About the Socialist History Project

"Those who cannot remember the past
are doomed to repeat it." -George Santayana

Over the past 100 years, socialists in Canada and Québec have written a vast amount on the political issues they considered important, but virtually none of those writings are available  today. The experiences, ideas, analyses and insights of a century of socialism are in danger of being forgotten and lost forever.

The Socialist History Project, launched in June 2004 by South Branch Publishing, aims to recover that material and make it available on the web. The project, headed by Ian Angus, is not affiliated to any political organization or tendency.

To be notified when new material is added to this website, send a blank email to SocialistHistory-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. When you receive a confirmation message, just hit “Reply” and “Send” and you’ll be on the list. This is a  low volume, announcement-only list.

"We aim to publish three types of material," Angus says. "First, statements, reports and articles on key political issues and trends, written by revolutionary socialists over the past century. Second, essays by historians about the revolutionary left. And third, reminiscences and memoirs by participants in the socialist movement. We think this material is important not just to historians and archivists, but to the new generation of radicalizing youth."

Our first major project was republication of Canadian Bolsheviks: The Early Years of the Communist Party of Canada, released in October 2004.

We welcome suggestions, ideas and contributions. Please email us before sending any material: address all correspondence to ian@socialisthistory.ca

Documents Wanted

Do you have a private stash of old Canadian socialist documents, periodicals, leaflets or pamphlets? If so, you can help the Socialist History Project. We have access to many Canadian socialist publications, either in the SHP's own collection, or in public archives and libraries, but there are significant gaps.

So we are looking for either donations (get those boxes out of your basement and we will look after it all very carefully!) or loans (we will copy the material and return it intact.) We're particularly interested in newspapers, magazines and pamphlets published before 1980.

Eventually, we plan to donate material collected for this project to a public or university archive, so that it can be used by future researchers. If you have anything that might be of interest, please contact  ian@socialisthistory.ca

Acknowledgements

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www.socialisthistory.ca  ▪