Editing Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (section)

==History==
===Origins===
The CCF aimed to alleviate the suffering that workers and farmers, the ill and the old endured under capitalism, seen most starkly during the [[Great Depression]], through the creation of a Co-operative Commonwealth, which would entail economic co-operation, public ownership of the economy, and political reform.
 
The object of the political party as reported at its founding meeting in Calgary in 1932 was "the federation [joining together] of organizations whose purpose is the establishment in Canada of a co-operative commonwealth, in which the basic principle of regulating production, distribution and exchange will be the supplying of human needs instead of the making of profit."<ref name="Calgary Herald, August 1, 1932"/>

The goal of the CCF was defined as a "community freed from the domination of irresponsible financial and economic power in which all social means of production and distribution, including land, are socially owned and controlled either by voluntarily organized groups of producers and consumers or – in the case of major public services and utilities and such productive and distributive enterprises as can be conducted most efficiently when owned in common – by public corporations responsible to the people's elected representatives".<ref>Laurence Gronlund, ''Co-operative Commonwealth, An Exposition of Socialism'' (1884), p. 36 as quoted in Monto, Tom, ''Protest and Progress, Three Labour Radicals in Early Edmonton'', Crang Publishing/Alhambra Books, p. 156</ref> Many of the party's first [[Member of Parliament (Canada)|Members of Parliament]] (MPs) were members of the [[Ginger Group (Canada)|Ginger Group]], composed of United Farmers of Alberta, left-wing [[Progressive Party of Canada|Progressive]], and [[Labour candidates and parties in Canada|Labour]] MPs. These MPs included [[United Farmers of Alberta]] MPs [[William Irvine (Canadian politician)|William Irvine]] and [[Edward Joseph Garland|Ted Garland]], [[Agnes Macphail]] (UFO), [[Humphrey Mitchell]], [[Abraham Albert Heaps]], [[Angus MacInnis]], and Labour Party MP [[J. S. Woodsworth]]. Founding groups included the Independent Labour Party (of Manitoba), the Canadian Labour Party (mostly in Edmonton), the Dominion Labour Party of southern Alberta, the UFA, and the United Farmers of Ontario (which withdrew from the CCF in 1934).<ref>{{cite web | url=http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/encyclopedia/Co-operativeCommonwealthFederation-CCF-CanadianHistory.htm | title=Quebec History }}</ref>

Also involved in founding the new party were members of the [[League for Social Reconstruction]] (LSR), such as [[F. R. Scott]] and [[Frank Underhill]].<ref name="Young_1969">{{cite book | last = Young | first = Walter D. | title = The anatomy of a party: the national CCF 1932–61 | publisher = University of Toronto Press | year = 1969 | location = Toronto | url = https://archive.org/details/anatomyofpartyna0000youn | url-access = registration | quote = Anatomy of a party}}</ref>{{rp|31}} It can be said that the CCF was founded on May 26, 1932, when the Ginger Group MPs and LSR members met in William Irvine's office, the unofficial caucus meeting room for the Ginger Group, and went about forming the basis of the new party.{{sfnp|McNaught|2001|pp=259–260}} J. S. Woodsworth was unanimously appointed the temporary leader until they could hold a founding convention.{{sfnp|McNaught|2001|pp=259–260}} The temporary name for the new party was the Commonwealth Party.<ref name="Young_1969"/>{{rp|30}} The [[Social Gospel]] was a significant influence on the CCF.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://esask.uregina.ca/entry/social_gospel.jsp|title=The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan &#124; Details}}</ref>

[[File:CooperativeCommonwealthFederationFoundingMeeting.jpg|left|upright=1.5|thumb|CCF founding meeting, Calgary, 1932]]
At its founding convention in 1932 in Calgary, the party settled on the name "Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Farmer-Labour-Socialist)" and selected J. S. Woodsworth as party leader.{{sfnp|Morton|1986|p=12}} Woodsworth had been an [[Independent Labour Party (Manitoba, 1920)|Independent Labour Party]] MP since 1921 and a member of the Ginger Group of MPs. The party's 1933 convention, held in [[Regina, Saskatchewan]], adopted the [[Regina Manifesto]] as the party's program. The manifesto outlined a number of goals, including [[nationalization|public ownership]] of key industries, universal public [[pension]]s, [[universal health care]], children's allowances, [[Unemployment benefits|unemployment insurance]], and [[workers' compensation]].<ref name="Young_1969"/>{{rp|304–313}}

Its conclusion read, "No CCF Government will rest content until it has eradicated [[capitalism]] and put into operation the full programme of socialized planning which will lead to the establishment in Canada of the Co-operative Commonwealth."{{sfnp|Morton|1986|p=12}} The party affiliated itself with the [[Socialist International]].<ref name="Knuttila2007">{{cite book|author=Kenneth Murray Knuttila|title=The Prairie Agrarian Movement Revisited|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K03wdWJ3uLQC&pg=PA173|year=2007|publisher=University of Regina Press|isbn=978-0-88977-183-3|pages=173–}}</ref>

===Electoral performance===
[[Image:CCF Caucus meeting.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Federal CCF Caucus, in 1942 with new leader [[M. J. Coldwell|M.J. Coldwell]]. Left to right, [[Tommy Douglas]], [[George Hugh Castleden]], [[Angus MacInnis]], [[M. J. Coldwell|Coldwell]], [[Clarence Gillis|Clarie Gillis]], [[Joseph W. Noseworthy]], Sandy Nicholoson, and [[Percy Wright]].{{sfnp|Smith|1992|p=88}}]]
In line with Alberta's important role in founding the CCF, it is said that the first CCF candidate elected was [[Chester Ronning]] in the Alberta provincial constituency of Camrose, in October 1932.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mardiros |first=Anthony |title=William Irvine, The Life of a Prairie Radical |date=1979 |publisher=James Lorimer & Co |location=Toronto |url=https://archive.org/details/williamirvinelif0000mard |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/williamirvinelif0000mard/page/208 208] |isbn=978-0-8886-2237-2}}</ref> The UFA, under whose banner he contested the election, formalized its already-strong connection to the CCF in its next provincial convention, in January 1933.<ref>Champion Chronicle, January 26, 1933</ref>
 
In its first federal election, seven CCF MPs were elected to the [[House of Commons of Canada|House of Commons]] in [[1935 Canadian federal election|1935]]. Eight were elected in the following election in [[1940 Canadian federal election|1940]], including their first member east of Manitoba, [[Clarence Gillis]], in Cape Breton, a coal-mining area of Nova Scotia (specifically the federal riding of [[Cape Breton South (federal electoral district)|Cape Breton South]]).

The party was divided with the outbreak of [[World War II]]: Woodsworth was a [[pacifism|pacifist]], while many party members supported the Canadian war effort. Woodsworth had a physically debilitating stroke in May 1940 and could no longer perform his duties as leader.{{sfnp|McNaught|2001|pp=313–315}} In October, Woodsworth wrote a letter to the 1940 CCF convention, in essence asking to retire from the leadership.{{sfnp|McNaught|2001|pp=313–315}} Instead, the delegates created the new position of Honorary President, abolished the President's position and re-elected [[Major James Coldwell|M. J. Coldwell]] as the National Chairman.{{sfnp|McNaught|2001|pp=313–315}} Coldwell was then appointed acting House Leader on 6 November.{{sfnp|Stewart|2000|pp=244–245}} Woodsworth died on 21 March 1942, and Coldwell officially became the new leader at the July convention in Toronto and threw the party behind the war effort.{{sfnp|Stewart|2000|pp=244–245}} As a memorial to Woodsworth, Coldwell suggested that the CCF create a research foundation, and Woodsworth House was established in Toronto for that purpose.{{sfnp|McNaught|2001|pp=313–315}}

The party won a critical [[York South (federal electoral district)|York South]] [[by-election]] on 8 February 1942, and in the process prevented the [[Conservative Party of Canada (historical)|Conservative]] leader, former [[Prime Minister of Canada|Prime Minister]] [[Arthur Meighen]], from entering the House of Commons.

In the [[1945 Canadian federal election|1945 election]], 28 CCF MPs were elected, and the party won 15.6% of the vote.

In the [[1949 Canadian federal election|1949 election]], 13 CCF candidates were elected. This was followed by 23 elected in the [[1953 Canadian federal election|1953 election]] and a disappointing eight elected in the [[1958 Canadian federal election|1958]] election. (In that election, the party took almost ten per cent of the vote so was due about 26 MPs proportionally.)

The party had its greatest success in provincial politics. 

In 1943, the [[Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Ontario Section)|Ontario CCF]] became the official opposition in that province.

In [[1944 Alberta general election|1944]], the Alberta CCF took almost a quarter of all votes cast but due to lack of PR, were held to winning just two seats.

In 1944, the [[Saskatchewan New Democratic Party|Saskatchewan CCF]] formed the first democratic socialist government in [[North America]], with [[Tommy Douglas]] as [[Premier (Canada)|premier]]. Douglas introduced universal [[Medicare (Canada)|Medicare]] to [[Saskatchewan]], a policy that was soon adopted by other provinces and implemented nationally by the [[Liberal Party of Canada]] during the administration of Prime Minister [[Lester B. Pearson]]. Tommy Douglas's CCF governed Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961.

===New Party===
Federally, during the [[Cold War]], the CCF was accused of having [[Communism|Communist]] leanings. The party moved to address these accusations in 1956 by replacing the Regina Manifesto with a more moderate document, the [[Winnipeg Declaration]]. Nevertheless, the party did poorly in the [[1958 Canadian federal election|1958 federal election]], winning only eight seats.

After much discussion, the CCF and the [[Canadian Labour Congress]] decided to join forces to create a new political party that could make [[social democracy]] more popular with Canadian voters. This party, initially known as the [[New Party (Canada)|New Party]], became the [[New Democratic Party]] (NDP) in 1961.