Jump to content

Tim Buck: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Added categories
 
(42 intermediate revisions by 23 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|General Secretary of the Communist Party of Canada from 1929 to 1962}}
{{cleanup|reason=Multiple sections do not have enough references to support the content, and as a biography, this article needs more citations.|date=March 2017}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=July 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{POV|date=October 2022}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2022}}
}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| native_name =
| name = Tim Buck
| image = TimBuck.jpg
| order = [[Chairman]] of the [[Communist Party of Canada]]
| term_start = 1962
| term_end = 1973
| predecessor = [[Bill Kardash]]
| successor = Position abolished
| order2 = [[General Secretary]] of the [[Communist Party of Canada]]
| term_start2 = 1929
| term_end2 = 1962
| predecessor2 = [[Jack MacDonald (communist)|Jack MacDonald]]
| successor2 = [[Leslie Morris]]
| birth_name = Timothy Buck
| birth_date = {{birth date|1891|01|06}}
| birth_place = [[Beccles]], [[England]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1973|03|11|1891|01|06}}
| death_cause =
| death_place = [[Cuernavaca]], [[Mexico]]
| nationality = Canadian
| awards = [[Order of the October Revolution]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/tim-buck |title=Tim Buck |encyclopedia=Canadian Encyclopaedia }}</ref> <br/> [[File:Order october revolution rib.png|80px]]
| spouse =
| alma_mater =
| occupation = Politician
| party = [[Communist Party of Canada]]
| otherparty = [[Labor-Progressive Party]] (1943–1959)
}}

'''Timothy Buck ''' (January 6, 1891 – March 11, 1973) was the [[general secretary]] of the [[Communist Party of Canada]] (known as the [[Labor-Progressive Party]] from 1943 to 1959) from 1929 until 1962. Together with [[Ernst Thälmann]] of Germany, [[Maurice Thorez]] of France, [[Palmiro Togliatti]] of Italy, [[Earl Browder]] of the United States, and [[Harry Pollitt]] of Great Britain, Buck was one of the top leaders of the [[Joseph Stalin]]-era [[Communist International]].

== Early life and career ==
A [[machinist]] by trade, Buck was born in [[Beccles]], England, and emigrated to Canada in 1910 reputedly because it was cheaper to book steamship passage to Canada than to Australia. He became involved in the labour movement and joined the [[International Association of Machinists]] and radical working-class politics in [[Toronto]]. He claimed to have been present at the founding convention of the Communist Party of Canada, though this is disputed. Not initially a leading member of the party, Buck came to prominence as a supporter of [[Joseph Stalin]], and became [[General Secretary]] in 1929, after the old party leadership had been purged for supporting [[Leon Trotsky]], and others removed for supporting [[Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin|Bukharin]]. Buck remained General Secretary until 1962 and was a committed supporter of the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] line throughout his tenure.

== National figure ==
[[File:Worker Buck.jpg|thumb|left|''The Worker'' headline reporting on murder attempt on Buck]]
[[File:Tim Buck at Maple Leaf Gardens.jpg|right|thumb|Tim Buck (left) and others, [[Dominion Communist – Labor Total War Committee]] meeting, [[Maple Leaf Gardens]], October 13, 1942]]
[[File:Tim Buck at Maple Leaf Gardens.jpg|right|thumb|Tim Buck (left) and others, [[Dominion Communist – Labor Total War Committee]] meeting, [[Maple Leaf Gardens]], October 13, 1942]]
'''Timothy "Tim" Buck ''' (January 6, 1891 – March 11, 1973) was a long-time [[general secretary]] of the [[Communist Party of Canada]] (known from the 1940s until the late 1950s as the [[Labor-Progressive Party]]) from 1929 until 1962. Together with [[Ernst Thälmann]] of Germany, [[Maurice Thorez]] of France, [[Palmiro Togliatti]] of Italy, [[Earl Browder]] of the United States, and [[Harry Pollitt]] of Britain, Buck was one of the top leaders of the [[Joseph Stalin]]-era [[Communist International]].


In 1928, Buck was expelled from the [[International Association of Machinists]] for being a member of the Communist Party of Canada.<ref>Rodney, William. ''Soldiers Of The International; A History of the Communist Party of Canada, 1919–1929''. Victoria, British Columbia. University of Toronto Press (1968) P.137</ref> With the onset of the [[Great Depression]], the [[Conservative Party of Canada (historical)|Conservative]] government of [[R. B. Bennett]] became increasingly worried about left-wing activity and agitation. On August 11, 1931, the Communist Party offices in Toronto were raided, and Buck and several of his colleagues were arrested and charged with [[sedition]]. Buck was tried in November, convicted of sedition and sentenced to [[hard labour]].
==Early life and career==
A [[machinist]] by trade, Buck was born in [[Beccles]], [[England]], and emigrated to [[Canada]] in 1910 reputedly because it was cheaper to book steamship passage to Canada than to [[Australia]]. He became involved in the labor movement and joined the [[International Association of Machinists]] and radical working-class politics in [[Toronto]]. In 1921, he participated in the founding convention of the Communist Party of Canada. Not initially a leading member of the party, Buck came to prominence as a supporter of [[Joseph Stalin]], and became [[General Secretary]] in 1929 after the old party leadership had been purged for supporting [[Leon Trotsky|Trotsky]] and others had been removed for supporting [[Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin|Bukharin]]. Buck remained General Secretary until 1962 and was an unquestioning supporter of the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] line throughout his tenure.


He was imprisoned from 1932 to 1934 in [[Kingston Penitentiary]] where he was the target of an apparent assassination attempt in his cell the night after a prison riot. While Buck was sitting in his cell listening to the mêlée outside, eight shots were fired into his cell via a window, narrowly missing the prisoner.<ref>''The Worker'' vol.11 Number 523, December 17, 1932, see image above</ref> In late 1933, [[Minister of Justice (Canada)|Minister of Justice]] [[Hugh Guthrie]] admitted in the [[House of Commons of Canada]] that shots had been deliberately fired into Buck's cell but "just to frighten him." A widespread civil rights campaign ultimately secured Buck's release. His extensive testimony before the [[Archambault report|Archambault Commission]] contributed to the reform of prisons in Canada. As a result, Buck was hailed a heroic champion of [[civil liberties]].
{{POV section|date=January 2017}}


The Communist Party was banned in 1941 under the [[Defence of Canada Regulations]]. Buck and other prominent communist leaders were forced underground and ultimately into exile in the [[United States]] because of their support for the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact|pact between Germany and the Soviet Union]], both of which invaded Poland at the start of the [[Second World War]]. Like supporters and immigrants from the [[Axis Powers]], communists were suspected of collusion with Germany, and all who suspected of strongly supporting the alliance were interned under the [[War Measures Act]]. The political environment began to change only after [[Operation Barbarossa|German invaded the Soviet Union]]. The Soviet Union's entry into [[World War II]] on the side of the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] caused Canadian communists to end their opposition to the war and apparently to become enthusiastic supporters of the Canadian war effort. The party supported the government's call for [[Conscription Crisis of 1944|conscription]] and established [[Dominion Communist-Labor Total War Committee|Tim Buck Plebiscite Committees]], which called for a "Yes" vote in the [[1942 Canadian conscription plebiscite|1942 national plebiscite on conscription]]. The campaigning in support of the war helped change public opinion towards the communists and resulted in the government's release of communist leaders being held in detention and the return of Buck and other leaders from exile. The ban on the party itself was not lifted, but it was allowed to organize the [[Labor-Progressive Party]] as its legal public face.
==National figure==
[[File: Worker Buck.jpg|thumb|left|''The Worker'' headline reporting on murder attempt on Buck]]
In 1928, Buck was expelled from the [[International Association of Machinists]] for being a member of the Communist Party of Canada.<ref>Rodney, William. ''Soldiers Of The International; A History of the Communist Party of Canada, 1919–1929''. Victoria, British Columbia. University of Toronto Press (1968) P.137</ref> With the onset of the [[Great Depression]], the [[Conservative Party of Canada (historical)|Conservative]] government of [[R. B. Bennett]] became increasingly worried about left-wing activity and agitation. On August 11, 1931, the Communist Party offices in Toronto were raided, and Buck and several of his colleagues were arrested and charged with [[sedition]]. Buck was tried in November, convicted of sedition and sentenced to [[hard labor]].


== Electoral politics ==
He was imprisoned from 1932 to 1934 in [[Kingston Penitentiary]] where he was the target of an apparent assassination attempt in his cell the night after a prison riot. While Buck was sitting in his cell listening to the mêlée outside, eight shots were fired into his cell via a window, narrowly missing the prisoner.<ref>''The Worker'' vol.11 Number 523, December 17, 1932, see image above</ref> In late 1933, [[Minister of Justice (Canada)|Minister of Justice]] [[Hugh Guthrie]] admitted in the [[House of Commons of Canada]] that shots had been deliberately fired into Buck's cell, but "just to frighten him". A widespread civil rights campaign ultimately secured Buck's release. His extensive testimony before the [[Archambault report|Archambault Commission]] contributed to the reform of prisons in Canada. As a result, Buck was hailed a heroic champion of [[civil liberties]].
Buck ran for a seat in the House of Commons on five occasions and once for the Toronto city [[Toronto Board of Control|Board of Control]], all unsuccessfully.


in the [[1935 Canadian federal election|1935 federal election]], he ran in [[Winnipeg North]] and won 25% of the vote, placing third. He lost to [[Cooperative Commonwealth Federation]] (CCF) candidate [[Abraham Albert Heaps]].
The Communist Party was banned in 1941 under the [[Defence of Canada Regulations]] and Buck and other prominent Communist leaders were forced underground and ultimately into exile in the [[United States]] because of their support for the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact|pact between Hitler and the USSR]]; both parties mutually invaded Poland which sparked the [[Second World War]]. Like supporters and immigrants from [[Axis Powers|Axis countries]], communists were considered in collusion with Hitler and all suspected of strongly supporting this alliance were interned under the [[War Measures Act]]. The political environment only began to change with the [[Operation Barbarossa|German invasion of the USSR]] and the Soviet Union's entry into [[World War II]] on the side of the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]]. As a result, Canadian Communists ended their opposition to the war and apparently became enthusiastic supporters of the Canadian war effort. The party supported the government's call for [[Conscription Crisis of 1944|conscription]] and established [[Dominion Communist-Labor Total War Committee|Tim Buck Plebiscite Committees]] which called for a "Yes" vote in the 1942 [[1942 Canadian conscription plebiscite|national plebiscite on conscription]]. The campaigning in support of the war helped change public opinion towards the Communists and resulted in the government's release of Communist leaders being held in detention and the return of Buck and other leaders from exile. While the ban on the party itself was not lifted it was allowed to organize the [[Labor-Progressive Party]] as a legal public face.


In the [[1937 Toronto municipal election]] he came within 200 votes of winning a citywide election to the [[Toronto Board of Control]].
==Electoral politics==
Buck ran for a seat in the House of Commons on six occasions. He won 25% of the vote, placing third, when he ran in [[Winnipeg North]] in the [[1935 Canadian federal election|1935 federal election]]. He lost to [[Cooperative Commonwealth Federation]] (CCF) candidate [[Abraham Albert Heaps]]. In the [[1937 Toronto municipal election]] he came within 200 votes of winning a citywide election to the [[Toronto Board of Control]]. He won 26% of the vote when he ran in the Toronto riding of [[Trinity (electoral district)|Trinity]] in the [[1945 Canadian federal election|1945 election]], and 21% in the [[1949 Canadian federal election|1949 election]], finishing ahead of the CCF on both occasions. In the [[1953 Canadian federal election|1953 election]], he won only 8.7% of the vote and then just 3.7% of the vote when he stood one last time in the [[1958 Canadian federal election|1958 election]].


He won 26% of the vote when he ran in the Toronto riding of [[Trinity (electoral district)|Trinity]] in the [[1945 Canadian federal election|1945 election]], and 21% in the [[1949 Canadian federal election|1949 election]], finishing ahead of the CCF on both occasions.
==Retirement and death==

In the [[1953 Canadian federal election|1953 election]], he won only 8.7% of the vote and then just 3.7% of the vote when he stood one last time in the [[1958 Canadian federal election|1958 election]].

== Retirement and death ==
Buck retired as general secretary of the Communist Party of Canada in 1962 but remained in the largely ceremonial position of party chairman until his death in 1973. There was controversy within the party when a posthumous version of his memoirs was published in 1977 by NC Press based on interviews conducted for the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]] in 1965. In ''Yours in the Struggle: Reminiscences of Tim Buck,'' the former party leader criticized [[Nikita Khrushchev]] and was somewhat defensive of Stalin, although not departing from the international Communist movement's current perspective.
Buck retired as general secretary of the Communist Party of Canada in 1962 but remained in the largely ceremonial position of party chairman until his death in 1973. There was controversy within the party when a posthumous version of his memoirs was published in 1977 by NC Press based on interviews conducted for the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]] in 1965. In ''Yours in the Struggle: Reminiscences of Tim Buck,'' the former party leader criticized [[Nikita Khrushchev]] and was somewhat defensive of Stalin, although not departing from the international Communist movement's current perspective.


The main concerns of the party was the claim that the publishers were trying to frame Buck in a pro-[[Maoist]] manner, in regards to the [[Sino-Soviet Split]] where the party had sided with the [[Soviet Union]], and that the loose recordings were in a position to be easily misinterpreted. Those within the [[Central Committee]] responsible for its publication were punished for "grave violation of [[democratic centralism]]".<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/history/canada/socialisthistory/Docs/CPC/YoursIn-79.htm The CPC Condemns Publication of Tim Buck's Reminiscences], [[Communist Party of Canada]], 1977, [[Marxists Internet Archive]]</ref> Earlier in 1975, Progress Books published ''[https://archive.org/details/TimBuckConscienceCanada Tim Buck — A Conscience for Canada]'' by Oscar Ryan, which is considered to be the party-approved biography. In it, Buck was quoted as saying "for a time I gave the appearance of defending Stalin. I didn't defend what he had done; the fact is, nobody could defend the things that Khrushchev revealed."
The main concerns of the party was the claim that the publishers were trying to frame Buck in a pro-[[Maoist]] manner, in regards to the [[Sino-Soviet Split]] where the party had sided with the [[Soviet Union]], and that the loose recordings were in a position to be easily misinterpreted. Those within the [[Central Committee]] responsible for its publication were punished for "grave violation of [[democratic centralism]]".<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/history/canada/socialisthistory/Docs/CPC/YoursIn-79.htm The CPC Condemns Publication of Tim Buck's Reminiscences], [[Communist Party of Canada]], 1977, [[Marxists Internet Archive]]</ref> Earlier in 1975, Progress Books published ''[https://archive.org/details/TimBuckConscienceCanada Tim Buck — A Conscience for Canada]'' by Oscar Ryan, which is considered to be the party-approved biography. In it, Buck was quoted as saying "for a time I gave the appearance of defending Stalin. I didn't defend what he had done; the fact is, nobody could defend the things that Khrushchev revealed."


Canadian Trotskyist Ian Angus also criticized ''Yours in Struggle'' with regards to accusations that Buck had stated misinformation with regards to the purging of alternate voices during his early rise in the party.<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/history/canada/socialisthistory/Docs/History/TimBuckReview.htm Yours in the Struggle: Reminiscences of Tim Buck - Reviewed by Ian Angus], May 1979, [[Marxists Internet Archive]]</ref> He continued this criticism with his 1981 book ''Canadian Bolsheviks: The Early Years of the Communist Party of Canada'', which analyzed the formation and rise of the party, but felt that Tim Buck had betrayed it by promoting himself and a strongly pro-Soviet line.<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/history/canada/socialisthistory/Publications/pubs.htm Announcing the Second Edition of Canadian Bolsheviks: The Early Years of the Communist Party of Canada By Ian Angus], [[Marxists Internet Archive]]</ref>
Canadian Trotskyist Ian Angus also criticized ''Yours in Struggle'' with regards to accusations that Buck had stated misinformation with regards to the purging of alternate voices during his early rise in the party.<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/history/canada/socialisthistory/Docs/History/TimBuckReview.htm Yours in the Struggle: Reminiscences of Tim Buck – Reviewed by Ian Angus], May 1979, [[Marxists Internet Archive]]</ref> He continued this criticism with his 1981 book ''Canadian Bolsheviks: The Early Years of the Communist Party of Canada'', which analyzed the formation and rise of the party, but felt that Tim Buck had betrayed it by promoting himself and a strongly pro-Soviet line.<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/history/canada/socialisthistory/Publications/pubs.htm Announcing the Second Edition of Canadian Bolsheviks: The Early Years of the Communist Party of Canada By Ian Angus], [[Marxists Internet Archive]]</ref>

Buck died in [[Cuernavaca]], [[Mexico]], on March 11, 1973, at age 82.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 14, 1973 |title=Tim Buck, 82, Former Leader Of Canadian Communists, Dies |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/03/14/archives/tim-buck-82-former-leader-of-canadian-communists-dies-a-stormy.html |access-date=July 8, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==Electoral record==
{{Canadian election result/top|CA|1953|Trinity (electoral district)|Trinity|percent=yes|change=yes}}
{{CANelec|CA|Liberal|[[Lionel Conacher]]|8,056|40.94|+6.04}}
{{CANelec|CA|PC|Stanley Frolick|6,019|30.59|+2.30}}
{{CANelec|CA|CCF|Herman A. Voaden|3,877|19.70|+4.51}}
{{CANelec|CA|Labor-Progressive|Tim Buck|1,725|8.77|-12.85}}
{{Canadian election result/total|Total valid votes|19,677}}
{{end}}

{{Canadian election result/top|CA|1949|Trinity (electoral district)|Trinity|percent=yes|change=yes}}
{{CANelec|CA|Liberal|[[Lionel Conacher]]|10,389|34.90|+4.11}}
{{CANelec|CA|PC|[[Larry Skey]]|8,423|28.29|-2.82}}
{{CANelec|CA|Labor-Progressive|Tim Buck|6,438|21.62|-4.53}}
{{CANelec|CA|CCF|Herman A. Voaden|4,522|15.19|+3.23}}
{{Canadian election result/total|Total valid votes|29,772}}
{{end}}

{{Canadian election result/top|CA|1945|Trinity (electoral district)|Trinity|percent=yes|change=yes}}
{{CANelec|CA|PC|[[Larry Skey]]|8,908|31.11|-23.22}}
{{CANelec|CA|Liberal|Ernest Charlton Bogart|8,817|30.79|-11.32}}
{{CANelec|CA|Labor-Progressive|Tim Buck|7,488|26.15|&ndash;}}
{{CANelec|CA|CCF|Herman A. Voaden|3,425|11.96|&ndash;}}
{{Canadian election result/total|Total valid votes|28,638}}
{{end}}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="200px" | [[1937 Toronto municipal election|1937 Toronto Board of Control Election]] <br> ''4 to be elected'' <br>
! bgcolor="#DDDDFF" width="50px" | Vote
|-
| '''[[Frederick J. Conboy]]''' (X) || 60,665
|-
| '''[[William J. Wadsworth]]''' (X) || 53,766
|-
| '''Fred Hamilton''' (X) || 47,493
|-
| '''Douglas McNish''' || 44,402
|-
| Tim Buck || 44,248
|-
| [[Robert Hood Saunders]] || 41,817
|-
| Robert Allen || 15,283
|-
| Harry Bradley || 4,623
|-
|}

{{Canadian election result/top|CA|1935|Winnipeg North|percent=yes|change=yes}}
{{CANelec|CA|CCF|[[Abraham Albert Heaps]]|12,093|42.16|-6.88}}
{{CANelec|CA|Liberal|C.S. Booth|8,412|29.32|+13.95}}
{{CANelec|CA|Communist|Tim Buck|7,276|25.36|&ndash;}}
{{CANelec|CA|Social Credit|Fred John Welwood|905|3.15|&ndash;}}
{{Canadian election result/total|Total valid votes|28,686}}
{{end}}


==See also==
== See also ==
* ''[[Eight Men Speak]]'' (1933), a Canadian play about the imprisonment of eight Communist Party of Canada members, including Tim Buck
*[[Eight Men Speak]]
*[[Communist Party of Canada]]


==References==
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}


==External links==
== External links ==
{{wikiquote}}
{{Wikiquote}}
*[http://www.progressbooks.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51&Itemid=27 Progress Books Online]{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Contains PDF versions of Put Monopoly Under Control and Canada and the Russian Revolution by Tim Buck
* [http://www.progressbooks.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51&Itemid=27 Progress Books Online]{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Contains PDF versions of Put Monopoly Under Control and Canada and the Russian Revolution by Tim Buck
*[http://www.grubstreetbooks.ca/essays/timbuck.html Tim Buck, Too by Morris Wolfe] on Tim Buck's 1931 trial.
* [http://www.grubstreetbooks.ca/essays/timbuck.html Tim Buck, Too by Morris Wolfe] on Tim Buck's 1931 trial.
*[http://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/sections/canada/buck-tim/ Tim Buck Internet Archive]
* [http://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/sections/canada/buck-tim/ Tim Buck Internet Archive]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040911134332/http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/llt/49/01manley.html "Audacity, audacity, still more audacity": Tim Buck, the Party, and the People, 1932–1939] by John Manley
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040911134332/http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/llt/49/01manley.html "Audacity, audacity, still more audacity": Tim Buck, the Party, and the People, 1932–1939] by John Manley
*[https://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&pubid=968163964505&cid=1155726367357&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News Tim Buck: Canada's Communist]
* [https://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&pubid=968163964505&cid=1155726367357&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News Tim Buck: Canada's Communist]


{{Canadian Communist Leaders}}
{{Communist Party of Canada}}


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}
Line 49: Line 148:
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Beccles]]
[[Category:People from Beccles]]
[[Category:Anti-revisionists]]
[[Category:Canadian politicians convicted of crimes]]
[[Category:Canadian prisoners and detainees]]
[[Category:Leaders of the Communist Party of Canada]]
[[Category:Leaders of the Communist Party of Canada]]
[[Category:Communist Party of Canada candidates in the 1935 Canadian federal election]]
[[Category:Communist Party of Canada candidates in the 1935 Canadian federal election]]
Line 56: Line 158:
[[Category:Labor-Progressive Party candidates in the 1953 Canadian federal election]]
[[Category:Labor-Progressive Party candidates in the 1953 Canadian federal election]]
[[Category:Labor-Progressive Party candidates in the 1958 Canadian federal election]]
[[Category:Labor-Progressive Party candidates in the 1958 Canadian federal election]]
[[Category:People convicted of sedition]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of Canada]]

Latest revision as of 02:38, 14 December 2023

Tim Buck
Chairman of the Communist Party of Canada
In office
1962–1973
Preceded byBill Kardash
Succeeded byPosition abolished
General Secretary of the Communist Party of Canada
In office
1929–1962
Preceded byJack MacDonald
Succeeded byLeslie Morris
Personal details
Born
Timothy Buck

(1891-01-06)January 6, 1891
Beccles, England
DiedMarch 11, 1973(1973-03-11) (aged 82)
Cuernavaca, Mexico
NationalityCanadian
Political partyCommunist Party of Canada
Other political
affiliations		Labor-Progressive Party (1943–1959)
OccupationPolitician
AwardsOrder of the October Revolution[1]

Timothy Buck (January 6, 1891 – March 11, 1973) was the general secretary of the Communist Party of Canada (known as the Labor-Progressive Party from 1943 to 1959) from 1929 until 1962. Together with Ernst Thälmann of Germany, Maurice Thorez of France, Palmiro Togliatti of Italy, Earl Browder of the United States, and Harry Pollitt of Great Britain, Buck was one of the top leaders of the Joseph Stalin-era Communist International.

Early life and career

[edit]

A machinist by trade, Buck was born in Beccles, England, and emigrated to Canada in 1910 reputedly because it was cheaper to book steamship passage to Canada than to Australia. He became involved in the labour movement and joined the International Association of Machinists and radical working-class politics in Toronto. He claimed to have been present at the founding convention of the Communist Party of Canada, though this is disputed. Not initially a leading member of the party, Buck came to prominence as a supporter of Joseph Stalin, and became General Secretary in 1929, after the old party leadership had been purged for supporting Leon Trotsky, and others removed for supporting Bukharin. Buck remained General Secretary until 1962 and was a committed supporter of the Soviet line throughout his tenure.

National figure

[edit]
The Worker headline reporting on murder attempt on Buck
Tim Buck (left) and others, Dominion Communist – Labor Total War Committee meeting, Maple Leaf Gardens, October 13, 1942

In 1928, Buck was expelled from the International Association of Machinists for being a member of the Communist Party of Canada.[2] With the onset of the Great Depression, the Conservative government of R. B. Bennett became increasingly worried about left-wing activity and agitation. On August 11, 1931, the Communist Party offices in Toronto were raided, and Buck and several of his colleagues were arrested and charged with sedition. Buck was tried in November, convicted of sedition and sentenced to hard labour.

He was imprisoned from 1932 to 1934 in Kingston Penitentiary where he was the target of an apparent assassination attempt in his cell the night after a prison riot. While Buck was sitting in his cell listening to the mêlée outside, eight shots were fired into his cell via a window, narrowly missing the prisoner.[3] In late 1933, Minister of Justice Hugh Guthrie admitted in the House of Commons of Canada that shots had been deliberately fired into Buck's cell but "just to frighten him." A widespread civil rights campaign ultimately secured Buck's release. His extensive testimony before the Archambault Commission contributed to the reform of prisons in Canada. As a result, Buck was hailed a heroic champion of civil liberties.

The Communist Party was banned in 1941 under the Defence of Canada Regulations. Buck and other prominent communist leaders were forced underground and ultimately into exile in the United States because of their support for the pact between Germany and the Soviet Union, both of which invaded Poland at the start of the Second World War. Like supporters and immigrants from the Axis Powers, communists were suspected of collusion with Germany, and all who suspected of strongly supporting the alliance were interned under the War Measures Act. The political environment began to change only after German invaded the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union's entry into World War II on the side of the Allies caused Canadian communists to end their opposition to the war and apparently to become enthusiastic supporters of the Canadian war effort. The party supported the government's call for conscription and established Tim Buck Plebiscite Committees, which called for a "Yes" vote in the 1942 national plebiscite on conscription. The campaigning in support of the war helped change public opinion towards the communists and resulted in the government's release of communist leaders being held in detention and the return of Buck and other leaders from exile. The ban on the party itself was not lifted, but it was allowed to organize the Labor-Progressive Party as its legal public face.

Electoral politics

[edit]

Buck ran for a seat in the House of Commons on five occasions and once for the Toronto city Board of Control, all unsuccessfully.

in the 1935 federal election, he ran in Winnipeg North and won 25% of the vote, placing third. He lost to Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) candidate Abraham Albert Heaps.

In the 1937 Toronto municipal election he came within 200 votes of winning a citywide election to the Toronto Board of Control.

He won 26% of the vote when he ran in the Toronto riding of Trinity in the 1945 election, and 21% in the 1949 election, finishing ahead of the CCF on both occasions.

In the 1953 election, he won only 8.7% of the vote and then just 3.7% of the vote when he stood one last time in the 1958 election.

Retirement and death

[edit]

Buck retired as general secretary of the Communist Party of Canada in 1962 but remained in the largely ceremonial position of party chairman until his death in 1973. There was controversy within the party when a posthumous version of his memoirs was published in 1977 by NC Press based on interviews conducted for the CBC in 1965. In Yours in the Struggle: Reminiscences of Tim Buck, the former party leader criticized Nikita Khrushchev and was somewhat defensive of Stalin, although not departing from the international Communist movement's current perspective.

The main concerns of the party was the claim that the publishers were trying to frame Buck in a pro-Maoist manner, in regards to the Sino-Soviet Split where the party had sided with the Soviet Union, and that the loose recordings were in a position to be easily misinterpreted. Those within the Central Committee responsible for its publication were punished for "grave violation of democratic centralism".[4] Earlier in 1975, Progress Books published Tim Buck — A Conscience for Canada by Oscar Ryan, which is considered to be the party-approved biography. In it, Buck was quoted as saying "for a time I gave the appearance of defending Stalin. I didn't defend what he had done; the fact is, nobody could defend the things that Khrushchev revealed."

Canadian Trotskyist Ian Angus also criticized Yours in Struggle with regards to accusations that Buck had stated misinformation with regards to the purging of alternate voices during his early rise in the party.[5] He continued this criticism with his 1981 book Canadian Bolsheviks: The Early Years of the Communist Party of Canada, which analyzed the formation and rise of the party, but felt that Tim Buck had betrayed it by promoting himself and a strongly pro-Soviet line.[6]

Buck died in Cuernavaca, Mexico, on March 11, 1973, at age 82.[7]

Electoral record

[edit]
1953 Canadian federal election: Trinity
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Lionel Conacher 8,056 40.94 +6.04
Progressive Conservative Stanley Frolick 6,019 30.59 +2.30
Co-operative Commonwealth Herman A. Voaden 3,877 19.70 +4.51
Labor–Progressive Tim Buck 1,725 8.77 -12.85
Total valid votes 19,677
1949 Canadian federal election: Trinity
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Lionel Conacher 10,389 34.90 +4.11
Progressive Conservative Larry Skey 8,423 28.29 -2.82
Labor–Progressive Tim Buck 6,438 21.62 -4.53
Co-operative Commonwealth Herman A. Voaden 4,522 15.19 +3.23
Total valid votes 29,772
1945 Canadian federal election: Trinity
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Larry Skey 8,908 31.11 -23.22
Liberal Ernest Charlton Bogart 8,817 30.79 -11.32
Labor–Progressive Tim Buck 7,488 26.15 –
Co-operative Commonwealth Herman A. Voaden 3,425 11.96 –
Total valid votes 28,638
1937 Toronto Board of Control Election
4 to be elected
Vote
Frederick J. Conboy (X) 60,665
William J. Wadsworth (X) 53,766
Fred Hamilton (X) 47,493
Douglas McNish 44,402
Tim Buck 44,248
Robert Hood Saunders 41,817
Robert Allen 15,283
Harry Bradley 4,623
1935 Canadian federal election: Winnipeg North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Co-operative Commonwealth Abraham Albert Heaps 12,093 42.16 -6.88
Liberal C.S. Booth 8,412 29.32 +13.95
Communist Tim Buck 7,276 25.36 –
Social Credit Fred John Welwood 905 3.15 –
Total valid votes 28,686

See also

[edit]
  • Eight Men Speak (1933), a Canadian play about the imprisonment of eight Communist Party of Canada members, including Tim Buck

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Tim Buck". Canadian Encyclopaedia.
  2. ^ Rodney, William. Soldiers Of The International; A History of the Communist Party of Canada, 1919–1929. Victoria, British Columbia. University of Toronto Press (1968) P.137
  3. ^ The Worker vol.11 Number 523, December 17, 1932, see image above
  4. ^ The CPC Condemns Publication of Tim Buck's Reminiscences, Communist Party of Canada, 1977, Marxists Internet Archive
  5. ^ Yours in the Struggle: Reminiscences of Tim Buck – Reviewed by Ian Angus, May 1979, Marxists Internet Archive
  6. ^ Announcing the Second Edition of Canadian Bolsheviks: The Early Years of the Communist Party of Canada By Ian Angus, Marxists Internet Archive
  7. ^ "Tim Buck, 82, Former Leader Of Canadian Communists, Dies". The New York Times. March 14, 1973. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to Tim Buck.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Tim_Buck&oldid=1189799826"