Communist Party of Canada (in Manitoba)

Not to be confused with the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) (Manitoba).

The Communist Party of Canada
Communist Party of Canada
The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...

was founded in 1921. It was an illegal organization for several years, and its meetings were conducted with great secrecy. Until 1924, the "Workers Party" functioned as its public, legal face. For a period in the 1920s, the party was associated with the Canadian Labour Party

Canadian Labour Party

The Canadian Labour Party was an early, unsuccessful attempt at creating a national labour party in Canada. Although it ran candidates in the federal elections of 1917, 1921, 1925 and 1926, it never succeeded in its goal of providing a national forum for the Canadian labour movement...

.

The Workers Party ran three candidates in Winnipeg for Manitoba's 1922 provincial election

Manitoba general election, 1922

Manitoba's general election of July 18, 1922 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.As in the previous election of 1920, the city of Winnipeg elected ten members by the single transferable ballot...

: Mathew Popovitch, Arthur Henderson and William Hammond. These candidates frequently disrupted rallies for George Armstrong

George Armstrong (Manitoba politician)

George Armstrong was a politician and labour activist in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1920 to 1922, and is notable as the only member of the Socialist Party of Canada ever to serve in that institution.Armstrong was born in East York, Ontario, and...

, a Socialist Party

Socialist Party of Canada (in Manitoba)

The Socialist Party of Canada was a revolutionary Marxist organization, founded in 1904 as a merger of the Socialist Party of British Columbia and related groups in Manitoba and Ontario, Canada....

incumbent. None were elected.

In the 1927 election

Manitoba general election, 1927

Manitoba's general election of 28 June 1927 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.This was the first election in Manitoba history to elect members through a single transferable ballot in all constituencies...

, Jacob Penner

Jacob Penner

Jacob Penner was a popular socialist politician in Canada. Penner was born and raised in a Mennonite family in Russia and emigrated to Winnipeg in 1904. In 1908, he met his wife Rose Shapack, a Jewish Russian immigrant, during an address by Emma Goldman at the Winnipeg Radical Club...

ran as a Communist candidate in Winnipeg, which at the time elected ten members by preferential balloting. Penner's 2015 first-preference votes were enough for an initial eighth-place finish, but he received few votes from transfers and was not elected.

In the 1932 election

Manitoba general election, 1932

Manitoba's general election of June 16, 1932 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.This was the second election in Manitoba where the single transferable ballot was used in all electoral divisions...

, Penner and Leslie Morris

Leslie Morris

Leslie Tim Morris was a Welsh-Canadian politician, journalist and long time member of the Communist Party of Canada and, its front group, the Labour-Progressive Party....

ran in Winnipeg as "United Front Workers" candidates. (The CPC had been, for all practical purposes, made illegal again in 1931). Morris finished eighth on first preferences but was unable to be elected on transfers; Penner was further behind. Communist candidates also ran in Gimli and Fisher. In the latter riding, W.N. Kolisnyk placed second against Progressive

Progressive Party of Manitoba

The Progressive Party of Manitoba, Canada, was a political party that developed from the United Farmers of Manitoba, an agrarian movement that became politically active following World War I...

candidate Nicholas Bachynski.

The Communist Party (once again legal) ran only one candidate in the provincial election of 1936

Manitoba general election, 1936

Manitoba's general election of July 27, 1936 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.The was the second election in Manitoba after the formation of a Liberal-Progressive alliance in 1932...

: James Litterick

James Litterick

James Litterick was a politician in Manitoba, Canada, and was the first member of the Communist Party of Canada to be elected to that province's legislature....

in Winnipeg. In a period of increased support for the party, Litterick placed second on first-preference votes and received enough transfers from first-place candidate Lewis Stubbs to gain an easy victory. He was expelled from the legislature in 1940, after the Communist Party was once again made illegal. He subsequently went into hiding.

In the 1941 election

Manitoba general election, 1941

Manitoba's general election of April 22, 1941 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.This election was held shortly after the formation of a coalition government in December 1940...

, William Kardash

W. A. Kardash

William A. Kardash was a politician and member of the Manitoba legislature.Kardash was a veteran of the Spanish Civil War, having fought with the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion...

(running as a Workers Party candidate) was elected for Winnipeg after placing fourth on first-preferences. Kardash was re-elected in the 1945

Manitoba general election, 1945

Manitoba's general election of October 15, 1945 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.The 1945 provincial election was extremely different from the previous election, which was held in 1941...

, 1949

Manitoba general election, 1949

Manitoba's general election of November 10, 1949 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.This election pitted the province's coalition government, made up of the Liberal-Progressive Party and the Progressive Conservative Party, against a variety of...

and 1953 elections

Manitoba general election, 1953

Manitoba's general election of June 8, 1953 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. This was the first election held in Manitoba after the breakup of a ten-year coalition government led by the Liberal-Progressives and Progressive Conservatives...

as a member of the "Labour Progressive Party" (as the Communists had renamed themselves).

Kardash led the provincial LPP from its founding in 1943 until December 1948, when he was replaced by William Cecil Ross. Ross served as leader until his retirement in 1981, and ran for provincial and federal office several times.

The party's support base declined during the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

, and Kardash was the party's only official candidate in the 1953

Manitoba general election, 1953

and 1958 elections

Manitoba general election, 1958

Manitoba's general election of June 16, 1958 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.This election was the first to be held in Manitoba after a comprehensive electoral redistribution in 1956...

. He was defeated on the latter occasion, after Manitoba adopted a system of single-member constituencies for Winnipeg.

The national LPP renamed itself the Communist Party in 1959, and the provincial party did the same. It now operates under the name "Communist Party of Canada - Manitoba".

The CPC-M has not elected an MLA since Kardash, and became a marginal political force during the 1960s.

Paula Fletcher

Paula Fletcher

Paula Fletcher is a Canadian politician. In 2003, she was elected to the Toronto City Council for Ward 30 Toronto-Danforth.-Background:...

became the party's leader after Ross's retirement in 1981, and led the party into the 1981

Manitoba general election, 1981

The Manitoba general election of November 17, 1981 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It was won by the opposition New Democratic Party, which took 34 of 57 seats. The governing Progressive Conservative Party took the remaining 23, while the...

and 1986 elections

Manitoba general election, 1986

The Manitoba general election of March 18, 1986 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It was won by the New Democratic Party, which took 30 seats out of 57. The Progressive Conservative Party won 26 seats and formed the official opposition...

. The party ran only two candidates on the former occasion (Fletcher and Ross), and three on the latter.

Fletcher left Manitoba for Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

in 1986, and subsequently left the Communist Party entirely. The CPC-M was led by Lorne Robson

Lorne Robson

Lorne Robson was a Communist politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was the leader of the Communist Party of Canada - Manitoba during the 1988 provincial and federal elections, having apparently succeeded Paula Fletcher as party leader in 1986....

in the provincial election of 1988

Manitoba general election, 1988

The Manitoba general election of April 26, 1988 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It resulted in a minority government...

, in which it ran six candidates.

Robson also moved to Ontario in the late 1980s. Frank Goldspink subsequently served as the party's provincial organizer, and may have been its political leader as well. Goldspink was the party's sole candidate in the 1990 election

Manitoba general election, 1990

The Manitoba general election of September 11, 1990 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It was won by the Progressive Conservative Party, which took 30 out of 57 seats...

, running as an independent as the party had been de-registered.

Goldspink left the Communist Party in 1991, and the CPC-M does not appear to have had a regular leader for the next five years (although its provincial organization continued to meet on an occasional basis). The party did not run any candidates in the 1995 provincial election

Manitoba general election, 1995

The Manitoba general election of April 25,1995 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It was won by the Progressive Conservative Party, which won 31 seats out of 57...

.

Darrell Rankin

Darrell Rankin

Darrell T. Rankin is a Canadian peace activist and communist politician. He was briefly the leader of the Communist Party of Canada - Ontario in 1995, and has led the Communist Party of Canada - Manitoba since 1996...

moved from Ontario to Manitoba in 1995, and became the provincial organizer of the CPC-M before the year was over. Rankin was chosen as the party's official leader in 1996, and has been re-elected at every party convention since then. Rankin led the CPC-M into the 1999

Manitoba general election, 1999

The Manitoba general election of September 21, 1999 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada....

and 2003 elections

Manitoba general election, 2003

The Manitoba general election held on June 3, 2003 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It was won by the New Democratic Party, which won 35 seats out of 57. The Progressive Conservative Party finished second with twenty seats...

, in which it ran six and five candidates respectively. The CPC-M was re-registered with Elections Manitoba in 1998, after a petition was presented with 3500 signatures.

Rankin faced a leadership challenge from Paul Sidon in January 2004, receiving 79% delegate support against 21% for Sidon.

Party Leaders

1. William Kardash
W. A. Kardash
William A. Kardash was a politician and member of the Manitoba legislature.Kardash was a veteran of the Spanish Civil War, having fought with the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion...

1943-December 12, 1948
2. William Cecil Ross December 12, 1948-1981
3. Paula Fletcher
Paula Fletcher
Paula Fletcher is a Canadian politician. In 2003, she was elected to the Toronto City Council for Ward 30 Toronto-Danforth.-Background:...

1981-1986
4. Lorne Robson
Lorne Robson
Lorne Robson was a Communist politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was the leader of the Communist Party of Canada - Manitoba during the 1988 provincial and federal elections, having apparently succeeded Paula Fletcher as party leader in 1986....

(election of 1988
Manitoba general election, 1988
The Manitoba general election of April 26, 1988 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It resulted in a minority government...

)
5. Frank Goldspink (election of 1990
Manitoba general election, 1990
The Manitoba general election of September 11, 1990 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It was won by the Progressive Conservative Party, which took 30 out of 57 seats...

) (*)
6. Darrell Rankin
Darrell Rankin
Darrell T. Rankin is a Canadian peace activist and communist politician. He was briefly the leader of the Communist Party of Canada - Ontario in 1995, and has led the Communist Party of Canada - Manitoba since 1996...

1996-present

(*) Provincial organizer, may not have been an official party leader.

Party Leaders

See also