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Explores from a class perspective the adult education movement and union-sponsored educational and communication activities in English-speaking Canada. Assesses historic British and US influences, changes in communication technology. and Canadian state interventions (such as the founding of the National Film Board) on the development of adult and union education. The latter was instrumental in character (e.g., grievance handling) and premissed on working within the capitalist order. Adult education was ambiguous in terms of class, coalescing on an activist definition of citizenship that had social democratic overtones, although the Cold War years somewhat chilled this more left-leaning approach. In contrast, the Saskatchewan CCF government's radical experiment in adult education was short-lived. Public relations efforts by unions also fell short, as did establishment of a labour press, and articulating a vision of the social order beyond capitalism. The growing inflluence of US-dominated corporations, including on media, has had a profound effect since the 1970s. Concludes that this raises questions whether working people will be able enter the debate, let alone participate effectively, as society confronts new cultural, economic, and political challenges.