 In 1935, Smith led the Canadian delegation to the world congress of the Communist International held in Moscow.When he returned, he echoed the Comintern's new line rejecting the previous Third Period sectarianism of the party and advocating class unity and ultimately Popular Frontism in its stead resulting in the dissolution of the party's red union, the Workers' Unity League into the American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organizations.Smith was elected to Toronto City Council as an alderman beginning in 1937 and, in the 1945 municipal election, was elected to the powerful Toronto Board of Control and was elected again in 1946 before being defeated in 1947 as the result of a strong anti-Communist campaign.