From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Waffle (also known as the Movement for an Independent Socialist Canada) was a radical wing of Canada's New Democratic Party and later an independent political party.
The group formed in 1969, a product of campus radicalism, feminism, and Canadian nationalism. Its leaders were university professors Mel Watkins and James Laxer. It issued a Manifesto for an Independent Socialist Canada and with support in the NDP caucus and membership worked to try to push the party leftward. The Waffle supported the nationalization of Canadian industries to take them out of the hands of American interests. The group was endorsed by the New Democratic Youth.
The 1971 campaign for leader of the NDP pitted David Lewis against Laxer. Through the strong support of the labour unions Lewis succeeded in defeating Laxer. The next year Ontario NDP leader Stephen Lewis (David's son) accused the Waffle of being a party within a party and the party's Provincial Council passed a resolution ordering the Waffle to either disband or leave the NDP.
Some members of the Waffle remained New Democrats but Laxer, Watkins and the bulk of members quit the NDP in 1972 and continued the Waffle under the official name, the Movement for an Independent Socialist Canada (misc.) but still commonly referred to as the Waffle.
The group existed until 1974 when it unsuccessfully ran candidates for Parliament in the federal election. In the aftermath of its electoral failure the group dissolved and most of its members, including Laxer and Watkins, eventually rejoined the NDP.
The dispute over the Waffle led to the disbanding of the Ontario NDP's youth wing, which was not revived until 1988. The federal NDP also disbanded the New Brunswick NDP for a period in the early 1970s after the Waffle gained control of it.
The name was meant ironically - reputedly the name was coined when a member at the group's founding meeting said I don't care if we waffle as long as we waffle to the left.
The Waffle was one of a long line of leftists factions within Canadian social democracy. See also Ginger Group and the New Politics Initiative. The Waffle also had its own leftist wing the Red Circle, which was composed of Marxists and Trotskyists.
