New Democratic Party Socialist Caucus
| Formation | 1998 |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Promotion of democratic socialist policies within the New Democratic Party |
|
Region served
|
Canada |
|
Chairperson
|
Barry Weisleder (since 1998) |
| Affiliations | New Democratic Party |
| Website | ndpsocialists |
The New Democratic Party Socialist Caucus is an unofficial left-wing faction within Canada's New Democratic Party. Its manifesto maintains that the New Democratic Party has moved too far to the right, and is in danger of becoming indistinguishable from the Liberal Party. Consequently, the Socialist Caucus also opposes Tony Blair's Third Way policies because they "[leave] the basic class and economic structures of capitalism unchanged."
The Socialist Caucus was founded in early 1998 in Toronto by Barry Weisleder, Joe Flexer, Sean Cain, Jorge Hurtado and other political activists who had been involved in Peter Kormos' unsuccessful 1996 campaign to lead the Ontario New Democratic Party. It soon had branches in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, as well as supporters in Manitoba, Quebec and Nova Scotia. It is now active primarily in Ontario at the federal and provincial levels. It also has supporters in other provinces.
The caucus views itself as the successor to the Waffle of the 1960s and 1970s and a number of members in the Socialist Caucus were also in the NDP's Left Caucus and the Campaign for an Activist Party or CAP of the 1980s.
The Trotskyist group Socialist Action plays a "leading role" in the Socialist Caucus.
The group is a socialist faction and advocates economic democracy and workers' control, full employment, the nationalization of large industries and the eradication of poverty and homelessness.
The caucus is anti-imperialist, and condemns many of the actions of the United States' government. It supports the Cuban Revolution and the withdrawal of Canada from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the independence of Quebec and is opposed to Zionism.
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