Lipset's Agrarian Socialism : A Re-examination

The legislative caucuses of the CCF in 1945 and the NDP in 2007 tell part of the story of the change in sup- port base of the province's erstwhile agrarian socialist movement. [...] The socialists in the party had to face some hard facts: The strong appeal in the middle 'thirties of the Social Credit and progressive coalition movements was clear evidence that the particular ideology of socialism was not important to farmers. [...] And they would accept rather more than this if it were a socialism that spoke in the tones of the co-operative movement or the Social Notes on Re-reading Lipset's Agrarian Socialism 31 Gospel, and hewed to the populist theme of the people versus the "vested interests." In one of the most interesting chapters in the book (Chapter 10), Lipset investigates how citizens take part in community affairs. [...] The longevity of the book's influence resides in part in the uncomplicated chronicle it presents of the politi- cization of the Saskatchewan grain farmers. [...] Nowhere in the index or the text is there any substantial reference to Parliament and its committees, to royal commissions (a familiar instrument of public policy—especially in agricultural matters—in the national and provincial spheres of jurisdiction), to the Dominion or federation, to Union Government (whose demise precipitated the rise of the Progressive Party, the progenitor of politi- cized