James Litterick

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

James Litterick
Manitoba Legislative Assembly
for Winnipeg
In office
27 July 1936 – 1940
Personal details
Born(1901-07-15)15 July 1901
Communist Party of Manitoba
SpouseMolly Bassin (m. 1936)
Professionpolitician
DisappearedMissing for 81 years and 4 months
StatusUncertain

James Litterick (born 15 July 1901; date of death unknown) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada,[1] and was the first member of the Communist Party of Canada to be elected to that province's legislature.[2]

Biography

Early life

Litterick was born in

socialist). He was jailed for his role in a rent riot at Clydebank in 1920, and joined the newly formed Communist Party of Great Britain the same year.[4]

Politics

Litterick moved to

Workers Unity League, a Communist trade union umbrella designed to build a revolutionary trade union movement in Canada. When Communist Party leader Tim Buck was arrested in 1931, Litterick moved to Toronto to take over some of his responsibilities.[4]

He soon moved to Winnipeg. In 1934, Litterick was selected as Provincial Secretary of the

Communist Party of Manitoba.[3]

He married Molly Bassin in 1936.[3]

MLA: 1936–40

He was elected to the Manitoba legislature in the provincial election of 1936,[1] during a period of increased popularity for the party. His campaign focused on eliminating the province's 2% wage tax.

In that election, he was very popular among

Single Transferable Voting
. Stubbs was declared elected and on the second count, his surplus votes were transferred away. Litterick received enough votes from him to be declared elected.

Litterick regarded himself as an ally of Stubbs, a popular left-wing judge and Independent Socialist. Litterick's primary support base was in Winnipeg's working-class north end. He received considerable support from the city's

Jewish
community. (His wife, Molly, was Jewish.)

As MLA, he delivered a speech entitled "Whither Manitoba" in 1937. It was subsequently issued as a pamphlet.

Litterick was not a major figure in the national Communist Party. he did not play a significant public role in the party's national activities.

Because of his loyalty to

imperialist
venture, in light of the Soviet Union's neutrality in the conflict at the time. (Later the CPC put their support behind the war after Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.)

Later life

He was expelled from the Manitoba legislature in 1940, after the Communist Party was declared an illegal organization. He had already gone into hiding,[6] apparently the subject of a Royal Canadian Mounted Police manhunt.

Information about Litterick's whereabouts after 1940 is limited. He appears in a photograph of Canada's wartime Communist Party leaders, apparently taken in Montreal in 1942.[7] [citation needed] He surrendered to the RCMP in Toronto in 1942 and was interned in the Don Jail.[8] In 1943, it was reported that he was working at a garment factory in Toronto.[6]

In his book, Canadian Communism, Norman Penner writes, citing as his source his father Jacob Penner's personal notes, "After the war, Litterick was expelled from the Party for 'cowardice.'"[9]

See also

  • List of people who disappeared

References

  1. ^ a b "MLA Biographies - Deceased". Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. Archived from the original on 30 March 2014.
  2. ^ Smith, Doug (1985). Let us rise! : a history of the Manitoba labour movement. p. 93. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d "James Litterick (1901-?)". Manitoba Historical Society. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  4. ^ a b c "Elected Communist Joined Socialists When Only 16". Leader-Post. Regina. 30 July 1936. p. 1. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  5. ^ "Aid Is Pledged By Communists". Winnipeg Evening Tribune. 2 September 1939. p. 4. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  6. ^ a b "Under the Golden Boy - Manitoba's M.L.A.'s". Winnipeg Evening Tribune. 22 March 1943. p. 11. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  7. ^ Classiques.uqac.ca
  8. ^ "Tim Buck, Jim Litterick Give Selves Up". Winnipeg Evening Tribune. 25 September 1942. p. 11. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  9. ISBN 0-458-81310-9
    .
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_Litterick&oldid=1213336512"