Albert Edward Smith
Albert E. Smith | |
---|---|
John Edmison | |
Personal details | |
Born | Guelph, Ontario, Canada | October 20, 1871
Died | April 12, 1946 Toronto, Ontario, Canada | (aged 74)
Political party | |
Spouse | Maude Mercy Rogers |
Children | Stewart Smith |
Albert Edward Smith (October 20, 1871 – April 12, 1947), known as A. E. Smith, was a Canadian religious leader and politician. A
Early life
Smith was born on October 20, 1871, in
Smith was a vocal supporter of Thomas Greenway's Liberal government in Manitoba during the 1890s. During the Manitoba Schools Question, he defended the Greenway government's decision to remove funding from French-language denominational schools.
Ordination
After three years' work as a probationer, Smith enrolled as a student for the ministry at Wesley College in Winnipeg in 1893. He was formally ordained to the ministry in 1897. He married Maude Mercy Rogers in 1898,[1] with whom he would have seven children.[2] After working in Dauphin, Manitoba, and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Smith was stationed at the MacDougall Memorial Methodist Church in north-end Winnipeg in 1902.
Left-wing politics
Smith's political views now turned to labour, and he spoke in support of
Smith left Winnipeg in 1906, and moved to
Smith was an advocate of church union with the
Smith was asked to consider running in the
Socialist politics
In 1917, Smith read
Smith's views had not yet developed to this stage in 1917, however, and he joined the social reformist
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 No formal charges were made against him, and the motion was withdrawn.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.
People's Church
On June 22 the first meeting of the People's Church was held, with roughly 400 people in attendance.[8] Despite his commitment to the People's Church, Smith did not intend to leave the Methodist Church. He hoped to secure a leave from the Church so that he could pursue his work with the People's Church. The Methodist Stationing Committee initially granted his request, but when a motion was called to put all special cases before the committee as a whole, the decision was rescinded.[8]
Smith was determined that the People's Church would spread across Canada, offering an alternative to the traditional church. In 1920 he travelled to Western Canada and established the People's Church in Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, and Edmonton.[9] In 1923 Smith moved to Toronto and began working with the Toronto People's Church.[10]
Labour MLA
In 1920, Smith was prevailed on to run for the provincial legislature as a labour candidate in Brandon. He received the nomination of the "Brandon Labour Party", which was aligned with the Winnipeg branch of the Dominion Labour Party. He was successful in the 1920 provincial election, defeating Liberal incumbent Stephen Emmett Clement by 604 votes. Some 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
Labour's political support in Manitoba had declined somewhat by the
No longer receiving a salary as a Methodist minister or Member of the Legislative Assembly (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.
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 and became party president in 1925.[11] Unlike James Simpson, Smith supported opening the CLP to members of the newly formed Communist Party of Canada.
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 Star 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 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
Smith ran for municipal office in Toronto during this period. In 1925, he ran for alderman 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, receiving 416 votes in Hamilton Centre. The winner on that occasion was Thomas Jutten of the Ontario Conservative Party. In the 1930 federal election he ran as an independent candidate in Fort William winning 594 votes.
Opposition to Trotskyism
During the late 1920s, Smith became a prominent opponent of
With the Canadian Labour Party falling into disarray, Smith returned to northern Ontario for the federal election of 1930 to contest Fort William as an independent candidate. He received 594 votes, finishing third. The winner was Robert James Manion, who later served as leader of the federal Conservative Party.
Stalinism
Smith visited the Soviet Union for the first time in 1932 and wrote favourably of the experience upon his return.
In July 1936, he traveled to Spain during the Spanish Civil War as an emissary of the "Friends of the Mackenzie–Papineau Battalion".
Smith was one of CPC leader Tim Buck's most vocal defenders in the early 1930s. Buck was put in prison and nearly killed in the Kingston Penitentiary. In 1934, Smith was arrested and charged with sedition (under section 98 of the Criminal Code) due to statements he made in support of the Eight Men Speak play. He was acquitted. The coverage of the court case publicized the truth of an attempt on Buck's life, and soon Buck and seven other CPC leaders were released from prison.[12]
In the 1934 Ontario general election, Smith was the Communist Party's candidate in York East, running against Conservative Premier George Stewart Henry in his own riding, as well as the party's highest profile candidate in the province, and a frequent speaker at meetings and rallies supporting the party's slate of 12 candidates.[13][14][15] However, running against Premier Henry as well as CCF candidate Arthur Henry Williams, president of the East York Workers' Association, Smith came in fourth with 645 votes.[16]
Also in 1934, Smith polled a surprising 8,500 votes when he ran for Mayor of Toronto.
Returning again to northern Ontario, Smith ran for the House of Commons as a candidate of the Communist Party in the 1935 federal election. He received 1,161 votes for a fourth-place finish in Port Arthur.
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 election, and campaigned for the Labor-Progressive Party (as the Communist Party had renamed itself) in his old riding of Brandon. He received 497 votes, finishing fourth. The winner was Liberal James Ewen Matthews.
Smith died on April 12, 1947 in Toronto.[11] His 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.
To the end of his life, Smith argued that his beliefs were a reflection of the message promoted by Jesus.
A. E. Smith's son, Stewart Smith, was a leading member of the Communist Party in his own right.
See also
References
Footnotes
- ^ a b Chambers 1921.
- ^ a b Goldsborough, Gordon (2018). "Albert Edward Smith (1870–1947)". Memorable Manitobans. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Manitoba Historical Society. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
- ^ a b c d Cook 2016, p. 224.
- ^ Clark 1981, p. 95; Cook 2016, p. 224.
- ^ Mitchell 1994, p. 127.
- ^ Smith 1977, pp. 42–43.
- ^ Kealey 1984, p. 12.
- ^ a b Mitchell 1994, p. 129.
- ^ Mitchell 1994, pp. 130–131.
- ^ Mitchell 1994, p. 143.
- ^ a b "Memorable Manitobans: Albert Edward Smith (1870-1947)". Manitoba Historical Society Archives. Manitoba Historical Society. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
- ^ Bumsted 1999, p. 232.
- ^ "Deplores division in ranks of workers", Toronto Daily Star (1900-1971); Toronto, Ontario. 16 May 1934: 29.
- ^ "Meeting goes til morning as rival candidates heard", Toronto Daily Star (1900-1971); Toronto, Ontario. 06 June 1934: 10.
- ^ "Five opposition nominees all declare they'll run", Toronto Daily Star (1900-1971); Toronto, Ontario. 17 May 1934: 10.
- ^ "Record of 30 years broken as Liberals sweep suburbs", Toronto Daily Star (1900-1971); Toronto, Ontario. 20 June 1934: 28.
Bibliography
- Bumsted, J. M. (1999). Dictionary of Manitoba Biography. Winnipeg, Manitoba: University of Manitoba Press. ISBN 978-0-88755-318-9.
- Chambers, Ernest J. (1921). Canadian Parliamentary Guide.
- Clark, W. Leland (1981). Brandon's Politics and Politicians (PDF). Brandon, Manitoba: Brandon Sun. ISBN 978-0-88925-351-3. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
- ISBN 978-1-4426-2919-6.
- JSTOR 25140399. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
- Mitchell, Tom (1994). "From the Social Gospel to 'the Plain Bread of Leninism': A.E. Smith's Journey to the Left in the Epoch of Reaction After World War I". Labour / Le Travail. 33: 125–151. JSTOR 25143791. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
- Smith, A. E. (1977). All My Life: An Autobiography (Second ed.). Toronto: Progress Books. ISBN 0-919396-41-0.
Further reading
- Eaton, C. Scott (2015). Capitalism on Trial: Section 98, the Communist Party of Canada, and the Battle for Legality in the Interwar Period (MA thesis). Burnaby, British Columbia: Simon Fraser University. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
- Petryshyn, Jaroslav (1977). A.E. Smith and the Canadian Labour Defense League (PhD thesis). London, Ontario: University of Western Ontario. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
- ——— (Winter 1978–79). "From Clergyman to Communist: The Radicalization of Albert Edward Smith". Journal of Canadian Studies. 13 (4): 61–71. ISSN 1911-0251.
- ——— (1982). "Class Conflict and Civil Liberties: The Origins and Activities of the Canadian Labour Defense League, 1925–1940". Labour / Le Travail. 10: 39–63. doi:10.2307/25140138. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
- Skebo, Suzanne Michelle (1968). Liberty and Authority: Civil Liberties in Toronto, 1929–1935 (MA thesis). Vancouver: University of British Columbia. OCLC 24577050.