62 Success 0n the Edge

unions in small communities, where there were either no banks or none that would loan small sums to people who were not well-off. It was felt that this was absolutely necessary, if ordinary people were to become ”masters of their own destiny”. The Movement had also begun to help communities develop retail co-ops such as had existed in Cape Breton for many years. In the process, the Antigonish Movement had developed its own form of adult education, as it stressed the need for would-be co-operators to understand what they were hoping to do.

The Antigonish Movement reached Prince Edward Island in 1934. About the same time, Catholic Action, which was concerned with getting Catholics involved in social and economic matters, was promoting study groups in all parishes. One mass Catholic Action rally occurred in Tignish in 1935. Then a successful attempt was made to use the study group method to learn the principles of co-operation and how to organize a credit union. John Croteau, a young professor of economics and sociology at St. Dunstan’s, took over the organization of these study clubs in 1936. Soon, in the Tignish area at least, the most popular subjects were co-operative ones, rather than strictly religious ones, though there was always a link between the two.

These clubs were formed in each school district of the Tignish area. Men dominated the membership, but some women were involved as well. Each week, clubs would read and discuss some of the materials provided from Antigonish through the Island’s new library system — Tignish’s library was opened in 1934. Often after the discussions, members would play cards in order to raise some capital for the credit union they would soon found. Once a month, members of all the local study clubs would meet in the Parish Hall for a more general discussion of the topics.