Social Crédit in Alberta. A Canadian « Cargo Cult »?

Abstract

T HE last generation of research has brought impressive progress in our knowledge of millenarian movements. There has been a long series of individual monographs and, more recently, a number of comparative and synthetic works (1). This research has had two foci: 1) the syncretistic chiliasm of the uncivilized peoples of Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas; 2) millenarian movements within the prophetic, revelatory high religions Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. In either case, millenarianism appears as something external to, or lying on the fringe of, advanced industrial society. It has, however, been suggested that ( there are secular millenial equivalents within these advanced societies * (2). In this paper, I propose to discuss one example, namely the Social Credit movement which arose in Alberta, one of the Western provinces of Canada, in the midst of the Great Depression. After a brief gestation, Social Credit became a fullfledged political party, won a sweeping victory in the provincial election of 1985, and formed the provincial government for the next 36 years. I will analyze the origins and early years of the movement in order to demonstrate the detailed parallels with recognized millenarian patterns of behaviour.