pour l'Indépendance national (RIN) appeared without a commitment to
any social or economic order.

The RIN quickly became the most important, partly because of the
activities of Dr Marcel Chaput in 1961. A Defence Research Board sci-
entist in Ottawa, Dr Chaput resigned when he was suspended for at-
tending a conference where he openly endorsed independence and
returned to Montreal to a hero's welcome. 'Today the nation is our-
selves, the revolution is ourselves; we are the national revolution,'
cried Pierre Bourgault as the RIN hailed its first separatist martyr. By
the end of 1961 a number of important Quebec organizations had en-
dorsed the right to self-determination and le Magazine Maclean re-
ported that 26.3 per cent of the three hundred Quebeckers inter-
viewed by telephone supported independence and only 34.5 per cent
were opposed.

Despite fierce internal battles over organization, ideology, and
leadership, the RIN had become the leading separatist political party
by 1966. Although other separatists could accept political sovereignty
and a customs union with Canada, the left-wing ideology that had tri-
umphed in the RIN had offended many. On the eve of the 1966 election
the Ralliement national (RN) was created by the merger of several
right-wing nationalist groups and advocated the establishment of an
associate state within a Canadian common market. In the June elec-
tion the RIN fielded seventy-three candidates and received 5.6 per cent
of the popular vote, while the RN ran ninety candidates and received
3.2 per cent of the vote. However, the RIN received over 7 per cent in
Montreal. Two hundred thousand Quebeckers voted for some form of
independence, however ambiguous, and for parties that lacked lead-
ership and organization.

René Lévesque was soon to provide some clarity and dynamic
leadership, and his party the necessary organization.

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