Selected Borrowings: The American Impact upon the Prairie Co-operative Movement, 1920–39

TheCanadian Review of American Studies, Volume 10,Number 2, Fall, 1979 Selected Borrowings: The American Impact upon the Prairie Co-operative Movement, 1920-39 Ian MacPherson Prairie protest has been a prominent part of Canadian life since Confederation . Over the years it has gone through several stages, 1 but beneath the changes has rested a remarkably consistent set of grievances. Indeed, listing the complaints has become something of a refrain for politicians, editorial writers, novelists and academics. High freight rates, excessive bank charges, railway discrimination, indifference in Ottawa, unfavorable tariffs, manipulation of natural resources-the list is well known to all students of Prairie regionalism. So too are the movements sparked by some or all of these grievances-the rebellions of 1870 and 1885, the agitation for provincial status, the radical labor movements, the agrarian unrest, the Progressive party, and the new parties of the 1930's. This rich tradition of protest has long attracted the attention of historians, and consequently a rich historiography has developed. As might be expected, the frontier thesis played an important role in earlier studies, and such historians as W. N. Sage, F. H. Underhill and A. R. M. Lower for a while at least found this avenue useful.2 G. F. G. Stanley, focusing on the rebellions, adapted the frontier approach somewhat and wrote about the conflict between a primitive society and a more civilized way of life.3 W. L. Morton, in one of the most sophisticated analyses of Prairie protest, sought for the roots of Progressivism in the historical peculiarities of the region. 4 In more recent years, J. M. S. Careless has indirectly suggested how a concept of "limited identities" might help explain Prairie as well as other regional or localized 138 Ian MacPherson variations,5 while J. E. Rea has provocatively demonstrated how an adaptation of the Hartzian thesis might explain the climate of opinion in which Prairie protest unfolded. 6 Finally, historians interested in the political left have found much scope in looking at Prairie protest. Those sympathetic to social democracy, for example S. M. Lipset and W. D. Young, 7 have found ample rewards for their study, seeing in the Independent Labour Party and the C.C.F. examples of a moderate international socialist movement. In contrast, those influenced by Marxism, such as C. B. MacPherson, 8 have been less enthusiastic, usually seeing in Prairie revolt only the confused posturings of petite bourgeois farmers and merchants. All of these approaches have added to our understanding of Prairie regionalism and its periodic outbursts. Curiously, though, they have not produced a systematic study or satisfactory explanation for the emergence of the co-operative movement in the Prairie west. Indeed, the only studies -and they are necessarily limited in scope-have come from economic historians such as H. A. Innis or V. C. Fowke, who have been interested in the grain trade as a staple. 9 This omission is startling because it can be argued that the Prairie co-operative movement has been one of the strongest and most successful manifestations of regional discontent. Indeed, from a few small, obscure organizations at t.he turn of the century, the Prairie movement has grown to the point where it is a decisive factor in the marketing of agricultural products; the largest indigenous grouping in the financial and insurance sectors; an important manufacturer; the second largest retailing system in the region; and the possessor of the only major Canadian-owned petroleum refinery. 10 All of this development has taken place amid an emotional appeal to regional loyalties and interest; all of it has been conspicuously aimed at building up an economic ands ocial superstructure that is distinctly"' Prairie."11 Why this omission? Why amid the volumes that have been written about the Prairies have there been only scattered references to the co-operative movement as a distinct and important element in the region's development? One reason is that the movement has never been easy to comprehend in its entirety. It has been divided into consumer, producer and credit organizations that have not always been united in action or outlook. These divisions have been intensified by the differing motivation of Prairie co-operators...