John Baird: Canada's freedom agenda - Diplomat Magazine

BOOKS|DELIGHTSshipped to Vancouver so that they can goacross to Russia to massacre the proletariatthere. Let us have justice and if not,then blood will be spilled in this country.”The literature of the Winnipeg GeneralStrike and related events is quite extensiveof course, but now, in these times of protests,the subject of labour v. capital in thebroader sense is being taken up afresh. Ofnew books in the field, perhaps the mostimportant (and certainly the best written)is Seeing Reds: The Red Scare of 1918−1920,Canada’s First War on Terror by the Vancouverhistorian Daniel Francis (Arsenal,$27.95). The last part of the subtitle maysound over the top, but the book isn’tabout ideology. Rather, it’s a study of howboth sides in a major conflict create propagandain order to promote paranoia. Werethis text in digital form, a reader could indeeddo a search-and-replace, substitutingthe word terrorist for each use of reds, andend up understanding how the strife ofone era is so often revisited upon another.Another example, a quite accidental discovery,hit me in 2010 when the Universityof Toronto Press celebrated the centenaryof Canadian Who’s Who by producing a facsimileof the first edition. The personageslisted in the 1910 version ($19.95 paper)are exactly those you would expect toCanadian soldiers at Gornostai Barracks in 1919. In his book, author Benjamin Issitt says onesoldier noted that the Czarist-era buildings were "better than anything we had in Canada."find: Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Nellie McClung,and a great many figures in finance andrailways. The reprint also includes all theadvertisements from the 1910 original.Law firms and insurance companiesdominate. But there is also a brazen fullpagead for the Thiel Detective Service, anAmerican-based firm of strike-breakerswith offices in Canada’s four largest cities,not to mention the latest trouble spots inMexico.George Fetherling’s most recent book isIndochina Now and Then (Dundurn Press).Library and Archives Canada, Raymond Gibson Collection, 1977-157, C-91717diplomat and international canada 65