Communist Party of Canada  The Communist Party of Canada () is a communist political party in Canada founded in 1921 under conditions of illegality. Although it is now a political party without any parliamentary representation, the party's candidates have been elected to the Parliament of Canada, the Ontario legislature, the Manitoba legislature, and various municipal governments across the country. The party has also contributed significantly to trade union organizing and labour history in Canada, peace and anti-war activism, and many other social movements. The Communist Party of Canada is the second oldest active party after the Liberal Party of Canada. In 1993 the party was de-registered and had its assets seized, forcing it to begin a successful thirteen-year political and legal battle to maintain registration of small political parties in Canada. The campaign culminated with the final decision of "Figueroa v. Canada", changing the legal definition of a political party in Canada. Despite its continued presence as a registered political party, the CPC places the vast majority of its emphasis on extra-parliamentary activity what it terms "the labour and people's movements", as reflected in its programme "Canada's Future is Socialism". The Canadian Communist Party began as an illegal organization in a rural barn near the town of Guelph, Ontario, on May 28 and 29, 1921. Many of its founding members had worked as labour organizers and as anti-war activists and had belonged to groups such as the Socialist Party of Canada, One Big Union, the Socialist Labor Party, the Industrial Workers of the World, and other socialist, Marxist, or Labour parties or clubs and organizations. The first members felt inspired by the Russian Revolution, and radicalised by the negative aftermath of World War I and the fight to improve living standards and labour rights, including the experience of the Winnipeg General Strike. The Comintern accepted the party affiliation as its Canadian section in December 1921, and thus it adopted a similar organizational structure and policy to Communist parties around the world. The party alternated between legality and illegality during the 1920s and 1930s. Because of the War Measures Act in effect at its time of creation, the party operated as the "Workers' Party of Canada" in February 1922 as its public face, and in March began publication of a newspaper, "The Worker". When Parliament allowed the War Measures Act to lapse in 1924, the underground organization was dissolved and the party's name was changed to the Communist Party of Canada. The party's first actions included establishing a youth organization, the Young Communist League of Canada, and solidarity efforts with the Soviet Union.