Charlottesville, Mary Beard, North Korea & more -- The Left Chapter Sunday Reading List August 6 - 13

This week's list of articles, news items and opinion pieces that I see as must reads if you are looking for a roundup that should be of interest to The Left Chapter readers.

This list covers the week of  August 6 - 13. It is generally in order of the date of the article's release.

1) Whatever Became of the CCF’s Dream?

J.F. Conway, Socialist Bullet

A dramatic shift in electoral politics is currently disrupting leading capitalist democracies, challenging the ideological hegemony and legitimacy of the global neoliberalism of late capitalism.

Read the full article.

2) ‘Detroit’ Is The Most Irresponsible and Dangerous Movie Of The Year

Jeanne Theoharis, Say Burgin and Mary Phillips, Huffington Post

The film is egregious, both in what it includes and what it omits.

Read the full article.

3) New Conservative Petition Vows to Defund University Research, Empowering Anti-Abortion Groups

Press Progress

So much for the new and improved "mild-mannered," "middle-of-the-road" Conservatives.

The Conservative Party of Canada is currently promoting an online petition vowing they'll strip funding from universities and shut down critical research projects in the name of "free speech" – something anti-abortion figures say would amount to an "enormous victory for pro-life activists across the country."

Read the full article.

4) THE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN WAS DIVERSE. WHY DO SOME PEOPLE GET SO UPSET WHEN WE TALK ABOUT IT?

Rebecca Futo Kennedy, Classics at the Insterections

At this point, anyone who reads about things classical on the internet knows of the dust up over the BBC video on Roman Britain and its inclusion of a Roman soldier of African origin. If you need a quick refresher, you can check out a short article at Indy 100 (from the Independent) and another at The Atlantic. Then you can appraise yourself of the subsequent internet abuse heaped on historian Mary Beard when she involved herself in the discussion. This brawl over diversity in the classical world is one of a series that have occurred in recent months and echoes those surrounding Sarah Bond's article on painted marble in antiquity and the white supremacist motives for removing the paint and Donna Zuckerberg's call for a consciously more inclusive approach to Classics--the comments in both articles are amazing demonstrations of ignorance and virulence on one side and exasperation and resignation on the other.

Read the full article.

5) Mary Beard is right, Roman Britain was multi-ethnic – so why does this upset people so much?

John-Mark Philo, The Conversation

The Roman poet Catullus, now known for the erotic verse he wrote for Lesbia and Juventius, wasn’t particularly bothered about a man’s skin pigmentation (in this particular instance, that of Julius Caesar). So why are we?

Read the full article.

6) Refugees face kidnap, torture, rape and slavery in Libyan ‘living hell', Oxfam report says

Chloe Farand, The Independent

Refugees and migrants face kidnap, rape, torture, slave labour and sexual violence in Libya before attempting to cross the Mediterranean to reach Italy, an Oxfam report has found. 

Read the full article.

7) Outraged lawyer gives Chrystia Freeland three weeks to stop Saudi arms deal

 Clothilde Goujard, National Observer

Daniel Turp says he's ready to go all the way to the nation's top court to stop the sale of Canadian-made armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia.

Read the full article.

8) If you're wondering why Saudi Arabia and Israel have united against Al-Jazeera, here's the answer

Robert Fisk, The Independent

There are still honourable Israelis who demand a state for the Palestinians; there are well-educated Saudis who object to the crazed Wahabism upon which their kingdom is founded; there are millions of Americans, from sea to shining sea, who do not believe that Iran is their enemy nor Saudi Arabia their friend. But the problem today in both East and West is that our governments are not our friends.

Read the full article.

9) Breitbart Editor Somehow Triggered by Vogue’s Statue of Liberty Cover

Matt Wilstein, The Daily Beast

In the alternate universe that includes one of the White House's favorite news sources, Breitbart News, The Statue of Liberty is now an “attack” on the alt-right.

Read the full article.

10) The hypocrisy of opposing a minimum wage hike

Michael Coren, The Toronto Star

One key rallying cry is that the wage hike will kill profits and lead to job losses, but where is the indignation when bonuses are added to already astronomical executive salaries — we never hear that this will lead to inflation or the need to reduce the number of bosses.

Read the full article.

11) What Happens When An Anti-Muslim Internet Personality Begins To Face Consequences

Graeme Gorden, Canadaland

A hate-speech charge, at least one lawsuit, banned accounts, and political ambitions: the angry life of Mississauga YouTuber Kevin J. Johnston.

Read the full article.

12) Judge's comments referencing MMIW were 'victim blaming,' advocates say

Charles Hamilton · CBC News

A Saskatoon judge is being criticized for saying a woman who was arrested for being intoxicated was a "prime candidate to become a missing Aboriginal woman."

Read the full article.

13) Cop faces police hearing for use of ‘excessive force,’ as caught on bystander’s video

Scott Wheeler, The Toronto Star

Ontario’s independent police review director has mandated Toronto police chief Mark Saunders hold a disciplinary hearing after a video appeared to show Sgt. Eduardo Miranda’s repeatedly Taser and stomp on a man during a Jan. 24 arrest.

Read the full article.

14) Eagles' Jenkins will continue protesting police brutality

 Arun Srinivasan, The Score

Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins will continue protesting against police brutality and racial inequality during the 2017 season.

Read the full article.

15) Venezuela: Trump Threat of US Military Intervention "Madness" of US Imperialism

Jon Queally, Common Dreams

In response to comments from President Donald Trump that he wouldn't "rule out" a "military option" against Venezuela—currently embroiled in domestic political conflict as neoliberal forces challenge the socialist-led government of President Nicholas Maduro—the nation's top officials characterized Trump's remarks as "madness" coming from the "imperial" and "extremist elite that rules the United States."

Read the full article.

16) Tell me if you still think prostitution is empowering after hearing what the buying punters have to say

Julie Bindel, The Independent

When I began campaigning against domestic violence 35 years ago the perpetrators were invisible. The victims were pretty much all we heard about, and the perpetrator was the invisible man. This was the same with rape, and with child sexual abuse. Female survivors of these atrocities were often wheeled out to talk about “their recovery” or how they had helped other women get through their ordeal, whilst the elephant in the room was visible only to some.

This is why I decided that one of my chapters in my forthcoming book on the global sex trade would be about the sex buyer – this enigma, the puff of smoke, the pixellated face, the man who is rarely named.

Read the full article.

17) Horror in Charlottesville: One Dead After Driver Plows into Anti-Racist Demo

Jon Queally, Common Dreams


Racist neo-Nazis run out of town as city of Charlottesville rises up against hate-inspired rally.

Read the full article.

18) Police Stood By As Mayhem Mounted in Charlottesville

 A.C. Thompson and Robert Faturechi, and Karim Hajj - ProPublica

State police and National Guardsmen watched passively for hours as self-proclaimed Nazis engaged in street battles with counter-protesters. ProPublica reporter A.C. Thompson was on the scene and reports that the authorities turned the streets of the city over to groups of militiamen armed with assault rifles.

Read the full article.

19) The Rebel Had An Awful Lot Of Sympathy For The White Supremacists In Charlottesville

Johnathan Goldsbie, Canadaland 

Just after 1:00 this afternoon, Rebel Media personality Faith Goldy captured one of the clearest videos of the car that mowed into anti-racist protesters at the apparent culmination of the “Unite the Right” convergence of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia. The driver, who is in custody but has not yet been identified, killed one person and injured nearly 20 others.

Read the full article.

20) The ‘many sides’ of injustice in Charlottesville riot

Shree Paradkar, The Toronto Star

This is it, then.

We can officially drop the pretence of equality after violent protests by white supremacists, “heritage” groups, neo-Nazis, KKK members and armed white terrorists slammed that charade this weekend.

Read the full article.

21) Στενή Αυτοάμυνα, Twitter 

The people you rightly revile in Charlottesville are the people Obama used in Ukraine and the ones used in Venezuela. Don't turn your heads.

Read the full thread.

22) Donald Trump to blame for white supremacist violence, says Charlottesville mayor

Rachel Roberts, The Independent

Donald Trump has been blamed for the violent clashes between white supremacists and anti-fascist groups in Charlottesville by the mayor of the Virginia town.

Read the full article.

There are also two articles on North Korea that, while months old now, are definitely worth sharing again in light of recent events.

Both are from Andrew Dobbs on Medium

23)  A Lot of What You Know About North Korea Is Racist Nonsense

Less than three months into Pres. Donald Trump’s reign we can already say that there is a non-trivial chance that the United States will soon be engaged in a nuclear war.

Read the full article.

24) North Korea’s Government Is Terrible — And That’s Beside the Point

America doesn’t choose its enemies for their moral qualities

Read the full article.

See also: Dunkirk, Venezuela, Israel, Baltimore & more -- The Left Chapter Sunday Reading List July 30 - August 6

See also: Toronto Police, Star Trek, Omar Khadr & more -- The Left Chapter Weekly Reading List July 23 - 30

A Plea for Social Justice - Extracts from the Speeches of J. S. Woodsworth, M.P., in the House of Commons, 1930-33 (Part III)

Vintage Leftist Leaflet Project

See the end of this post for details on the project.

Leaflet: A Plea for Social Justice - Extracts from the Speeches of J. S. Woodsworth, M.P. , in the House of Commons, 1930-33 (Part III) 

This booklet published in 1933 (selected by Grace MacInnis) has nearly 80 pages of extracts from the speeches of Canadian Socialist icon J. S. Woodsworth. Woodsworth, a critical figure in the history of the Canadian left, was the first leader of the CCF, the precursor to the NDP.

As the booklet is quite lengthy we broke it up into 3 posts of which this is the final one.

To see the first part, click here.  For the second, click here.

The third part today shows the sections "Canada's Constitution", "Finance: The Power Behind the Constitution" and "Humanity First".

The booklet is a fascinating and remarkable piece of and look at Canadian leftist and social history.

This final part shows clearly that Woodsworth felt that Canadian democracy was being undermined by and was often beholden to the interests of the banks and financiers. He also showed how the law was not being equally applied to workers and the wealthy.

Finally it ends with a stirring quote about capitalism from the manifesto of the League for Social Reconstruction that reads:

In the advanced industrial countries it has led to the concentration of wealth in the hands of a small irresponsible minority of bankers and industrialists whose economic power constantly threatens to nullify our political democracy. 

The result in Canada is a society in which the interests of farmers and of wage and salaried workers - the great majority of the population - are habitually sacrificed to those of this small minority. 

Unregulated competitive production condemns them to alternate periods of feverish prosperity, in which the main benefits go to speculators and profiteers, and of catastrophic depression, in which the common man's normal state of insecurity and hardship is accentuated. 

We are convinced that these evils are inherent in any system in which private profit is the main stimulus to economic effort. 

We therefore look to the establishment in Canada of a new social order which will substitute a planned and socialized economy for the existing chaotic individualism and which, by achieving an approximate economic equality among all men in place of the present glaring inequalities, will eliminate the domination of one class by another.

(Click on images to enlarge)

(Unfortunately pages 73 & 74 are missing)

When The Left Chapter began part of what I wanted to do on the blog was to show and highlight vintage public leftist election/political leaflets and booklets. While many of these have been offered with commentary to date, a very large collection of hundreds of them from several different sources remains and to preserve these often quite rare documents we will be posting them on a regular (almost daily) basis now often without or with minimal commentary so that people may have access to them as quickly as possible as an historical resource. 

While these will all be leaflets from a variety of different leftist viewpoints and countries, they are being posted as an historical/study resource and the views or opinions expressed in them do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog or blogger.

All of these posts (as well as posts made to date) will be listed on the page: Vintage Communist/Socialist Leaflets (which is still being updated with past posts).

If you have any public, vintage leaflets or booklets you would like to contribute to this project please contact us via theleftchapter@outlook.com

A Plea for Social Justice - Extracts from the Speeches of J. S. Woodsworth, M.P. , in the House of Commons, 1930-33 (Part II)

Vintage Leftist Leaflet Project

See the end of this post for details on the project.

Leaflet: A Plea for Social Justice - Extracts from the Speeches of J. S. Woodsworth, M.P. , in the House of Commons, 1930-33 (Part II) 

This booklet published in 1933 (selected by Grace MacInnis) has nearly 80 pages of extracts from the speeches of Canadian Socialist icon J. S. Woodsworth. Woodsworth, a critical figure in the history of the Canadian left, was the first leader of the CCF, the precursor to the NDP.


As the booklet is quite lengthy we will be breaking up these posts into 3 parts.

To see the first part, click here. 

The second part today shows the sections "Safeguards for Individual Freedom", "Militarism" and "The International Situation".

The booklet is a fascinating and remarkable piece of and look at Canadian leftist and social history.

The second part is notable for, among other things, Woodsworth's defense of the rights of Communists and protesting in parliament the imprisonment of several Communist leaders (which would have included Tim Buck) in Kingston, as well as his very positive impressions of the Soviet Union after his trip to it. The fifth section should also be read through the lens of his pacifism.

(Click on images to enlarge)

When The Left Chapter began part of what I wanted to do on the blog was to show and highlight vintage public leftist election/political leaflets and booklets. While many of these have been offered with commentary to date, a very large collection of hundreds of them from several different sources remains and to preserve these often quite rare documents we will be posting them on a regular (almost daily) basis now often without or with minimal commentary so that people may have access to them as quickly as possible as an historical resource. 

While these will all be leaflets from a variety of different leftist viewpoints and countries, they are being posted as an historical/study resource and the views or opinions expressed in them do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog or blogger.

All of these posts (as well as posts made to date) will be listed on the page: Vintage Communist/Socialist Leaflets (which is still being updated with past posts).

If you have any public, vintage leaflets or booklets you would like to contribute to this project please contact us via theleftchapter@outlook.com

A Plea for Social Justice - Extracts from the Speeches of J. S. Woodsworth, M.P. , in the House of Commons, 1930-33 (Part I)

Vintage Leftist Leaflet Project

See the end of this post for details on the project.

Leaflet: A Plea for Social Justice - Extracts from the Speeches of J. S. Woodsworth, M.P. , in the House of Commons, 1930-33 (Part I) 

This booklet published in 1933 (selected by Grace MacInnis) has nearly 80 pages of extracts from the speeches of Canadian Socialist icon J. S. Woodsworth. Woodsworth, a critical figure in the history of the Canadian left, was the first leader of the CCF, the precursor to the NDP. 

As the booklet is quite lengthy we will be breaking up these posts into 2 or 3 parts. 

The first part today shows the sections "Economic Conditions and Resulting Unemployment", "The Co-Operative Commonwealth" and "Social Legislation". 

The booklet is a fascinating and remarkable piece of and look at Canadian leftist and social history.

(Click on images to enlarge)

When The Left Chapter began part of what I wanted to do on the blog was to show and highlight vintage public leftist election/political leaflets and booklets. While many of these have been offered with commentary to date, a very large collection of hundreds of them from several different sources remains and to preserve these often quite rare documents we will be posting them on a regular (almost daily) basis now often without or with minimal commentary so that people may have access to them as quickly as possible as an historical resource. 

While these will all be leaflets from a variety of different leftist viewpoints and countries, they are being posted as an historical/study resource and the views or opinions expressed in them do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog or blogger.

All of these posts (as well as posts made to date) will be listed on the page: Vintage Communist/Socialist Leaflets (which is still being updated with past posts).

If you have any public, vintage leaflets or booklets you would like to contribute to this project please contact us via theleftchapter@outlook.com

America deserves to dream big...and it needs Bernie Sanders -- An Open Letter to Democrats from a Canadian socialist

By A.M. 

To Democratic Primary Voters;

Greetings from Toronto.

My writing name is A.M. I'm a musician and writer here in the city. I'm also involved in what I would call socialism, though I trust you would hesitate to give it such a politically-charged label. Our activisms probably amount to what are essentially the same things: signing petitions; walking picket lines; engaging in civil disobedience; charitable donations. I could go off here on a tangent about what socialism really means; or why I think you should be a lot more afraid of Barack Obama than you now are; or about the evils of the so-called "free market." I could pontificate and rip into you for upholding any one of a million structures of oppression (in which, it must be said, I am also complicit), but I'd instead like to do two things -- convince you to vote for Bernie Sanders, and convince you to at least entertain the possibility of your party moving to the left.

Our nations, and indeed the entire planet, are at a critical moment. Climate change is threatening our very existence as a species. The ever-present possibility of global war (over religion, race, oil -- you name it) seems to be drawing nearer each day. I won't insult your intelligence by going into detail about these or any other issues threatening humanity - you possess the same mental faculties that I do.

What I will say instead is that I believe you need to change your perspective. This might seem rude and presumptuous, but let me explain.

I want you to think, for a moment, about where you were and what you were doing when Barack Obama swept his way into the White House. I was sitting on my bed, watching CNN with my mom and crying. Much like you, I was overcome with positive emotion - hope, love, compassion, and so on. It took only a few short months, however, for me to realize that Obama had sold us a bill of goods. As the economy continued to sputter, I witnessed firsthand the effect that government cuts (which I will henceforth refer to as austerity) were having on my mom, a nurse at a hospital in downtown Toronto. Much like you, I began to feel ever greater pressure as a result of this austerity - increased fees at school, worsened health care, and the like. My views began to change. Perhaps Obama was not the salvation we were told he would be. Perhaps the Democratic Party, which had been positioning itself for years as the "anti-Bush," was actually not on the side of working people.

I am witnessing a similar phenomenon in my own country. We just rid ourselves of our former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, replacing him with a young, articulate, well-spoken leader (sound familiar?) who makes all the right noises in public, but is in fact beholden to all the same class interests as Harper. Our new Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, has garnered a reputation as a peaceful, compassionate man. He even brought gender parity into our national Cabinet! And yet, working people are making less with each passing day, and the cost of living keeps rising.

Hope and change, indeed.

As long as I live, I will never forget the day I became a socialist. We had just walked back to class from my high school auditorium, where we had been treated to a public "showing" of the Obama inauguration. Frustrated, my normally reserved music teacher could not hold back any longer. He pointed out the hypocrisy of an American President who talked about judging nations by the scale of the things they built, not what they destroyed. Look at Obama's advisors and donors; look at his belief that the war in Iraq was a strategic blunder and not what it really was -- a breach of international law and probably the single greatest war crime since Vietnam!

It finally clicked for me that (the overwhelming majority of) governments are not on our side. Even more to the point, they are actively opposed to the interests of their citizens!

One of the more common (and apparently convincing) arguments put forward by the Clinton campaign is that a party based around single-payer healthcare, more humane drug policies, and the other policies Sanders is fighting for is doomed to fail.

But I'd like to give you a very short lesson in one part of Canadian history.

In 1934, in the Canadian prairie city of Regina, a few dozen farmers, writers, activists and assorted ne'er-do-wells gathered to form a new political party. This political party, named the Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), believed that the means of production -- and hence the economic power -- of our country should be harnessed for the good of all. While calling most prominently for universal healthcare (including dental services, prescriptions, and many other things that Canada's Medicare scheme still lacks), the CCF programme also advocated for unemployment insurance, pensions for the elderly, tuition-free schools, protection for farmers and homeowners fighting foreclosure, and many other policies that likely appeal to you as a Democrat!

Famously, at least among Canadian socialists, the final lines of the Regina Manifesto stated that "No C.C.F. Government will rest content until it has eradicated capitalism and put into operation the full programme of socialized planning which will lead to the establishment in Canada of the Co-Operative Commonwealth."

All this from a bunch of unschooled farmers and Prairie preachers!

Of course, they didn't win everything.

As you probably can tell, capitalism is alive and well in Canada. But there were (and continue to be) some extremely important victories. As I mentioned above, the CCF advocated for unemployment insurance, pensions and universal healthcare. To a great degree (though not great enough), we have those things in Canada. Every single election -- federal and provincial -- Canadians debate healthcare. We talk incessantly about expanding our social programs, not eliminating them. Even Prime Minister Harper, who hobnobbed with Islamophobes and corporate vultures, never came out publicly and talked about dismantling Medicare. Millions of lives, including my own, have been greatly enriched as a direct result of socialist policies won by grassroots, socialist struggles.

Simply put, you must aim high if you intend to win major victories for those living in poverty, the unemployed, workers and the elderly. You must dream of utopia if you intend on even the small victories.

Bernie Sanders is not a perfect candidate, of course. I could point to his basically unwavering support for Israel, or his voting for Clinton-era crime "reforms", as evidence of his unworthiness as a candidate. I personally have deep reservations with the Sanders platform. And as a libertarian socialist, I disagree in principle with the very idea of peoples' movements shepherded by leaders, no matter how humorously cantankerous they may be. I believe that our countries belong to us.

Bernie Sanders and his frankly mild form of social democracy are not perfect. But I urge you to put yourself in the shoes of those CCF organizers. Here were a desperate bunch of people - but they dreamed of something bigger, something greater, something truly humane. They didn't get there, but I'm sitting here writing this today because of the very real, hard-won victories of Canadian socialism. Perhaps the Sanders candidacy is unrealistic, as Clinton supporters are so fond of saying. But people deserve better than a "realistic" politics. People deserve utopia.

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.” - Howard Zinn

A.M. is a writer in Toronto 

 See also: Bernie ascendant

See also: Raising Monuments -- How Corbyn may yet turn the tide

Do you have a left point-of-view or opinion, a recipe or a story you want to share?

Send them to The Left Chapter via theleftchapter@outlook.com!

Raising Monuments -- How Corbyn may yet turn the tide

by A.M.

What is it that they say about an old dog?

Growing up in the context of neo-liberalism, I have sadly become accustomed to the quiet, unspoken despair that is its calling card. The menial, insultingly low-paying work. The slashing and burning of public services and spaces. The frequent and fruitless attempts to secure a better future for one's self by pushing others down. We have all been forced into these soul-destroying roles, only to watch as schools, hospitals and libraries are destroyed at the behest of private interests. It is not every day, then, that I find myself energized and hopeful for the future – in a real way; a tangible way.

By now, you’ve likely read about Jeremy Corbyn’s landslide victory in the British Labour Party’s leadership race. In the space of three months, the socialist candidate went from 100-to-1 odds to lead the party that was once at the helm of some of the greatest social programs in history – nationalized railways and electrical grids, the NHS, and so on. Labour has (or had) long since abandoned any sort of meaningful social goals, instead choosing to kowtow to the neo-liberal consensus that still grips much of the world. Corbyn cuts a figure not unlike that of Bernie Sanders. Both are older, gruff political outsiders. Both are outspoken (albeit greatly imperfect, especially in the case of Sanders) in the cause of justice for the most marginalized among us. And both have surged to unprecedented success in their respective nations. Corbyn, however, has won a real, meaningful victory in his assumption of the Labour leadership.

And what is that victory? First, and most obviously, we can say with certainty that “socialism” is not the dirty, unspeakable idea that so many Sunday-morning talking heads assume it to be. Americans, Brits and Canadians alike; all are relatively well-acquainted with and friendly to the idea and practice of socialism. Corbyn has put to rest, beyond any reasonable doubt, that human beings naturally crave austerity, racism, destruction of the commons, and so on. He has put the lie to the “common sense” doctrine of competition, marketization and institutionalized selfishness.

Corbyn has also presented some very concrete and clear proposals for building the new society. He has pledged to work towards the re-nationalization of railways, electrical grids and the NHS. He has spoken of opening the UK’s doors to refugees, from Syria and around the world. He has even talked – the horror! - of consulting women’s groups on instituting female-only trains on public transit. The most striking part of so much of Corrbyn’s so-called “radical leftism” (and he is radical, at least as compared to mainstream British politicians) is that it is all so utterly rational, and quite frankly, a little obvious. Who in their right mind, outside of the political establishment, doesn’t want to abolish tuition fees; house and the feed the poor; protect the oldest and youngest among us?

It would seem that Corbyn represents a very obvious and unmistakeable break with the past – in the Labour party, British politics generally and, perhaps, political narratives the world over.

What might this mean in the Canadian context? As I write this, I am masochistically re-watching a video of NDP leader Tom Mulcair praising Margaret Thatcher. It is sad, and frankly a little Twilight Zone-esque, when the leader of what was once Canada’s rough equivalent to the British Labour Party – a proud and principled party, the ”conscience of Parliament,” as it were – proudly affirms his support for the most successful and vicious right-wing politician in history. And at a time when her home country, Britain, is finally in the process of purging her legacy!

Strange times, indeed.

As a Canadian socialist, I am often consumed with thoughts of the old Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. The CCF, with its corny fight song and comics, which ran the single most successful socialist government in North American history. The CCF, which rejected the politics of inertia, refusing to accept what was then a very racist and almost insurmountably oppressive time for working Canadians. The CCF, which kept the dream of universal healthcare alive for three decades, finally achieving the passage of the Canada Health Act. The CCF with its pledge to eliminate capitalism and establish a truly co-operative society.

Not known for biting his tongue, Tommy Douglas remarked of the House of Commons, “So this is Parliament? Pardon me, I thought this was a kindergarten!” Though he was utilizing his typical Prairie humour, his point was deadly serious. As the world burns, the purveyors of power sit on their hands. They do nothing and scream about how “nothing could be done.” The most powerful among us, more clearly than ever, are not on our side. While I am not one to worship the powerful (even Tommy Douglas), I cannot help but see a little of the so-called “Prairie Giant” in the new Labour leader.

At the very least, perhaps his victory can inspire us to build new monuments. A better world is just around the corner, comrades and friends. It won’t be easy, and it will not happen overnight. The weapons of the greatest armies; the money of the wealthiest citizens; the machinery of state and media – it will be arrayed against us, as it always has. But perhaps we can find a better way forward. Perhaps there is hope. Real, lasting, meaningful hope. It seems that the old dogs might be the ones teaching us some new tricks!

Let’s get to work.

A.M. is a writer in Toronto. 

See also: As "Third Way" politics suffers a huge defeat in the UK, in Canada it has now triumphed

See also: It appears the NDP strategists are stuck in the 90’s – again

Do you have a left point-of-view or opinion, a recipe or a story you want to share?

Send them to The Left Chapter via theleftchapter@outlook.com!

The NDP and budget deficits: Not the Tommy Douglas vision

By Fraser Needham

The 2015 Canadian federal election took another strange turn this week.

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair committed that his first budget as prime minister would be a balanced one. This seems somewhat strange as Canada appears to be headed into a recession and if the current Conservative government has struggled to maintain services in recent years without running deficits, in what have been stronger economic times, the only way a new government could balance the budget in a weaker economy would be through substantial cuts. The minor revenues gained by an NDP government canceling income splitting for high-income earners and a modest corporate tax increase would not be enough to maintain current spending levels in an economic downturn, let alone meet other campaign commitments such as a national childcare plan.

For their part, Justin Trudeau and the Liberals have committed to a modest plan of running $10 billion deficits for three years before balancing the budget in 2019-2020. Deficit spending would be used to address the infrastructure deficit and create jobs and economic stimulus. The Liberals quite rightly point out that with interest rates being at historic lows, now is a particularly good time for a government to borrow as a means of stabilizing a slumping economy.

With the NDP committed to balancing the next budget, regardless of the consequences, and the Liberals open to running deficits, a number of media analysts have accurately characterized the Mulcair NDP of trying to outflank the Liberals on the right. However, “not so” scream a number of diehard NDP supporters. Balanced budgets are not a right wing mantra and have long been in the tradition of the CCF/NDP governments, they contend. As examples, they cite the Saskatchewan CCF/NDP governments of Tommy Douglas and Allan Blakeney who governed under successive balanced budgets.

To put it politely, this is a highly creative and selective version of the truth. Here are the facts.

When Tommy Douglas and the CCF were first elected in 1944, it was on the heels of a number of Liberal deficit budgets. However, it is not surprising the Liberals were running deficits after Saskatchewan had been one of the provinces worst hit by the Great Depression followed by a wartime economy. In fact, it was the inability of the Liberals to use government as a positive force to prevent farm foreclosures and maintain grain prices that marked the end of 34 years of Liberal rule and the beginning of the CCF era.

The post-war CCFers were committed Keynesians. This means they believed government could be used as a positive force to stabilize the economy. Thus, in good economic times government should save surplus revenues and in bad times a government may need to run a deficit in order to stimulate the economy. Budgets need not be balanced every year but over a period of years according to the economic cycle.

Therefore, the Saskatchewan CCF came to power promising increased social programs for all people, greater economic stability and a more progressive tax system. Part of bringing greater stability to the economy meant a commitment to nationalization of parts of the economy including auto insurance, electricity and some resource industries. Nationalization of electricity and auto insurance not only allowed the government to provide affordable levels of service to all people in a small and largely rural province, it also allowed the government to take in revenues that could be used to pay for other social programs.

So, the CCF governments of Tommy Douglas and Woodrow Lloyd were good fiscal managers but they also benefited from the post-war boom of the late 1940’s and 1950’s as well as increased revenues from progressive taxation and nationalization. As such, they were able to balance every single budget from 1944 to 1964.

Saskatchewan did not see deficits again until the late 1960’s and early 1970’s under the Ross Thatcher Liberals. The deficits were not so much due to Liberal mismanagement but more the result of a downturn in the farm economy coupled with a reduction in production by American-owned potash companies to maintain prices.

Allan Blakeney and the NDP were elected in 1971 on a platform of bringing greater stabilization to the economy through further nationalization of resource industries. After the newly elected government was unable to reach an agreement with the potash industry in terms of production levels, they nationalized this industry. They also proceeded to nationalize the uranium, oil and gas industries.

As a result of the massive increase in revenues due to nationalization of these key resource industries, the NDP had more than enough money to balance every single budget from 1971 to 1982 and finance a number of social programs. Further, the government was able to put about $1 billion away in savings.

The point of all of this is to demonstrate that the Mulcair NDP is not similar to the Douglas CCF and Blakeney NDP in any way, shape or form. To try to equate the two is intellectually dishonest. Douglas and Blakeney sought to make transformative changes to the capitalistic economy in order to level the playing field, bring stability to the Saskatchewan economy and finance social programs. Balanced budgets happened to be part of the process but were not the main goal in and of themselves. Neither Douglas nor Blakeney would ever have advocated balancing a budget regardless of the economic circumstances.

Balancing a budget regardless of the economic fallout is a more recent and right wing mantra. It falls into the belief that government should never intervene in the economy and government finances should be operated like an accounting ledger – surpluses should always be spent and deficits never incurred.

The Mulcair NDP is not committing to transforming the capitalist economy at all through either progressive taxation or nationalization. However, without even knowing the true state of government finances or how severe the economic downturn may be, they have committed to balancing the budget. This is completely irresponsible and is only in the legacy of the Mulcair NDP and no one else.

The statement is a vain attempt to appear fiscally responsible to the right wing press and at the same time hope that this same press attacks the Liberals for actually admitting a deficit(s) may be likely. Faced with a cut to services and running a deficit, it is likely an NDP government would choose the latter so why be so dishonest in an election campaign?

It is clear that the NDP wants to cash in on the anti-Harper vote in this campaign as a means of forming government. However, making ridiculous policy statements such as balancing the budget in the midst of a recession only makes anti-Harper voters not take the NDP seriously and look elsewhere. If the NDP wants to replace the Conservatives, it is not just enough to be anti-Harper, they have to be credible.

Fraser Needham is a freelance journalist living in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He has been working and writing in Saskatchewan for the past 15 years. Aside from the Saskatchewan CCF/NDP, he follows Aboriginal issues and politics closely.

See also: Deficit spending and the very odd week in Canadian social democracy

See also: Mulcair doubles-down on the NDP's right shift by defending Thatcherism

Alberta's CCF - A Planned Future for the Farmer, Fisherman & Worker! Leftist TBT

With the NDP in Alberta, to the surprise of basically everyone, possibly on the path to an historic victory or historic gains in the provincial election on Tuesday, today's Leftist Throwback Thursday looks at a CCF election flyer from Edmonton!

This leaflet, for a post-war federal candidate, shows the CCF's emphasis on economic planning, security and justice and reflects it strongly socialist ideology at the time.

Despite the humorous fear-mongering of some right wingers, however, sadly the Alberta NDP of today (as well, of course, as its sister parties across Canada and nationally) are nowhere near this radical -- but their election would, never-the-less, reflect a real shift in the politcal leanings and traditions of what has long been seen as a bastion of conservatism.

(Click on images to enlarge)