It has struck me somewhat odd in this exchange that nobody
has mentioned Canada which shares a more European political
system with the American geographical-class structure.
I would suggest that the continued existence of a viable
social democratic party and its regional electoral success
at the provincial level in forming governments in almost
half of the country is evidence that it is the anti-democratic
constitution and government system that has ruled out
any class-based or social democratic party.
On the other hand, the third party status of the NDP
and its predecessor, the CCF, would support the contention
that the power of capital and the existence of an agricultural
frontier has also created sectional divisions that
frequently produced electoral divisions based not on
class but region (regional populism) which, with a petit
bourgeois base has been right-wing (often close to fascist)
populism (e.g. social credit and the current Reform party.)
Paul Phillips,
Economics,
University of Manitoba
