Regina Manifesto

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Regina Manifesto was the programme of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and was adopted at the first national convention of the CCF held in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1933. The primary goal of the "Regina Manifesto" was to eradicate the system of capitalism and replace it with a completely planned economy of socialism. [1] The CCF was a democratic socialist party founded in 1932 by farmers, workers and socialist groups against the backdrop of the Great Depression. Tommy Douglas led the CCF, born of ideas central in the "Regina Manifesto," to form the first socialistic government in North America on June 15, 1944. [2]

The Manifesto was largely written by members of the League for Social Reconstruction, particularly Frank Underhill and F.R. Scott, and called for "a planned and socialized economy in which our natural resources and principal means of production and distribution are owned, controlled and operated by the people". Specifically it called for the nationalisation.of transportation, communications, electrical power and other services. It called for a planned economy and a national banking system that would be "removed from the control of private profit-seeking interests." It advocated for the ability to organize in trade unions and called for a National Labour Code "to secure for the worker maximum income and leisure, insurance covering illness, accident, old age, and unemployment." The Regina Manifesto proposed social service programs such as publicly-funded health care, supported peace, promoted co-operative enterprises and vowed that "No C.C.F. 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 Cooperative Commonwealth."

The Regina Manifesto remained the CCF's official programme until 1956 when, in the face of the strong anti-communist sentiment of the Cold War, it was replaced by the more moderate Winnipeg Declaration which substituted Keynsianism for socialist remedies.