The Fate of Labour Socialism: The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and the Dream of a Working-Class Future by James Naylor (review)

Books that include the word “fate” in their title usually explore some sort of devolution, and this one is no exception. In The Fate of Labour Socialism the devolution takes place during a span of approximately fifteen years—from a high point for the Canadian Left at the Regina Convention in July 1933 to the more moderate message of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation during the conformist era of World War II and the Cold War.

The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 had not ended well for Canadian labor or for Canada’s diverse proponents of socialism who had, since the late nineteenth century, been optimistic about the ultimate triumph of their cause. During the 1920s the Left remained ideologically confused and in political disarray, and organized labor in the Dominion experienced the same “lean years” as its counterpart in the United States. The onset of Canada’s “Dirty Thirties” created a “positive” new dynamic of economic hardship that encouraged both labor and the Left. The Communist Party of Canada gained adherents, but many more Canadians gravitated to the homegrown Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, a new political organization that dated from mid-1933.

James Naylor’s highly detailed narrative of the rise of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (the precursor to Canada’s current New Democratic Party) and an in-depth examination of its working-class roots will likely be most accessible and, hence, informative to those readers who possess at least a general understanding of the history of Canadian parties and politics. They will find a thoroughly researched and carefully nuanced study of the emergence and evolution of this significant manifestation of left-of-center thought and action during Canada’s interwar years as well as a carefully reasoned explanation of the post–World War II moderation of the original radical agenda of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.

I can highly recommend The Fate of Labour Socialism to anyone interested in the history of Canada and particularly its highly significant left-wing politics during the twentieth century. Naylor’s study is well grounded in the voluminous academic literature on the Canadian Left in the early twentieth century, and upon that foundation it builds an impressive edifice using a wealth of archival documents. That said, I would have liked to have seen at least one good map of the national arena and perhaps some sort of chronology to help keep readers properly informed about the larger context in which events narrated in The Fate of Labour Socialism took place. The depth of Naylor’s research is evident in the nearly one hundred pages of notes he supplies. Fortunately, the book also includes a good index that enhances its value as a reference tool. The Fate of Labour Socialism belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in the modern history of Canada or “the fate” of left-wing labor politics in twentieth century North America.