for the overthrow of capitalism. He declared in a published election statement during the 1921 federal campaign that "The Communist Revolution can triumph only as a world revolution.... In the years 1917, 1918, 1919, all the powers sought to overthrow Soviet Russia; in 1919 they throttled Soviet Hungary.... The existence of the proletarian dictatorship is in constant danger if the workers of other countries do not rally to its support.... The international solidarity of the proletariat is not merely a toy or a fine phrase for the workers, but a vital necessity, without which the cause of the working class is doomed to destruction." In the 1921 race, Penner drew a total of 565 votes in the urban Winnipeg North electoral district in a losing campaign. Penner also stood as a Communist in the 1927 Manitoba provincial election, garnering 2,015 votes on the first count in another losing effort. Communist city council member Penner first ran in a Winnipeg city political race in 1931 when he was selected as the Communist candidate for Mayor of Winnipeg. He would garner 3,954 votes out of 52,572 cast (7.5%), finishing in fourth place in a five candidate race. Penner would run again in the annual election of 1932. In his second effort at election as Winnipeg Mayor, Penner captured 3,495 votes out of 49,387 ballots cast (7.1%), finishing in last place in a four-person race. In 1933, after Communist Party Political Committee member Leslie Morris was stricken from the ballot on a legal technicality, Penner was tapped as a Communist candidate for Winnipeg's city council. In the November 1933 election Penner topped all vote-getters in the city's North End to win election, assuming his seat on January 2, 1934. Penner would be regularly re-elected as a Winnipeg alderman, holding the position until 1960, excepting a time during WWII when he was put in a concentration camp for being a Communist. Penner thereby became the longest serving elected Communist alderman in North America. Penner was very popular among his constituents in the city's impoverished north end and attracted support from across party lines. He was an early advocate of a minimum wage and unemployment insurance and used his political position to campaign for these reforms. In addition to his service in municipal politics, Penner stood for higher electoral office at least two more times, running again for the provincial legislature in the election of