Workers' Communist Party (Canada)

For other uses, see Communist Party of Canada (disambiguation).

The Workers' Communist Party (French: Parti communiste ouvrier) was a Canadian Marxist–Leninist political party, founded in 1975 under the name Communist (Marxist–Leninist) League of Canada (Ligue communiste (marxiste-léniniste) du Canada). The party followed a Maoist political program and was part of the broader New Left movement. For several years it published a weekly newspaper, The Forge (La Forge). The party was strongest in Quebec, but alienated many of Quebec's young progressives because it declined to support independence for Quebec, although it did support Quebec's right to self-determination.

Workers' Communist Party Parti communiste ouvrier
Abbreviation	WCP (English) PCO (French)
Founded	1975 (1975)
Dissolved	1983 (1983)
Ideology	Communism Marxism–Leninism Maoism Anti-revisionism
Political position	Far-left
Politics of Canada Political parties Elections

The most prominent former member of the Workers' Communist Party is Gilles Duceppe, former leader of the Bloc Québécois and former Leader of the Official Opposition in the House of Commons of Canada. Duceppe called his membership "a mistake" based on a search for "absolute answers" during his youth. Judy Darcy was active in the party before joining the New Democratic Party. She later became a trade union leader and a cabinet minister in British Columbia.

The Workers' Communist Party nominated 30 candidates in the 1980 Canadian federal election and 33 in the 1981 Quebec general election; the party achieved its best result in the latter, receiving 4,956 votes, or 0.14% of the provincial total.

References

Sources

• Bachand, Charles-Antoine (2004). Le discours de la ligue communiste (marxiste-léniniste) du Canada (1975-1983) (PDF). [unpublished]. p. 21. Retrieved July 13, 2020..
• Beaudry, Lucille (2004). "Les groupes d'extrême gauche au Québec et la question des femmes: De l'opposition à la conciliation". Bulletin d'histoire politique. 13: Histoire du mouvement marxiste-léniniste au Québec 1973-1983. Un premier bilan. (1): 57–64. doi:10.7202/1055010ar..
• Dansereau, Bernard (2004). "Une expérience de l'extrême gauche : le Parti communiste ouvrier". Bulletin d'histoire politique. 13: Histoire du mouvement marxiste-léniniste au Québec 1973-1983. Un premier bilan. (1): 25–35. doi:10.7202/1055007ar.
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• Dubuc, Pierre (2003). L'autre histoire de l'indépendance, de Pierre Vallières à Charles Gagnon, de Claude Morin à Paul Desmarais. Trois-Pistoles: Éditions Trois-Pistoles. p. 289.
• Gagnon, Charles (2008). En lutte !. Vol. II (1972-1982): Écrits politiques. Montréal: LUX Éditeur. OCLC 259974150. Archived from the original on September 11, 2015. Retrieved July 2, 2012.
• Ligue communiste (marxiste-léniniste) du Canada (1979). La question nationale québécoise : Le point de vue de la classe ouvrière. Les éditions Drapeau rouge. p. 32.\
• Milot, David (2004). "Présentation". Bulletin d'histoire politique. 13: Histoire du mouvement marxiste-léniniste au Québec 1973-1983. Un premier bilan (1): 11–16. doi:10.7202/1055005ar.
• Moreau, François (September 1986). "Bilan de l'extrême-gauche au Québec". Revue de la Quatrième Internationale (21). Retrieved April 10, 2012.
• Marcel Simard (producer). Il était une fois... le Québec rouge. 2003. 53 minutes, Les Productions virage. [view online 1, 2, 3