The weapon of culture: Working-class resistance and progressive theatre in Vancouver, 1930-1938

From the onset of the Depression, working-class organizers utilized community-based social activities, left-wing newspapers, and radio programmes to foster a cohesive, class-conscious culture of resistance. Drama quickly became an essential element in this culture of resistance as the left attempted to instill a deeper, more personal understanding of the socialist critique and transcend the impersonal rhetoric of political meetings.;The Progressive Arts Club's 1935 production of Waiting for Lefty showed the success of this new technique. After Lefty, social theatre activity burgeoned as the Club, along with numerous CCF groups, produced approximately thirty plays that stressed the legitimacy of working-class aspirations while nurturing working-class solidarity and encouraging struggle.;This new 'weapon of culture' was quickly emasculated by the authorities who coopted it. Impressed by the potential of theatre of inculcate values and perspectives, the provincial Department of Education incorporated drama into its newly-revised school curriculum and inaugurated a programme to support adult amateur theatre. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).