A Prophet in Politics: A Biography of JS Woodsworth

Paul G. Thomas is the Duff Roblin Professor of Government at the
University of Manitoba, the author of Parliamentary Reform Through
Political Parties, and the co-author of Canadian Public Administration:
Problematical Perspectives.

A Prophet in Politics is a carefully researched and eloquently written
study of the life of J.S. Woodsworth. First elected to the House of
Commons from Winnipeg Centre constituency in 1922, Woodsworth became the
first leader of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation when that party
was created in 1933. As a social gospel minister, social worker, and
strong pacifist, Woodsworth elevated principles to a prominent place in
Canadian public life. His insistence on adherence to principle
strengthened the CCF, especially during its early years. However,
following his pacifist conscience in 1939 put him at odds with his party
and the country when in 1939 he opposed the parliamentary resolution
declaring that Canada was at war with Hitler’s Germany. Following a
series of strokes, Woodsworth died in 1942.

First published in 1959, this reprinted version of the book contains a
valuable introduction by Professor Allan Mills that provides background
on the author, the late Professor Kenneth McNaught of the University of
Toronto, and the intellectual context in which the book first appeared.
At a time when the successor to the CCF, the New Democratic Party, is
weak on the national level and is rethinking its identity, the book
takes on a new relevance.