Chapter 21896-1945: Nationalisms and the Autonomy of Canada

Section 11: Challenging Capitalism, the Union Nationalegovernment, Clerico-Nationalism and Francophones in the Economy

Pages that correspond to this presentation

Challenging Capitalism: Page 172

Union Nationale: Page 173

Clerico Nationalism: Pages 174-176

Francophones in the economy: Pages176-177

Colonization movement during the Great Depression: Page 171

The Great Depression:Capitalism seen as a problem to some

• During the Great Depression (1930s) large scale socio-economic problems unemployment, homelessness, etc.

• Some people stopped trusting the system of capitalism large companies seeking profit linked to the cause of the GD

• People also stopped trusting the governments that allowed capitalism to lead to the Great Depression Liberal party of Canada & Conservative Party of Canada

• These same people questioned the systems in place and challenged the systems by creating new political parties

• New political/social ideas emerged:– Communism– Socialism– Fascism

Communism• The idea that private property and a profit based

economy (capitalism) is replaced with ‘communal control’ of means of production (mines, mills, factories, etc.)

• ‘Everyone’ is paid based on abilities and needs

• Against the involvement of the church in government affairs

• There are not many communist countries left in 2017

• The Communist Party of Canada was established in 1921

• Only a handful of Communist Party of Canada members made it to Federal politics in the 1920s/1930s

CommunismBritish Columbia branch of the Communist Party of Canada –early 1930s

Emblem for the Communist Part of Canada

Source: The Canadian Encyclopedia Online. <http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/communist-party-of-canada/>

Source: Wikipedia. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Canada>

CommunismElection poster for Fred Rose-Communist Party of Canada member

Source: Wikipedia. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Rose_(politician)#Federal>

• Fred Rose was elected to the House of Commons in 1943

• However- Rose was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union in 1946

Socialism• An IDEOLOGY that will defend the ‘Greater Good’

• Interests of the greater number of people takes priority over smaller groups (Example: middle class VS wealthy/upper class)

• An idea eventually defended/promoted by the government

• Governments should intervene by implementing laws/programs to support/protect the general population

• In favor of unions

• Healthcare, employment insurance, etc.

• New political parties promoted this ideology during /after the Great Depression

• Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) established in 1933

SocialismCFF billboard in the early 1930s

Emblem for the Canadian Commonwealth Federation

Source: The Canadian Encyclopedia Online. <http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/co-operative-commonwealth-federation/

Source: Wikipedia. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co-operative_Commonwealth_Federation#Party_leaders>

Socialism

Source: University of Alberta Peel Library. <http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/10186/1.html>

Saskatchewan Commonwealth Organization Poster - 1945

• The poster’s message is that under a capitalist systemworkers in Canada are no earning enough money to have a decent standard of living for their families

Socialism

Source: Archives Society of Alberta. <https://albertaonrecord.ca/iw-paa-112>

CCF election poster – date unknown

• What is the common theme of the message from each drawing?

Socialism• The idea of ‘social credit’

• The idea that people should receive a monthly allowance (on top of what they earn) in order to help them gain more PURCHASHING POWER where would this money come from? The Government supposedly

• Social credit party in Canada Popular mainly in Alberta and British Columbia

• Established in 1935 a populist political party

• Populist political party = a political party that supposedly defends the interests of the people and criticizes the elites

Socialism

• How was socialism expressed?

–Political party posters

–Strikes/protests

–Literature (magazine, pamphlets, etc.)

Fascism• An Ideology that promotes tradition,

military force, totalitarianism and extreme ETHNIC nationalism

• Ethnic Nationalism a single race represents a nation

• Single government leader/single political party

• Resemblance to a cult

Fascism• People/groups who

represent Fascism:

–Hitler, Mussolini,

– ‘blueshirts’

–Adrian Arcand & the National Social Christian PartyCanadian Fascist Party in 1930s

Source: Le Québec: Une Histoire du Famille. <http://lequebecunehistoiredefamille.com/capsule/arcand/photo/adrien-arcand>

Adrien Arcand

Fascism• How was fascism

expressed?

– Propaganda

• Literature (newspapers, ect.)

• Propaganda posters

– Public displays of fascism (mural in Madonna Della Difesa Chruch in Montreal)

Source: The Canadian Fuhrer: The Life of Adrien Arcand. Google Books. <https://books.google.ca/books?id=D630umvXNKoC&pg=PA181&lpg=PA181&dq=faciste+canadien+newspaper&source=bl&ots=xWbEqQ3Wy_&sig=0M7eG1DTvGcZjiNFPtzpJ6L12Ek&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjGydzJ8bnYAhXL54MKHZFJAPYQ6AEIOTAD#v=onepage&q=faciste%20canadien%20newspaper&f=false>

Man printing fascist propaganda in a basement

Fascism

Source: Radio Canada.< http://ici.radio-canada.ca/emissions/le_15_18/2016-2017/chronique.asp?idChronique=422046>

Source: The Canadian Fuhrer: The Life of Adrien Arcand. Google Books. <https://books.google.ca/books?id=D630umvXNKoC&pg=PA181&lpg=PA181&dq=faciste+canadien+newspaper&source=bl&ots=xWbEqQ3Wy_&sig=0M7eG1DTvGcZjiNFPtzpJ6L12Ek&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjGydzJ8bnYAhXL54MKHZFJAPYQ6AEIOTAD#v=onepage&q=faciste%20canadien%20newspaper&f=false>

Young men working for the PNSC- preparing propaganda pamphlets in Montreal- 1938

Young women being trained for the PNSC- 1938 (in Montreal)

Fascism

Source: Ricochet Media. <https://ricochet.media/fr/2040/cinquante-nuances-de-brun>

Le Faciste Canadien: The official newspaper of the National Social Christian Party

• Party members were required to sell the newspaper each month

• Very few news stands in Montreal sold this publication

Vault Mural of Benito Mussolini- Italian fascistMadonna Della Difesa Church in Montreal

Fascism

Source: Untapped cities.<https://untappedcities.com/2013/10/21/why-is-benito-mussolini-featured-church-fresco-montreal/>

Source: Accent I newspaper. <http://www.accenti.ca/news-archives-issue-1/community-of-churches-frescos-and-historic-sites-by-filippo-salvatore>

New political parties gain popularity in Quebec?

• No None of these parties made a significant impact on Quebec’s political landscape

• However, one political party emerged in Quebec that claimed to defend traditional values of Quebec The Union Nationale

• Lead by a man named Maurice Duplessis

• This political party claimed to defend a promote Catholicism, rural life (farming) and family values

• This political party gained a lot of support right before 1936 and after the Union Nationale was elected as Quebec’s majority party in 1936

Election of the Union Nationale party in Quebec

• The leader of the Union Nationale party in 1936 = Maurice Duplessis

• Duplessis was a strong politician (was able to connect to rural populations)

• In order to win the Quebec provincial election in 1936:

– He found that there was corruption in the provincial Liberal Party and exploited it

– He worked out a merger between his old political party (Conservative party of Quebec) AND the Action Libérale Nationale party

• By doing this Duplessis was able to form a party that won the 1936 Quebec provincial election

Election of the Union Nationale party in Quebec

Source: Virtual Museum. <http://larevolutiontranquille.ca/en/the-long-reign-of-the-national-union.php>

Maurice Duplessis in 1936

Source: Wikipedia.< https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_nationale_(Qu%C3%A9bec)>

Logo used by the Union NationaleParty in Quebec

Union Nationale in Quebec from 1936-1940

• Duplessis and the Union Nationale government were believers in 4 things:

– Minimal government intervention in the economy and social issues

– Support for the Catholic Church in Quebec

– Support for a rural way of life

– Anti-communism/Anti-union

Source: Wikipedia.<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Duplessis>

Maurice Duplessis in 1936

Union Nationale in Quebec from 1936-1940

• Duplessis and the Union Nationale government did not believe in government intervention in the economy

• They did not try to ‘NATIONALIZE’ hydroelectricity

• Nationalize = government controls/own all of something Example: Hydro Quebec in 2018

• Duplessis though letting the market decide was the way to go

Union Nationale in Quebec from 1936-1940

• Duplessis was also a strong supporter of the Catholic Church:

– He allowed the church to control social services like hospitals

– He created laws that the Catholic Church had been asking for in Quebec for some time

– He installed a crucifix in the National Assembly (where the government of Quebec meets and debates)

Union Nationale in Quebec from 1936-1940

• Duplessis believed in the rural way of life:

– The Union Nationale Party established an agricultural credit for farmers to help them pay off debt and find agricultural land for their children to start farms

– The National Electricity Syndicate: although the Union Nationale part did not nationalize electricity they did make sure to provide electricity to rural areas (farms) in many outlying regions in Quebec

– An power plant was built in Abitibi to provide electricity to farms this is called the ‘electrification of farms’

Union Nationale in Quebec from 1936-1940

• During the first 4 years of the Union Nationale government anti-union laws

• Duplessis used local police forces to protect strike breakers what were strike breakers?

• 1937 Sorel shipyard strike provincial police used to protect the strikebreakers

• 1937 “Padlock Law”

• This law gave the power to the Union Nationalegovernment to padlock any building associated with ‘Communism’

• Duplessis sometimes used this law to crackdown on organizations that spoke out against him and the Union Nationale government infringement on democracy

Union Nationale in Quebec from 1936-1940Government workers sifting through newspapers in the Claritéoffice as part of the Padlock Law

Political cartoon commenting on the Padlock Law being linked to fascist ideology

Source: Canadian Primary Sources in the Classroom. <http://www.begbiecontestsociety.org/quebec.htm>

Source: Wikipedia. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padlock_Law#/media/File:News._Communistic_Literature_BAnQ_P48S1P02676.jpg>

End of the First Union Nationale era in 1940

• Duplessis and the Union Nationale were voted out of provincial government in 1940

• However, due to another conscription crisis and other issues The Union Nationale party was voted back in the mid 1940s

• We will discuss the Union Nationale in the 1940 more in chapter 3

Keynesianism• John Maynard Keynes• Mid 1930s during the Great Depression wrote a

book called “General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money”

• His theory included the idea that during rough economic times:– The government should spend money to invest

in infrastructure to help businesses which will then hire more workers

– The government should lower taxes so businesses can spend more and people have more money to spend on goods

Clerico-Nationalism… what is it?

• 1920s-1950s

• French Canadian Nationalist idea traditional values family, Catholicism, rural way of life and the French language/culture

• The reason behind this way of thinking protectFrench Canadian culture/identity from being wiped away by English-Canadian/American cultural influences

• Moving ‘back to the land’/farming/agriculturalismbecame an important part of Clerico-Nationalism

Clerico-Nationalism… who represented it?

• Lionel Groulx

• French Canadian Nationalist

• Unlike Henri Bourassa Groulx believed Quebec was a space for French Canadians to defend their identity/culture

• French Canadians formed their OWN NATION within the territory of Quebec

• Bourassa believed that Canada was a territory for both French and English Canadians to share

• Groulx’s ideology was one step closer to Quebec Nationalism that we will see in the 1960s onwards

Clerico-Nationalism… who represented it?

Lionel Groulx in 1927

Source: Wikipedia.<https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Groulx>

Source: Fortin, S., Lapointe, D., Lavoie, R. & Parent, A. Reflections.qc.ca.: 1840 to Our Times. Cheneliere Education. 2017. Page 175

Clerico-Nationalism… how was it expressed?• Lionel Groulx’s writings/magazines L’Action Francaise/

L’Action Nationale founded in 1917

• “Romans du Terroir” Novels of Rural Life

– Novels that romanticized rural life/farming in Quebec

– Traditional values (French language, Catholicism) were also promoted in these novels

– These novels painted a picture of the horrible lives of industrial workers versus the amazing lives of life in the country/ on farms

• French Canadian paintings depicting agricultural landscapes Paintings by Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté

• The colonization movement in Quebec during the Great Depression promoting agriculture

Clerico-Nationalism… how was it expressed?

L’Action Française Magazine-August 1921

• L’Action Française Magazine was founded by members of the League for French Rights (including Lionel Groulx)

• The goal of the magazine was to promote French Canadian rights and values/culture in Quebec

Source: Wikimedia Commons.< https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:L%27Action_Fran%C3%A7aise.JPG>

Clerico-Nationalism… how was it expressed?Roman du Terroir: “Ne Vends Pas La Terre”

Source: Laurentiana Blog. < https://laurentiana.blogspot.ca/2014/05/la-litterature-du-terroir-au-quebec.html>

Source: Librarie O Vieux Bouquins.<http://www.ovieuxbouquins.com/siteweb/inventaire.php?pg=&pksection=40&cat=&txttitre=&txtmotcle=&txtauteur=&tri=DATEAC&page=59>

Clerico-Nationalism… how was it expressed?

Source: Queen’s University Agnes Edrithton Art Gallery.<https://agnes.queensu.ca/exhibition/key-works-unlocked-peel-and-suzor-

cote/>

Source: Fortin, S., Lapointe, D., Lavoie, R. & Parent, A. Reflections.qc.ca.: 1840 to Our Times. Cheneliere Education. 2017. Page 175

Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté, “Wet Snow”, Arthabaska, around 1919

Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté, “The Harvest”, around 1912

Clerico-Nationalism… how was it expressed?

• Promoting colonization during the Great Depression

• The Catholic Church along with French Canadian nationalists promoted the “return to the land” movement

• The RCC and FC nationalists believed that agriculture would tae people away from the poverty they faced in cities

• Farmers could grow their own food problem solved

• Regions such as Abitibi were colonized during this time

Abitibi Region of Quebec

Source: Wikipedia.<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abitibi-T%C3%A9miscamingue>

Programme de restauration social of the École Sociale Populaire

• École Sociale Populaire (the same organization we spoke about in notes 2.6)

• Did not always agree with capitalism:

– Their stance was that rural development was important develop farms, investment in rural areas

– Buy local/ Quebec made products

– Investment in agricultural cooperatives (notes 2.4) to help with the development of rural areas

– Rely on charity to help society NOT capitalism

Francophones in the economy

• Not all French Canadian Nationalists were involved in rural development/agriculturalism

• Some were involved in the world of business (factories/stores, etc.)

• Some believed that French Canadians NEEDED to get involved in industrialization take control away from Anglophones in the business world within Quebec

• Investment in French Canadian businesses would mean prosperity for the French Canadian people

Francophones in the economy• Rodolphe Forget

• French Canadian business owner

• Montreal Light and Power

• At the time rare for a French Canadian to own a powerful company such as Montreal Light and Power

• Forget eventually made his way into politics representing the Charlevoix region of Quebec I the federal government

Rodolphe Forget in 1910

Source: McCord Museum online.<http://collections.musee-mccord.qc.ca/scripts/imagedownload.php?accessNumber=VIEW-8781&Lang=1&imageID=165334&format=large>

Francophones in the economy

Source: Fortin, S., Lapointe, D., Lavoie, R. & Parent, A. Reflections.qc.ca.: 1840 to Our Times. CheneliereEducation. 2017. Page 176