J. S. Woodsworth
Canadian politician
Died when: 67 years 235 days (811 months)Star Sign: Leo
James Shaver Woodsworth (July 29, 1874 – March 21, 1942) was a pre–First World War pioneer of the Canadian Social Gospel, a Christian religious movement with social democratic values and links to organized labour.
He was a long-time leader and publicist in the movement and was an elected politician under the label, serving as MP from 1921 to his death in 1942.
He helped found the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), a forerunner of today's New Democratic Party (NDP), in 1932.While studying at Oxford, he became interested in social welfare, and upon his return to Canada as a minister of the Methodist church he preached the Social Gospel to the poor and the working classes of Manitoba.
As the superintendent of the All People's Mission in Winnipeg and the secretary of the Canadian Welfare League he focused on investigating social conditions, worked with immigrants, and campaigned for social welfare.
Woodsworth's focus on social issues and inequality led him to become active in the political labour movement in Canada.He led the protest campaign following the brutal police action which caused one person to be killed during the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919 and helped to organize the Manitoba Independent Labour Party (ILP).
He ran and was elected to the House of Commons as a member of the ILP in 1921.In 1932 during the Great Depression, Woodsworth and the ILP along with other socialist and labour groups founded the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), with Woodsworth as its leader.
The CCF, Canada's first widely successful socialist party, evolved into today's New Democratic Party.Woodsworth influenced many of Canada's contemporary social programs including social assistance, pensions and medicare.
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