Communist Party of Quebec - Origins of Communist Party 1921-1965

Origins of Communist Party 1921-1965

Despite the strong influence of the Church on Quebec society, as well as the small size of the working class associated with the economic 'maldéveloppement' of Quebec's economy by Anglo capital, the debate and discussion of radical, democratic, and progressive ideas in Quebec has a long tradition going back to before the Patriot rebellion. While the Catholic Church, particularly after the Russian Revolution in 1917, waged an active campaign from the pulpit against trade unionists, leftists and Communists, Marxist discussion already had taken hold in Quebec by the early 1920s.

In 1920, Annie Buller an anglophone native of Montreal, returned from attending the New York Rand School, and helped found the Montreal Labour College with Becky Buhay and Bella Gauld in 1920. The Labour College was deeply connected to labour unions. In 1921, Buller became a founding member of the underground Communist Party of Canada (CPC) which united other radical labour activists from Nova Scotia to BC. The three Montreal women became leaders of the Workers Party of Canada, the legal formation of the CPC, which applied for recognition with the Comintern. The Labour College became a launch-pad for the Communists in Quebec among the working-class anglophone community.

Around the same time, in 1923 radical militant Albert Saint-Martin also proposed establishing a French-Canadian section of the Communist International in the USSR. Like many of the early founders of the CPC, Saint-Marin's background was in anarchism. While the request was rejected by the international and the Communists were instructed build a united party, the Comintern it did not ignore the special national situation that presented itself in Quebec. (The internationalist commitment of the CPC would be important in helping the Party better understand Quebec's situation and eventually adopt a policy supporting the right of self-determination and sovereignty, up to and including separation).

The Communists therefore began organizing in the area with Quebec as part of a department of the Communist Party of Canada, at times joined with northern Ontario. By the end of the 1920s an active group had made something of break-through in the Jewish community of Montreal and elsewhere among some French-speaking workers across Quebec, organizing needle-trade workers. There was also an active group of the Young Communist League and the Young Pioneers. A number of important leaders of the CPC, including future YCL and then party leader William Kastan, came out of the Montreal organization. By 1927, the CPC had begun to also focus on political activity among French-Canadian workers in Quebec, recruiting and training new cadres for the Party. In 1928, Georges Dubois joined the party and became the French-Canadian organizer with other leaders like Buhay.

The late 1920s were an important period of ideological turmoil, debate and discussion and clarification of the Party programme for the CPC. Likewise, with the help of the Comintern, the CPC began to better understand the unequal and oppressed situation of the French-Canadian people in Canada and began to demand that the rights of French speakers be recognized.

In July 1930, after the crisis of the capitalist system, the party stepped-up its visibility by presenting E. Simard, a blacksmith, as the first Communist candidate in the federal elections running in Maisonneuve, Montreal. Simard's programme characterized the Communist platform of the time, demanding employment insurance reform, public health care, and immediate action on the unemployed. Party organizer Georges Dubois was arrested by the police during the campaign. The party organized a demonstration against the arrest at Viger Square, the police brutally disperse the hundreds of protesting workers.