Everything about J S Woodsworth totally explained
James Shaver Woodsworth (
July 29,
1874 –
March 21,
1942) was a pioneer in the
Canadian social democratic movement. Following more than two decades ministering to the poor and the working class, J. S. Woodsworth left the church to lay the foundation for, and become the first leader of, the
Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), a social democratic party which later became the
New Democratic Party (NDP).
Childhood
The oldest of six children, Woodsworth was born in Etobicoke
Applewood Farm, near
Toronto,
Ontario, to Esther Josephine Shaver and
James Woodsworth. His father was a
Methodist minister, and his strong faith was a powerful factor in shaping his later life. His grandfather, Harold Richard Woodsworth, had opposed
William Lyon Mackenzie in the
1837 Rebellions. As well, his maternal second great grandfather was a United Empire Loyalist. As a result, Woodsworth appreciated the value of both social responsibility and
tradition.
Early ministry
The Woodsworth family moved to
Brandon, Manitoba in
1882, where his father became a Superintendent of Methodist Missions in western Canada. Following in his father's footsteps, J.S. was ordained as a Methodist minister in
1896 and spent two years as a circuit preacher in Manitoba before going to study at
Victoria College in Toronto and at
Oxford University in
England. While studying at Oxford University in
1899, he became interested in social welfare work. During his stay, the
Second Boer War broke out, and Woodsworth was immersed in discussions about the moral values of
imperialism. In
1902, following his return to Canada, he took a position as pastor at Grace Church in
Winnipeg, and in
1903, married Lucy Staples.
In this role, he worked with the poor immigrants in
Winnipeg and preached a
social gospel that called for the Kingdom of God "here and now". It wasn't long, however, before Woodsworth became restless as a minister. He had difficulty accepting Methodist
dogma, and questioned the wisdom of the Church's emphasis on individual
salvation without considering the social context in which an individual lived. In a statement of explanation presented to the Manitoba Methodist Church Conference in
1907, he cited concerns with matters such as baptism, tests for those entering the Church, and fasting as a religious exercise. He tendered his resignation, but it was refused and he was offered the opportunity to assume the Superintendency of All People's Mission in Winnipeg's North End. For six years he worked with the poor and immigrant families, and during this time, he wrote and campaigned for compulsory
education, juvenile courts, the construction of playgrounds, and other initiatives in support of
social welfare.
Early social activism
As a Mission worker, Woodsworth had the opportunity to see first hand the appalling circumstances in which many of his fellow citizens lived, and began writing the first of several books decrying the failure to provide workers with a living wage and arguing for the need to create a more egalitarian and compassionate state. In
1909, his
Strangers Within Our Gates was published, followed in
1911 by
My Neighbour. Both of these books remain basic reading in the history of social practice and reform in Canada. Woodsworth established
The People's Forum in
1910, a twice-each-Sunday series of lectures, concerts, and discussions presented by various of Winnipeg's
ethnic groups. This series ran for seven years.
Woodsworth left All People's in
1913 to accept an appointment as Secretary of the
Canadian Welfare League. During this time he travelled extensively throughout the three Canadian
prairie provinces, investigating social conditions, and writing and presenting lectures on his findings. By
1914, he'd become a socialist and an admirer of the
British Labour Party.
In
1916, during
World War I, he was asked to support the National Services Registration, better known as "
conscription". As church ministers were being asked to preach about the duty of men to serve in the
military, Woodsworth decided to publish his objections. As a
pacifist, he was
morally opposed to the Church being used as a vehicle of recruitment, and was fired from his position with the Bureau of Social Research, where he was working at the time. In
1917, he received his final pastoral posting to
Gibson's Landing,
BC. Woodsworth resigned from the Church in
1918 because of its support of the war. "I thought that as a
Christian minister, I was a messenger of the
Prince of Peace," he's quoted as saying.
1
His resignation was accepted.
Political involvement
Woodsworth and his family moved to British Columbia, where, despite his slight stature, he took work as a
stevedore. He joined the
union, helped organize the Federated Labour Party of British Columbia, and wrote for the labor newspaper.
In
1919, he set out on a tour of
Western Canada, arriving in Winnipeg just as the
Winnipeg General Strike was underway. He immediately began presenting addresses at
strike meetings. When the Royal Canadian Mounted Police charged into a crowd of strikers demonstrating in the centre of Winnipeg, killing one person and injuring 30, Woodsworth led the campaign of protest, and soon became involved in organising the Manitoba
Independent Labour Party(ILP).
Woodsworth briefly returned to British Columbia in
1920 to campaign as a Federated Labour Party candidate in
Vancouver. He received 7444 votes, but wasn't elected to the provincial legislature.
He became editor of the
Western Labour News. A week after the editor of the strike bulletin was arrested and charged with
seditious libel, Woodsworth found himself in the same position, but was released on bail after five days' imprisonment, and the charges were never filed. These events were instrumental in establishing Woodsworth's credentials with the
labour movement and in propelling him to a twenty-year tenure in
public office. They also affirmed his beliefs in the importance of
social activism.
In December
1921, Woodsworth was elected as the
Independent Labour Party Member of Parliament for the
riding of Winnipeg North, a
constituency he served until his
death. The first bill he proposed concerned
unemployment insurance and, even though he was informed by the Clerk of the
House of Commons that bills involving federal spending had to be presented by the government, he nonetheless continued to press his case for constitutional reform. Fourteen years later, in
some , the government agreed to strike a committee to discuss possible constitutional reforms. During this time, Woodsworth was an unflagging
advocate for the worker, the farmer, and the immigrant.
Rejecting violent revolution and any association with the new
Communist Party of Canada, Woodsworth became a master of
parliamentary procedure and used the House of Commons as a public platform. He sat with the
Progressive Party of Canada and was a leader of its radical faction, the
Ginger Group.
When the
Canadian Liberal Party nearly lost the
1925 election, Woodsworth was able to bargain his vote in the House for a promise from the Liberal government to enact an
old age pension plan. Introduced in
1927, the plan is the cornerstone of Canada's
social security system. In
1932, Woodsworth toured Europe as a member of the
League of Nations Assembly in
Geneva.
Formation of the CCF
When the
Great Depression struck, Woodsworth and the ILP joined with various other labour and socialist groups in
1932 to found a new socialist party, the
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), with Woodsworth as its first leader. Woodsworth said: "I am convinced that we may develop in Canada a distinctive type of Socialism. I refuse to follow slavishly the British model or the American model or the Russian model. We in Canada will solve our problems along our own lines."
In
1933, the CCF became the official opposition in British Columbia and, in
1934, the party achieved the same result in
Saskatchewan. In the
1935 election, seven CCF Members of Parliament were returned to the House of Commons and the party captured 8.9 percent of the popular vote. The CCF, however, was never able to seriously challenge Canada's two party system. In particular, the enormous prestige of the long-time Liberal Prime Minister,
William Lyon Mackenzie King, prevented the CCF from displacing the Liberals as the main party of the left, as had happened in
Britain,
Australia and
New Zealand.
In
1939, the majority of CCF members refused to support Woodsworth's opposition to Canada's entry into
World War II. During the debate on the declaration of war, Mackenzie King said: "There are few men in this Parliament for whom I've greater respect than the leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. I admire him in my heart, because time and again he's had the courage to say what lays on his conscience, regardless of what the world might think of him. A man of that calibre is an ornament to any Parliament."
Nevertheless, Woodsworth was almost alone in his opposition to the war, and his days as a party leader were over. He was re-elected to the House but in September
1940, but suffered a stroke in the fall and, over the next 18 months, his health deteriorated. He died in
Vancouver,
British Columbia in early
1942, and his ashes were scattered in the
Strait of Georgia.
Woodsworth's daughter,
Grace MacInnis, followed in his footsteps as a CCF politician.
Woodsworth's legacy
J.S. Woodsworth strongly influenced Canadian social policy, and many of the social concepts he pioneered are represented in contemporary programs such as social assistance and medicare, which are deemed to be fundamentally important in Canadian society today. While the party for which he was central founder, today called the
New Democratic Party, has largely abandoned Woodsworth's vision of a socialist Canada, Woodsworth's memory is still held in great respect within the party, and across Canada.
Woodsworth College of the
University of Toronto, and
J. S. Woodsworth Secondary School in
Ottawa,
Ontario (closed in
2005) are named after him. There is also a housing co-operative in downtown Toronto named after him. The Ontario Woodsworth Memorial Foundation merged with the
Douglas-Coldwell Foundation in
1987.
In 2004, a CBC contest rated Woodsworth as the 100th
Greatest Canadian of all time.
Further Information
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