MA thesis completed and successfully defended! I met many great people at Queens (Mikhail Bjørge, Mark Culligan, Ed Dunsworth, Katrin MacPhee, Kassandra Luciuk, Ryan Targa ...) in Ian McKays 816 History of the Canadian Left class that I hope to stay in touch with, but Im very glad to be back in Montreal (Kingston, bon débarras!) and out of school ... though well see how long the feeling lasts as I look for a job. If any of yall are interested, PM or email me and Ill send you a pdf of the thesis. To give you an idea: RÊVE / CAUCHEMAR: Allende’s Chile and the Polarization of the Québec Left, 1968-1974 by Nikolas Barry-Shaw ABSTRACT Chile’s ill-fated attempt to build a democratic socialism (1970-1973) was a defining moment for the global New Left. Nowhere was this truer than in Québec. During the Allende years and after, Chile exercised a decisive influence on the political imagination of Québécois radicals, as they searched for a path to socialisme et indépendance. Prior to the 11 September 1973 coup d’état, countless activists travelled to the South American nation to witness – and to learn from – the “Chilean road to socialism.” Arguments about Allende’s socialist government and the subsequent U.S.-backed coup that overthrew him were woven into left political discourse in the province, influencing labour movement debates over the formation of a parti des travailleurs, colouring campaign rhetoric during the October 1973 provincial elections, and serving as a trump card in post-election struggles within the Parti québécois (PQ) over the strategy of étapisme. Allende’s fate even lingered on in the minds of René Lévesque and many other party leaders after the election of the first PQ government in 1976. The Québec left’s deep engagement with Chile was a major factor in the rise of the Marxist-Leninist movement, convincing many activists that attaining socialism by parliamentary means was impossible in a U.S.-dominated world. Allende’s rise and tragic fall was key to the process of polarization that occurred on the Québec left from 1968 to 1974. As this thesis demonstrates, our understanding of Québec’s politics in these years is enriched greatly through a combined transnational and imperial approach.
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 20:35:33 +0000
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