From Protest to Power: Social Democracy in Canada, 1900-Present

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.

Penner, a professor of political science at York University, takes the
story of social democracy in Canada from the turn of the century, when
he contends it became a force thanks to the arrival of working-class
immigrants from Britain, on through the formation of the CCF in the
1930s, the creation of the NDP in the 1960s, and right up through the
inaugural budget of Ontario’s first NDP government in 1991—the year
that despite the book’s title is the real termination date of
Penner’s study. Additional chapters analyze the intellectual origins
of social democracy in the 19th century; the fate of the NDP in Quebec;
and, finally, the future of socialism. The book winds up with a
four-page selected bibliography, which contains only books, including
three by Penner. In the author’s view, it would seem that articles,
theses, and government documents are not worth further consultation.

Based largely on secondary sources, and supplemented by some references
from Hansard, the popular press, and archives, From Protest to Power
reveals little that is not available elsewhere. The book’s major
problem, however, is that the author does not satisfactorily define what
he means by social democracy. To be sure, Penner shows that the concept
has changed over the century—at certain points it has been coterminous
with socialism, at other points not. That said, he has failed to set out
its constant core and, therefore, overall the book disappoints.