Society for Socialist Studies

For a discussion of the formation and early years of the Society, please see:

“Society for Socialist Studies: The Early Years, 1967 – 1978”
by Frank Cunningham, University of Toronto

A Brief History of the Society for Socialist Studies

The Committee on Socialist Studies was formed in 1967 at the Learned Societies Conference (now called the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences) at Carleton University in Ottawa.
The Committee held its first sessions as part of the “Learneds” in 1968 at the University of Calgary under the umbrella of the Canadian Political Science Association.
The Committee became a registered “Learned Society” affiliated with the Learned Societies of Canada (now the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences) in 1971.
The Committee was renamed the Society for Socialist Studies in 1981.
The National Office shifted from Toronto to Ottawa to Winnipeg in the 1970s.
The National Office would remain in Winnipeg at the University of Manitoba from 1978 until 2005 anchored by the invaluable contributions of Jesse and Alice Vorst.
For many years, a Regina Collective (including Lorne Brown, Joe Roberts and many others) served as the Society’s Program Committee for the Learneds/Congress.
In 2000, Ken Collier of Athabasca University became the president of the Society and oversaw the development of the peer-reviewed journal and its transition to an online, open-access journal.
In 2008, Darrell McLaughlin of St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan became the president of the Society. For a listing of the current executive, click here.

The Society’s Past Publications

The Society began publishing a Newsletter for members in 1970. A journal first appeared in 1979. It was published on an annual basis, before being replaced with the professionally published Annual in 1983.

In 1985, the Newsletter was the replaced by the Bulletin. The Bulletin continued to publish membership news, updates and announcements, but it also published academic articles and commentaries.

In 2005, the Bulletin was replaced by Socialist Studies/Études Socialistes, a peer- reviewed journal. Originally a print journal, in 2008 it made the switch to an online, open-access journal.

As an on-going project we will be adding links to the tables of content and material from these past publications.

Socialist Studies: Journal of the Committee on Socialist Studies, 1979-1981

Socialist Studies Annual, 1983-1997

Socialist Studies Bulletin, 1985-2005

Socialist Studies/Études Socialistes, from 2005 onward