Storming the Pink Palace chronicles the remarkable story of the Ontario NDP's first experience with governance and power.

 In September 1990, with Bob Rae as premier, the NDP triumphantly formed Ontario's first socialist government. But the elation evaporated quickly as public support plummeted. Why was the NDP's fall in popularity so spectacular the common explanation is that Bob Rae's government betrayed it's NDP principles because of it's unwillingness to challenge the business community, and that Rae himself was a "Liberal in Sandal's" who single-handedly pushed the NDP to the right.

In this fascinating account, Patrick Monahan, one of Canada's most provocative political thinkers, challenges the conventional wisdom. The NDP compromised in principles, maintains Monahan, not because the party and its leader are weak willed but because they had to face up to the reality of governing. Many traditional NDP policies such as using deficit spending to create jobs proved unworkable in practice and were creating budgetary chaos. The resulting social contract legislation pleased no one and, in fact, failed to stem the flow of red ink. And other initiatives from labour law reform to employment equity were equally controversial.