Joseph Baruch (J.B.) Salsberg (November 5, 1902 – February 8, 1998) was a
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...
in
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
, Canada. He was a
Labor-Progressive member of the
Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1943 to 1955 who represented the riding of
St. Andrew
Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Peter ...
in downtown
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
. He was a longtime
Communist and activist in the
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
ish community.
Early life
Salsberg was born in 1902 to Abraham and Sarah Gitel Salsberg in the small town of
Lagow (Lagov, in Yiddish pronunciation), in the Opatow district of Radom in what is now
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
. He emigrated to Canada with his parents in 1913 at age 11, settling in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
. His father worked as a peddler to support his wife and seven children.
Joseph dropped out of Landsdowne Public School after two years, at the age of 13, in order to work in sweatshops full-time for $3 a week to help support the family but continued to study at night to be a
rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
in the
Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
tradition.
[ His industrial experience led him to labour activism, particularly in the garment workers union where he fought for improved wages and conditions. At age 16, he informed his traditionalist parents that he was abandoning ]Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
ic studies in favour of a secular humanist
Secular humanism is a philosophy, belief system or life stance that embraces human reason, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basis of morality ...
philosophy. He joined a Labour Zionist
Labor Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת סוֹצְיָאלִיסְטִית, ) or socialist Zionism ( he, תְּנוּעָת הָעַבוֹדָה, label=none, translit=Tnuʽat haʽavoda) refers to the left-wing, socialist variation of Zionism. ...
workers' group, the Young Poale Zion
Poale Zion (also spelled Poalei Tziyon or Poaley Syjon, meaning "Workers of Zion") was a movement of Marxist–Zionist Jewish workers founded in various cities of Poland, Europe and the Russian Empire in about the turn of the 20th century after ...
, and quickly rose to leadership going to New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
to serve as general secretary of the North American group from 1922 to 1924, editing its newspaper and going on speaking tours across the continent. He returned to Toronto and became an organizer for the Hat, Cap, and Millinery Workers Union of North America and, in 1927, married Dora Wilensky who later became a social worker with Jewish Family and Child Services.[
]
Communist activity
By 1926, Salsberg's trade unionism and socialism led him to become an active member of the Communist Party of Canada. He became well known in the Jewish community, many of whose members were workers in the garment district which was concentrated around Spadina Avenue
Spadina Avenue (, less commonly ) is one of the most prominent streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running through the western section of downtown, the road has a very different character in different neighbourhoods.
Spadina Avenue runs south ...
. He became vice-president of the International Hatters' Union and a member of the Communist Party's Central Committee. He was active in a number of unionization drives across Canada.
In 1932, Salsberg became the Southern Ontario district organizer for the Workers Unity League, a communist-led group which sought to replace Canada's traditional craft unions with industrial unions. He attained further prominence in this role; Canadian historian Irving Abella later wrote that Salsberg was known as the "Commissar" of Southern Ontario's trade union movement.
Politics
In 1938, he was elected an alderman on Toronto's city council representing Ward 4 (which included the largely Jewish working class
The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colo ...
neighbourhoods around Spadina Avenue
Spadina Avenue (, less commonly ) is one of the most prominent streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running through the western section of downtown, the road has a very different character in different neighbourhoods.
Spadina Avenue runs south ...
and Kensington Market
Kensington Market is a distinctive multicultural neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Market is an older neighbourhood and one of the city's most well-known. In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Site of Canad ...
). He was known throughout the city for his work on social issues. Heckled by adversaries as a puppet of Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
, Salsberg joked that ""You're right. I got a telegram from Joe Stalin this morning ordering me to ask for a park for Ward 4."["'Godfather of Spadina' Joe Salsberg One-time Communist was compassionate" by Nicolaas van Rijn, ''Toronto Star'', February 9, 1998]
In the 1943 provincial election he ran as 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 se ...
candidate in the downtown Toronto riding of St. Andrew
Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Peter ...
. He defeated Liberal incumbent J.J. Glass by 5,150 votes. The Labor-Progressive Party (LPP) as the Communist Party of Ontario
The Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) (french: Parti communiste du 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 ...
was known had been founded as the legal face of the Communist Party which had been banned in 1941. Salsberg was elected alongside fellow LPPer A.A. MacLeod
Alexander Albert "A. A." MacLeod (April 2, 1902 – March 13, 1970) was a political organizer and a prominent member of the Communist Party of Canada and, later, of its legal group, the Labor-Progressive Party. He was an elected Member of Provi ...
who represented the neighbouring riding of Bellwoods. He was re-elected in 1945
1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which Nuclear weapon, nuclear weapons Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, have been used in combat.
Events
Below, ...
, 1948, and 1951
Events
January
* January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950).
* January 9 – The Government of the United ...
.
Salsberg was a popular MPP inside and outside the house and was respected by members of all parties. He was instrumental in the introduction of the ''Racial Discrimination Act, 1944'' which he proposed as a result of posted notices banning Jews and Blacks from various swimming pools in Toronto and as a result of other cases of anti-Semitism and racism in the province. The law was one of the foundations that led to the eventual passage of the ''Ontario Human Rights Code
The Human Rights Code is a statute in the Canadian province of Ontario that guarantees equality before the law and prohibits discrimination in specific social areas such as housing or employment. The code's goal specifically prohibits discrimina ...
''.
Most of his speeches were non-ideological, and he almost never made reference to the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
during his time in the legislature. Leslie Frost
Leslie Miscampbell Frost (September 20, 1895 – May 4, 1973) was a politician in Ontario, Canada, who served as the province's 16th premier from May 4, 1949, to November 8, 1961. Due to his lengthy tenure, he gained the nickname "Old Man O ...
, the province's Progressive Conservative Premier from 1949 to 1961, respected Salsberg's abilities as a parliamentarian; it has even been reported that Frost was willing to offer Salsberg a cabinet position if he defected to the Progressive Conservative Party. Frost named Salsberg Township near what is now Thunder Bay
Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population i ...
in his honour.[
Salsberg was the sole communist in the Legislature after the 1951 election in which MacLeod lost his seat. Salsberg eulogized Stalin on the house floor when the Soviet leader died in 1953 and this speech was used against him in the 1955 election campaign when he was defeated by Progressive Conservative ]Allan Grossman
Allan Grossman (December 25, 1910 – September 1, 1991) was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Canada, for 20 years, a provincial cabinet minister and the father of the late former leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative ...
.
Break with Communism
Salsberg had for several years been concerned with official anti-Semitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
in the Soviet Union, and had confronted Canadian Communist leader 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 T ...
on the subject as early as 1939. He remained silent on the matter for several years (in part to maintain party unity during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
), but became increasingly troubled by ongoing anti-Semitism in the 1950s. He travelled to the USSR in 1955 and 1956, and witnessed first-hand the extent of the anti-Semitic campaign that had persecuted Jews in that country.
Salsberg attempted to personally confront Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
on the matter during his second visit, but his concerns were dismissed. Also disillusioned by Soviet invasion of Hungary and Khrushchev's Secret Speech, he resigned from the Communist Party upon his return to Canada (leading an exodus which included half the national executive). Salsberg reported back to the Labor-Progressive Party and an allied organization, the 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 ...
on his findings. He was suspended for a time from the leadership of the LPP as a result and, after an internal debate, left the LPP along with most of its Jewish cadre. The UJPO supported Salsberg's findings and severed its ties with the party. Nevertheless, Salsberg and a number of his supporters continued to argue for UJPO to distance itself further from the Soviet Union until he and approximately 200 UJPO members, approximately one-third of the organization, resigned in 1959 and founded the New Fraternal Jewish Association in 1960 in which Salsberg was a leading member until his death.
Later life
The late 1950s were a period of tragedy for Salsberg: in addition to losing his belief in communism (and his seat in the legislature), his wife Dora died in 1959. He withdrew from political activity for a time, and sold insurance to make a living. There are reports that he was eventually able to make a small fortune through this practice.
Salsberg later rejoined the Canadian Jewish Congress
The Canadian Jewish Congress (, , ) was, for more than ninety years, the main advocacy group for the Jewish community in Canada. Regarded by many as the "Parliament of Canadian Jewry," the Congress was at the forefront of the struggle for human ...
(which had previously expelled its Communist members). In 1959 he and about one-third of the membership of UJPO left, feeling that the organization was not critical enough of the Soviet Union, and started a new organization called the ''New Fraternal Jewish Association''. The NFJA was made up primarily of former Jewish Communists still interested in promoting social justice. Salsberg was also involved in a variety of cultural activities, including Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...
-language programs.
Salsberg also returned to Labour Zionism
Labor Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת סוֹצְיָאלִיסְטִית, ) or socialist Zionism ( he, תְּנוּעָת הָעַבוֹדָה, label=none, translit=Tnuʽat haʽavoda) refers to the left-wing, socialist variation of Zionism. ...
and, in his old age, was a longtime columnist for the '' Canadian Jewish News'' until shortly before his death.
Election results
Municipal - Ward 4 (Two aldermen elected)
January 1936
;Ward 4 (Kensington Market
Kensington Market is a distinctive multicultural neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Market is an older neighbourhood and one of the city's most well-known. In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Site of Canad ...
and Garment District)
:Robert Hood Saunders
Robert Hood Saunders, CBE, QC (May 30, 1903 – January 16, 1955) was mayor of Toronto from 1945 to 1948, President of the Canadian National Exhibition, chairman of the Ontario Hydro (formally named the Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario ...
(incumbent) - 4,941
: Nathan Phillips (incumbent) - 4,811
:H.M. Goodman - 2,466
: J.B. Salsberg - 2,343
:Max Federman - 816
:S.C. Schiller - 225
December 1936
;Ward 4 (Kensington Market
Kensington Market is a distinctive multicultural neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Market is an older neighbourhood and one of the city's most well-known. In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Site of Canad ...
and Garment District)
: Nathan Phillips (incumbent) - 4,127
:Robert Hood Saunders
Robert Hood Saunders, CBE, QC (May 30, 1903 – January 16, 1955) was mayor of Toronto from 1945 to 1948, President of the Canadian National Exhibition, chairman of the Ontario Hydro (formally named the Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario ...
(incumbent) - 3,884
: J.B. Salsberg - 3,633
: Herbert Orliffe - 813
:Albert Leslie - 673
1937
;Ward 4 (Kensington Market
Kensington Market is a distinctive multicultural neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Market is an older neighbourhood and one of the city's most well-known. In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Site of Canad ...
and Garment District)
: Nathan Phillips (incumbent) - 5,002
: J.B. Salsberg - 4,725
: David A. Balfour - 3,172
:Hyman Langer - 1,967
:Joseph Stewart - 1,211
1939
;Ward 4 (The Annex
The Annex is a neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The traditional boundaries of the neighbourhood are north to Dupont Street, south to Bloor Street, west to Bathurst Street and east to Avenue Road. The City of Toronto recognizes ...
, Kensington Market
Kensington Market is a distinctive multicultural neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Market is an older neighbourhood and one of the city's most well-known. In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Site of Canad ...
and Garment District)
: Nathan Phillips (incumbent) - 7,230
: David A. Balfour - 6,339
: J.B. Salsberg (incumbent) - 5,830
:Joseph Stewart - 1,216
1940
;Ward 4 (The Annex
The Annex is a neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The traditional boundaries of the neighbourhood are north to Dupont Street, south to Bloor Street, west to Bathurst Street and east to Avenue Road. The City of Toronto recognizes ...
, Kensington Market
Kensington Market is a distinctive multicultural neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Market is an older neighbourhood and one of the city's most well-known. In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Site of Canad ...
and Garment District)
: Nathan Phillips (incumbent) - 5,427
:Robert Hood Saunders
Robert Hood Saunders, CBE, QC (May 30, 1903 – January 16, 1955) was mayor of Toronto from 1945 to 1948, President of the Canadian National Exhibition, chairman of the Ontario Hydro (formally named the Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario ...
- 4,900
:Claude Pearce Claude may refer to:
__NOTOC__ People and fictional characters
* Claude (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
* Claude (surname), a list of people
* Claude Lorrain (c. 1600–1682), French landscape painter, draughtsman and etcher ...
- 2,761
: J.B. Salsberg - 2,154
:Louis Zuker - 1,362
:Lloyd Muritt - 381
1943
;Ward 4 (The Annex
The Annex is a neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The traditional boundaries of the neighbourhood are north to Dupont Street, south to Bloor Street, west to Bathurst Street and east to Avenue Road. The City of Toronto recognizes ...
, Kensington Market
Kensington Market is a distinctive multicultural neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Market is an older neighbourhood and one of the city's most well-known. In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Site of Canad ...
and Garment District)
:J. B. Salsberg - 4,783
: Nathan Phillips (incumbent) - 2,472
: David Balfour (incumbent) - 2,432
: Herbert Orliffe - 2,093
:William Condle - 290
Provincial election results
Federal
References
Further reading
* Gerald Tulchinsky. ''Joe Salsberg: A Life of Commitment'' (2013), scholarly biograph
excerpt
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salsberg, J.B.
1902 births
1998 deaths
Activists from Toronto
Canadian male journalists
Canadian people of Polish-Jewish descent
Communist Party of Canada candidates in the 1935 Canadian federal election
Jewish Canadian activists
Jewish Canadian politicians
Journalists from Toronto
Labor-Progressive Party of Ontario MPPs
Polish emigrants to Canada
Jewish socialists
Toronto city councillors
Jewish Canadian journalists