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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 November 2014
Various observers of the North American scene have called attention to the problem of mass passivity and political apathy in our culture. Myrdal has pointed out that the masses in America “are accustomed to being static and receptive. They are not daring but long for security. They do not know how to cooperate and how to pool risks and sacrifices for a common goal. They do not meet much. They do not organize. They do not speak for themselves: they are the listeners in America. They seldom elect representatives from their own midst to Congress, to state legislatures or to city councils. They rather support friendly leaders from the upper strata, particularly lawyers.”
Myrdal's description of American mass passivity is an accurate one for most parts of the United States and Canada. There are, however, certain areas on this continent where the political behaviour of the people contradicts the assertion that the American lower economic classes, the workers and farmers, are politically apathetic. The Wheat Belt regions of the United States and Canada have repeatedly given rise to large-scale “class-conscious” political organizations which were genuine mass movements. The Greenback, Populist, and Non-Partisan League organizations in the United States, and the Progressive party and the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (C.C.F.) in western Canada involved large numbers of people in agrarian political action. The recent success of the C.C.F. in attaining power in the Wheat Belt province of Saskatchewan is the latest instance of a mass North American “people's party.”
The data for this paper were collected during 1945-6 while on a predoctoral field fellowship of the Social Science Research Council. It was presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society in Asbury Park, New Jersey, April 24, 1948.
1 Myrdal, Gunnar, An American Dilemma (New York, 1944), p. 714.Google Scholar
2 See Fine, Nathan, Farmer and Labor Parties, 1828-1928 (New York, 1928)Google Scholar; Hicks, John D., The Populist Revolt (Minneapolis, 1931)Google Scholar; Fossum, Paul R., The Agrarian Movement in North Dakota (Baltimore, 1925).Google Scholar
3 See Lipset, S. M., “The Rural Community and Political Leadership in Saskatchewan” (Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, vol. XIII, no. 2, 08 1947), pp. 410–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4 The co-operative organizations of the province have 477,000 members, though there are only 125,000 farmers. See Saskatchewan News, 03 22, 1948, p. 3.Google Scholar
5 See Britnell, G. E., The Wheat Economy (Toronto, 1939).Google Scholar
6 See Burnet, Jean, “Town-Country Relations and the Problem of Rural Leadership” (Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, vol. XIII, no. 2, 08, 1947, pp. 395–409 CrossRefGoogle Scholar).
7 Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association.
8 See Boyd, Hugh, New Breaking (Toronto, 1938)Google Scholar; Saskatchewan Co-operative Producers Ltd., Annual Reports (Regina, 1924–1947).Google Scholar
9 Robson, George, “Letter to Editor” (Western Producer, 01 30, 1943, p. 2).Google Scholar
10 In the past many agrarian protest movements succeeded despite the initial opposition of the top officials of the organized farmers. The Grain Growers' Grain Company was organized though the heads of the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association opposed it; after the First World War independent political action was forced on the leaders of the S.G.G.A.; the Wheat Pool succeeded despite the early reluctance of the officials of the S.G.G.A. and the Saskatchewan Co-operative Elevator Company; and the 100 per cent pool plan was adopted in 1929 and 1930 though the leaders of the United Farmers of Canada (U.F.C.) and the Wheat Pool were opposed to it. Moorehouse, Hopkins, Deep Furrows (Toronto, 1918)Google Scholar; Wood, L. A., Farmers Movements in Canada (Toronto, 1924)Google Scholar; Macintosh, W. A., Agricultural Co-operation in Western Canada (Toronto, 1924).Google Scholar Yates, S. W., The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool (Saskatoon, 1947).Google Scholar
11 Records of Saskatchewan C.C.F.
12 See Rorem, C. Rufus, The Municipal Doctor Scheme in Rural Saskatchewan (Chicago, 1931).Google Scholar
13 Ibid., pp. 83-4.
14 See S. M. Lipset, “The Rural Community and Political Leadership in Saskatchewan” for statistical evidence that the C.C.F. was organized by rural community leaders.
15 See C.C.F. (Saskatchewan), C.C.F. Handbook (Regina, 1946).Google Scholar
16 Almost three-quarters (73.6 per cent) of the delegates to the 1946 C.C.F. provincial convention were officials of co-operatives, and 67.6 per cent have held a public office. See Lipset, S. M., “The Rural Community and Political Leadership in Saskatchewan,” pp. 417–18.Google Scholar
17 See A Commission of the Central Committees of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Toronto, 1939), pp. 46–9.Google Scholar
18 C.C.F. (Saskatchewan Section), Provincial Convention Delegates Handbook, 1945 (Regina, 1945), p. 33.Google Scholar
19 Ibid., p. 33.
20 Ibid., 1946, p. 51.
21 Ibid., 1946, p. 45.
22 Ibid., 1946, p. 51. It should be noted that both of these resolutions were passed at constituency conventions at which cabinet ministers were present.
23 The Saskatchewan Liberal party held a convention in 1947.
24 See C.C.F. Convention Handbooks for 1945, 1946, and 1947.
25 Moorehouse, , Deep Furrows, pp. 230-3 and p. 265.Google Scholar
26 From interviews with C.C.F. leaders.
27 Myrdal, , An American Dilemma, p. 714.Google Scholar
28 Canadian Reconstruction Association, The Nonpartisan League in North Dakota (Toronto, 1921), p. 13.Google Scholar
29 Gunther, John, Inside U.S.A. (New York, 1947), p. 242.Google Scholar
30 Wallace, Henry, “Report on the Farmers” (New Republic, 06 30, 1947, p. 12).Google Scholar
31 Myrdal, , An American Dilemma, p. 717.Google Scholar (Italics in original.)
32 Similar results were found in an as yet unpublished study of a small self-contained housing community in an industrial area, Craftown, a community of 2,500, was found to be much more politically active than neighbouring urban areas. The community, like rural Saskatchewan, was a small, relatively homogeneous town, with four-fifths of its population industrial workers. Similarly, it faced a series of problems thart demanded organized action. Because of the lack of public services, the working-class citizenry had to start volunteer police and fire departments, a co-operative store, and similar organizations. These associations provided opportunities for learning collaborative techniques and leadership skills which were also put to use in political action.
“Joined in an interlocking complex, these factors of the manageable size of the local community, a new and flexible social structure, a continuing flow of problems visibly common to the group and a nucleus of men and women equipped through experience with skills of collaboration, all contributed to the building of an actively participating citizenry.”
From An Interim Report by Merton, Robert K. and Salter, Patricia, The Lavenburg-Columbia Research on Human Relations in the Planned Community, The First Year's Work—1945-1946 (New York, 1946).Google Scholar
33 Dewey, John, Freedom and Culture (New York, 1939), p. 159.Google Scholar
