The League for Social Reconstruction: Intellectual Origins of the Democratic Left in Canada, 1930-1942

Notes: "The LSR [League for Social Reconstruction] was a product of the depression. ... Their central aim, expressed in the Regina Manifesto of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) drafted by LSR leaders Frank Scott and Frank Underhill, and in the LSR Manifesto, was to work 'for the establishment in Canada of a social order in which the basic principles regulating production, distribution and service will be the common good rather than private profit'" (p. 56). "It is possible that the liberal, secular outlook of the LSR founders prompted them to overlook the link between their own early religious training and their social consciences. .... This capacity on the part of LSR members 'undoubtedly owed much to their religious convictions or background. Too many of them were children of the manse or belonged to the Fellowship for Christian Social Order (FCSO) for the historian to ignore' (33)" (p. 57-58). "This is also a story about the struggle for intellectual freedom in Canadian universities. The circumstances surrounding King Gordon's release from United Theological College in Montreal, attempts by Ontario premiers to have Frank Underhill and Eric Havelock fired, the reluctance of sympathetic colleagues to be publicly identified with the LSR or the CCF, will amaze today's reader" (p. 58-59).

Subjects: League for Social Reconstruction - History - Book reviews; Radicalism - Canada - History - Book reviews; Canada - Politics and government - 1914-1945 - Book reviews