Description
Book SynopsisFew prairie political parties can approach the Saskatchewan Liberals’ record of success and longevity. For much of its history the party was unrivalled in its mastery of organization, earning of the reputation of being a ‘machine.’ Yet until this book appeared relatively little scholarly attention had been paid to it.
Professor Smith examines the evolution of the Liberals in Saskatchewan from the period of their early dominance to the present, when they are part of the country’s most competitive two-party system. The old Liberal machine, which held office for thirty-four of the thirty-nine years between 1905 and 1944, succumbed over time to the onslaught of the Ku Klux Klan, the economic disaster of the thirties, and finally, to the rise of a vigorous opponent.
It took twenty years for the Liberals to return to power after their overwhelming defeat in 1944. Only when they had found a dynamic leader who was a renegade socialist, forsaken
