Tim Buck

Timothy "Tim" Buck (January 6, 1891 – March 11, 1973) was a long-time general secretary of the Communist Party of Canada (known from the 1940s until the late 1950s as the Labor-Progressive Party) from 1929 until 1962. Together with Ernst Thälmann of Germany, Maurice Thorez of France, Palmiro Togliatti of Italy, Earl Browder of the United States, and Harry Pollitt of Britain, Buck was one of the top leaders of the Joseph Stalin-era Communist International.

Early life and career

A machinist by trade, Buck was born in Beccles, England and emigrated to Canada in 1910 reputedly because it was cheaper to book steamship passage to Canada than to Australia. He became involved in the labour movement and joined the International Association of Machinists and radical working class politics in Toronto. In 1921, he participated in the founding convention of the Communist Party of Canada. Not initially a leading member of the party, Buck came to prominence as a supporter of Joseph Stalin, and became General Secretary in 1929 after the old party leadership had been purged for supporting Trotsky and others had been removed for supporting Bukharin. Buck remained General Secretary until 1962, and was an unquestioning supporter of the Soviet line throughout his tenure.