Albert Edward Smith
Encyclopedia
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
religious leader and politician. A social gospel
Social Gospel
The Social Gospel movement is a Protestant Christian intellectual movement that was most prominent in the early 20th century United States and Canada...
ler, Smith was for many years a minister in the Canadian Methodist Church before starting his own "People's Church". He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba and the lieutenant governor form the Legislature of Manitoba, the legislature of the Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly in provincial general elections, all in single-member constituencies with first-past-the-post...
from 1920 to 1922 as a Labour
Dominion Labour Party (in Manitoba)
The Dominion Labour Party was a reformist labour party, formed in Canada in 1918. The party enjoyed itsgreatest success in the province of Manitoba....
representative. In 1925, he became a member of the Communist Party of Canada
Communist Party of Canada
The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...
.
Early life
Smith was born in GuelphGuelph
Guelph is a city in Ontario, Canada.Guelph may also refer to:* Guelph , consisting of the City of Guelph, Ontario* Guelph , as the above* University of Guelph, in the same city...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, the son of working-class immigrants from England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. His family later moved to Hamilton
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
, where he developed an interest in religion after joining the Gore Street Methodist Church. After passing an oral examination to become a preacher, Smith was transferred to McGregor, Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
in 1890 to begin field work. His appointment came from James Woodsworth, superintendent of Methodist missions for western Canada and father of J.S. Woodsworth.
Smith was a vocal supporter of Thomas Greenway
Thomas Greenway
For the American character actor , see Tom Greenway.Thomas Greenway was a politician, merchant and farmer. He served as the seventh Premier of Manitoba, Canada, from 1888 to 1900...
's Liberal
Manitoba Liberal Party
The Manitoba Liberal Party is a political party in Manitoba, Canada. Its roots can be traced to the late nineteenth-century, following the province's creation in 1870.-Origins and early development :...
government in Manitoba during the 1890s. During the Manitoba Schools Question
Manitoba Schools Question
The Manitoba Schools Question was a political crisis in the Canadian Province of Manitoba that occurred late in the 19th century, involving publicly funded separate schools for Roman Catholics and Protestants...
, he defended the Greenway government's decision to remove funding from French-language denominational schools
Separate school
In Canada, separate school refers to a particular type of school that has constitutional status in three provinces and statutory status in three territories...
.
Ordination
After three years' work as a probationer, Smith enrolled as a student for the ministry at Wesley College in WinnipegWinnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
in 1893. He was formally ordained to the ministry in 1897. After working in Dauphin
Dauphin, Manitoba
Dauphin is a small city in Manitoba, Canada, with a population of 7,906 as of 2006. The nearby lake was given the name "Dauphin" by the explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye in 1741 in honour of the heir to the French throne...
and Prince Albert
Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
Prince Albert is the third-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is situated in the centre of the province on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. The city is known as the "Gateway to the North" because it is the last major centre along the route to the resources of northern Saskatchewan...
, Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
, Smith was stationed at the MacDougall Memorial Methodist Church in north-end Winnipeg in 1902.
Left-wing politics
His political views now turned to labour, and he spoke in support of Labour MP Arthur W. Puttee's re-election in the 1904 federal electionCanadian federal election, 1904
The Canadian federal election of 1904 was held on November 3 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 10th Parliament of Canada...
.
Smith left Winnipeg in 1906, and moved to Portage la Prairie
Portage la Prairie, Manitoba
-Transportation:Portage la Prairie railway station is served by Via Rail with both The Canadian and Winnipeg – Churchill trains calling at the station....
. In 1910, he accepted ministerial work in Nelson
Nelson, British Columbia
Nelson is a city located in the Selkirk Mountains on the extreme West Arm of Kootenay Lake in the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Known as "The Queen City", and acknowledged for its impressive collection of restored heritage buildings from its glory days in a regional silver rush,...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
. He spoke at Socialist Party
Socialist Party of Canada
There have been two different but related political parties in Canada that called themselves the Socialist Party of Canada . The current Socialist Party is an electorally inactive and unregistered federal political party in Canada...
gatherings, and became acquainted with Jack Johnstone, later a leading figure in the Communist Party of the United States. Smith returned to Manitoba in 1913, to accept a position as minister of the First Methodist Church in Brandon
Brandon, Manitoba
Brandon is the second largest city in Manitoba, Canada, and is located in the southwestern area of the province. Brandon is the largest city in the Westman region of Manitoba. The city is located along the Assiniboine River. Spruce Woods Provincial Park and CFB Shilo are a relatively short distance...
.
He was an advocate of church union with the Presbyterians throughout the 1910s. In 1925, this union came about via the creation of the United Church of Canada
United Church of Canada
The United Church of Canada is a Protestant Christian denomination in Canada. It is the largest Protestant church and, after the Roman Catholic Church, the second-largest Christian church in Canada...
.
Smith was asked to consider running in the 1917 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1917
The 1917 Canadian federal election was held on December 17, 1917, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 13th Parliament of Canada. Described by historian Michael Bliss as the "most bitter election in Canadian history", it was fought mainly over the issue of conscription...
as a supporter of Robert Borden
Robert Borden
Sir Robert Laird Borden, PC, GCMG, KC was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the eighth Prime Minister of Canada from October 10, 1911 to July 10, 1920, and was the third Nova Scotian to hold this office...
's Union government
Unionist Party (Canada)
The Unionist Party was formed in 1917 by Members of Parliament in Canada who supported the "Union government" formed by Sir Robert Borden during the First World War....
of pro-conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
Liberals
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
and Conservatives
Conservative Party of Canada (historical)
The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...
. Although he rejected these requests, Smith's name was put forward for the Unionist nomination in Brandon
Brandon (electoral district)
Brandon was a federal electoral district in the province of Manitoba, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons from 1896 to 1953.It was created in 1892 from parts of Marquette and Selkirk ridings....
. Borden's government was supported by both mainstream labour and the Methodist Church, and some local government supporters believed Smith's name would aid their cause. Asked to make a speech at the nomination meeting, he informed the delegates that he had no confidence in either of the older parties, and did not believe the Union arrangement would make any difference. To the surprise of none present, Smith did not receive the nomination.
Socialist politics
In 1917, Smith read the Communist Manifesto for the first time. He later claimed that the work was "like a revelation". Smith's religious views were, by his own admission, unorthodox for the standards of his age: he believed that the message of JesusJesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
was "the proclamation of a new social order of human society", and rejected the "harsh theologies" of mainstream Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
churches. "In my sermons", he wrote, "no miracle was required to explain the birth of Jesus or his life and teachings [...] His name was to be cherished because He died as a leader of the people, for His principles and in protest against the unjust rulers of His day" (Albert Smith, All My Life, pp. 42-43). After reading the Communist Manifesto, Smith eventually reached the conclusion that Jesus was a Communist.
Smith's views had not yet developed to this stage in 1917, however, and he joined the social reformist Dominion Labour Party at the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Smith supported the strikers from his pulpit during the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, and opened his church to Brandon civic workers who voted for a parallel strike in their city. As a member of the Brandon Trades and Labour Council, Smith provided extensive logistical support to Brandon's strike committee.
Not surprisingly, Smith's labour activities were opposed by more conservative figures in his Methodist church. At a special meeting of the church board held on May 26, 1919, a prominent church member moved that Smith "be restrained from any further preaching in First Church". No formal charges were made against him, and the motion was withdrawn. Nonetheless, his role as Brandon's Methodist minister had become untenable. On June 8, he announced the formation of a new People's Church in the city.
Labour MLA
In 1920, Smith was prevailed on to run for the provincial legislature as a labour candidate. He received the nomination of a local group called the "Brandon Labour Party", which was aligned with the Winnipeg branch of the Dominion Labour Party. He was successful in the 1920 provincial electionManitoba general election, 1920
Manitoba's general election of 29 June 1920 was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.-Background:...
, defeating Liberal incumbent Stephen E. Clements by 604 votes. Some of Smith's opponents blamed vote-splitting by the Liberals and Conservatives for his victory.
For the next two years, Smith sat with the labour parliamentary group led by Fred Dixon
Fred Dixon
Fred Dixon was a Manitoba politician, and was for several years the dominant figure in the province's mainstream labour movement.Born in Englefield, England, Dixon was not a socialist...
in the legislative opposition. Unlike other labour members, Smith did not join the Independent Labour Party
Independent Labour Party (in Manitoba) (II)
Prior to 1920, there were a number of groups in Winnipeg which called themselves the "Independent Labour Party". For information on these groups, see Independent Labour Party ....
when the Winnipeg branch of the Dominion Labour Party split in late 1920. In August 1921, he instead attended a meeting of the Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council which led to the creation of the Canadian Labour Party
Canadian Labour Party
The Canadian Labour Party was an early, unsuccessful attempt at creating a national labour party in Canada. Although it ran candidates in the federal elections of 1917, 1921, 1925 and 1926, it never succeeded in its goal of providing a national forum for the Canadian labour movement...
. While joining the CLP took Smith on a different path from his co-legislators, he remained a member of the labor parliamentary group.
Labour's political support in Manitoba had declined somewhat by the 1922 provincial election
Manitoba general election, 1922
Manitoba's general election of July 18, 1922 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.As in the previous election of 1920, the city of Winnipeg elected ten members by the single transferable ballot...
. Smith lost his seat to John Edmison, who ran as a "fusion" candidate of the local Liberals and Conservatives. No longer receiving a salary as a Methodist minister or Member of the Legislative Assembly
Member of the Legislative Assembly
A Member of the Legislative Assembly or a Member of the Legislature , is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to the legislature or legislative assembly of a sub-national jurisdiction....
(MLA), Smith experienced financial difficulties in Brandon and decided to return to Ontario.
He moved to Ontario in 1923, and immediately started a People's Church in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
.
Smith was also involved in the Forum Committee of the local Labour Temple, and became a prominent member of the Canadian Labour Party in the city. Unlike James Simpson
James Simpson (politician)
James "Jimmy" Simpson was a Canadian trade unionist, printer, journalist and left wing politician in Toronto, Ontario...
, Smith supported opening the CLP to members of the newly formed Communist Party of Canada
Communist Party of Canada
The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...
.
Joining the Communist Party
Smith's personal philosophy continued to develop in this period, and in January 1925 he made the decision to join the Communist Party himself. His membership in the party was confirmed at a small upstairs room at 8 Gerrard Street East in Toronto, where a meeting of the party was held. He later explained his decision to a Toronto StarToronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
reporter by arguing that communism was a part of man's social evolution. Smith remained a member of the Communist Party for the rest of his life. Still a prominent figure in Toronto, he often defended the Communist Party against threats from hostile governments. He became a prominent organizer for the Canadian Labour Defence League
Canadian Labour Defence League
The Canadian Labour Defence League was a legal defence organization founded and led by Reverend A.E. Smith. The league was in 1925 as a civil rights organization dedicated to protecting striking workers from persecution. It was allied with the Communist Party of Canada and functioned as a front for...
across Canada in the 1920s, and served as its general secretary until it was shut down by the Canadian government in 1940.
He campaigned for the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
in the 1925 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1925
The Canadian federal election of 1925 was held on October 29 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 15th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberal Party formed a minority government. This precipitated the "King-Byng Affair".The Liberals under...
as a candidate of the CLP in the northern Ontario riding of Port Arthur—Thunder Bay
Port Arthur—Thunder Bay
Port Arthur—Thunder Bay was a federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1925 to 1935. It was located in the province of Ontario...
. He finished fourth, with 1,363 votes. The winner was William Fitzgerald Langworthy of the Conservative Party
Conservative Party of Canada (historical)
The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...
. At the time of the election, Smith described his occupation as "educationalist". He ran again in the 1926 election
Canadian federal election, 1926
The Canadian federal election of 1926 was held on September 14 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 16th Parliament of Canada. The election was called following an event known as the King-Byng Affair...
, and finished third with 1,382 votes. The winner was Conservative Donald James Cowan
Donald James Cowan
Donald James Cowan was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He represented Port Arthur—Thunder Bay in the Canadian House of Commons....
.
Smith ran for municipal office in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
during this period. In 1925, he ran for alderman
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...
in Ward Seven as a candidate of the Labour Representation Political Association, a broad-tent group aligned with the Canadian Labour Party. He was defeated, and lost a second time in 1926. He also ran as a candidate of the Ontario division of the CLP in the 1926 provincial election
Ontario general election, 1926
The Ontario general election, 1926 was the 17th general election held in the Province of Ontario, Canada. It was held on December 1, 1926, to elect the 112 Members of the 17th Legislative Assembly of Ontario ....
, receiving 416 votes in Hamilton Centre
Hamilton Centre
Hamilton Centre is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004.It was created in 2003 from parts of Hamilton East, Hamilton West and Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Aldershot ridings....
. The winner on that occasion was Thomas Jutten
Thomas William Jutten
Thomas William Jutten was a Canadian politician.Born in London, England, Jutten moved to Canada with his family in 1871, settling in Hamilton, Ontario. In 1881, he married Suzanne Keil. He owned a boat building business. Juttern served as an alderman from 1906 to 1913 and on the Board of Control...
of the Ontario Conservative Party
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario , is a right-of-centre political party in Ontario, Canada. The party was known for many years as "Ontario's natural governing party." It has ruled the province for 80 of the years since Confederation, including an uninterrupted run from 1943 to 1985...
.
Opposition to Trotskyism
During the late 1920s, Smith became a prominent opponent of TrotskyismTrotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
within the Communist Party of Canada. He supported the removal of Maurice Spector
Maurice Spector
Maurice Spector was the Chairman of the Communist Party of Canada for much of the 1920s and an early follower of Leon Trotsky after his split from the Communist International....
and Jack MacDonald from the CPC, and endorsed Tim Buck
Tim Buck
Timothy "Tim" Buck was a long-time leader of the Communist Party of Canada...
, a strong supporter of Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
, to become the party's new leader in 1929. In his autobiography, Smith accused Trotsky of attempting to betray the Russian Revolution, alleging that he had been in the "in the service of British agents" in 1926.
With the Canadian Labour Party falling into disarray, Smith returned to northern Ontario for the federal election of 1930
Canadian federal election, 1930
The Canadian federal election of 1930 was held on July 28, 1930 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 17th Parliament of Canada...
to contest Fort William
Fort William (electoral district)
Fort William was a federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1925 to 1979. It was located in the province of Ontario...
as an independent candidate. He received 594 votes, finishing third. The winner was Robert James Manion
Robert James Manion
Robert James Manion, PC, MC was leader of the Conservative Party of Canada from 1938 until 1940....
, who later served as leader of the federal Conservative Party.
Stalinism
Smith visited the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
for the first time in 1932, and wrote favourably of the experience upon his return. In July 1936, he traveled to Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
during the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
as an emissary of the "Friends of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion
Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion
The Mackenzie–Papineau Battalion or Mac-Paps were a battalion of Canadians who fought as part of the XV International Brigade on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. Except for France, no other country gave a greater proportion of its population as volunteers in Spain than Canada. The...
".
Smith was one of Tim Buck's most vocal defenders in the early 1930s, when Buck was detained and nearly killed in the Kingston Penitentiary
Kingston Penitentiary
Kingston Penitentiary is a maximum security prison located in Kingston, Ontario between King Street West and Lake Ontario....
. In the 1934 provincial election, Smith ran as a candidate of the Ontario Communist Party against Conservative Premier
Premier of Ontario
The Premier of Ontario is the first Minister of the Crown for the Canadian province of Ontario. The Premier is appointed as the province's head of government by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, and presides over the Executive council, or Cabinet. The Executive Council Act The Premier of Ontario...
George Henry in the constituency of York East
York East
York East was a federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons at different times, and a provincial electoral district. It was located in the province of Ontario.-Federal electoral district :...
. He finished fourth, though still polling a respectable 664 votes. Later in 1934, Smith polled a surprisingly high 8,500 votes for Mayor of Toronto.
Returning again to northern Ontario, Smith ran for the House of Commons as a candidate of the Communist Party candidate in the 1935 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1935
The Canadian federal election of 1935 was held on October 14, 1935 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 18th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal Party of William Lyon Mackenzie King won a majority government, defeating Prime Minister R.B. Bennett's Conservative Party.The central...
, receiving 1,161 votes for a fourth-place finish in Port Arthur
Port Arthur (electoral district)
Port Arthur was a federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1935 to 1979. It was located in the province of Ontario...
. The winner was Clarence Decatur Howe of the Liberal Party.
Later years
Smith largely curtailed his political activities after this time, though he remained an active figure within the Communist Party. He returned to Manitoba for the 1945 federal electionCanadian federal election, 1945
The Canadian federal election of 1945 was the 20th general election in Canadian history. It was held June 11, 1945 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 20th Parliament of Canada...
, and campaigned for the Labour-Progressive Party
Labour-Progressive Party
For the Labour-Progressive Coalition Government in New Zealand see the Fifth Labour Government of New ZealandThe Labor-Progressive Party was the legal political organization of the Communist Party of Canada between 1943 and 1959....
(as the Communist Party had renamed itself) in his old riding of Brandon
Brandon (electoral district)
Brandon was a federal electoral district in the province of Manitoba, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons from 1896 to 1953.It was created in 1892 from parts of Marquette and Selkirk ridings....
. He received 497 votes, finishing fourth. The winner was Liberal James Ewen Matthews
James Ewen Matthews
James Ewen Matthews was a Liberal party member of the Canadian House of Commons. He was born in Albany, Prince Edward Island....
.
Smith's autobiography, All My Life, was published posthumously in 1949. The work chronicles his religious and political evolution, and gives extensive consideration to the Communist Party's struggles of the 1930s. Interestingly, Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
is never mentioned by name in this book.
To the end of his life, Smith argued that his beliefs were a reflection of the message promoted by Jesus of Nazareth.
A.E. Smith's son, Stewart Smith
Stewart Smith (politician)
Stewart Smith was a long-time leading member of the Communist Party of Canada. He also served on Toronto City Council for a period in the 1930s and 1940s....
, was a leading member of the Communist Party in his own right.
External links
- All My Life - An autobiography by A.E. Smith