Communist Party of Canada (Manitoba)

The Communist Party of Canada (Manitoba) is the provincial wing of the Communist Party of Canada for the province of Manitoba. Founded in 1921, it was an illegal organization for several years and its meetings were conducted with great secrecy. Until 1924, the "Workers Party" functioned as its public, legal face. For a period in the 1920s, the party was associated with the Canadian Labour Party. After 1920 it attracted former members of radical and syndicalist groups such as the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Many of the new members were Jews, Finns or Ukrainians who supported the Russian Revolution.

The Workers Party ran three candidates in Winnipeg for Manitoba's 1922 provincial election: Mathew Popovitch, Arthur Henderson and William Hammond. These candidates frequently disrupted rallies for George Armstrong, a Socialist Party incumbent. None were elected.

In the 1927 election, Jacob Penner ran as a Communist candidate in Winnipeg, which at the time elected ten members by preferential balloting. Penner's 2015 first-preference votes were enough for an initial eighth-place finish, but he received few votes from transfers and was not elected.

In the 1932 election, Penner and Leslie Morris ran in Winnipeg as "United Front Workers" candidates. (The CPC had been, for all practical purposes, made illegal again in 1931). Morris finished eighth on first preferences but was unable to be elected on transfers; Penner was further behind. Communist candidates also ran in Gimli and Fisher. In the latter riding, W.N. Kolisnyk placed second against Progressive candidate Nicholas Bachynski. In 1934 it tried to organize strikes, notably copper miners at Flin Flon.

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