Love and Solidarity: A Pictorial History of the NDP

Ashley Thomson is a full librarian at Laurentian University and co-editor or co-author of nine books, most recently Margaret Atwood: A Reference Guide, 1988-2005.

For most of us, the NDP sprang to life in 1961. But if a book is to be
272 pages long, there are only so many pictures of Ed Broadbent and Bob
Rae that one would want to print. So it may not be surprising that
despite the subtitle, the author, a former executive with the Globe and
Mail, takes his story back to 1832–1931 so that he can examine the
roots of Canadian socialism, and then continues it between 1932 and 1960
by surveying the history of the CCF at both the federal and provincial
levels. It is more than halfway through the book that Smith arrives at
his ostensible subject, which begins with the NDP’s formation and
concludes in 1991, when the party controlled the governments of three
provinces.

Within this chronological organization, which after 1929 proceeds on a
year-to-year basis, Smith had included 258 photographs and some
cartoons, all in black and white and most on full or half pages.
Well-written annotations accompany each picture, and for each year these
are preceded by short notes that may help put the year in some context.
In 1948, for example, Cameron notes that NATO was created, with Canada
as a signatory.

Obviously, this book stands on the quality of its photos, and I would
have to say that, on balance, it passes. To be sure, a few are too small
for my taste, a few are blurred, and some are stiffly posed. But many I
have not seen before, and most are interesting. In one, a young Ed
Broadbent sticks his tongue out while posing for a formal caucus
photograph; so much for solidarity.