 1973", Container 162, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

144 come." The destruction of the Trotksyist movement in the province was laid squarely on the shoulders of the LSA/YS leadership. Davis claimed that:

valuable revolutionaries were lost because the LSA/LSO leadership substituted organizational maneuvers for Marxist analysis. Trotskyism was smeared in Fredericton not by the YS comrade but by Labor Challenge ... the New Brunswick left which the YS had come close to having political hegemony over crumbled as a result of the Labor Challenge and P. Kent's tailism. Many fine militants were lost to politics thanks to this capitulation to the right wing leadership of social democracy in Canada.30

He concluded that:

The tailism of the leadership caused the LSA to miss important opportunities for adding to the forces of Trotskyism in Canada. How many times will this be the case? The 1971 repression of the New Brunswick Waffle was led by the united forces of Lewis- Watkins-Dowson. The first two stand historically convicted of crimes against the revolution. The last must answer to the future.31

Davis's assaults continued, and he was joined by another member of the Toronto West local, Bret Smiley. The two co-wrote a further attack on the LSA leadership's treatment of the situation in New Brunswick and its implications for the Canadian Trotskyist movement. They argued that the LSA's NDP line made the movement vulnerable to outflanking and absorption by reformist social democrats, and that because of this the

LSA's policy of entryism was "criminal."32

Don Van Wart, a member of the FYS, summed up the frustration of many

LSA/YS members in a paper entitled, "The Double Demagogy of 'Winning the NDP to

Walter Davis, "A Case Study of the LSA NDP Line in Practice: The New Brunswick Fiasco", 15 November, 1972, LSA/LSO Discussion Bulletin 1972, 26 (January 1973), file 162-1, "Discussion Bulletins- Nos. 21-30, 1972-1973", Container 162, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 30 Walter Davis, "A Case Study of the LSA NDP Line in Practice: The New Brunswick Fiasco", 15 November, 1972, LSA/LSO Discussion Bulletin 1972, 26 (January 1973), file 162-1, "Discussion Bulletins- Nos. 21-30, 1972-1973", Container 162, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 3' Walter Davis, "A Case Study of the LSA NDP Line in Practice: The New Brunswick Fiasco", 15 November, 1972, LSA/LSO Discussion Bulletin 1972, 26 (January 1973), file 162-1, "Discussion Bulletins- Nos. 21-30, 1972-1973", Container 162, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. 32 Walter Davis and Bret Smiley, "Social Democracy and the LSA", LSA/LSO Discussion Bulletin, 29 (February 1973), pp. 11-2, file 162-1, "Discussion Bulletins-Nos. 21-30, 1972-1973", Container 162, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC. Socialism.'" He argued not only that the LSA/YS leadership's actions had killed the

Trotskyist movement in New Brunswick, but also articulated a growing suspicion within

the LS A/YS that Dowson and the LS A/YS leadership were ultimately not interested in

"winning the NDP to socialism." According to the FYS (and other LSA/YS members),

the most successful case of Trotskyist entryism within a social democratic party in

Canadian history had occurred in New Brunswick in 1971 with the NB Waffle victory

(albeit running on a platform with only partial Trotskyist input), and it was aborted by

fellow Trotskyists. The expressed fears of expulsions and the actions of the LSA/YS

leadership provoked the question of whether entryism was about winning over the NDP

or merely about seeking shelter within the NDP. As Van Wart elaborated:

The line of the LSA/LSO is 'Win the NDP to Socialism.' This is fairly clear in its content but it is also true that [the] leading cadre will confidently take you aside to explain that we don't in fact believe it at all, that this is a slogan for other people which we know is totally impossible. And so the meaning becomes somewhat ambiguous. This is not the place for a rigorous criticism of the NDP policy... the LSA/LSO policy is one of political liquidation into the NDP in exchange for minor areas of organizational control (e.g. ) and security (i.e. not being expelled). The actual content of 'Win the NDP to socialism' is the loss of the LSA to social democracy.33

The emerging conflict within the LSA/YS over the purposes and practice of

entryism in the NDP, prompted by the events in New Brunswick, threw into question the very concept of entryism. The debate that emerged was over whether entryism

accomplished anything. Dowson and other members of the LSA/YS leadership believed that inclusion within the NDP trumped all other concerns, even if it meant the aborting of potential victories that could result in expulsion. The minor influence that could be achieved through inclusion in the NDP was worth more than whatever could be

33 Don Van Wart, "The Double Demagogy of 'Winning the NDP to Socialism'", LSA/LSO Discussion Bulletin, 26 (January 1973), file 162-1, "Discussion Bulletins-Nos. 21-30, 1972-1973", Container 162, Canadian Trotskyist fonds, LAC.

146 accomplished in a small Trotskyist sect. Therefore, inclusion within the NDP had to be maintained at all costs. This policy made little sense to those members who were bothered by the LSA leadership's treatment of the NB Waffle. They wondered what the point was of being in a movement that paid lip service to revolution yet feared to offend social democratic forces. They argued that it was better to be excluded from the mainstream of the Canadian left and at least remain loyal to revolutionary principles.

This conflict over entryism may have also resulted in part from a generation gap within the movement, between Dowson and younger activists. Dowson and older LSA members were veterans of the Canadian Trotskyist movement. They had experienced the struggles of the immediate post-war period, when Trotskyists faced increasing harassment and were often driven out of various organizations that they sought to establish influence in, especially trade unions.34 Expulsion from the NDP may have ignited fears not only of negated influence, but of much more active and fierce repression towards Trotskyists.

The Canadian Trotskyist movement was being torn apart due to a situation that it was not accustomed to: an actual victory for Trotskyist entryism. The NB Waffle represented the first time in Canadian history in which a Trotskyist influenced program became CCF-NDP policy and where Trotskyists were on the verge of becoming a major component of the power elite of the party. This unfamiliar scenario was further complicated by the fact that it occurred in a social democratic party that was not established as a political force in the working class or labour movement. Orthodox LSA thinking stipulated that entryism should only occur in an established and worker/labour

34 Richard Fidler, "Ross Dowson 1917-2002", Socialist History Project website. http://socialisthistory.ca/Remember/Profiles/Dowson2.htm

147 rooted NDP. However, what did this mean for Trotskyists who lived in an area where there was essentially no NDP to enter, as was the case in Fredericton in 1969-70?

Trotskyists had to take a leading role in building the NDP in Fredericton in 1969-70, since there was little sign that the local NDP would be built otherwise anytime soon, and certainly that the effort would not be conducted by the working class or trade unionists if it was. Theory smashed into a brick wall of reality in New Brunswick in 1971, and this generated two potential courses of action: either celebrate the NB Waffle victory because it represented a real-life gain for Trotskyism, or abort it because it did not conform to theory.

As long as Canadian Trotskyists failed to achieve any sort of tangible influence or success within the NDP, debates over the nature of entryism could be averted, since the question of what to do if entryism actually succeeded remained pure speculation. A movement that knows nothing but constant failure can avoid confronting the issues of the actual implementation of a strategy and platform. The NB Waffle episode forced a reassessment of the LSA/YS NDP line and increasingly undermined the position of

Dowson and the LSA/YS leadership.

The spring of 1973 saw the LSA splinter into various conflicting sects, prompted, not just by the debate on the LSA/YS NDP line, but on other matters as well.35 Those who were opposed to the NDP strategy advocated by Dowson and other LSA leaders formed themselves into the Revolutionary Communist Tendency in the spring of 1973.

35 The other major division that emerged within the LSA was a debate on whether or not Canadian nationalism was a progressive force. Dowson was the head of a group that maintained that Canadian nationalism was a progressive anti-capitalist force, while a new organization, called the Revolutionary Marxist Group (RMG), asserted that it was not. The RMG was a fusion of a group of revolutionaries based at the University of Toronto calling themselves the Old Mole and a section of the Ontario Waffle movement who were opposed to the nationalism of the Watkins-Laxer leadership called Red Circle. ("Statement of the Political Committee", Old Mole, 5 (July-August 1973). Socialist History Project website. http://www.socialisthistory.ca/Docs/1961-/RMG-GMR/Founding_of_RMG.htm

148 This group condemned Dowson and established LSA/YS policy as opportunist, adapting to reformism, and an abandonment of the principles of Marxism and , upon which Trotskyism is based.36 Dowson's policies were defeated at the LSA's 1973 convention and the organization's split was complete. Dowson and his supporters reconstituted themselves as the Labour Party Tendency (LPT) and were opposed to the

"sectarianism" toward the NDP of other Canadian Trotskyists. The following year the

LPT renamed itself Forward and the group evolved into a small cult of personality around

Dowson. When the major Trotskyist groups in Canada reunited in 1977, Dowson was not involved. A generational shift had occurred within the movement, and Dowson was discredited,37 a process initiated by the events surrounding the NB Waffle.

The history of the NB Waffle contributes usefully to our understanding of the time and place it existed in, namely the unique New Brunswick and Canadian experience of that era. The NB Waffle serves as an example of the unique role of the NDP in

Canadian leftist politics, particularly during the upsurge in radicalism during the late

1960s and early 1970s. For such a radical organization as the NB Waffle to become actively and eagerly involved in the machinery of a political party, or in some cases, having to construct that machinery, is something particular to the Canadian experience of the era when compared to radicalism in the United States during the same period. There was a parliamentary socialist tradition in Canada that made party politics appear as a more valuable vehicle for Canadian leftists of a more radical bent. As Myrna Kostash put it, the Canadian New Left "was not, thanks to the social democratic tradition, sentenced

36 Ian Angus, "Introduction", The 1973 Debate with , Socialist History Project website. http://www.socialisthistory.ca/Docs/1961-/Mandel/Mandel-Intro.htm 37 Richard Fidler, "Ross Dowson, 1917-2002", Socialist History Project website. http://socialisthistory.ca/Remember/Profiles/Dowson2.htm

149 like the Americans to rootless improvisations of radicalism." With this social democratic tradition in place, some Canadian New Leftists, according to Ian McKay,

"could still make a personal investment in the ... NDP."39 The moderate left was not as detached from the political mainstream in Canada as in the United States, and therefore the gap between the New Left and formal politics was not as great. True, some

American New Leftists flirted with party politics, most notably in Eugene McCarthy's campaign for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 1967-68.40 However, such examples are notable for their rarity and short-lived tenure, and ultimate failure to win over the party. The American New Leftists who gravitated towards McCarthy's campaign would have been more comfortable with the mainstream of the NDP than the mainstream of the Democrats. Radicalism was defined differently by Canadian social democracy than it was by American liberalism, and this difference ensured that New

Leftists and other radicals would be more welcome in the NDP.

For the New Left element of the NB Waffle, involvement in the NDP was not a large psychological jump to make. Of course, Kostash added that this social democratic tradition also presented challenges for radicals, in that it had to be accommodated.41 The

NDP offered leftist radicals the hope of some influence at the highest levels of politics, but also forced them to temper the extremes of their radicalism. The NB Waffle paid dearly for its refusal to acknowledge this. However, the NB Waffle can be commended for its attempt, as hasty and unsophisticated as it may have been, to marry the NDP to the larger social ferment in New Brunswick at the time and introduce formal party politics to

38 Kostash, p. 255. 39 McKay, Rebels, Reds, Radicals, p. 184. 40 Gitlin, pp. 294-7. 41 Kostash, p. 255.

150 many young left-wing activists who otherwise would not have shown any interest in the

NDP or parliamentary socialism.

Another aspect of the Canadian experience during the late 1960s and early 1970s

highlighted by the NB Waffle was that the gap between the Old Left and New Left was

not as pronounced or as severe compared to the American experience. The NDP played a

big role in this, as it acted as a forum where different generations of leftists gathered.

The overlap in membership within both the NDP and Trotskyist movement ensured that

the New Left was never fully cut off from the Old Left.42 This contrasted greatly to the

United States, where the Old Left never became a major political force to begin with and

was largely destroyed and discredited during 1950s. The American New Left never saw

the value in a "general multi-purpose Left,"43 which in Canada (or at least English

Canada) was what the CCF-NDP represented, and the American New Left instead

focused its energies almost exclusively on single-issue campaigns.44 The NB Waffle, by

contrast, mixed extra-parliamentary action with formal party political activity, and this

was very much a Canadian aspect of the organization.

The overlap between the Old Left and New Left in Canada, a phenomenon

assisted by the NDP, was evident in the NB Waffle itself. The ideological mixture that the NB Waffle program represented is evidence of this, where New Left concerns such as individual freedoms, women's rights and the environment mixed with more Old Left associated aims such as housing, wages, and labour rights. Pat Callaghan himself encapsulated this overlap and fusion. His political views were nurtured in the socialist and Communist dominated industrial outskirts of 1930s and 1940s Glasgow, yet they

42 Kostash, p. 254. 43 Gitlin, p. 83. 44 Gitlin, p. 83.

151 evolved to include such left-libertarian concerns as the supposed coercion of compulsory

education and the legalization of marijuana. The overlap between generations on the left

in Canada explains why a small business owner in his mid-40s could become the de facto

leader of an organization full of students half his age, and the NDP acted as the common

glue that brought them together. The NB Waffle can be viewed as a microcosm of the

generational overlap, and the role played by the NDP in nurturing it, that marked the

Canadian experience of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The NB Waffle also serves as an example of how the worldwide and nationwide

political movements and trends of the era were tailored and adapted to accommodate and

work within the specific circumstances of a particular region. The NB Waffle was part of

the much larger political ferment that was occurring elsewhere in Canada and the world,

but it was not a carbon copy of it. The NB Waffle was not a mere branch plant of some

other movement more closely associated with what was happening in Toronto, New

York, or Paris. Both the Trotskyist and non-Trotskyist wings of the NB Waffle sought to

understand and address the specific problems facing New Brunswick and craft a strategy

that they believed fit the environment in which they operated. Existing theories, formulas

and strategies could help, but they needed modification. To their credit, the New

Brunswick Trotskyists were far more creative than the rigid LSA/YS leadership in

Toronto, as they abandoned theory and formula when they failed to adequately address the unique challenges of the province. Only when the attempt to develop a strategy tailored to New Brunswick offended the LSA/YS leadership did the province's

Trotskyists cease this course of action.

152 In its quest to develop a movement that could adequately operate in New

Brunswick, the NB Waffle represented a "Maritimization" or even "New

Brunswickization" of the radical left. In doing so, the NB Waffle was joining other

emerging political groups in the Maritimes in attempting to develop truly indigenous

political movements and analysis. Among such groups were Acadian radicals and

Halifax-based black activists, who could draw inspiration from movements elsewhere,

but could not merely adopt wholesale the rhetoric, analysis and tactics of these

movements. Moreover the NB Waffle, while perhaps not having a direct impact upon

subsequent political movements and modes of analysis in the Maritimes, nonetheless

provided a New Left or radical socialist critique of the province and region that

anticipated the growing skepticism towards the status quo that emerged in the region in

the 1970s. Federally-sponsored development programs and the use of government

subsidies to lure outside capital to the region, attacked vehemently by the NB Waffle,

came under increasing disrepute by the late 1970s as their promised benefits often failed

to materialize and their effectiveness was called into question.45 The environmental

consequences of the model of economic development practised in New Brunswick and

the Maritimes was another growing concern by the mid-1970s, and one that the NB

Waffle was among the first to address. The battles over budworm spraying and the

construction of Point Lepreau, New Brunswick examples of cases in which economic interests clashed with environmental concerns, were not a direct result of the NB

45 John Reid, "The 1970s: Sharpening the Sceptical Edge", in E.R Forbes and D.A. Muise, ed., The Atlantic Provinces in Confederation, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993, pp. 466-78.

153 Waffle's analysis, but the group was part of a new ecological awareness in the

Maritimes.46

The role of regionalism was a prominent theme in the disputes that involved the

NB Waffle and it is important to keep in mind when assessing and interpreting the group.

It is interesting to note that the NB Waffle episode featured three cases in which an

Ontario-based and dominated movement was forced to contend with a rebellious or

unruly New Brunswick section: The federal NDP with the NB NDP, the Ontario Waffle

with a New Brunswick group using its name, and the LSA/YS with New Brunswick

Trotskyists.

As part of the "New Brunswickization" of the province's left, the NB Waffle was

in its own way helping to fulfill the aims that James Laxer had for the Canadian left

during the 1960s, in particular the New Left and student movement. Laxer argued that

the Canadian New Left and student movement was increasingly dominated by American

analysis and preoccupied with American issues, while remaining ignorant of the specific

issues and situation in Canada. This was seen as particularly detrimental, as the primary

issue facing Canada was its colonial status within the American empire, which was

something that American New Leftists could not and did not provide an answer for. If

Canadian New Leftists were to be effective in their own country, they would have to become better acquainted with their own country. In the pursuit of this aim Laxer called

for a Canadianization of the Canadian New Left.47 The NB Waffle merely took this

concept down one jurisdictional level further, implying that, in a country as large and

46Reid,pp.491-4. 47 See James Laxer, "The Americanization of the Canadian student movement", Close the 49th Parallel, Etc.: The Americanization of Canada, Ian Lumsden, ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1970, pp. 275-86.

154 diverse as Canada, a one-size-fits-all package of issues and analysis for the radical left

was as inadequate as a continental one. Finally, the NB Waffle represents one of several

examples that New Brunswick was not exempt from the political ferment of the late

1960s and early 1970s.

The NB Waffle offers some insights for the contemporary reader, albeit of an

indirect nature. The real contemporary relevance of the NB Waffle is not so much in

what it did to New Brunswick politics, but in what it reveals about New Brunswick's

political culture, then and potentially now. The very existence of the NB Waffle, and the

circumstances that allowed it to achieve such prominence within the NB NDP, uncovers

much about the political culture of New Brunswick. The NB Waffle became such a

dominant force within the NB NDP because the NB NDP was weak. Its weakness

however was not due to a lack of support for progressive or even social democratic

policies. It was rather because the two mainline parties, the Liberals and Conservatives,

were brokerage parties and thus progressive enough to accommodate many voters who

would otherwise have gravitated to the NDP. Leftists oscillated between supporting their

own parties and backing mainstream parties, further weakening left-wing parties such as

the NDP. The weakness of the NB NDP was also compounded by the strategy practised by the bulk of the province's labour movement, one of working within the mainstream

parties to achieve labour's aims. This strategy was based more on pragmatism than upon

an aversion to the social democracy advanced by the NDP. The NB NDP faced

difficulties during its first decade and a half, not because it was despised, so much as because it was regarded as redundant and unnecessary.

155 The political history of New Brunswick during the 1960s and early 1970s throws

into doubt the myth articulated by many political commentators that the province's

political culture is inherently conservative. The Robichaud and Hatfield governments did

not fit the mold of dogmatic and stubborn conservatism, and can be better understood as

forms of progressive centrism. And yet, in the midst of this era of progressive centrism

in New Brunswick politics, an article on the province's political life in a volume on

Canadian provincial politics could boldly declare that New Brunswick politics were

"parochial, stagnant, and anachronistic."48 While it is true that New Brunswick politics

were not universally progressive during the 1960s and early 1970s, or in any other era

since, they were hardly conservative. It is sometimes easy to forget that during the 1960s

the opposition to Equal Opportunity in supposedly "conservative" New Brunswick was

no more intense or protracted than the opposition to Medicare in supposedly "socialist"

Saskatchewan. The story of the NB Waffle therefore indirectly acts as a lens through

which to view and assess New Brunswick political culture, particularly during the 1960s

and 1970s.

The story of the NB Waffle will hardly grant any additional comfort to the

extreme radicals on the political fringes, such as anarchists or communists. Moderate progressives in New Brunswick, however, have something to gain in their contemporary political activities from the story of the NB Waffle, namely the political circumstances in the province that allowed for its temporary success within the NB NDP. For those moderate progressives, social democrats, greens, and left-liberals in New Brunswick who

seek political change, the story of the NB Waffle can offer the following comfort and

Fitzpatrick, p. 120.

156 encouragement: that the goals they seek to achieve may not be as unattainable as previously thought.

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164 Appendix A "For a Socialist New Brunswick" Manifesto*

FOR A SOCIALIST NEW BRUNSWICK

New Brunswick in 1971 continues in the direction set by the Robichaud government of the previous decade. Unemployment has taken a Great Leap Forward by providing over ten per cent of our population with an Equal Opportunity to rot under welfare. The vast majority of the few who do have permanent employment, on the other hand, have been given an Equal Opportunity to be exploited by low wages and oppressed by an enormous burden of indirect sales taxes and direct income taxes. These the government has appropriated to pay corporations to come to New Brunswick and create a small number of jobs at low wages in the first place. The corporations, for their part, have been regularly repaying the Province's gratitude, producing impressive moonscapes of mud, crushed rock and uprooted soil through strip-mining operations, clear-cutting our forests, and releasing millions of tons of untreated industrial wastes in our water and air, ensuring us all an absolutely equal opportunity to drink pollutants as well as breathe them.

These developments are a few of the by-now-classic characteristics of those planned, government-assisted regional economic expansion programs which have been coming out of Ottawa and most provincial governments since the early 1960's. Regional economic expansion is, however, but a euphemism for planned capitalist underdevelopment. Whereas in the old days governments helped big business by keeping trade-union activity virtually illegal and providing absolutely no form of social assistance to the unemployed, the disabled or the aged, relations between state and capital in our own era of so-called "big labour" and the welfare state have become much more sophisticated. In the specific case of New Brunswick, for example, industries are wooed by such devices as government-prepared promotional literature which exults in detailing the low level of provincial minimum wage scales, the largely unorganised (i.e., non- unionised) nature of the provincial labour force, the ready availability of substantial loans and outright grants from the government, and the fact that the province's tough-looking pollution control legislation is virtually never enforced. Other inducements include such things as extremely cheap timber-cutting rights to Crown land, tax gifts which leave profits virtually intact, cut rates on electrical power, and even government willingness to seek additional sources of private capital for prospective corporate citizens. Despite the rhetoric of progress, whether framed in promises of "equal opportunity" or "time for a change", governments continue to serve the interests of capital.

So far, this discussion has been primarily about corporate capitalism as it relates to resource development (mining and pulp-and-paper, in New Brunswick). Most of these corporations are foreign, which means that benefits that should come to the local

* Transcribed from "For a Socialist New Brunswick" in "Waffle Resolutions", file 3/3, MC 1089, York- Sunbury NDP Association Collection, PANB. Minor typographical errors and inconsistencies have been amended.

165 communities are drained abroad. That is not to say that Canadian corporate capitalists, or even those of the New Brunswick home-grown variety, are in any way preferable. George Weston Ltd, the Canadian section of the global Garfield-Weston corporate empire, based in England, controls a large sector of the food production and distribution business in the province - Sobey's, Atlantic Wholesalers, Save-Easy Stores, and Connors Bros. The upper Saint John River valley is virtually a feudal fiefdom of McCains Ltd, who dictate the supply of agricultural produce in the potato belt as well as operating a frozen-food processing business with world-wide export markets. The Canada-wide Dominion Stores chain is run from Toronto. Our own Frasers Ltd clear-cuts, pollutes, and throws people out of work (through plant shutdowns) with the best of them. The Irving empire controls the size of the welfare rolls in Saint John, and teaches us, through his ownership of the not very cheap, comfortable or efficient municipal bus systems of Saint John and Moncton (as well as SMT Eastern Ltd, the long-distance bus service), that public transport is a privilege rather than a right, and that we should therefore all become motorists so that we can buy his gasoline. The Irving empire's control of the English- language daily press, plus a major television outlet and radio station is, of course, notorious. Irving also clear-cuts and pollutes. Further detailing of the holdings of this vast corporate empire would be superfluous, however; suffice it to say that when K.C. Irving said that "in some ways, Upper Canadians are the worst kind of foreigners", he knew where his interests lay.

THIS SYSTEM OF CORPORATE CAPITALIST CONTROL OVER PEOPLE'S MATERIAL EXISTENCE (AND EVEN, TO SOME EXTENT, OVER WHAT THEY READ, HEAR, OBSERVE AND THINK) MUST BE REPLACED BY SOCIALISM -

THAT IS, THE COMMON OWNERSHIP OF THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION AND EXCHANGE UNDER WORKERS' CONTROL, WITH PRODUCTION FOR NEED RATHER THAN PROFIT.

The present is intolerable in the way that it brings men together primarily as buyers and sellers of each other, in the way it subordinates human need to material gain for a few, in its fetish for uncontrolled growth and the consequent rape of the natural world, in its special exploitation of women, native peoples, poor people and minorities by means of extra-low wages, in its relentless pursuit of empire in blind disregard for the future of humankind, in its dangerously comforting illusions of freedom and pretensions to democracy.

THE STRUGGLE FOR SOCIALISM MUST BE ESSENTIALLY A POLITICAL STRUGGLE - A STRUGGLE FOR POWER, BY THE EXPLOITED AND POWERLESS MASS OF SOCIETY AGAINST THE FEW WHO, AMONG THEMSELVES, POSSESS ALL REAL POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CONTROL. THIS POWER WILL HAVE TO BE TAKEN. IT WILL NOT BE GIVEN; IT IS SIMPLY NOT IN THE INTERESTS OF THE RULING CLASS TO DO SO.

The New Democratic Party, as a socialist party, can lead this struggle by providing a base of organization for the movements of workers, farmers, women, native

166 peoples, Acadiens, tenants, poor people and young people which have already emerged, as well as those which may emerge in the future in resistance to oppression and exploitation. By providing these groups with a socialist analysis and program, the Party can bring them from being diverse pressure groups, each fighting for a better deal for its own members within the present social system, to being a united force with a common goal of replacing that system with socialism.

The dynamic of such a relationship should make it impossible for us to confine our efforts to a fruitless search for power of an exclusively parliamentary nature and respectability, lacking any real base in, and solidarity with anti-capitalist movements among broad layers of the dispossessed. Most social-democratic parties, led often by sincere left-wing democratic socialists, have sunk or are now sinking into that very bog.

Nor can we afford to be trapped into demanding a series of largely unrelated reforms, however radical, which might well be accommodated within the present system. Accommodations of this kind enable those in power to proclaim the virtues of a system so open to change - change which, by merely laying down new ground rules for those already possessing power, reinforce basic power relationships by leaving them intact.

A SOCIALIST PARTY MUST PRESENT A COHERENT SET OF INTERRELATED DEMANDS AIMED AT THE KIND OF ROOT CHANGE IT SEEKS, A PROGRAM THAT LAYS OUT OUR POLITICAL TASKS AS SOCIALISTS IN THE TRANSITIONAL PERIOD FROM THE PRESENT CAPITALIST ORDER TO A SOCIALIST ONE. In that spirit, our transitional program makes the following demands:

(1) Immediate common ownership, without compensation, and under workers' control, of all major means of production, distribution and exchange. This would include all resource industries, manufacturing industries, agribusiness, food distribution chains, insurance and financial institutions.

(2) Immediate common ownership, without compensation, of all media - newspapers, publishing, radio, television and telecommunications - under workers' co-operative ownership.

(3) Immediate socialization of law and medicine, i.e., all medical and legal services to be free of charge and universally accessible.

(4) Immediate common ownership, without compensation, of all large-scale rented property; immediate control of rents and all other powers of landlords, with security of tenure for tenants and recognition of tenants' unions; massive public and co-operative housing, with local democratic control of all housing and all environmental planning.

(5) An agricultural land bank, with an immediate freeze on agricultural land transfer and sale; establishment of co-operative farms with workers' co-

167 operative ownership; a farmer-government pricing board; encouragement of family farmers to join co-operative enterprises; reversion of all family farm holdings (other than subsistence) to the land bank, as soon as possible after the family proprietor dies.

(6) Establishment of women's rights, including (a) equal pay for equal work, with working, contract and job offer conditions equal to those of men, free twenty- four hour user-controlled day-care centres and maternity leave with full pay; (b) complete legal equality in all marital, family and property matters; (c) free abortion on demand, with free and ready access to all information and devices/medicines for birth control and contraception.

(7) Full fraternal support of all workers' struggles against capital and any of its collaborators; full support in organising the non-unionised, the unemployed, welfare recipients, tenants, and oppressed minorities.

(8) Abolition of virtually all compulsory education, with state financing and full democratic control of all educational institutions and services, either by equal participation of students, teachers and people's representatives, or through workers' co-operative ownership; elimination of all procedures and structures which contribute to competitive evaluation, or oppression on the basis of class or sex.

(9) Full fraternal support of all self-determination movements in the province, of (for example) Acadiens and native peoples, and solidarity with the movement for Quebec self-determination, the struggle for an independent socialist Canada, and all national liberation struggles across the globe, including the Vietnamese and other Third World peoples.

WE CALL UPON ALL THE OPPRESSED AND EXPLOITED PEOPLE OF OUR PROVINCE TO JOIN WITH US AND OUR SISTERS AND BROTHERS ELSEWHERE IN CANADA AND THROUGHOUT THE WORLD IN THIS STRUGGLE FOR A GOVERNMENT OF THE WORKING CLASS. ITS ACHIEVEMENT WILL BE A WORLD IN WHICH THE DOMINATION OF THE MANY BY THE FEW, THAT BLIGHT OF ALL TIMES PAST, IS ENDED.

17 September 1971 PSC/ahr

168 Appendix B Use of Key Terms in Manifestoes

Waffle Manifesto For a Socialist N.B. NUMBER OF PARAGRAPHS 26 20 Socialism, socialist 27 9 Class, classes 3 3 Capitalism, capitalist 17 6 Imperialism, imperialist 2 0 Nationalization 1 0 Socialization 0 1 Public Ownership 1 0 Common Ownership 0 3 Social democracy/democratic 3 2 Exploitation, exploited 0 5 Co-operatives 1 5 National, nation 9 1 Canada, Canadian 42 5 America, American, United States 17 0 Quebec, Quebecois 3 1 French Canada 2 0 Acadians 0 2 Region, regional 3 2 New Brunswick 0 5 Independent, independence 17 0 Irving 0 4 Women 0 3 Pollution, pollute, pollutants 0 4 Native peoples 0 3

* The total number of paragraphs in "For a Socialist New Brunswick" is arrived at by regarding nine individually numbered policy demands as nine separate paragraphs. The term "capitalism/capitalist" includes "anti-capitalists." The term "social democracy/democratic" includes "democratic socialism/socialist." The inspiration for this table can be found in Alan Whitehora, Canadian Socialism: Essays on the CCF-NDP, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 38.

169 Appendix C The Moncton Transcript offers a view of the split within the New Brunswick NDP 20 October 1971

"DOUBTFUL IF HE KNOWS HE'S COMING 0* GOING!"

170 CURRICULUM VITAE

Candidate's full name: Patrick Grinstead Webber

Universities attended (with dates and degrees obtained): Bachelor of Arts, St. Thomas University, Fredericton, N.B., 2004.

Publications: N/A

Conference Presentations: Pushed to the Side: The New Democratic Party and the Political Culture of New Brunswick, 1960-75, presented at the 9th Annual University of Maine - University of New Brunswick International History Graduate Student Conference, Fredericton, N.B., September 2007.