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Stanley Bréhaut Egerton Ryerson (March 12, 1911 – 25 April 1998) was a
Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
historian, educator, political activist. His parents were Edward Stanley Ryerson and Tessie De Vigne, a well-off middle-class family in
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
. Ryerson could trace his paternal lineage back to
Egerton Ryerson Adolphus Egerton Ryerson (24 March 1803 – 19 February 1882) was a Canadian educator, author, editor, and Methodist minister who was a prominent contributor to the design of the Canadian public school system. Ryerson is considered to be the fo ...
, a leading
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
in nineteenth century Toronto. His grandmother, Emily Eliza Beatty, was a sister-in-law to William McDougall, one of the
Fathers of Confederation The Fathers of Confederation are the 36 people who attended at least one of the Charlottetown Conference, Charlottetown Conference of 1864 (23 attendees), the Quebec Conference, 1864, Quebec Conference of 1864 (33 attendees), and the London Conf ...
; and, on his mother's side, he was related to Louis Antoine Bréhaut de l'Isle, French Commander at Trois-Rivières in 1638.


Ideological origins

To fully understand his commitment to communism one must look towards his period of study at the Sorbonne in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
in 1931. While attending classes towards a ''Diplomes d'Etudes Superieures'' with a thesis on the writings of Sicilian peasant-realist novelist
Giovanni Verga Giovanni Carmelo Verga di Fontanabianca (; 2 September 1840 – 27 January 1922) was an Italian Literary realism, realist (''Verismo (literature), verista'') writer. His novels ''I Malavoglia'' (1881) and ''Mastro-don Gesualdo'' (1889) are widel ...
, Ryerson involved himself in communist activities. While travelling through Europe, he experienced the political turmoil within Spain and Italy during the early depression years, and while in Paris he took part in the funeral procession of the last survivor of the
Paris Commune The Paris Commune (, ) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard (France), Nation ...
of 1871 a Z. Camelinat. On this day in 1932, while marching with 200,000 others to
Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...
, Ryerson felt a fierce wave of connection with the French Left. His experiences in Europe affected his vision of the capitalist world and he would write: "the realization that the cultural values of art and literature were being turned by capitalism into what I can only describe as spiritual onanism and the discovery that communism, by solving the material problems of society, was the only path to a future creative renaissance, was the first impulse." Europe was the scene of his birth as a communist; Canada was the scene of his growth into a renowned historian and communist intellectual.


In the Communist Party

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 ...
, at least in the 1930s and 40s lacked a connection to the Canadian
middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...
as well as
intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...
s; with his return to Canada, Ryerson would become a symbol of the party's appeal to this segment of society. Ryerson "was not the only ''traditional'' intellectual to join the CPC, but he was one of the first and undoubtedly was to become the most important." The Communist parties of Great Britain and the United States of America, as well as many other nations, could count numerous artists and intellectuals as members from the 1930s on; but in Canada, Ryerson was a lonely figure. His position within the CPC, including his rapid rise in the party hierarchy and his presence on the Central Committee (CC) until 1969, was assured by his unique position; a position that allowed him to play a role within the "political history of Canadian Communism unlike that of his American and British counterparts." He was a middle class school boy from a privileged background in an overwhelmingly proletarian organisation, and as such his presence within the CPC did not always meet with approval. But, his education made him an asset for the party, one that would come in handy in the years to come.


Marxist historian

Ryerson's major contribution was as a
Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
historian and it was here that Ryerson was to find his voice. The Canadian bourgeoisie's dismissal of Communism generally states that it is an alien importation and as such has no basis within Canadian society. By stressing the progressive nature of the Canadian past, the CPC hoped to prove the validity of its existence within Canadian society. During this period, numerous articles and pamphlets were published by the CPC, but it was not until the 1937 publication of Stanley Ryerson's
1837: The Birth of Canadian Democracy
', that the full
Marxist analysis Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse Social class, class relations, social ...
of the on the 1837 Rebellions would appear. ''1837'' should be viewed as a work of
Marxist historiography Marxist historiography, or historical materialist historiography, is an influential school of historiography. The chief tenets of Marxist historiography include the centrality of social class, social relations of production in class-divided s ...
written for a working-class audience and not for academia; since Ryerson wrote this book so it could be used as a weapon in the struggle of working people to build a qualitatively different and better world. Ryerson's rationale for writing this book, as was the rationale for all his works, can be best summarised as an exploration of Canadian history with the hopes of educating the working-class, in a sense it was an exercise in the raising of class consciousness. The choice of the title for this book is in itself an interesting by-product of the 1930s Popular Front activities of the CPC. Dedicated to the soldiers of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion fighting in the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
in defence of
Republican Spain The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of democratic government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931 after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII. It was dissol ...
, this book was written in the hope of redefining the context of ''revolution''. Ryerson referred to the cause of 1837 as the cause of ''democracy''; his decision to place the word in the title of his book, was done with the hope of suggesting that this referred "to both bourgeois liberalism that will supplant the remnants of feudal oligarchy and the ultimate vision of equality in the classless society brought about by the proletarian revolution." Doyle contended it was Ryerson's aim to redefine "democracy," and the way in which we refer to the events of 1837 and the idea of revolution in general.


In leadership

Following the outlawing of the CPC in 1940,
General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...
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 ...
along with Sam Carr and Charles Sims fled Canada for the safety of New York where they would reside under the protection of the
Communist Party of the United States of America The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), officially the Communist Party of the United States of America, also referred to as the American Communist Party mainly during the 20th century, is a communist party in the United States. It was established ...
(CPUSA). The leadership of the now underground party was placed in the hands of an Operations Centre, which was headed by Stewart Smith, Leslie Morris, and Stanley Ryerson. This new leadership decided upon a slogan for the CPC's anti-war protests: "Withdraw from the
British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
". Signalling a more radical approach to their
anti-imperialist Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is opposition to imperialism or neocolonialism. Anti-imperialist sentiment typically manifests as a political principle in independence struggles against intervention or influenc ...
protests, the Operations Centre authorised Ryerson to write and publish two pamphlets in Quebec, ''French-Canada, A Nation in Bondage'' and ''French-Canada and the War''. The pamphlets described
French Canada Francophone Canadians or French-speaking Canadians are citizens of Canada who speak French, and sometimes refers only to those who speak it as their first language. In 2021, 10,669,575 people in Canada or 29.2% of the total population spoke Fren ...
as a subjugated people held in "slavery" by
English Canada English Canada comprises that part of the population within Canada, whether of British origin or otherwise, that speaks English. The term ''English Canada'' is also used for any of the following: *Describing all the provinces of Canada ...
. This new approach to the issue of French Canada enabled Ryerson to develop close contacts among Canadian nationalists who opposed the war. With the
German invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along a ...
in July, 1941 the CPC's stance on the war changed quickly. Now that they supported the war, Tim Buck called Ryerson, Smith, and Morris before a CC meeting held on January 22 and 23, 1943. During this meeting, Buck assailed the position of Ryerson, which had become the position of the CPC during their anti-war period. According to Buck, "English-Canada as a nation does not oppress French-Canada, nor impose inequality upon it. The national inequality from which the workers and farmers of Quebec suffer, is a heritage of the past."


Attitude towards French Canada

Later that year, the Communist Party, re-constituted as 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 ...
, published Ryerson's ''French Canada: A Study in Canadian Democracy''. Within the pages of ''French Canada'', Ryerson set out his vision of their vision for the future of Canada. He also emphasised the common aims of French and English Canadians in their
anti-capitalist Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists seek to combat the worst effects of capitalism and to eventually replace capitalism ...
and anti-colonialist goals. Although researched and mostly written while Ryerson was occupied with the direction of the underground party, ''French Canada'' was a careful and provocative analysis of Quebec's social and political history. ''French Canada'' aimed at encouraging the development of a sense of national pride and unity among Canadians during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
era. Ryerson put forth a socio-economic analysis of the Quebec and in turn educated most English-speaking Canadians about a region they knew very little about. As a sequel to ''1837'', Ryerson's ''French Canada'' revealed "the militant spirit of democracy among French Canadians" in the hopes of uniting "them with their Anglophone compatriots." Ryerson did follow a certain "great man" approach to history when, in the early chapters, he emphasized the heroes "who struggled for self-determination and/or Canadian unity"; this approach was complemented by an emphasis on "the Quebec masses and their rise out of feudal subjugation toward political power." Very much the Historical Materialist, Ryerson viewed the previous administrations of Quebec as working with representatives of English Canada and international capitalism to keep Quebec in economic subservience. Ryerson believed, "The Toronto Tory and the Quebec corporatist meet on common ground: hostility to the democratic peoples' movement, nddenial of our democratic heritage." Following on his contentions laid out in ''1837'', Ryerson viewed the failure of English Canada to recognise their connection to French Canada and to fight hand in hand for the fullest democratic rights of the minority nation only served to deepen the power of reactionary influences and limit Canadian democracy and unity in general. ''French Canada'' was a by-product of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and should be viewed as such. It was full of optimism about the prospects of an Allied victory in the war against international
fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...
and a transformed world capable of bringing about the complete elimination of the conditions that gave rise to fascism and to the prospect of war. Although this book is full of optimism about a possible future world, Ryerson did not envision a Communist future for Canada and instead placed the LPP as an important part of post-war Canada, but not a defining movement or a dominant party. Ryerson's vision did not come to pass, but his analysis of the political perspicacity of working-class Quebec was groundbreaking as it came during a time when most writers tended to view "Quebec as either a quaint or lamentable anachronism." ''French Canada'' gave its readers a remarkably modern and hopeful image of French-Canadian society.


Intellectual evolution

For Ryerson, an understanding of social relations was paramount if one was to garner an understanding of history; his encounter with Innis's materialism led Ryerson to the charge that equated Marxism and
economic determinism Economic determinism is a socioeconomic theory that economic relationships (such as being an owner or capitalist or being a worker or proletarian) are the foundation upon which all other societal and political arrangements in society are based. T ...
. He wrote "Marxism holds that it is the people who make history-their labor and their struggles and their dreams; and that these are understandable and have meaning when seen in their real setting…." He added, "Labor, production, the real relationships of living society: this is the point of departure for historical materialism….Thought and feelings, ideas and passion and imagination have their being in a material world, are conditioned by it, work upon it." Ryerson's approach to history is that of a man who sees the struggles and ideas of people as the driving force behind history. He did not believe they operate within a vacuum but within a given social system. Ryerson recognised the interplay of freedom and necessity within the development of history "as it is in the best Marxist historical writing." Following on the tradition of viewing his writings as a mode of class consciousness, ''The Founding of Canada'' was written very much as a popular Marxist introduction to Canadian History. This book offered very little new material and was instead more of a shifting in emphasis for Ryerson. This shift in emphasis stemmed primarily from Ryerson's interest in prehistory and Soviet anthropology; this shift in emphasis is best illustrated by the six chapters on pre-European-contact Canada. This work was not a complete shift of emphasis; Ryerson still dealt with the issue of exploitation and freedom. He believed " e weight of 'official' historiography has hitherto been heavily on the side of efforts to smother the facts of exploitation," and because of this " e idyllic patriarchal picture of these times that has become traditional, is a piece of flagrant deception." ''Unequal Union'' has been seen as the more adventuresome of these two works. It focused on only 60 years, rather than the 300-year scope of ''The Founding of Canada'', and it discussed more deeply the events after the
War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...
leading up to the expansion of
Canadian confederation Canadian Confederation () was the process by which three British North American provinces—the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick—were united into one federation, called the Name of Canada#Adoption of Dominion, Dominion of Ca ...
in 1870. In this work, Ryerson turned to an analysis of land and land-holding, recognising the importance of land to the upper class during the colonial era. Gregory Kealey felt Ryerson overextended himself in his argument that the land-monopoly represented a "sort of commercialised feudalism" which "loomed as the dominating problem before the Canadas." But Ryerson's analysis of the 1837 Rebellions held true for Kealey, as he agrees with the classical Marxist formulation, that "potential production forces were stifled by dominant property relations; and as long as the latter couldn't be broken down progress remained illusory." Therefore, the rebellions of 1837 were an effort to break the "rule of a landlord-merchant oligarchy," blocking the development of industrial capitalism.


Analysis of nation and class

Ryerson showed how the concepts of "nation" and "class", as used by Marxist historians, can aide in an understanding of Canadian problems. He did not attempt to place Canadian history into a preconceived framework of ideas. Instead, he sought to bring the role of 'class' and 'nation', and persons and personalities, into the forefront of discussion instead of allowing them "to disappear behind a cloud of economic factors." For Ryerson, the complexities and contradictions of Canadian history can be best analysed through the lens of class conflict rather than idealistic theses of most bourgeois historians. Throughout these two volumes, Ryerson emphasised his critical view of colonialism and its effect on Canadian society. This two volume work, Ryerson explained modestly, was intended as "a preliminary breaking of ground, suggesting a line of approach to a re-interpretation of this country's history". These volumes are more scholarly in style and documentation, as they were "addressed less to a working-class readership and more to academic historians and other well-informed readers." The notion of ''Freedom'' has been of paramount concern for Ryerson, whether it is the freedom of French Canadians or the freedom of the working class in general, Ryerson has consistently built his arguments on the notion of freedom. In his philosophical work, ''The Open Society: Paradox and Challenge'', published in 1965 outside of the CPC's press, Ryerson discussed his vision of an open and free society. The crux of his argument is found in the issue of freedom; he saw the past as "an evolution of people in society, marked by harsh conflict of contending classes and national forces, generating a progression toward greater freedom." The driving force behind all of society is the nature of class existence and each struggle the oppressed class wages brings it closer to ''freedom''. According to Ryerson, and many other Marxist thinkers, the ability to breakthrough to a more open society will come about from the "dispelling of the fog of false consciousness, hegaining for ourselves a true recognition of the real nature of the existing social structure."


Academic career

Ryerson paid a price for his commitment to the CPC and his analysis of Canadian history. Upon his return to Canada from his studies in Europe, he took up party work in August 1934 in
Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
where he taught French studies at
Sir George Williams University Sir George Williams University was a university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It merged with Loyola College to create Concordia University on August 24, 1974. History In 1851, the first YMCA in North America was established on Sainte-Hélène St ...
. Ryerson had been working very closely with the CPC and in 1935 he was elected to the Central Committee (CC) and was elected provincial secretary in 1936. He held his position at the College for three years until his secret was discovered; all the while working and writing under the pseudonym of E. Roger to protect his job, his politics would lead to his eventual non-renewal in 1937. Ryerson's next academic position would not come for 35 years, a year after he parted company with the CPC, he would accept a position in the History department at the
Université du Québec à Montréal The (UQAM; ), is a French language, French-language public university, public research university based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest constituent element of the system. UQAM was founded on April 9, 1969, by the government o ...
, and "at age 58, he commenced the academic career he had sacrificed in the 1930s."


Breaking with the Party

His decision to leave the CPC in 1971 was primarily based upon his experiences within the Party from 1956 (the year of the Hungarian Revolution) up to, and after, the Soviet invasion of Prague in 1968. During his 35-year tenure in the CPC, Ryerson was routinely asked to augment his historical writings in order to meet the prevailing philosophy at the time. After the internal party crisis between 1956 and 1957, Ryerson was forced to write an article stating his previous books and articles had given "a rather idealised treatment of the bourgeois democrats Lafontaine and Baldwin." Blaming this on "liberalism," he essentially turned his back on his earlier beliefs concerning ''1837'' and sought to align himself with the new ''revisionist'' tendencies within the CPC that came about during the post-Stalin debate. Ryerson's beliefs concerning Marxism-Leninism differed greatly from that of the CPC of the late 1950s and early 1960s. His vision was brought to the forefront when in his article ''In France: "The Week of Marxist Thought",'' he agreed with the leader of the French Communist party who argued: ::that among the shoals to avoid, …, is the narrow, 'cramped conception of Marxism-Leninism simply as a position to be defended, a fortress to be held, with every portcullis closed while one peers out over the battlements at all who are not 'our people' wandering on the distant plain' This sentiment did resonate with the leadership of General Secretary Leslie Morris, who viewed the sentiments of the '' Popular Front'' in a much more favourable light than would be seen under the leadership of William Kashtan; it was under the stifling leadership of Kashtan that Ryerson made his final break with the CPC.


Views on Ryerson

The general criticism of Ryerson is that his work continually failed to transcend the CPC's ideological passivity when it came to their relationship with Moscow. Kealey sees these arguments as being based upon a belief that Ryerson's understanding of Marxism was severely limited by the many ''Stalinist'' distortions people generally see in Soviet philosophy disseminated during Ryerson's time in the CPC. It is true that party work affected his intellectual work; his choice of material was in many respects dictated by the political atmosphere of the day. But this does not mean he substituted party beliefs for his own in every respect. Ryerson was a dedicated Communist, who saw within the CPC the best vehicle for advancing the cause of Communism and the betterment of the working-class. His decision to follow the general line, and in some instances deny his true beliefs, is unfortunate but should not be viewed from outside of their historical realities. During the era of the ''Popular Front'', Ryerson wrote in a manner befitting that era and during the time of the ''Democratic Front'' he stridently put forth arguments seeking the destruction of Fascism as it was, in his eyes, the best way forward for the working-class. The removal of Ryerson from his intellectual and historical "context denies him recognition as the major pioneer of Marxist historical writing in Canada;" and it also denies the very nature of Ryerson and his role in Canadian society. As a Party intellectual, he was in the minority when compared to other communist parties in the world; but his dedication to a Marxist analysis of history and Canadian society was unsurpassed within the CPC. His early education was founded on the study of literature, but his time in Paris in the early 1930s would forever change his life and transform him into an ''Organic Intellectual'' of the working-class. His rationale for delving into historical and political writing can be found within the pages of ''Open Society''. In reading ''1837'', ''French Canada'', ''The Founding of Canada'', and ''Unequal Union'', we, the reader, find Ryerson's journey to "dispel the fog of false consciousness". At the very heart of his writings, are the class struggle and the raising of class consciousness through the written word.


References


Bibliography

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External links


Homage in ''Le Devoir''

PDF version of "French Canada" by Stanley Ryerson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryerson, Stanley Brehaut 1911 births 1998 deaths Canadian male non-fiction writers Upper Canada College alumni Labor-Progressive Party candidates in the 1949 Canadian federal election Labor-Progressive Party candidates in the 1953 Canadian federal election 20th-century Canadian historians Canadian people of Dutch descent Canadian people of Scottish descent Canadian people of French descent Canadian expatriates in France