“Peace Is the Concern of Every Mother”: Communist and Social Democratic Women’s Antiwar Activism in British Columbia, 1948–1960

Abstract

This article discusses the antiwar activism of Canadian women within two left‐wing political movements: the revolutionary Communist Party of Canada and the social democratic Co‐Operative Commonwealth Federation. The piece focuses on the period from 1948 to 1960, which is often seen as a time of retreat for the feminist movement in North America. This article engages in a critical dialogue with the concept of “maternalism,” the notion that women had a special responsibility to speak out against wars and international conflicts that threatened the lives of the world’s children and the husbands, brothers, and sons who would be killed in future wars. Maternalist ideology represented a double‐edged sword for these left‐wing women and for feminism. On one hand, it offered them a route into radical protest against war and capitalism. On the other hand, in its portrayal of women as “natural” wives and mothers, maternalism, at least in the short term, failed to advance women’s equality. Nonetheless, this article concludes that, given the conservative context of the time, maternalism was a useful strategy for the left as well as for feminism.