UCC Toronto Branch Call for Action

In Response to City of Toronto Honouring Defender of Stalinist Regime

On March 25 at City Hall in Toronto, Mayor Miller unveiled a display in honour of the late Paul Robeson in the spirit of “recognizing the global humanitarian efforts of individuals in the areas of equality, justice and diversity.” The irony is that Paul Robeson despite his accomplishments in the arts and American football was a defender of the Soviet Communist regime and ignored its crimes against humanity.

Mr. Robeson’s actions are chroniced in The Globe and Mail (March 25, 2010): “He accepted the Stalin Peace Prize from Moscow. He defended the 1939 Nazi-Soviet pact. He made excuses for the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956. He praised the paper promises in the Soviet Constitution to punish racial discrimination and respect ethnic minorities. He chose to overlook the mass deportation and murder of minority groups that Stalin suspected of treason….

…When Moscow executed a group of “counter-revolutionary assassins” – its label for political opponents – he said that ‘they ought to destroy anybody who seeks to harm that great country’.”

The honouring of Mr. Robeson is an affront to those of us who suffered and the memory of those who suffered under the Communist regime.

As a community and as individuals who value the “equality, justice and diversity” that the city is hoping to celebrate, call or write Mayor Miller's office to ensure that the City of Toronto removes the display in honour of Mr. Robeson and issues an apology immediately to all Torontonians.