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26-741: Dowson and his followers differed with the rest of the Trotskyist movement in Canada through their adoption of a Canadian economic nationalist perspective, influenced by the views of the Waffle , a Marxist tendency within the New Democratic Party (NDP) within which the LSA was active. They argued that Canada was an economic colony of the United States and thus an oppressed nation where other Marxists viewed Canada as

52-546: A Manifesto for an Independent Socialist Canada and, with support in the NDP caucus and membership, worked to push the party leftward. The Waffle supported the nationalization of Canadian industries to take them out of the hands of American interests. The group was endorsed by the New Democratic Youth . The Waffle manifesto stated, "A socialist society must be one in which there is democratic control of all institutions, which have

78-564: A professor emeritus . Prior to that, he was Principal of Erindale College , University of Toronto , from 1986 to 1994. He served as president of the Canadian Historical Association from 1978-1979. Before beginning his teaching career, Morton served as an advisor to Tommy Douglas of the New Democratic Party . From 1964 to 1966, he served as assistant secretary of the Ontario New Democratic Party . After

104-480: A CBC documentary on the NDP, taken during a meeting of the group some months prior to the October 1969 NDP Winnipeg convention. According to the film excerpt, the Waffle term appears to have originated with Jim Laxer when he stated, "in terms of the proposed manifesto, that if it doesn't talk about nationalization of key industries, it becomes a 'waffle document.'" The term "waffle" was picked up by subsequent speakers in

130-841: A Captain) prior to beginning his teaching career. He was named Honorary Colonel of 8 Wing of the Canadian Air Force at CFB Trenton in 2002. He received the Canadian Forces' Decoration in 2004 for 12 years total military service. Morton was the Hiram Mills Professor of History at McGill University , as well as the founding director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, established in 1994, in Montreal , Quebec . Following his retirement, he continued to serve at McGill as

156-475: A commodity. But a socialist democracy implies man's control of his immediate environment as well, and in any strategy for building socialism, community democracy is as vital as the struggle for electoral success." The Waffle developed a Canadian nationalist policy. According to the founding manifesto, "The major threat to Canadian survival today is American control of the Canadian economy. The major issue of our times

182-475: A fully capitalist nation, if only a "junior partner" participating in the oppression of the developing world. The Socialist League viewed its competitors on the left as extremists and ultra-leftists and was especially critical of their views on the New Democratic Party. The Socialist League was an entrist formation and supported full participation by socialists in the NDP where the LSA and particularly

208-777: A major effect on men's lives and where there is equal opportunity for creative non-exploitative self-development. It is now time to go beyond the welfare state." According to the manifesto, "The New Democratic Party must provide leadership in the struggle to extend working men's influence into every area of industrial decision-making.... By bringing men together primarily as buyers and sellers of each other, by enshrining profitability and material gain in place of humanity and spiritual growth, capitalism has always been inherently alienating. Today, sheer size combined with modern technology further exaggerates man's sense of insignificance and impotence. A socialist transformation of society will return to man his sense of humanity, to replace his sense of being

234-399: Is not national unity but national survival." The name was meant ironically; one story, quoted in historian Desmond Morton 's book The New Democrats , has the name originating during the drafting of the group's manifesto when, at one point, Ed Broadbent said "that if they had to choose between waffling to the left and waffling to the right, they waffle to the left." "The Waffle Manifesto"

260-606: The Progressive Conservatives . Morton was the author of over thirty-five books on Canada, including the popular A Short History of Canada . In 1994 he won the C.P. Stacey Prize for his history of Canadian soldiers during the First World War , When Your Number's Up . He wrote prolifically about the First World War, considering it of great importance in Canadian history. He once wrote: "For Canadians, Vimy Ridge

286-584: The Revolutionary Marxist Group were increasingly critical of the NDP and came to support running their own candidates against NDP nominees in some ridings during provincial and federal elections. Instead, the Socialist League formed the Left Caucus within the NDP and worked to build a leftist tendency within the party. The Caucus' strategy was to ally with "centrists" within the NDP such as, in

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312-523: The Saskatoon , Saskatchewan Waffle — ran unsuccessfully for the party presidency. She was up against former Ontario NDP leader Donald C. MacDonald and lost to him during the April 23rd vote. University of Toronto professor Mel Watkins lost his vice-president position, but managed to get elected to the party's federal council. The campaign for leader of the NDP pitted David Lewis against James Laxer. Through

338-409: The NDP candidate lost by over 1,400 votes. Lewis remained hostile; in 1972, he described the Waffle as "an encumbrance around my neck". Then at the NDP's Provincial Council on 24 June, Lewis obtained a resolution ordering the Waffle to disband or else leave the NDP. Debate on the motion lasted for three hours, with labour leaders leading the charge to expel the Waffle. Finally, the council approved

364-613: The RWL and LSA and its Quebec counterparts fused to form the Revolutionary Workers League . The group grew initially through the 1970s and was able to recruit a number of student youth, particularly at York University but it declined through the 1980s and became largely inactive after Dowson suffered a stroke in 1989. Forward ceased publication in the mid-1980s, although the Left Caucus Bulletin continued to appear until

390-510: The Waffle came during the October 1971 Ontario provincial election . The Waffle's Ontario chairman, Steve Penner, was Ontario NDP candidate for MPP from the Dovercourt riding . Despite the public infighting between Penner and Ontario NDP leader Stephen Lewis (son of national NDP leader David Lewis), Penner lost by only 55 votes. The Waffle considered this a success, because in the 1967 election,

416-524: The anti-Waffle motion 217 to 86, thereby ending months of public feuding. Some members of the Waffle remained New Democrats; however, Laxer and Watkins accepted Lewis's ultimatum and quit the NDP in 1972. They continued the Waffle under the name the Movement for an Independent Socialist Canada, but it was still commonly referred to as the Waffle. The group existed until the Canadian federal election in 1974, when it unsuccessfully ran candidates for Parliament in

442-422: The discussion. The 1971 NDP leadership convention was a battleground between the party establishment and the Waffle. About 2,000 people, out of the NDP's approximately 90,000 membership, were members of the Waffle in 1971. The Waffle tried to get as many of their supporters onto the party's governing bodies, but were rebuked by the large bloc of rank-and-file union voters at the convention. Carol Gudmundson — of

468-695: The federal election. Laxer ran in the York West electoral district in Toronto, placing fourth in a field of seven with 673 votes and only 1.26 percent of the popular vote. The dispute over the Waffle led to the disbanding of the Ontario NDP 's youth wing in 1972, which was not revived until 1988. The federal NDP also disbanded the New Brunswick NDP for a period in late 1971 after a local Waffle group gained control of it. Many of its leaders eventually came back into

494-516: The mid-1980s, Judy Rebick with whom it participated in the Committee for an Activist Party. For a time Forward had influence in a few NDP riding associations such as in the suburban Toronto riding of Oriole where it helped Rebick win the NDP nomination for the 1987 Ontario election and nearby York Mills where Socialist League member Gord Doctorow was the NDP candidate in the 1985 Ontario election . The Socialist League remained aloof in 1977 when

520-555: The mid-1990s. Prominent members of the Socialist League included Dowson, Harry Kopyto , Lois Bedard , Gord Doctorow , Alice Klein , Wayne Roberts , Michael Hollett and Ellie Kirzner . Klein, Roberts, Hollett and Kirzner left Forward in the late 1970s, and founded the alternative newspaper Now Magazine in Toronto . The Waffle The Waffle (officially known as the Movement for an Independent Socialist Canada after 1972)

546-598: The party and held important positions within it, which also shaped many of the NDP's policies in the 1980s through to the early 21st century. Desmond Morton (historian) Desmond Dillon Paul Morton OC CD FRSC (1937–2019) was a Canadian historian and political advisor who specialized in the history of the Canadian military , as well as the history of Canadian political and industrial relations. Born on September 10, 1937, in Calgary , Alberta , Morton

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572-408: The strong support of the labour unions, Lewis succeeded in defeating Laxer on the fourth ballot on April 24. Laxer won approximately 37 percent of the final ballot vote, and established that the Waffle had some strength in the party and were no longer a small fringe group. During the leadership convention, the Waffle was described in the press as a "party within a party." One of the last hurrahs for

598-412: The success of the famous 1964 NDP Riverdale by-election , Morton wrote and published The Riverdale Story , which detailed how the party's organizing and canvassing changed the way campaigns in Canada are run. In the 1970s he worked with David Lewis , Stephen Lewis , and other party leaders to oppose The Waffle , a left-wing faction within the NDP. In the 1980s he informally advised Brian Mulroney of

624-534: Was a radical wing of Canada 's New Democratic Party (NDP) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It later transformed into an independent political party, with little electoral success before it permanently disbanded in the mid-1970s. It was generally a New Left youth movement that espoused both Canadian nationalism and solidarity with the Quebec sovereignty movement . The group formed in 1969. Its leaders were university professors Mel Watkins and James Laxer . It issued

650-454: Was the published headline of Jean Howarth's editorial piece in The Globe and Mail on September 6, 1969. Howarth heard about the waffle line from Hugh Winsor , who also worked at The Globe and Mail , and was also a co-signer of the manifesto. When Laxer and other members of the group read the headline, they adopted it. Another possible origin for the name comes from a film-clip excerpt from

676-691: Was the son of a Brigadier General, and the grandson of General Sir William Dillon Otter . A Rhodes Scholar at Keble College, Oxford , Morton was a graduate of the Collège militaire royal de St-Jean , the Royal Military College of Canada , and the London School of Economics . He received his doctorate from the University of London . He spent ten years in the Canadian Army (1954–1964 retiring as

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