The Prairie Populist: George Hara Williams and the Untold Story of the Ccf

368 Pages·2018·2.201 MB·English

by  J.F. Conway

The PRAIRIE POPULIST

The PRAIRIE POPULIST
George Hara Williams and
the Untold Story of the CCF
An Essay on Radical Leadership in a
Time of Crisis and the Victory of
Socialist Agrarian Populism, 1921–1944
J.F. CONWAY
© 2018 John F. Conway
All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyrights hereon may
be reproduced or used in any form or by any means — graphic, electronic, or
mechanical — without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any request
for photocopying, recording, taping or placement in information storage and
retrieval systems of any sort shall be directed in writing to Access Copyright.
Printed and bound in Canada at Marquis. The text of this book is printed on
100% post-consumer recycled paper with earth-friendly vegetable-based inks.
Cover design: Duncan Campbell, University of Regina Press
Text design: John van der Woude, jvdw Designs
Copy editor: Alison Jacques
Proofreader: Kristine Douaud
Indexer: Patricia Furdek
Cover art: “Vintage Farmer Person 1930’s Old Man Smoking Hat.” Licensed under cc0
1.0 Universal (cc0 1.0), public domain.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Conway, John Frederick, author
The prairie populist : George Hara Williams and the untold story of the ccf :
an essay on radical leadership in a time of crisis and the victory of socialist agrarian
populism, 1921-1944 / J.F. Conway.
Includes bibliographical references and index. Issued in print and electronic formats.
isbn 978-0-88977-545-9 (softcover). —isbn 978-0-88977-546-6 (pdf).—isbn 978-0-
88977-547-3 (html)
1. Williams, G. H. (George Hara), 1894-1945. 2. Politicians —Saskatchewan—
Biography. 3. Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. 4. Populism—Saskatchewan—
History—20th century. 5. Socialism—Saskatchewan—History—20th century.
6. Saskatchewan—Politics and government—1905-1929. 7. Saskatchewan—Politics and
government—1934-1944. 8. Biographies. I. Title.
fc3522.1.w546c66 2018 971.24'02 c2018-900968-3 c2018-900969-1
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
University of Regina Press, University of Regina
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, s4s 0a2
tel: [phone] fax: [phone]
web: www.uofrpress.ca
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our
publishing program. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government
of Canada. / Nous reconnaissons l’appui financier du gouvernement du
Canada. This publication was made possible with support from Creative
Saskatchewan’s Creative Industries Production Grant Program.
Dedicated to Muriel Wiens and Friedrich Steininger,
who kept the story of George Hara Williams alive.

A great man is great, not in his personal features lending an
individual complexion to historic events, but in his posses-
sion of traits which make him the most capable of serving
his time’s great social needs, which have arisen under the
influence of general and particular causes. . . . A great man
is precisely great because he sees farther than others do and
his desires are stronger than in others. . . . [H]e indicates the
new social needs created by the previous development of
social relations; he assumes the initiative in meeting those
needs. . . . Therein lie all his significance, all his power. But it is
a vast significance, and an awesome power.
— G. V. Plekhanov, On the Question of the
Individual’s Role in History (1898)
Social science deals with problems of biography, of history,
and of their intersections within social structures.
— C. Wright Mills, The Sociological Imagination (1959)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Photographs xi
Author’s Note xiii
Preface xv
Acknowledgments xix
Prologue George Hara Williams: A Word Portrait xxi
Part I. Introduction
Chapter 1 George Hara Williams: Roots to 1921 3
Chapter 2 The Political and Economic Context:
The Rise of the United Farmers of Canada
(Saskatchewan Section), 1922 to 1926 17
Part II. The Drive for Power
Chapter 3 Leading the Farmers into Politics: 1926 to 1931 51
Chapter 4 Building the ccf:
Leadership Lost and Regained, 1931 to 1936 91
Chapter 5 Building the ccf:
Defeating Social Credit, 1936 to 1938 139
x Table of Contents
Part III. The Fall of Williams
Chapter 6 Fighting the War in the ccf and in Europe:
1937 to 1944 169
Chapter 7 Endgame: The 1944 Election 201
Part IV. Williams in Canadian History
Chapter 8 The Shame of the Intellectuals 217
Chapter 9 Conclusion: Williams in Canadian History 245
Afterword 259
Chronology 261
Abbreviations 269
Notes 271
Bibliographic Notes 295
Bibliography 313
Index 325