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The 1937 Social Credit backbenchers' revolt took place from March to June 1937 in the Canadian province of Alberta. It was a rebellion against Premier William Aberhart by a group of backbench (not part of the cabinet) members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) from his Social Credit League. The dissidents were unhappy with Aberhart's failure to provide Albertans with C$25 monthly dividends through social credit as he had promised before his 1935 election. When the government's 1937 budget made no move to implement the dividends, many MLAs revolted openly and threatened to defeat the government in a confidence vote. The revolt took place in a period of turmoil for Aberhart and his government: besides the dissident backbenchers, half of the cabinet resigned or was fired over a period of less than a year. Aberhart also faced criticism for planning to attend the coronation of George VI at the province's expense and for stifling a recall attempt against him by the voters of his constituency. After a stormy debate in which the survival of the government was called into question, a compromise was reached whereby Aberhart's government relinquished considerable power to a committee of backbenchers. This committee, dominated by insurgents, recruited two British social credit experts to come to Alberta and advise on the implementation of social credit. Among the experts' first moves was to require a loyalty pledge from Social Credit MLAs. Almost all signed, thus ending the crisis, though most of the legislation the experts proposed was ultimately disallowed or struck down as unconstitutional. ==Background== In the midst of the Great Depression, Calgary schoolteacher and radio evangelist William Aberhart became a convert to a British economic theory called social credit. Believing it could end the depression and restore prosperity, he began to promote it around Alberta. When the provincial government proved resistant to adopting it, Aberhart resolved to field social credit candidates in the 1935 provincial election.〔Barr 71〕 These candidates won 56 of the province's 63 seats, and Aberhart became Premier of Alberta.〔Byrne 111〕 In the runup to the campaign, Aberhart promised to increase Albertans' purchasing power by providing monthly dividends to all citizens in the form of non-negotiable "credit certificates". While he did not commit to any specific dividend amount, he cited $20 and, later, $25 per month as reasonable figures.〔Elliott 110〕 Though he noted that these figures were given "only for illustrative purposes", he repeated them so often that, in the assessment of his biographers David Elliott and Iris Miller, "it would have been impossible for any regular listener not to have gained the impression that Aberhart was promising him $25 a month if Social Credit should come to power."〔Elliott 157〕 Aberhart had been in some conflict with C. H. Douglas, social credit's British originator. Douglas, while assiduously avoiding specific comment on the Albertan proposals,〔Elliott 143〕 submitted them to his Social Credit Secretariat for review; it found them to be "fallacious from start to finish."〔Elliott 128〕 By the end of 1936, Aberhart's government had made no progress towards the promised dividends, leaving many Albertans disillusioned and frustrated. These Albertans included some of Aberhart's own Social Credit MLAs, who had been elected on the promise of dividends and were angry at Aberhart's failure to follow through.〔Elliott 249〕 Some of them felt that, while the idea of social credit was sound, Aberhart lacked a real understanding of Douglas's theory and could not implement it. These MLAs wanted Douglas or somebody from his British organization to come to Alberta and deliver on Aberhart's campaign promises.〔Elliott 251〕 One such MLA, Samuel Barnes, had been expelled from the Social Credit caucus and from the Social Credit League for voicing these views.〔Elliott 243〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1937 Social Credit backbenchers' revolt」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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