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The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups as well as the League for Social Reconstruction. In 1961, it disbanded and was replaced by the New Democratic Party.
The CCF aimed to alleviate the suffering of the Great Depression through economic reform and public cooperation. Many of the party's first Members of Parliament (MPs) were former MPs of the Progressive Party of Canada
At its first convention, the CCF selected J.S. Woodsworth as party leader. Woodworth had been a Independent Labor Party MPA Member of Parliament or MP is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to a parliament; in the Westminster system, specifically to the lower house. Australia In Australia, the term Member of Parliament refers specifically to a mem since 1921Events January 2 The first religious radio broadcast ( KDKA AM in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) January 2 Spanish liner Santa Isabel sinks off Villa Garcia 244 dead January 2 DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park San Francisco opens. January 20 Republic of Turke, and a member of the Ginger GroupThe Ginger Group was not a formal political party, but a faction of radical Progressive and Labour MPs who advocated socialism. The group took its name from Ginger Godwin, a United Mine Workers organizer. Ginger was shot dead outside Cumberland, British C of MPs. The party's 1933Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s Years: 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 See also 1933 in aviation 1933 in film 1933 in literature 1933 in mu convention, held in Regina, SaskatchewanRegina is the provincial capital of Saskatchewan, Canada and was incorporated as a city on June 19, 1903. Regina was proclaimed the capital on May 23, 1906 by the first provincial government led by Premier Walter Scott. Regina is located at a latitude of, adopted the Regina ManifestoThe Regina Manifesto was the programme of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and was adopted at the first national convention of the CCF hed in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1933. The CCF was a democratic socialist party founded in 1932 by farmers, worker as the party's program. The manifesto outlined a number of goals, including:
It concluded that No CCF 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 Cooperative Commonwealth.
In its first election in 1935, 7 CCF MPs were elected to the House of Commons. Eight were elected in the following election in 1940. But the party was divided with the outbreak of World War II: Woodsworth was an uncompromising pacifist, and this upset many supporters of the Canadian war effort. A new leader, Major Coldwell, was elected, and threw the party's support behind the war. The party won a critical York South by-election in February 1942, and in the process prevented the Conservative leader, former Prime Minister Arthur Meighen, from entering the House of Commons. In the 1945 Canadian election, 28 CCF MPs were elected, and the party won 15.6% of the vote.
However, the party was to have its greatest success in provincial politics. In 1943, the Ontario CCF became the official opposition in that province, and in 1944 the Saskatchewan CCF formed the first socialist government in North America with Tommy Douglas as premier. Douglas introduced universal healthcare to Saskatchewan, a policy that was soon adopted by other provinces and implemented nationally by the Liberals under Lester B. Pearson.
Federally, during the Cold War, the CCF was accused of having communist, dictatorial leanings. The party moved to address these these accusations in 1956, by replacing the Regina Manifesto by a more moderate document, the Winnipeg Declaration. Nevertheless, the party did poorly in the 1958 Canadian election, winning only eight seats.
After much discussion, the CCF and the Canadian Labour Congress decided to join forces to create a new political party, which could make democratic socialism more popular with Canadian voters. In 1961, the CCF became the New Democratic Party.