Re: [Marxism] Canadian left nationalism (was 1812 and Star-Spanged Banner)

[Marvin Gandall <marvgandall@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

David Walters wrote:

> I've always thought that Canadanian leftists being "proud" of their
> failure to join the Revolution to be
> amazingly oxymoronic.
=================================
I don't recall Canadian left nationalists, as opposed to right-wingers,
explicitly rejecting the American Revolution. Maybe others do. The so-called
Waffle in the NDP during the period of the Vietnam War was the strongest
historical expression of Canadian left nationalism, and if discussion of the
Revolution was something it's supporters might have tended to avoid, it was
because the subject would be calculated to bring the potential conflict
between their their nationalist and radical impulses into bold relief.

The views of Canadian left nationalists were and are contradictory. On the
one hand, they bristle when it's suggested that, Quebec aside, Canada is not
a "nation" but an artificial creation of the old British Empire which defied
English-speaking North American geographic, economic, and cultural logic. On
the other hand, they continue to derive inspiration from the belated and
ill-fated radical-democratic rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada in 1837
which effectively aimed at the formation of republics aligned with the US.
In general, I think Canadian nationalist sentiment, while widespread, is
thin, and, as the later Waffle experience demonstrated after it left the
NDP, those who tried to capitalize on it, have been politically
marginalized.




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