Herbert Dyson Carter (February 2, 1910 – 1996), known as Dyson Carter, was a Canadian scientist, lecturer, writer, and Communist propagandist and organiser who served as president of the Canadian-Soviet Friendship Society from 1949 to 1960. During his fifty-year writing career, Carter produced hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles, dozens of short stories, and 17 books including five novels. Many of his non-fiction books and articles popularized scientific ideas and discoveries or reported on medical advances. In the 1930s and 1940s, many of his articles appeared in popular magazines in Canada and the United States and three of his books were published by large commercial publishers in the United States and widely reviewed. He occasionally used the pseudonym Warren Desmond for popular fiction that he would otherwise would not have been able to sell in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

due to

McCarthyism McCarthyism is a political practice defined by the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a Fear mongering, campaign spreading fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage i ...

Early life

Carter was born in

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John () is a port#seaport, seaport city located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. It is Canada's oldest Municipal corporation, incorporated city, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign ...

to Gertrude and William R. Carter, members of the

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

who had been sent from Britain first to

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

and then to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

to work for the church. In 1912, the Carters became matron and superintendent, respectively, of the Provincial Detention Home for Juveniles in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, where Dyson Carter would grow up and go to school. Carter had

osteogenesis imperfecta Osteogenesis imperfecta (; OI), colloquially known as brittle bone disease, is a group of genetic disorders that all result in bones that bone fracture, break easily. The range of symptoms—on the skeleton as well as on the body's other Or ...

, which made his bones brittle throughout his life and often required him to stay in bed or walk with crutches, or later use a wheelchair.

Education

Carter received his Bachelor of Science in 1931 and his Master of Science degree in chemistry from the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...

in 1933 and subsequently worked as a university lecturer, a researcher and an engineering consultant in addition to his writing career.

Literary career

Carter wrote in a number of genres including

popular science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

, health, socialist realist fiction, romance, and biography. His works included ''Sea of Destiny: the Story of Hudson Bay, Our Undefended Back Door'' (1940), a book that argued the Canadian north was susceptible to Nazi invasion and should be developed and militarized along the lines of the Soviet north in order to prevent such an eventuality, ''Night of Flame'' (1942), a novel set in a hospital that explored themes of

class conflict In political science, the term class conflict, class struggle, or class war refers to the economic antagonism and political tension that exist among social classes because of clashing interests, competition for limited resources, and inequali ...

, and ''Stalin's Life'' (1943), a hagiographical biography of

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

. In the 1930s and 1940s, Carter's articles were published in popular magazines such as '' Saturday Night'', ''

Star Weekly The ''Star Weekly'' magazine was a Canadian periodical published from 1910 until 1973. The publication was read widely in rural Canada where delivery of daily newspapers was infrequent. History Formation The newspaper was founded as the ''Toront ...

'', and ''

Maclean's ''Maclean's'' is a Canadian magazine founded in 1905 which reports on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, trends and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian ...

'' and in various American publications such as the pulp magazine '' Argosy''. He was made a member of the

Royal Canadian Geographical Society The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS; French: ''Société géographique royale du Canada'') is a Canadian nonprofit educational organization. It has dedicated itself to spreading a broader knowledge and deeper appreciation of Canada, i ...

in 1941, but was essentially

blacklisted Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considere ...

by the popular media after 1945 when he made public his membership in 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 ...

(as 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 ...

was known at the time). He had joined the Communist Party in 1931 but had kept his membership secret for over a decade. Many of his books were translated into

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and other languages and distributed throughout the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

countries, and many of his articles were translated and carried in Soviet publications.

Canadian-Soviet Friendship Society and ''Northern Neighbors''

As well as being president of the CSFSS from 1949 to 1960, with Dorise Nielsen as executive secretary, and engaging in national lecture tours to promote friendship with the

, Carter was editor and publisher of the Canadian-Soviet Friendship Society's newsletter, '' News-Facts About the USSR'' from 1950 to 1956 and of the glossy pro-Soviet magazine '' Northern Neighbors'' from 1956 to 1989. Carter's pro-Soviet writings never deviated from the party line, following its twists and turns. The invasion of Hungary in 1956 and the

Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia On 20–21 August 1968, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four fellow Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and the Hungarian People's Republic. The ...

in 1968 were presented from the Soviet point of view. According to historian Jennifer Anderson, who researched Carter's life and work: "Dyson Carter eventually recognized the message did not correspond with reality, but not until

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

's policy of

glasnost ''Glasnost'' ( ; , ) is a concept relating to openness and transparency. It has several general and specific meanings, including a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information and the inadmissi ...

had made speaking openly about Soviet 'falsifications' possible. In 1990, Carter wrote that he had spent 40 years producing 'bullshit.'" Carter added: "I publicized so many Soviet 'achievements' that were total falsifications, that I consider my 'work' an exercise in political pathology." He was awarded several honours by the

including the Centenary Medal (1970), the Order of Friendship of the Peoples (1980) and the Order of the Union of Friendship Societies (1985).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Dyson Members of the Communist Party of Canada Canadian chemists 20th-century Canadian engineers 1910 births 1996 deaths 20th-century Canadian non-fiction writers Canadian science writers Canadian medical writers Writers from Saint John, New Brunswick 20th-century Canadian journalists Socialist realism writers Canadian magazine journalists Canadian male novelists Soviet propagandists People with osteogenesis imperfecta 20th-century Canadian novelists Canadian science journalists Canadian writers with disabilities University of Manitoba alumni Novelists from New Brunswick