Sam Carr (July 7, 1906 – 1989) was an organizer for the

Communist Party of Canada The Communist Party of Canada (french: Parti communiste du Canada) is a federal political party in Canada, founded in 1921 under conditions of illegality. Although it does not currently have any parliamentary representation, the party's can ...

and its successor, the

Labor-Progressive Party The Labor-Progressive Party (french: Parti ouvrier-progressiste) was the legal front of the Communist Party of Canada from 1943 to 1959. Origins and initial success In the 1940 federal election, the Communist Party led a popular front in s ...

, in the 1930s and 1940s. He was born Schmil Kogan in Tomashpil,

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

, in 1906 and immigrated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

in 1924, living in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

and Regina before settling in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

in 1925. Carr became an organizer for the

Young Communist League The Young Communist League (YCL) is the name used by the youth wing of various Communist parties around the world. The name YCL of XXX (name of country) originates from the precedent established by the Communist Youth International. Examples of YC ...

with Fred Rose.

Biography

In 1931, Carr was arrested with other Communist Party leaders and detained in

Kingston Penitentiary Kingston Penitentiary (known locally as KP and Kingston Pen) is a former maximum security prison located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, between King Street West and Lake Ontario. History Constructed from 1833 to 1834, and opened on June 1, 18 ...

for 30 months for being an officer in the party, which had been declared illegal that year. Following his release from prison he was an organizer of the 1935

On to Ottawa Trek The On-to-Ottawa Trek was a mass protest movement in Canada in 1935 sparked by unrest among unemployed single men in federal relief camps principally in Western Canada. Federal relief camps were brought in under Prime Minister R. B. Bennett’ ...

.What made Sam run?
''Time Magazine'', February 7, 1949 He was the editor of the Communist Party's newspaper, ''The Clarion'', before fleeing to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

with other party leaders in 1940 when the party was again declared illegal. In 1942, following the German invasion of the USSR, those party leaders who had gone underground, including Carr and

Tim Buck Timothy Buck (January 6, 1891 – March 11, 1973) was the general secretary of the Communist Party of Canada (known as the Labor-Progressive Party from 1943 to 1959) from 1929 until 1962. Together with Ernst Thälmann of Germany, Maurice Tho ...

, turned themselves in to the authorities. They released after ten days on the promise that they would refrain from

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

activities. As a result, the Labor-Progressive Party was formed in 1943 as a legal front for the party; Carr became its national organizer. In 1946, after a cypher clerk in the Soviet embassy in Ottawa,

Igor Gouzenko Igor Sergeyevich Gouzenko (russian: Игорь Сергеевич Гузенко ; January 26, 1919 – June 25, 1982) was a cipher clerk for the Soviet embassy to Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, and a lieutenant of the GRU (Main Intelligence Direc ...

, defected to Canada, a warrant was issued for Carr's arrest and he again fled to the

. A Royal Commission on Espionage was called to investigate his activities. In 1949 he was found guilty of conspiracy to obtain a false passport, and was imprisoned for seven years. Carr was one of the principal recruiters of spies for the USSR in Canada. By the time of his release from prison, Carr was no longer a member of the Labor-Progressive Party, but became active in the left wing organization

United Jewish Peoples' Order The United Jewish People's Order is a secular socialist Jewish cultural, political and educational fraternal organization in Canada. The UJPO traces its history to the founding of the Jewish Labour League Mutual Benefit Society in 1926. History ...

(UJPO) until his death in 1989. He wrote for the UJPO magazine under the pen name George Lewis.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carr, Sam 1906 births 1989 deaths Canadian political consultants Jewish Canadian politicians Canadian communists Soviet spies Canadian people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Canadian spies for the Soviet Union Labor-Progressive Party candidates in the 1945 Canadian federal election Canadian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Canada