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Fred Rose (politician)
Encyclopedia
Fred Rose (December 7, 1907 – March 16, 1983) was a Communist politician and trade union
organizer in Canada
. He was born in Lublin
in what is now Poland
, part of Russia at the time. He emigrated to Canada as a child in 1916. He became involved with the Young Communist League of Canada
, and then joined the Communist Party of Canada
while working in a factory. However, he is best known as the only Member of the Canadian Parliament
ever convicted of spying for a foreign country.
Rose was jailed during the 1930s for sedition, and won the hatred of Quebec
Premier Maurice Duplessis
for writing about the close connections between the Duplessis government and the fascist governments of Adolf Hitler
and Benito Mussolini
. He was a close associate of Dr. Norman Bethune, who served first in Spain
during the Spanish Civil War
and later in China
. He was a candidate for the Communist Party of Canada
in the working class
Montreal
-area riding
of Cartier
in the 1935 federal election
, coming in second with 16% of the vote.
Early in World War II
, the Communist Party in Canada was formally banned, then reorganized as the Labour Progressive Party. Rose, who was Jewish, won election to the House of Commons
as an LPP candidate from Cartier in a 1943 by-election
. He won with 30% of the vote in a tight four way race, beating among others, David Lewis
of the social democratic
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
(CCF). Rose was re-elected in the 1945 election
with 40% of the vote. Most of the riding's immigrant Jewish population voted for Rose, who benefitted from the perception that the Soviet Union was the main hope for saving Europe's Jews from Hitler; his main rival, Paul Massé, of the anti-war Bloc Populaire, who came second, was supported by the French Canadian population of the constituency. As a Member of Parliament, Rose proposed the first medicare
legislation and the first anti-hate legislation.
Fred Rose was caught up in the world political sea change following World War II, when seemingly overnight, the Soviet Union
went from ally to enemy. In July 1945, Igor Gouzenko
, a young cipher
clerk in the Soviet embassy in Ottawa
, was recalled to his homeland. Rather than return home, Gouzenko defected with documents showing evidence of a massive Soviet spy ring operating in Canada.
Few took his accusations and evidence seriously at first. Later, as the Cold War
began to heat up, a Royal Commission on espionage was established, headed by two Supreme Court justices, Roy Kellock
and Robert Taschereau
. Scores of people were rounded up under the War Measures Act
, held incommunicado for weeks on end, without legal counsel and barred from all contact with the outside world. Meanwhile, the Royal Commission issued a stream of press releases about the "Red menace
". Prisoners were forcefully told to incriminate themselves and others under the penalty of contempt of court.
Fred Rose was the ultimate target, although the charges against him were non-specific, making his defence difficult. At one point, he was defending himself against conspiracy, and at another against violating the Official Secrets Act.
In this charged atmosphere, Rose refused to testify at his trial, which was designed, he said, to "smear honest and patriotic Canadians". Rose denied his guilt to his death. Nevertheless, he was sentenced to prison for a term just one day longer than was required to deprive him of his elected seat in the House of Commons.
Rose wrote to the Speaker of the House, Gaspard Fauteux, on January 24, 1947:
His letter was returned to him at St. Vincent de Paul Penitentiary, and his fellow MPs never read this appeal. On January 30, 1947, he was expelled from Parliament.
Rose was released from prison in 1951 after four and a half years with his health broken. Attempting to find work in Montreal, he was tailed from jobsite to jobsite by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP), who pointed out to employers and workmates that he was a convicted spy.
In 1953 he went to Poland to attempt to set up an import-export business and to obtain health treatment he could not afford in Canada. He worked for many years as English-language editor of Poland, a magazine of Polish culture and civilization designed for sale in the West. While living in Poland, his Canadian citizenship was revoked in 1957, and he was unable to return to Canada to lead the fight to clear his name.
His appeal against revoking his citizenship was denied, although in 1958 Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Ellen Fairclough
amended the Citizenship Act
with the Fred Rose amendment so that such a removal of Canadian citizenship could never happen again. Years later, former federal cabinet minister
Allan MacEachen
acknowledged the pages of Prime Minister
William Lyon Mackenzie King
's diary dealing with Rose had gone missing, as had most of the other records dealing with his case.
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
organizer in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. He was born in Lublin
Lublin
Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...
in what is now Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, part of Russia at the time. He emigrated to Canada as a child in 1916. He became involved with the Young Communist League of Canada
Young Communist League of Canada
The Young Communist League of Canada is a Marxist-Leninist youth organization which fights to build a powerful youth and student movement across Canada and for socialism.According to their website,- History :...
, and then joined the Communist Party of Canada
Communist Party of Canada
The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...
while working in a factory. However, he is best known as the only Member of the Canadian Parliament
Parliament of Canada
The Parliament of Canada is the federal legislative branch of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in the national capital, Ottawa. Formally, the body consists of the Canadian monarch—represented by her governor general—the Senate, and the House of Commons, each element having its own officers and...
ever convicted of spying for a foreign country.
Rose was jailed during the 1930s for sedition, and won the hatred of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
Premier Maurice Duplessis
Maurice Duplessis
Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis served as the 16th Premier of the Canadian province of Quebec from 1936 to 1939 and 1944 to 1959. A founder and leader of the highly conservative Union Nationale party, he rose to power after exposing the misconduct and patronage of Liberal Premier Louis-Alexandre...
for writing about the close connections between the Duplessis government and the fascist governments of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
. He was a close associate of Dr. Norman Bethune, who served first in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
during the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
and later in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. He was a candidate for the Communist Party of Canada
Communist Party of Canada
The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...
in the working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
-area riding
Electoral district (Canada)
An electoral district in Canada, also known as a constituency or a riding, is a geographical constituency upon which Canada's representative democracy is based...
of Cartier
Cartier (electoral district)
Cartier was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1925 to 1968.It was created in 1924 from parts of George-Étienne Cartier riding....
in the 1935 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1935
The Canadian federal election of 1935 was held on October 14, 1935 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 18th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal Party of William Lyon Mackenzie King won a majority government, defeating Prime Minister R.B. Bennett's Conservative Party.The central...
, coming in second with 16% of the vote.
Early in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Communist Party in Canada was formally banned, then reorganized as the Labour Progressive Party. Rose, who was Jewish, won election to the House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
as an LPP candidate from Cartier in a 1943 by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
. He won with 30% of the vote in a tight four way race, beating among others, David Lewis
David Lewis (politician)
David Lewis, CC was a Russian-born Canadian labour lawyer and social democratic politician. He was national secretary of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation from 1936 to 1950, and one of the key architects of the New Democratic Party in 1961...
of the social democratic
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction...
(CCF). Rose was re-elected in the 1945 election
Canadian federal election, 1945
The Canadian federal election of 1945 was the 20th general election in Canadian history. It was held June 11, 1945 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 20th Parliament of Canada...
with 40% of the vote. Most of the riding's immigrant Jewish population voted for Rose, who benefitted from the perception that the Soviet Union was the main hope for saving Europe's Jews from Hitler; his main rival, Paul Massé, of the anti-war Bloc Populaire, who came second, was supported by the French Canadian population of the constituency. As a Member of Parliament, Rose proposed the first medicare
Medicare (Canada)
Medicare is the unofficial name for Canada's publicly funded universal health insurance system. The formal terminology for the insurance system is provided by the Canada Health Act and the health insurance legislation of the individual provinces and territories.Under the terms of the Canada Health...
legislation and the first anti-hate legislation.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
went from ally to enemy. In July 1945, Igor Gouzenko
Igor Gouzenko
Igor Sergeyevich Gouzenko was a cipher clerk for the Soviet Embassy to Canada in Ottawa, Ontario. He defected on September 5, 1945, with 109 documents on Soviet espionage activities in the West...
, a young cipher
Cipher
In cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption — a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is encipherment. In non-technical usage, a “cipher” is the same thing as a “code”; however, the concepts...
clerk in the Soviet embassy in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, was recalled to his homeland. Rather than return home, Gouzenko defected with documents showing evidence of a massive Soviet spy ring operating in Canada.
Few took his accusations and evidence seriously at first. Later, as the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
began to heat up, a Royal Commission on espionage was established, headed by two Supreme Court justices, Roy Kellock
Roy Kellock
Roy Lindsay Kellock, was a Canadian Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. Born in Perth, Ontario, he graduated from McMaster University with a B.A. in 1915. Justice Kellock was called to bar in 1920 and appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in 1942...
and Robert Taschereau
Robert Taschereau
Robert Taschereau, CC, PC was a lawyer who became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and who briefly served as acting Governor General of Canada following the death of Georges Vanier in 1967.-Biography:...
. Scores of people were rounded up under the War Measures Act
War Measures Act
The War Measures Act was a Canadian statute that allowed the government to assume sweeping emergency powers in the event of "war, invasion or insurrection, real or apprehended"...
, held incommunicado for weeks on end, without legal counsel and barred from all contact with the outside world. Meanwhile, the Royal Commission issued a stream of press releases about the "Red menace
Red menace
Red Menace or red menace may refer to:* Red Scare or Red Menace, a term starting during the Cold War era to describe the Soviet Union or an "international communist conspiracy"...
". Prisoners were forcefully told to incriminate themselves and others under the penalty of contempt of court.
Fred Rose was the ultimate target, although the charges against him were non-specific, making his defence difficult. At one point, he was defending himself against conspiracy, and at another against violating the Official Secrets Act.
In this charged atmosphere, Rose refused to testify at his trial, which was designed, he said, to "smear honest and patriotic Canadians". Rose denied his guilt to his death. Nevertheless, he was sentenced to prison for a term just one day longer than was required to deprive him of his elected seat in the House of Commons.
Rose wrote to the Speaker of the House, Gaspard Fauteux, on January 24, 1947:
-
"Mr. Speaker: If the will of the people is to prevail, if justice is to be done, there can be no question of my expulsion from the house. To the contrary, I should be in my seat in the House of Commons and not in the penitentiary. Parliament is the highest of Courts. Through its actions in my case it will decide whether hysteria is to continue or whether reason and justice are to prevail. Respectfully, Fred Rose, M.P."
His letter was returned to him at St. Vincent de Paul Penitentiary, and his fellow MPs never read this appeal. On January 30, 1947, he was expelled from Parliament.
Rose was released from prison in 1951 after four and a half years with his health broken. Attempting to find work in Montreal, he was tailed from jobsite to jobsite by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
(RCMP), who pointed out to employers and workmates that he was a convicted spy.
In 1953 he went to Poland to attempt to set up an import-export business and to obtain health treatment he could not afford in Canada. He worked for many years as English-language editor of Poland, a magazine of Polish culture and civilization designed for sale in the West. While living in Poland, his Canadian citizenship was revoked in 1957, and he was unable to return to Canada to lead the fight to clear his name.
His appeal against revoking his citizenship was denied, although in 1958 Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Ellen Fairclough
Ellen Fairclough
Ellen Louks Fairclough, was the first female member of the Canadian Cabinet.Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Fairclough was a chartered accountant by training, and ran an accounting firm prior to entering politics...
amended the Citizenship Act
Canadian Citizenship Act 1946
The Canadian Citizenship Act is an Act of the Parliament of Canada, which was enacted June 27, 1946, and came into effect on January 1, 1947, recognizing the definition of a Canadian, including reference to them being British subjects....
with the Fred Rose amendment so that such a removal of Canadian citizenship could never happen again. Years later, former federal cabinet minister
Cabinet of Canada
The Cabinet of Canada is a body of ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms the government of Canada...
Allan MacEachen
Allan MacEachen
Allan Joseph MacEachen, PC, OC is a retired Canadian politician, a many-time Cabinet minister, a retired Senator, one of Canada's elder statesmen, and was the first Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, serving from 1977 to 1979 and 1980 to 1984.-Early life:Born in Inverness on Nova Scotia's Cape...
acknowledged the pages of Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...
's diary dealing with Rose had gone missing, as had most of the other records dealing with his case.
See also
- Communist Party of CanadaCommunist Party of CanadaThe Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...
- Lea Roback
- Igor GouzenkoIgor GouzenkoIgor Sergeyevich Gouzenko was a cipher clerk for the Soviet Embassy to Canada in Ottawa, Ontario. He defected on September 5, 1945, with 109 documents on Soviet espionage activities in the West...
- Maurice DuplessisMaurice DuplessisMaurice Le Noblet Duplessis served as the 16th Premier of the Canadian province of Quebec from 1936 to 1939 and 1944 to 1959. A founder and leader of the highly conservative Union Nationale party, he rose to power after exposing the misconduct and patronage of Liberal Premier Louis-Alexandre...
- Padlock LawPadlock LawThe Padlock Law The Padlock Law (officially called "Act to protect the Province Against Communistic Propaganda") The Padlock Law (officially called "Act to protect the Province Against Communistic Propaganda") (QcFr: "La loi du cadenas" / "Loi protégeant la province contre la propagande...