Bruce Adolf H. Magnuson (February 21, 1909 – June 24, 1995) was a Canadian trade unionist and Communist leader. Magnuson was born in the Swedish province of

Värmland Värmland () is a ''Provinces of Sweden, landskap'' (historical province) in west-central Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland, and Närke, and is bounded by Norway in the west. Name Several Latinized version ...

and grew up on his parents' farm. He immigrated to Canada in the spring of 1928 at the age of 19 and worked on farms in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

before settling in the Lakehead district of northern

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in 1933 where he got involved in a bushworkers'

strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...

led by the Lumber Workers Industrial Union of Canada. He was hurt working in the bush and spent several months in hospital convalescing during which time he read the ''

Communist Manifesto ''The Communist Manifesto'' (), originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (), is a political pamphlet written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, commissioned by the Communist League and originally published in London in 1848. The t ...

'' and other leftwing literature and decided to join the

Communist Party of Canada The Communist Party of Canada is a federal political party in Canada. Founded in 1921 under conditions of illegality, it is the second oldest active political party in Canada, after the Liberal Party of Canada. Although it does not currentl ...

. Magnuson was elected president of Local 2786 Lumber and Sawmill Workers' Union in 1940 and led the union until 1951 when Communists were purged by the parent union, the

United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, often simply the United Brotherhood of Carpenters (UBC), was formed in 1881 by Peter J. McGuire and Gustav Luebkert. It has become one of the largest trade unions in the United State ...

, after which Magnuson organized a breakaway union, the Canadian Union of Woodworkers In 1946, he led a strike that is credited with establishing the Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union on a broad basis in northern Ontario winning recognition of the union by lumber companies as the bargaining authority for workers in the pulpwood industry and establishing

collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and labour rights, rights for ...

in the region's timber industry. From August 1940 to August 1942, Magnuson was interned first at Camp Petawawa and later at an internment camp at

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as a subversive under the

Defence of Canada Regulations The ''Defence of Canada Regulations'' were a set of emergency measures implemented under the '' War Measures Act'' on 3 September 1939, a week before Canada's entry into World War II. Overview The extreme security measures permitted by the regul ...

. He and other communists were released after the

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became an ally as a result of Germany's invasion of the USSR. Magnuson was on the founding executive of the

Labor-Progressive Party The Labor-Progressive Party (LPP; ) was the legal Front organization, front of the Communist Party of Canada and its provincial wings from 1943 to 1959. It was established amid World War II after a number of prominent Communist Party members w ...

in Ontario and a frequent candidate. In the 1957 federal election, Magnuson was the Labor-Progressive candidate in Port Arthur against Liberal cabinet minister C.D. Howe but withdrew a few weeks prior to the election in order to support

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candidate Douglas Fisher who went on to defeat Howe by 1,400 votes in an upset victory Magnuson had won 923 in the 1953 federal election in Port Arthur. He became leader of the Labor-Progressive Party in Ontario following its crisis in 1956 when provincial leader Stewart Smith, former MPP J.B. Salsberg and hundreds of other party members left in the aftermath of

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Secret Speech "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences" () was a report by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, made to the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on 25 Februa ...

, the

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as well as revelations about the extent of anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union under Stalin. Magnuson led the Labor-Progressive Party in the 1959 Ontario election, and remained leader of the party as it renamed itself the

Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) The Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) () is the Ontario provincial wing of the Communist Party of Canada. Using the name Labor-Progressive Party from 1943 until 1959, the group won two seats in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario: A.A. Mac ...

and contested the

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

and 1967 provincial elections He last ran as a Communist Party candidate in the 1984 federal election in

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winning 75 votes. He remained a member of the Central Executive of the Communist Party of Canada in the mid-1980s. He died in Toronto in 1995."Deaths", ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', June 26, 1995, pg. C5

Electoral record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magnuson, Bruce 1909 births 1995 deaths Swedish emigrants to Canada Swedish communists Leaders of the Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) Trade unionists from Ontario Politicians from Thunder Bay Labor-Progressive Party candidates in the 1953 Canadian federal election Labor-Progressive Party candidates in the 1958 Canadian federal election Communist Party of Canada candidates in the 1965 Canadian federal election Communist Party of Canada candidates in the 1968 Canadian federal election Communist Party of Canada candidates in the 1984 Canadian federal election People detained under Defence of Canada Regulations People from Värmland County