Although it never achieved national power, the CCF exerted a major influence on the shape of Canadian politics and kept the banner of democratic socialism flying in a hostile landscape. In the first full-scale study of a Canadian political party, Dr. Young examines the development of the CCF from its origin as a loose confederation of labour parties and agrarian protest movements in 1932 to its formal alliance with the Canadian Labour Congress in 1961 as the New Democratic Party. The central theme is the relationship between two fundamental aspects of the CCF: its nature as a movement and as a political party.