Canadian Union of Fascists: Difference between revisions
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| name = Canadian Union |
| name = Canadian Union |
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| banned = 5 June 1940 |
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| dissolved = June 5, 1940 (banned, may have continued operating illegally) |
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| wing1_title = Paramilitary wing |
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The '''Canadian Union of Fascists''' was a [[fascist]] [[political party]] based in the city of Toronto in the 1930s with its western Canadian office in [[Regina, Saskatchewan]].<ref>https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-leader-post/96521089/</ref> |
The '''Canadian Union of Fascists''' was a [[fascist]] [[political party]] based in the city of Toronto in the 1930s with its western Canadian office in [[Regina, Saskatchewan]].<ref>https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-leader-post/96521089/</ref> |
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Revision as of 21:29, 24 February 2024
Canadian Union | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Chuck Crate |
| Founded | 1933 |
| Banned | 5 June 1940 |
| Ideology | Fascism (Canadian) |
| Political position | Far-right |
The Canadian Union of Fascists was a fascist political party based in the city of Toronto in the 1930s with its western Canadian office in Regina, Saskatchewan.[1]
The formative core of the party was a splinter group from the Canadian Nationalist Party that found the principles of corporatism to be more important than the largely racial motivations of the Nationalist Party. This disposition is highlighted in one official statement that "anti-semitism was a symptom of Germany not of Fascism".[2] The party was founded as the British Empire Union of Fascists in 1933 in Winnipeg and was affiliated with the British Union of Fascists. It was also known as the Canadian Fascist Party.[3] It became the Canadian Union of Fascists under Crate's leadership, and then the Canadian Union. It published its own newspaper, The Thunderbolt.
The party was led by Charles "Chuck" Crate, who became leader at the age of 17. He had contacted the British Union of Fascists, who put him in touch with the party. John Ross Taylor of Toronto became the party's secretary and organizer.[4][5]
The party had a hard time attracting supporters because most Canadians who supported fascism leaned towards the racist brand espoused by Adrien Arcand and others. At the party's first meeting, there was an attendance of roughly 200 people.[2] This disparity between the party and Arcand's would continue throughout its existence. Before the government took action against Canadian fascist parties, the Canadian Union of Fascists and Arcand's group held simultaneous fascist congresses in Toronto. While Arcand's group, dubbed the "National Union" drew a crowd of around 4,000, the Canadian Union managed to draw only some 30 local residents to its cause.[6]
In 1936, the party claimed 8,000 members, with 30 members in Toronto and many more "scattered" throughout Western Canada. The party's platform was described as consisting of the "abolition of provincial governments and private monopolies, with a closer co-operation with Great Britain and the Empire". Canada would be as "self-contained" as possible, and would work with the British Union of Fascists to make the British Empire "completely self-contained".[7] Crate denied any connection between the CUF and Italian or German fascist groups though admitted being in correspondence with them.[8] He admitted the CUF was affiliated with Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists.[7] The party had its greatest number of members in Saskatchewan, according to Crate, and planned to run candidates in the next Saskatchewan provincial election, though it did not end up doing so, and in federal elections. The CUF claimed it would solve unemployment and poverty by creating a corporate state with a "authoritative government" and provincial governments being abolished. Private ownership would be maintained, but would be "co-ordinated", and chain stores would be abolished in favour of independent stores. Monetary reform would "liberate the state from the bonds of international Jewish finance."[9] Crate also claimed that under the "corporate state", "married women will be compelled to retire from industry. Competition between men and women in industry will be done away with." The party, while claiming not to oppose people on "racial" or "religious grounds", advocated a "more selective immigration policy".[7]
The party was banned on June 4, 1940 under the Defence of Canada Regulations[10] and formally dissolved itself, telling its members to obey the law but to work for a negotiated peace. Crate escaped a treason charge but remained active in Winnipeg, publishing Thunderbolt from there until his arrest in 1942 for publishing subversive literature.[11][12] He ended up in the Royal Canadian Navy at the end of the war.
The party, though it claimed not to be racist or antisemitic, did use antisemitic rhetoric with Thunderbolt publishing articles against "international Jewish finance" which it claimed "controlled Communism", as well as reprinting articles by Joseph Goebbels.[13]
References
- ^ https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-leader-post/96521089/
- ^ a b Betcherman, Lita-Rose (1975). The Swastika and the Maple Leaf: Fascist Movements In Canada In the Thirties. Toronto: Fitzhenry & Whiteside. p. 77. ISBN 978-0-8890-2122-8.
- ^ https://bookoflife.jewishfoundation.org/ebol-donors/general-monash-branch-115-royal-canadian-legion
- ^ "Now Socred Splinter Party is Splintered". Toronto Daily Star. September 25, 1963.
- ^ "Three Police Bodies to Act Against Outlawed Groups". Toronto Daily Star. June 6, 1940.
- ^ Betcherman (1975), p. 144.
- ^ a b c "No Jobs In View, Students Join Fascists, Leader Says", Toronto Daily Star (1900-1971); Toronto, Ontario. 31 Jan 1935: 17. ProQuest 1434703715
- ^ CANADA'S NO. 1 FASCIST The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont.. 22 Oct 1936: 1. ProQuest 1351265328
- ^ "Canadian Fascists To Seek Power Legally, Is Claim", Page 3 Toronto Daily Star (1900-1971); Toronto, Ontario. 21 Oct 1936 ProQuest 1433421146
- ^ Canada Outlaws 16 Groups as Subversive: Membership Illegal Under Regulations; Conant Asks Teeth Red-Tinged Bodies Banned Along With 'Cultural' Societies FASCISTS ALSO Sees Move Helpful but Ineffective if Courts to Be Used WOULD INTERN Beamish, Roy. The Globe and Mail; Toronto, Ont.. 06 June 1940: 1 ProQuest 1356011217
- ^ "Reluctant to Legalize Communism". Ottawa Journal. July 31, 1942. p. 1,12.
- ^ Reds Still Outlawed, St. Laurent Emphasizes E G SMITH The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail (1936-); Toronto, Ont.. 01 Aug 1942: 15.
- ^ FASCIST UNIT HAS AN ORGAN PRINTED HERE: Capitalism and Communism Linked as Joint Foe of National Ideology DEMOCRACY ASSAILED, KEN W MacTAGGART Staff Writer, The Globe and Mail (1936-); Toronto, Ont.. 08 Dec 1937: 1. ProQuest 1351478853
