Communist Party of Quebec
Encyclopedia
The Parti communiste du Québec or PCQ (in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

: Communist Party of Quebec) is a communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

 political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

. The PCQ was the Quebec branch of 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...

 until 2005 when the PCQ split at convention with a majority opposing the CPC's stance on Quebec independence. The name "Parti communiste du Québec" is now authorized by the Quebec Director General of Elections as the name of a political party led by Francis Gagnon-Bergmann.

The PCQ has run candidates in Quebec general elections from 1936 to 1998. The party was banned in 1941, and henceforth ran candidates as the Parti ouvrier-progressiste (in English: "Labour-Progressive Party") until 1959. Sam Walsh
Sam Walsh
Sam Walsh was leader of the Communist Party of Quebec for 28 years, from 1962 to 1990, and was a leader in the Communist Party of Canada and Labour-Progressive Party since the 1940s....

 was leader of the party from 1962 to 1990.

In 2002, the PCQ joined in a federation with the Rassemblement pour l'alternative progressiste
Rassemblement pour l'alternative progressiste
The Rassemblement pour l'alternative progressiste or RAP originated as the Rassemblement pour l'alternative politique, a social movement founded in 1996 as an attempt to unite the progressive and leftist forces in Quebec, Canada...

 and the Parti de la démocratie socialiste
Parti de la démocratie socialiste
The Parti de la Democratie Socialiste was a political party in Quebec, Canada.The early origins of the PDS can be traced back to the Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif , later renamed Parti social démocratique du Québec...

 to form the Union des forces progressistes, which in turn merged with Option Citoyenne to form Québec Solidaire
Québec Solidaire
Québec solidaire is a democratic socialist and sovereigntist political party in Quebec, Canada, that was created on 4 February 2006 in Montreal. It was formed by the merger of the left-wing party Union des forces progressistes and the alter-globalization political movement Option Citoyenne, led...

. The PCQ is now a collective in Quebec solidaire.

Origins of Communist Party 1921-1965

1923: Albert Saint-Martin tries to establish a French-Canadian section of the International Communist later refused his request, accepting a one-party country.

1927: The Club PC based on French-Canadian education in order to train cadres for the Party speaking. Evariste Dubé, president of the university workers, seeking dissolution of the latter and the membership of its members to the Communist Party. St. Martin refused and Dube founded the first section communist French Canadian in the PC with the "old" Paquette. Leo Lebrun, Charles Ouimet, M. Simard and E. Galarneau and Belanger.

1928: Georges Dubois joined the party and became the organizer of the French-Canadian group, Sidney and Michael Sarkin Buhay then ruling Party.

July 1930: E. Simard, blacksmith, is as Communist candidate in the federal election in Maisonneuve, Montreal. Its organizer Georges Dubois, was arrested by the police. The party organized a demonstration against the arrest at Viger Square, the police brutally disperse the hundreds of protesting workers.

1934: Death of Paul Delisle, leader of the French-Canadian party. Funeral "red" in Montreal. Assembly of the League against War and Fascism in Montreal, 600 people hear Lilian Mendelssohn, J. S. Wallace, Fred Rose, Maurice Armstrong and Stanley Brehaut Ryerson
Stanley Brehaut Ryerson
Stanley Brehaut Ryerson was a Canadian historian, educator, political activist. There is very little information available concerning his parents, but Ryerson was born in 1911, into a well-off middle class family in Toronto...

. (November) Assembly cons section 98 of the Criminal Code 3 000 to 4 000 people gathered at St. Jacques Market to hear J. S. Wallace, John Boychuk, Becky Buhay, Paul and Tom McEwen.

1935: The journal Clarity becomes a weekly will be published until 1939. Evariste Dube made it to Moscow. Norman Bethune
Norman Bethune
Henry Norman Bethune was a Canadian physician and medical innovator. Bethune is best known for his service in war time medical units during the Spanish Civil War and with the Communist Eighth Route Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War...

 joined the Communist Party hotel. Communist participation in the creation of unemployed clubs in Montreal. S. Larkin, J. Bedard, C. A. Perry, L. Dufour and Ms. Lebrun argue various clubs such as assembly workers United Lorimier
Unemployed League St. Henri, etc.

October 1935: (14) federal election: Fred Rose gets 3378 votes in Montreal-Cartier, CA Perry gets 1 012 in Saint-Denis.

1936: Stanley Brehaut Ryerson
Stanley Brehaut Ryerson
Stanley Brehaut Ryerson was a Canadian historian, educator, political activist. There is very little information available concerning his parents, but Ryerson was born in 1911, into a well-off middle class family in Toronto...

 is appointed secretary of the Communist Party in Quebec. Lucien Dufour President of the Front Populaire, reported that 56 organizations are part of Quebec. The central theme and organizing struggles of the unemployed. Established the first executive committee of the Quebec section of the Communist Party: Evariste Dube (Chairman), S. B. Ryerson (secretary), Fred Rose, Emile Godin Alec Rosenberg, Samuel Emery. Alex Gauld, Mrs. Leo Lebrun, Willie Fortin. Jean Bourget Sarkin and Sydney are included.

August 1936: (27) provincial election: Fred Rose gets 578 votes in St. Louis, Evariste Dube 185 votes in Saint-Jacques and Emile Godin 288 votes in Sainte-Marie.

1937: The padlock law
Padlock Law
The Padlock Law The Padlock Law (officially called "Act to protect the Province Against Communistic Propaganda") The Padlock Law (officially called "Act to protect the Province Against Communistic Propaganda") (QcFr: "La loi du cadenas" / "Loi protégeant la province contre la propagande...

 was created by the Quebec premier Maurice Duplessis.

June 1937: Demonstration of 300 to 400 women in the Champ de Mars organized by Solidarity Women: 5 women were arrested after the police charge (18) Norman Bethune
Norman Bethune
Henry Norman Bethune was a Canadian physician and medical innovator. Bethune is best known for his service in war time medical units during the Spanish Civil War and with the Communist Eighth Route Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War...

 returned to Montreal after a journey of several months in Spain . Thousands of people are waiting to come Bonaventure station and organize a parade in the streets of Montreal in his honor (20) Over 15 000 people gather at the Mount Royal Arena to hear Bethune tell what he saw in Spain and declared: "Spain can be the tomb of fascism" - Bethune continues with a tour of seven months the country to raise money for the Spanish Republic.

November 1937: The newspaper Clarity is prohibited by the Duplessis government.

May 1938: (1) Approximately 4 000 people attend a meeting of the Communist Party unit and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction...

 in the arena Mont-Royal in Montreal: The main speakers are Eugene Forsey, CCF and Stanley B. Ryerson for the Communist Party.

1941: Meeting in Montreal: Guy Caron, the Communist Party and Jean-Charles Harvey, Le Jour newspaper, spoke to 6 000 people to support the war effort against the fascists.

August 1943: (9th) Fred Rose
Fred Rose (politician)
Fred Rose was a Communist politician and trade union organizer in Canada. He was born in Lublin in what is now Poland, part of Russia at the time. He emigrated to Canada as a child in 1916. He became involved with the Young Communist League of Canada, and then joined the Communist Party of Canada...

 was elected MP for Montreal-Cartier during a federal by-election. He won 5767 votes.

November 1943: First Congress of the Labour-Progressive Party
Labour-Progressive Party
For the Labour-Progressive Coalition Government in New Zealand see the Fifth Labour Government of New ZealandThe Labor-Progressive Party was the legal political organization of the Communist Party of Canada between 1943 and 1959....

 of Quebec at Montreal, 172 delegates representing 40 clubs from the party.

January 1944 (26) Fred Rose Tait are coming to the House of Commons as MP for Montreal-Cartier.

August 1944: provincial election: the Labour-Progressive Party candidate in Saint Louis, Michael Buhay, gets 6 512 votes.

June 1945: Federal Election: Fred Rose
Fred Rose (politician)
Fred Rose was a Communist politician and trade union organizer in Canada. He was born in Lublin in what is now Poland, part of Russia at the time. He emigrated to Canada as a child in 1916. He became involved with the Young Communist League of Canada, and then joined the Communist Party of Canada...

 is re-elected MP for Montreal-Cartier.

On March 14, 1946, Fred Rose is arrested and accused of spying for the Soviet Union in the wake of revelations of Igor Gouzenko
Igor Gouzenko
Igor Sergeyevich Gouzenko was a cipher clerk for the Soviet Embassy to Canada in Ottawa, Ontario. He defected on September 5, 1945, with 109 documents on Soviet espionage activities in the West...

. He was freed after six years in prison and deported to Poland where he will end his days. The Canadian government will never give the right to return.

1946: Guy Caron is appointed leader of the provincial Labour-Progressive Party (LPP).

April 1946: Henri Gagnon and other Communist League mow Homeless Veterans: Gagnon is president. The League consists of squatters occupying homes that veterans can not afford, or unoccupied, for their return.

1948: Police conduct a seizure at the local newspaper Combat (founded 1946), under the padlock law
Padlock Law
The Padlock Law The Padlock Law (officially called "Act to protect the Province Against Communistic Propaganda") The Padlock Law (officially called "Act to protect the Province Against Communistic Propaganda") (QcFr: "La loi du cadenas" / "Loi protégeant la province contre la propagande...

.

1951: Release of Fred Rose
Fred Rose (politician)
Fred Rose was a Communist politician and trade union organizer in Canada. He was born in Lublin in what is now Poland, part of Russia at the time. He emigrated to Canada as a child in 1916. He became involved with the Young Communist League of Canada, and then joined the Communist Party of Canada...

 after six years in prison. Continued harassment by the police he decided to leave Canada for Czechoslovakia and Poland.

October 1956: (14) Public meeting in Montreal following the 20th Congress of the CPSU
20th Congress of the CPSU
The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was held during 14– 25 February 1956. It is known especially for Nikita Khrushchev's "Secret Speech", which denounced the personality cult and dictatorship of Joseph Stalin....

: Tim Buck
Tim Buck
Timothy "Tim" Buck was a long-time leader of the Communist Party of Canada...

 and JB Salsberg, back in the USSR, reflecting the results of their talks with Soviet leaders (15) Dissatisfied with the explanations provided by Buck, Guy Caron resigned from the LPP with five other members of the provincial committee: Ken Perry, Harry Gulkin, Norman Nerenberg, Frank Arnold and Pierre Gélinas.

February 1957: In an article published in Clarity, Henri Gagnon estimates that 200 members have left the party since the revelations of Khrushchev.

March 1957: The padlock law is declared unconstitutional.

History since 1965

In 1965, the Communist Party of Quebec was definitely established a political party under the laws of Quebec, under the chairmanship of Samuel Walsh.

1973: The DMP has published a pamphlet calling for the creation of a mass federated party in Quebec and require unions to take the lead in this process. Quebec then saw an unprecedented rise of struggles. We're after the big strike of 1972 in the public sector, which was then followed by the imprisonment of union leaders and the outbreak of unprecedented general strike in Quebec.

The idea received a more favorable reception in many unions, especially in Montreal. The project to create a mass party of workers from unions, thereby subject to close debate on the floor of Congress of the Quebec Federation of Labour in 1975. But the proposal was defeated. Elsewhere, particularly in the Congres des Syndicats Nationaux and the CEQ, the same is the enthusiasm gives way slowly to the ground a certain selflessness. The problem lies in the fact that the support of the Parti Québécois
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...

 (PQ) is skyrocketing, including in unions, as people realize that the PQ could take power. In November 1976 the PQ takes power for the first time.

Given the lack of enthusiasm on the part of unions to promote such a project, which is increasingly seen as being harmful to the chances of PQ to finally beat the Liberals, and to the difficulties within the groups Left can agree because of the extreme partisanship that exists then the idea will die a natural death.

1980: The PCQ gave its support to the Yes Campaign, at the first referendum on Quebec sovereignty in 1980.

March 1983: The death of Fred Rose in Poland.

1991: The Communist Party through to turn a very serious crisis that will actually be his worst so far. It will virtually complete its liquidation. At the same time, the USSR imploded.

1998: In September 1998 a small group of activists, mostly of Greek origin, united in purpose with the members of the Communist Workers Group (ACG), resulting mostly from the former CPO, to put up a section of the CPC in Quebec. Two months later, the last member of the PCQ in turn meet these new activists united to suggest they can also join

We are then in November, one month before the PQ government would trigger the 1998 elections. This event marks the official return then DMP within the CCP. This unit will not last very long however, as already mentioned above, since 2005, the DMP is not at all associated with the Canadian Communist Party.

Interestingly, although the PCQ has just departed on a new basis, it is already active in promoting the search for greater unity among the left forces. Beginning in September, members of the CPC in Quebec had in fact begun to meet some members of the Party of Social Democracy (PDS), particularly in the region of Quebec, to discuss possible cooperation.

In the elections of 1998, the Communist Party of Quebec is pursuing the approach and suggests the PDS form an alliance to avoid too much pounding on the feet during the elections. The offer remains unanswered then the side of the PDS, but the steps are nevertheless useful.

A few months later, in a rather unexpected move, the SDP calls on the DMP effect coming as a special guest, to attend their next conference, in order to enforce its vision of the unity of left forces.

In 2002, the Communist Party of Quebec merged with the Party of Social Democracy (PDS) and the Rally for the progressive alternative (RAP) to form the Union of Progressive Forces (UFP). The UFP in turn merged with the political movement Option citizen in 2006 to form the party Québec solidaire
Québec Solidaire
Québec solidaire is a democratic socialist and sovereigntist political party in Quebec, Canada, that was created on 4 February 2006 in Montreal. It was formed by the merger of the left-wing party Union des forces progressistes and the alter-globalization political movement Option Citoyenne, led...

 (QS).

2005 split

The PCQ account of this situation is available online (http://www.pcq.qc.ca/English/EnglishIndex.htm).

2006

The official Directeur général des élections du Québec recognizes the existence of a Parti communiste du Québec with leader André Parizeau, authorized April 3, 2006. http://www.monvote.qc.ca/fr/acd_parti_politique.asp?parti=PCQ This party did not run any candidates in the 2007 Quebec election
Quebec general election, 2007
The Quebec general election of 2007 was held in the Canadian province of Quebec on March 26, 2007 to elect members of the 38th National Assembly of Quebec. The Quebec Liberal Party led by Jean Charest managed to win a plurality of seats, but were reduced to a minority government, Quebec's first in...

.

2007 provincial elections

In 2007 the Parti communiste du Québec decided not to run candidates in the provincial election and rather to support those of Quebec Solidaire. It should be specified that the PCQ was one of the party-founders of the UFP, interdependent ancestor of Quebec Solidaire. The party decided to remain active only in order to prevent that a new political formation takes its name, putting thus fine at the efforts to link the Quebec left. The president of the party, André Parizeau Francis Gagnon-Bergmann member of the Executive committee and Jocelyn Parent, were candidate for Quebec Solidaire in the district of Acadie Blainville and Mirabel. All the members of the PCQ are working in the Quebec Solidaire party.

2008 provincial elections

The Communist Party of Quebec has decided not to run candidates in this election and instead support those of Québec solidaire as in the previous election. Four members of the PCQ were presented as candidates in elections under the banner of Quebec solidaire ; Francis Gagnon-Bergmann, Leader of the PCQ in Blainville, André Parizeau
André Parizeau
André Parizeau is a politician in the Canadian province of Quebec, who is currently the leader of the Parti communiste du Québec.A split followed a lengthy dispute between Parizeau and the Central Executive Committee of the CPC. In November 2004, Parizeau introduced a series of amendments to the...

 Spokesman PCQ in Acadie, Sabrina Perreault executive member in Terrebonne and Jean Nicolas Denis in Bellechasse. Now Quebec solidaire got about 8% of the popular votes.

Leaders list

  • Sam Walsh
    Sam Walsh
    Sam Walsh was leader of the Communist Party of Quebec for 28 years, from 1962 to 1990, and was a leader in the Communist Party of Canada and Labour-Progressive Party since the 1940s....

     1965 - 1989
  • Marianne Roy 1989 - 1991
  • Ginette Gauthier 1991 - 1994
  • André Cloutier 1994 - 1998
  • André Parizeau
    André Parizeau
    André Parizeau is a politician in the Canadian province of Quebec, who is currently the leader of the Parti communiste du Québec.A split followed a lengthy dispute between Parizeau and the Central Executive Committee of the CPC. In November 2004, Parizeau introduced a series of amendments to the...

     1998 - 2008
  • Francis Gagnon-Bergmann 2008–present

See also

  • Parti ouvrier-progressiste
  • Politics of Quebec
    Politics of Quebec
    The politics of Quebec are centred on a provincial government resembling that of the other Canadian provinces, namely a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. The capital of the province is Quebec City, where the Lieutenant Governor, Premier, the legislature, and cabinet reside.The...

  • List of Quebec general elections
  • List of Quebec premiers
  • List of Quebec leaders of the Opposition
  • National Assembly of Quebec
    National Assembly of Quebec
    The National Assembly of Quebec is the legislative body of the Province of Quebec. The Lieutenant Governor and the National Assembly compose the Parliament of Quebec, which operates in a fashion similar to those of other British-style parliamentary systems.The National Assembly was formerly the...

  • Timeline of Quebec history
    Timeline of Quebec history
    This article presents a detailed timeline of Quebec history. Events taking place outside Quebec, for example in English Canada, the United States, Britain or France, may be included when they are considered to have had a significant impact on Quebec's history....

  • Political parties in Quebec
  • 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...


External links

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