Альберт Эдвард Смит: Жизнь канадского священника и политика

Canadian politician (1871–1947)

Albert Edward Smith (October 20, 1871 – April 12, 1947), known as A. E. Smith, was a Canadian religious leader and politician. A social gospeller, Smith was for many years a minister in the Canadian Methodist Church before starting his own "People's Church". He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1920 to 1922 as a Labour representative. In 1925, he became a member of the Communist Party of Canada.

Smith was born on October 20, 1871, in Guelph, Ontario, the son of William George Smith and Elizabeth Bildson, working class immigrants from England. He worked as a machinist's apprentice and later a bookbinder to contribute to the family's income. His family later moved to Hamilton, where he developed an interest in religion after joining the Gore Street Methodist Church. After passing an oral examination, he became a lay preacher in 1888. In 1890 Smith was transferred to MacGregor, Manitoba, to begin field work. His appointment came from James Woodsworth, and father of J. S. Woodsworth. Smith was a vocal supporter of Thomas Greenway's Liberal government in Manitoba during the 1890s. During the Manitoba Schools Question, he defended the Greenway government's decision to remove funding from French language denominational schools.

After three years' work as a probationer, Smith enrolled as a student for the ministry at Wesley College in Winnipeg in 1893. He was formally ordained to the ministry in 1897. He married Maude Mercy Rogers in 1898, with whom he would have seven children. However, running against Premier Henry as well as CCF candidate Arthur Henry Williams, president of the East York Workers' Association, Smith came in fourth with 645 votes. Also in 1934, Smith polled a surprising 8,500 votes when he ran for Mayor of Toronto. Returning again to northern Ontario, Smith ran for the House of Commons as a candidate of the Communist Party in the 1935 federal election. He received 1,161 votes for a fourth place finish in Port Arthur.

Smith largely curtailed his political activities after this time, though he remained an active figure within the Communist Party. He returned to Manitoba for the 1945 federal election, and campaigned for the Labor Progressive Party (as the Communist Party had renamed itself) in his old riding of Brandon. He received 497 votes, finishing fourth. The winner was Liberal James Ewen Matthews. Smith died on April 12, 1947 in Toronto. His autobiography, All My Life, was published posthumously in 1949. The work chronicles his religious and political evolution, and gives extensive consideration to the Communist Party's struggles of the 1930s. To the end of his life, Smith argued that his beliefs were a reflection of the message promoted by Jesus. A. E. Smith's son, Stewart Smith, was a leading member of the Communist Party in his own right.