Margaret Haile

Margaret Haile
Margaret Haile in campaign material for the 1902 Ontario election
Born	Unknown Canada
Died	Unknown
Occupations	Journalist, educator, socialist activist
Years active	1894–1902 Canadian Socialist League Social Democratic Party (United States)
Known for	First woman to run for legislative office in Canada
Political party	Canadian Socialist League Member, unity committee forming the Socialist Party of America
Movement	Democratic socialism

Margaret Haile (fl. 1894–1902) was a Canadian socialist in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and journalist by profession. She was active in the socialist movements in both Canada and the United States. Frederic Heath's "Socialism in America", published in January 1900 in the Social Democracy Red Book, lists her, along with Corinne Stubbs Brown and Eugene V. Debs, among "One Hundred Well-known Social Democrats".

Biography

Most likely born in Canada, Haile spent some time working for socialist causes in New England. A resident of Massachusetts in 1901, Haile was a member of the nine member unity committee of the Chicago faction of the Social Democratic Party as it planned the formation of the Socialist Party of America. She was one of two women on that body.

Haile returned to Canada shortly thereafter, and became in 1902 the first woman to run for legislative office in Canada, when she was nominated on the platform of the Canadian Socialist League as a candidate in Toronto North in the 1902 Ontario provincial election. Although her nomination was accepted and she received 79 votes, a woman was not eligible to sit as a member of the Legislative Assembly. She may have been the first woman to run for major elected office within the British Empire.

Political activism and socialist organizing

Before entering electoral politics in Canada in 1902, Margaret Haile had already spent several years active in the socialist movement in the United States, where she worked as an organizer and political writer within the growing network of North American socialist activists.

By the late 1890s, Haile was living and working among socialist groups in New England. During this period she became involved with the Socialist Labor Party, one of the most prominent socialist organizations in the United States at the time. Kealey describes Haile as an expert stenographer with wide experience in the New England states, where she served as a state secretary for socialist organizations. Her work placed her within a wider movement of labour activists and reformers attempting to build a national socialist movement during a period of rapid industrialization and labour unrest in North America.

At the turn of the twentieth century the American socialist movement underwent a major reorganization. In 1901 Haile served on a unity committee formed to bring together rival socialist factions in the United States, negotiations that contributed to the creation of the Socialist Party of America later that year. She was one of only two women on the committee, an unusual role at a time when women rarely held positions of influence within socialist party leadership.

Her writing from this period shows that she was engaged in the movement's debates about strategy and organization. In June 1901 Haile published an article titled "Some Theories of Party Organization" in the Social Democratic Herald, in which she argued against vague calls for unity and in favour of a disciplined socialist organization. As she wrote, "Any further rhapsodizing on the beauties of abstract unity is mere heroics. Let us get down to business and consider practical steps". She also declared, "I want rather to see a strong, compact socialist organization built up, adapted to the work we have to do, and conducted upon socialist principles."

Haile's prominence within socialist circles was recognized even before she returned to Canada. In 1900 Frederic Heath included her in Social Democracy Red Book: A Brief History of Socialism in America, which listed "One Hundred Well-known Social Democrats". Her name appeared alongside leading socialist figures such as Eugene V. Debs, indicating that she was already known within the movement at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Modern historians of labour and socialist movements have identified Haile as part of the small but influential group of women active in early socialist organizing. Scholars including Kealey, Newton, and Joan Sangster note that women often helped build socialist networks as lecturers, writers, and organizers during the decades before women gained the right to vote.

After several years of activism in the American socialist movement, Haile returned to Canada in the early twentieth century. Drawing on her organizing experience, she soon became involved in socialist politics in Toronto and in 1902 stood as a candidate for the Canadian Socialist League in the Ontario provincial election.

In popular culture

Haile appears regularly during Season 8 of the Canadian television period detective series Murdoch Mysteries. Her final appearance is in "Election Day" (March 23, 2015), episode 17 of season 8, where Haile and her suffragette supporters insist that her name be on the ballot alongside George Marter and Dr. Beattie Nesbitt for the Toronto North riding during the 1902 Ontario general election. Haile is played by Nicole Underhay.

External links

• Margaret Haile, "Some Theories of Party Organization", Social Democratic Herald, Vol. 4, No. 1 (22 June 1901) (accessed 28 November 2006)