Encyclopedia:
Regina Manifesto
Regina Manifesto was the programme of the
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and was adopted at the first national convention of the CCF held in
Regina, Saskatchewan in 1933. The primary goal of the "Regina Manifesto" was to eradicate the system of
capitalism and replace it with a completely planned economy of
socialism.
http://www.saskndp.com/documents/manifest.pdf The CCF was a
democratic socialist party founded in 1932 by farmers, workers and socialist groups against the backdrop of the
Great Depression.
Tommy Douglas led the CCF, born of ideas central in the "Regina Manifesto," to form the first socialistic government in North America on June 15, 1944.
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=ArchivedFeatures&Params=A258The Manifesto was largely written by members of the
League for Social Reconstruction, particularly
Frank Underhill and
F.R. Scott, and called for "
a planned and socialized economy in which our natural resources and principal means of production and distribution are owned, controlled and operated by the people". Specifically it called for the
nationalisation.of transportation, communications, electrical power and other services. It called for a
planned economy and a national banking system that would be "removed from the control of private profit-seeking interests." It advocated for the ability to organize in
trade unions and called for a National Labour Code "to secure for the worker maximum income and leisure, insurance covering illness, accident, old age, and unemployment." The Regina Manifesto proposed social service programs such as
publicly-funded health care, supported peace, promoted
co-operative enterprises and vowed 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 Cooperative Commonwealth."
The Regina Manifesto remained the CCF's official programme until 1956 when, in the face of the strong
anti-communist sentiment of the
Cold War, it was replaced by the more moderate
Winnipeg Declaration which substituted
Keynsianism for socialist remedies.
External links
*
http://www.saskndp.com/history/manifest.html Full text of the Regina Manifesto*
http://www.socialisthistory.ca/Docs/1930s/MoriartyOnCCF.htm The Regina Convention of the C.C.F. Bill Moriarty's account of debates at the 1933 CCF convention on adopting the Regina Manifesto.
Category:Political history of CanadaCategory:1933 in Canada