KING VS. COLDWELL
Taylor, Harold
King vs. Coldwell Wartime Canada And The CCF LEFT TURN, CANADA, M. J. Coldwell, Duell, Sloan & Pearce, N. Y. $2.75. CANADA AND THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, W. L. Mackenzie King, Duell, Sloan & Pearce,...
...CANADA AND THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, W. L. Mackenzie King, Duell, Sloan & Pearce, N. Y. $3.50...
...Coldwell's book is dotted with homely stories of the shoe-string work CCF members undertook to organize the 13-year-old party, and the self-sacrifice of farmers and workers wife gave money to their organization when there was hardly enough money for their daily food...
...Coldwell says that, "The story of the rise to importance of the CCF is a story of the self-sacrificing efforts of thousands of humble and obscure persons who have devotedly given of their time and slender resources" to build a new Canada...
...Coldwell describes the advance of the progressive movement in Canada from its humble beginning in the Canadian midwest to its present provincial and nationwide position...
...Since October, 1944, it has introduced progressive labor laws, economic reforms, health services, cooperative markets, more educational services, higher pay for teachers, and a social security program...
...King does not seem to have spent much time in economic planning for peace...
...Coldwell believes lies in the practical way it has planned for actual social problems such as crop-failure, starvation of animals and men in farming countries, unfair grain markets, wage stabilization, and price control...
...Its elected members of the government in Saskatchewan are composed of 30 farmers, one farmer's wife, 6 union members, and 10 small businessmen...
...Coldwell in the election (118 seats to 26), but lost to him badly in the battle of the books...
...King's time during the war, and his defense of his Government's position in this matter takes up the largest section of the book...
...The knotty Canadian problem of conscription occupied a great deal of Mr...
...Coldwell discusses in detail the operation of the Saskatchewan socialist government...
...King, when he is not taring about the efficiency of Canada's war effort and her contribution to victory, deals in political abstractions, rather than practical problems...
...Reviewed by Harold Taylor IF POLITICAL ISSUES were decided merely by books and ideas, the recent election in Canada might have returned a socialistic majority to the Dominion House of Commons...
...On the other side...
...Prime Minister Mackenzie King in his new book, Canada and the Fight for Freedom, has published a series of speeches which praise his" government's conduct of the war...
...Socialist leader M. J. Coldwell, in his new book, Left Turn, Canada, has stated a party platform for the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) which is full of fresh ideas for meeting postwar conditions in Canada...
...restate the position of the Liberal party which he leads, and, amongst other things, advocate voluntary temperance for wartime Canada...
...The union of the common people in a socialistic attempt to get security in a capitalist system has meant that when private enterprise has shown it has not nor does not intend to sell out the consumers' interest for private profit, it is allowed to continue under its own management...
...He complains of criticism of his government on the grounds that it is destroying national unity...
...The success of the movement...
...This has meant, he asserts, a much more flexible and open-minded kind of socialism than is usual in political philosophies of that name...
...THE members of the CCF party are for the most part farmers, workers, high school teachers, or clergymen...
...King beat Mr...
...In one of the most interesting chapters of the book, Mr...
...ON the other hand, Mr...
...In the effort to conduct Canada's part in the war successfully, Mr...
...He exhorts Labor to work harder and drink less, he asks for freedom, liberalism, and cooperation without indictating specifically how he intends to help obtain them...
...It now provides a compact body of opposition in several provinces and in the dominion parliament, and, as provincial government in Saskatchewan, has already shown how a socialist state can actually operate in the interest of farmer, worker, and consumer...
...The comparison of King's book with Coldwell's naturally suffers, since the former is a set of speeches delivered on special occasions...
...It provides a model which oter provinces and state legislatures might very wel use for experiment...
...This is without doubt true...
...As a consequence, for sheer liberalism and liberal thinking about social matters of importance, the Socialist Coldwell has outdone the Liberal King...
Vol. 9 • July 1945 • No. 27
