Canada, inc. the relevance of ideology to the emergence of a capitalist social formation in Rupert's Land and the ‘Indian territories’ of British North America, 1852 TO 1885

Abstract

This thesis looks at the relevance of ideology to the emergence of capitalist social formation in Rupert’s Land and the North West between 1852 and 1885 in two contexts: 1) as a mechanism of transforming the mercantilist social formation - the economy, state, and society - that arose to oversee the fur trade in Rupert’s Land and the ‘Indian Territory’ between 1670 and 1870; and 2) its role in establishing capitalist social formation in the North West up to 1885. I focus on the social processes by which ideology is transmitted and its significance to the emerging formation. I attempt to explain how a diverse group of politicians, bankers, investors, merchants, and industrialists took control of vast, resource-rich, and occupied territories like Rupert’s Land and the North West and completely transformed the existing social arrangements according to their worldview. This thesis engages Marxist theory to examine the ideas of John A. Macdonald, Alexander Mackenzie, and Edward Blake as heads of the eastern polity, state, central government, and official opposition, and the representatives of commercial, financial, and industrial factions of the bourgeoisie. Over six hundred primary samples of their discourses in the form of political speeches, historical debates, and personal correspondence were reviewed in this research. The major themes emerging from the analysis pertain to the ideological underpinnings of a capitalist worldview in terms of the relevance of law and Christianity to the colonization and civilization of emigrant and indigenous peoples in the North West. It was also found that while politicians disseminate the worldview of their class and faction, they rely significantly on the support of capital and the producing classes to implement their ideas and establish, legitimize, and reproduce the conditions and relations of capitalism. When Macdonald and Mackenzie failed to rally consent for capitalism among local peoples in the North West, ideological coercion became the means of transforming the necessary social, economic, and political structures. I suggest that the use of force (rather than cooperation) to organize agricultural ‘society’ in Saskatchewan has had long-term consequences for emigrant and indigenous peoples alike.