Interviews with former members of the Communist Party of Canada collection. 40 audio cassettes. – 1984-1987.

Index
 

Box 1

Item 01. Manya Lipschitz, second interview. 7 Jul. 1986. (11 min., 38 sec.; 29 min., 30 sec.)

Subjects: Trotskyism. | United Jewish People’s Order; Canadian Leftist politics; Current political views; Advice for young people; Memories of former Communist Party of Canada members.

Language note: Yiddish, English

Item 02. Morris Biderman, second interview. 11 Jul. 1985. (47 min., 13 sec.; 36 min., 10 sec.)

Subjects: Appeal of Communist movement; Trade Unionism; Current political views; Communist Party of Canada, break from; J.B. Salsberg; Visit to the Soviet Union; Soviet persecution of Jewish writers. | Current political views; German-Soviet Pact; Reflections on Communist movement.
           
Item 03. Al Hershkovitz, first interview. 3 June 1985. (47 min., 14 sec.; 35 min., 38 sec.)

Subjects: Appeal of Communist movement; Childhood memories; Communist Party of Canada, activities with; Communist Party of Canada, loyalty to; Early experience with Communism; Jewish identity; German-Soviet Pact; Trade Unionism. | Current political views; Khrushchev’s Secret Speech.

Item 04. Al Hershkovitz, second interview. 17 Aug. 1987. (47 min., 33 sec.; 12 min., 16 sec.)

Subjects: Trotskyism; Marshall Plan; Social Democracy; Trade Unionism; Canadian Jewish Congress conference [ca. 1954]; German invasion of Soviet Union; Khrushchev’s Secret Speech; Tito-Stalin Split. | Hungarian Revolution of 1956, Soviet invasion; Communist Party of Canada, contributions to Canadian society; Jewish identity; Trotskyism; Kronstadt Rebellion, 1917.
           
Item 05. Sam Lipshitz, second interview. 21 Nov. 1984. (19 min., 17 sec.)

Subjects: Soviet persecution of Jewish writers; Canadian Spy Trials; Social Democracy; Trotskyism; Disillusionment; Millenarianism; Appeal of Communist movement.

Note: Side A [19:18 – 47:00] and Side B [0:00 – 8:35] of the original tapes include unrelated recordings which have been excised from the available digital copy due to a confidentiality issue.

Item 06. Dave Kashtan, first interview, part 1. 1985. (47 min., 14 sec.; 47 min., 15 sec.)

Subjects: Arrest and imprisonment; Childhood memories; Trade Unionism; Young Pioneers. | Marxism philosophy; Unemployment demonstration (Montreal, ca. 1930); Visit to the Soviet Union; 1931 arrest for sedition; Young Communist League; Georgi Dimitrov; SMS Emden demonstration; French Canadian communists; Second World Youth Congress, 1938; Eleanor Roosevelt; Outbreak of WWII, Communism made illegal in Canada.

Item 07. Dave Kashtan, first interview, part 2. 1985. (15 min., 3 sec.; 31 min., 54 sec.)

Subjects: Communist Party of Canada, leadership crisis; German invasion of Soviet Union; Communist Party of Canada, contributions to Canadian society; Union activities; Khrushchev’s Secret Speech; Tim Buck; CPC, antisemitism in; 1953 Canadian Federal Election. | Communist Party of Canada, anti-Zionism in; Current political views; Surveillance; Labour Youth Federation; Jewish identity; Jews in Soviet Union; Execution of the Rosenbergs; League for Democratic Rights; Cultism.

Item 08. Dave Kashtan, second interview. Aug. 28, 1986. (27 min., 19 sec.; 31 min., 17 sec.)

Subjects: Communist Party of Great Britain; Munich Agreement; Canadian politics during World War II; Just War; Fascism in Canada; Antisemitism, experiences in Canada; Spy Trials; Trotskyism. | Current political views; Slánský trial; Doctor’s Plot; Visit to the Soviet Union; Khrushchev’s Secret Speech.

            Note: Side B [19:40 – 31:17] is an unrelated recording.

Item 09. J.B. Salsberg, first interview, part 1. [ca. 1985]. (47 min., 6 sec.; 47 min., 4 sec.)

Subject: Appeal of Communist movement; Childhood memories; Early political experiences; Visit to the Soviet Union; Antisemitism in the Soviet Union. | Georgi Dimitrov; Visit to the Soviet Union; Slánský trial, meeting Rudolf Slánský; Antisemitism in the Soviet Union; Soviet persecution of Jewish writers; Communist Party of Canada, party discipline; Communist Party of Canada, break from.

Item 10. J.B. Salsberg, first interview, part 2. [ca. 1985]. (20 min., 2 sec.)

Subjects: Antisemitism, in Soviet Union; Communist Party of Canada, break from; Current political views.

Item 11. J.B. Salsberg, second interview. 30 Aug. 1986. (18 min, 53 sec.; 46 min., 18 sec.)

Subjects: Communist Party of Canada, break from; Slánský trial, meeting Rudolf Slánský; Soviet foreign policy; Antisemitism, in the Soviet Union; Doctor’s Plot. | Jewish refugee crisis, M.S. St. Louis; Visit to the Soviet Union; Georgi Dimitrov; German-Soviet Pact; Outbreak of World War II; German invasion of Soviet Union; Closing of Jewish Press in Soviet Union; CCF, Communist Party of Canada’s conflict with; Conflict between Communists and Socialists; Tito-Stalin Split; Khrushchev’s Secret Speech; Reflections on the Communist movement; 1948 Czechoslovakia coup d’état.

Item 12. Joe Gershman. [1984]. (47 min., 2 sec.; 1 min., 6 sec.)

Subjects: Current health; Discussion of the research project; Communist Party of Canada, break from; Current political beliefs; Personal issues; Family history; Visit to the Soviet Union, 1962; Family history, in Soviet Union; Ideology; Antisemitism, in Communist movement; UJPO.

Note: Gershman refused to be recorded. Tape consists of Borchiver’s recollection of her interview at Baycrest Geriatric Hospital.

Item 13. Sam Lipshitz, first interview, part 1. [ca. 1985]. (47 min., 18 sec.; 47 min., 15 sec.)

Subjects: Childhood memories; Family history; Early political experiences; Jewish identity; Immigration to Canada; Young Communist League; 1929 Hebron Massacre; Doctor’s Plot; Der Kamf (Der Vochenblatt); Visit to Poland; The Holocaust. | Disillusionment with; Visit to the Soviet Union; The Holocaust; Current political views.

Item 14. Sam Lipshitz, first interview, part 2. [ca. 1985]. (47 min., 27 sec.; 47 min., 27 sec.)

Subjects: Ideology; Advice for young people; Current political views.
           
Note: Side A [14:25 – 47:27] and Side B [0:00 – 47:27] are unrelated recordings.

Item 15. Morris Biderman, first interview, part 1. [April 1984]. (46 min., 41 sec.; 46 min., 41 sec.)

Subjects: Jewish identity; Antisemitism; Current political views; Childhood memories; Der Kamf (Der Vochenblatt). | United Jewish People’s Order; Young Communist League; Appeal of Communist movement; Early political experiences; German-Soviet Pact; Antisemitism, in Soviet Union; Soviet persecution of Jewish writers; Birobidzhan; Khrushchev’s Secret Speech; Bus 300 Affair.

Note: Date determined by content, in reference to a recent event.

Item 16. Morris Biderman, first interview, part 2. [April 1984]. (47 min., 4 sec.; 47 min., 5 sec.)

Subjects: Communist Party of Canada, schism; United Jewish People’s Order. | Reflections on Communist movement; Advice for young people; Current political views.

Item 17. Morris Biderman, first interview, part 3. [April 1984]. (47 min., 12 sec.; 14 min., 31 sec.)

Subjects: Jewish identity; Slánský trial; Doctor’s Plot; Soviet propaganda; Appeal of Communist movement; Childhood memories; Family history; Current political views. | Current political views.

Item 18. Morris Biderman, third interview. [ca. 1985]. (47 min., 11 sec.)

Subjects: CCF; Communist Party of Canada, relations with Moscow; Canadian Spy Trials; Canadian Leftist politics; Tito-Stalin Split; Antisemitism in Soviet Union; Soviet persecution of Jewish writers; Communist Party of Canada, break from; Doctors’ Plot; Slánský Trial; Communist Party of Canada, relations with Moscow; German-Soviet Pact.

Item 19. Manya Lipshitz, first interview. [ca. 1984]. (47 min., 21 sec.; 13 min, 6 sec.)

Subjects: Childhood memories; Family history; Young Communist League; Antisemitism in Soviet Union; Yiddishist movement. | Soviet persecution of Jewish writers; Stalinism, disillusionment with; Advice for young people; 1929 Hebron Massacre.

Language note: English, some Yiddish.

Item 20. Norman Penner, first interview, part 1. [August 1984]. (47 min., 14 sec.; 47 min., 17 sec.)

Subjects: Childhood memories; Family history; Sacco and Vanzetti executions; Young Pioneers; Young Communist League; Internment of Canadian Communists; Military experiences in World War II; Soviet repressions against former prisoners of war; Khrushchev’s Secret Speech. | Tim Buck; Communist Party of Canada, break from; Jacob Penner’s funeral; Young Communist League, National Party School; Stanley Ryerson; Second World Festival of Youth and Students; Nikolai Mikhailov, First Secretary of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (Komsomol); Trade unionism; CCF; Louis St-Laurent; Mackenzie King; Legalization of the Communist Party of Canada; Soviet interests versus national party interests; Stalin’s persecution of political opponents; CCF, David Lewis, NDP; Franklin D. Roosevelt; Communist Party of Canada, finances; Reflections on Communist movement; Schooling, Ph.D.

Item 21. Norman Penner, second interview. 26 Aug. 1986. (47 min., 45 sec.; 45 min., 7 sec.)

Subjects: Discussion of anonymity; Young Communist League; Young Communist League, National Party School; Schooling; Internment of Canadian Communists; Trotskyism; Moscow Trials; Khrushchev’s Secret Speech; German-Soviet Pact; Canadian politics during World War II; CCF, Communist Party of Canada’s conflict with; Soviet foreign policy; Canadian Spy Trials. | Canadian Spy Trials; Soviet foreign policy; Second World Festival of Youth and Students; Tito-Stalin Split; 1948 Czechoslovakia coup d’état; Slánský trial; Stewart Smith; A.E. Smith; Doctor’s Plot; Visit to Soviet Union; Dmitri Shostakovich; Religion, Millenarianism; Stalinism.

Item 22. Norman Penner, first interview, part 2. [August 1984]. (12 min., 2 sec.)

Subjects: Schooling, Ph.D.; Future of Canadian politics; Nuclear stand-off between USSR and US; Ronald Reagan.

Item 23. Paul Kirzner, first interview, part 1. [ca. 1984]. (14 min., 38 sec.; 32 min., 32 sec.)

Subjects: Childhood memories; Early political experiences; Lovestonites; Relationship with parents; Young Communist League. | New Fraternal Jewish Organization; CCF/NDP; Israel; Khrushchev’s Secret Speech; German-Soviet Pact; German invasion of Soviet Union; Reflections on Communist movement; Marxism, philosophy; Henryk Ehrlich and Victor Alter; Antisemitism, Theory of Cosmopolitanism; Visit to the Soviet Union; 1948 Czechoslovakia coup d’état.

Item 24. Paul Kirzner, first interview, part 2. [ca. 1984]. (15 min., 26 sec.)

Subjects: Young Communist League; Jewish identity; Jewish life in Canada; Antisemitism, experiences in Canada; Childhood memories; Scopes Trial.  

Item 25. Paul Kirzner, second interview. 12 Sept. 1986. (47 min., 12 sec.; 45 min., 3 sec.)

Subjects: Early political experiences; Trotskyism; Trotsky trials; German-Soviet Pact; Just War; Personal attacks on his father; Theory of Social Fascism; CCF, David Lewis; Canadian Spy Trials; Fred Rose; Tito-Stalin Split; 1948 Czechoslovakia coup d’état; Slánský Trial; Labour League; Doctor’s Plot. | Antisemitism; Hungarian Revolution of 1956, Soviet invasion; Khrushchev’s Secret Speech; Death of Stalin; Reflections on the Communist movement.

Note: Side B: [10:08 to 45:03] is an unrelated recording.

Item 26. Rose Kashtan (née Eisenstraus), first interview. [ca. 1984]. (38 min., 1 sec.; 25 min., 1 sec.)

Subjects: Childhood memories; Family history; Immigration to Canada; Young Pioneers; Early political experiences; Labour League. | Reflections on Communist movement; Acting; Theatre.

Item 27. Rose Kashtan (née Eisenstraus), second interview. 28 August 1986. (32 min., 30 sec.)

Subjects: Trotskyism; German-Soviet Pact; CCF, Communist Party of Canada’s conflict with; Canadian Spy Trials; Sam Carr; 1948 Czechoslovakia coup d’état; Hungarian Revolution of 1956; Refuseniks; Chernobyl; Doctor’s Plot; United Jewish People’s Order; Khrushchev’s Secret Speech; Personal conversation about family and friends.

Note: [32:31 – 41:50] of the original tape includes an unrelated recording which has been excised from the available digital copy due to a confidentiality issue.

Item 28. Sam Carr, first interview, part 1. 1984. (47 min., 13 sec.; 47 min., 16 sec.)

Subjects: Reflections of Communist movement in Canada; Trade Unionism; Childhood memories; Family history; Pogroms; Early political experiences, Romania, communist activities; Immigration to Canada, 1926; YCL; Schooling; Communist Party of Canada, joining; 1931 arrest for sedition; Arrest and imprisonment, 1949; Kingston Penitentiary riot, 1932; Communist Party of Canada, break from; Current political views. | Marxist theory; Current political views; Israel; Khrushchev’s Secret Speech; Russian history, identity; Life in Soviet Union; Lenin’s Mausoleum; Romania at the 1984 Summer Olympics; Romania, relations with the Soviet Union; Advice for young people; Ronald Reagan; Marxist theory, dictatorship of the proletariat, national differences; Zionism.

Item 29. Sam Carr, first interview, part 2. 1984. (6 min., 53 sec.)

Subjects: Israel; Soviet Union relations with Israel.

Item 30. Sam Carr, second interview, part 1. 12 September 1986. (47 min., 11 sec.; 47 min., 12 sec.)

Subjects: Marxist theory, the National Question, national differences; 1948 Czechoslovakia coup d’état; Tito-Stalin Split; Romania; Hungarian Revolution of 1956, Soviet invasion; Russian identity; Socialism in Canada; Marxist theory, dictatorship of the proletariat; Stalinism, cult of personality; Collectivization; Trotskyism; Reflections on the Soviet Union; Mikhail Gorbachev. | Rosa Luxemburg; German-Soviet Pact; CCF, Communist Party of Canada’s conflict with; Theory of Social Fascism; Stewart Smith; CCF/NDP; Stalinism, cult of personality; Slánský trial.

Item 31. Sam Carr, second interview, part 2. 12 September 1986. (23 min., 47 sec.)

Subjects: Current political views, Brian Mulroney, Ronald Reagan; Doctor’s Plot; Soviet persecution of Jewish writers; Current political views; Canadian Spy Trials.

Item 32. Sarah Kirzner, first interview. [ca. 1984]. (46 min., 59 sec.; 29 min., 13 sec.)

Subjects: Childhood memories; Family history; Early political experiences; Atheism; Racism in the United States, Scottsboro boys; Union activities; Young Communist League, Norman Bethune Branch; Soviet invasion of Finland, 1939; German-Soviet Pact; Zionism; Antisemitism, experiences in Canada; Khrushchev’s Secret Speech; Reflections on Communist movement. | Memories of her sister.

Note: On Side B, Ruth discusses her own experiences and her project.

Item 33. Sarah Kirzner, second interview. 12 Sept. 1986 (45 min., 15 sec.; 42 min., 59 sec.)

Subjects: Trotskyism; German-Soviet Pact; Soviet invasion of Finland, 1939; CCF, Communist Party of Canada’s conflict with; Canadian Spy Trials; Tito-Stalin Split; Soviet foreign policy; Doctor’s Plot; Khrushchev’s Secret Speech; Hungarian Revolution of 1956, Soviet invasion.

Note: Side A [27:04 – 45:15] and Side B are unrelated recordings.

Item 34. Sam Lipshitz, third interview. 7 Sept. 1987. (39 min., 55 sec.)

Subjects: Trotskyism; Ideology; Tito-Stalin Split; Stewart Smith; Communist Party of Canada, relations from Moscow; Appeal of Communist movement, for Jews; Stalin’s cult of personality; Slánský trial; Hungarian Revolution of 1956; Canadian politics.

Item 35. Stewart Smith, first interview, part 1. 1985. (47 min., 8 sec.; 47 min., 7 sec.)

Subjects: Ideology; Childhood memories; Winnipeg General Strike of 1919; Family history; Early political experiences; H.M. Bartholomew; Marxist theory; Millenarianism; Russian Revolution; Otto Kuusinen; Marxist theory, Asiatic Modes of Production; Young Communist League. | Marxist theory, labour movement, education for working class children, dictatorship of the proletariat; The National Question, Canada; Nikolai Bukharin; Lovestone; Visit to the Soviet Union; Industrialization; Section 98 of the Criminal Code of Canada; Marxist theory, use of violence; R.B. Bennett; Family history, brother; Reflection on Communist movement; Korean War.

Item 36. Stewart Smith first interview, part 2. 1985. (47 min., 5 sec.; 46 min., 26 sec.)

Subjects: Hungarian Revolution of 1956, Soviet invasion; Korean War; Khrushchev’s Secret Speech; Communist Party of Canada, break from; Stalin’s final speech, 1952; Current political views, commodification, bureaucracy, mass media, religion, social movements, Brian Mulroney, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Canadian nationalism; Idea of Progress. | Appeal of Communist movement; Marxist theory, bourgeoisie revolution, class ideology; Childhood memories, of mother; Disillusionment; Karl Marx; Marxist theory, Asiatic Modes of Production; Communist Party of Canada, politics in the 1930s; German-Soviet Pact.

Item 37. Stewart Smith, second interview part 1. 15 Sept. 1986. (48 min., 9 sec.; 48 min., 6 sec.)

Subjects: Visit to the Soviet Union; Trotskyism; Nikolai Bukharin; Collectivization; Stalin, rivalry with Trotsky; The National Question, Canada; Stalin’s personality; Stalin, rivalry with Nikolai Bukharin; German-Soviet Pact; Soviet mobilization, World War II; Communist Party of Canada, popularity before 1947; Gouzenko Affair; Canadian Spy Trials; Theory of Social Fascism; Social Democracy versus Toryism; CCF, Communist Party of Canada’s conflict with. | Tito-Stalin Split; Slánský Trial; 1948 Czechoslovakia coup d’état; Marxist theory, Asiatic Modes of Production; World revolutionary history; Marxist theory, dictatorship of the proletariat; Reflections on the Communist movement; Millenarianism; Nuclear arms race; Doctor’s Plot; Tim Buck.

Item 38. Stewart Smith, second interview, part 2. 15 Sept. 1986. (20 min., 37 sec.)

Subjects: Communist Party of Canada, current state of; Marxism, current state of; Marxist theory, private property, Asiatic Mode of Production.

Item 39. W., part 1. (47 min., 27 sec.; 47 min., 28 sec.)

Note: Unknown interview subject. Likely Sam Lipshitz.

Language note: Yiddish.

Item 40. W., part 2. (5 min., 3 sec.)

Language note: Yiddish.