Ross Dowson
Encyclopedia
Ross Jewitt Dowson was a Canadian
Trotskyist political figure.
. The Canadian Trotskyist movement collapsed at the beginning of World War II
as leaders such as Jack MacDonald, Maurice Spector
and Earle Birney
dropped out due to factional disputes. Dowson reorganized the movement near the end of World War II with the founding of the Revolutionary Workers Party.
Dowson ran for mayor of Toronto
several times in the 1940s, campaigning openly as a Trotskyist, and garnered over 20% of the vote in 1949. He ran for mayor a total of nine times in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
and formally ended its activities in 1952 with its members joining the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
as an entrist
faction. A split in the Fourth International
in 1953 had ramifications in the RWP and in Dowson's own family. His brother Murray
and brother-in-law Joe Rosenthal formed a pro-Pablo
minority, and split from the RWP to form a Trotskyist tendency within the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). It soon disappeared.
on two occasions. He was a candidate in a 1957 by-election
in the rural riding
of Hastings—Frontenac
, in which the CCF decided not to run a candidate. Running under the "Labour" label, Dowson received only 266 votes in a two-way race against External Affairs minister Sidney Earle Smith. In the 1958 general election
, Dowson was again a candidate in the Toronto
riding of Broadview. He placed fourth with 477 votes. This time he ran as a "Socialist" candidate, despite the fact that the democratic socialist
CCF also stood a candidate. Dowson also filed his nomination papers as a "Labour" canadidate against new Progressive Conservative leader Robert Stanfield
in the 1967 Colchester—Hants
by-election but withdrew when Elwood Smith entered the race as an Independent candidate with informal NDP backing.
and joined the New Democratic Party
at its founding. In that year, the Trotskyist movement relaunched itself as the "League for Socialist Action", with branches in Toronto and Vancouver and Dowson as national secretary.
As well as being national secretary of first the RWP and then the LSA, Dowson was also editor of the group's newspaper, which was first called Vanguard and later Labour Challenge. The LSA grew during the student radicalization of the late 1960s, bringing youth into the movement.
In 1964, the LSA developed a Quebec counterpart, the Ligue Socialiste Ouvriere.
In the late 1960s, Canadian Marxist academics, under the influence of the then-predominant dependency theory
, tended to view Canada as an economic colony of the United States
. Dowson was influenced by this analysis, which also influenced the Waffle
movement in the NDP. Dowson moved towards a position that held that Canadian nationalism was progressive against American imperialism, a view that put him in the minority in the LSA.
. This group came to be known as the "Forward Group" after the name of its newspaper. The group grew initially, but soon declined. By 1989, it had been reduced to a small group of friends around Dowson when he suffered a devastating stroke that left him unable to speak or write for the rest of his life.
Dowson's brothers Hugh, Murray
and his sisters Joyce (Dowson) Rosenthal and Lois (Dowson) Bédard were also active in the Trotskyist movement.
Dowson's niece, Anne Lagacé Dowson
, is a broadcaster and politician.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
Trotskyist political figure.
Early life
Dowson joined the Trotskyist movement as a teenager during the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. The Canadian Trotskyist movement collapsed at the beginning of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as leaders such as Jack MacDonald, Maurice Spector
Maurice Spector
Maurice Spector was the Chairman of the Communist Party of Canada for much of the 1920s and an early follower of Leon Trotsky after his split from the Communist International....
and Earle Birney
Earle Birney
Earle Alfred Birney, OC, FRSC was a distinguished Canadian poet and novelist, who twice won the Governor General's Award, Canada's top literary honor, for his poetry.-Life:...
dropped out due to factional disputes. Dowson reorganized the movement near the end of World War II with the founding of the Revolutionary Workers Party.
Dowson ran for mayor of Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
several times in the 1940s, campaigning openly as a Trotskyist, and garnered over 20% of the vote in 1949. He ran for mayor a total of nine times in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
Cold War
The RWP declined however due to the pressures of the Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
and formally ended its activities in 1952 with its members joining the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction...
as an entrist
Entryism
Entryism is a political tactic by which an organisation or state encourages its members or agents to infiltrate another organisation in an attempt to gain recruits, or take over entirely...
faction. A split in the Fourth International
Fourth International
The Fourth International is the communist international organisation consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky , with the declared dedicated goal of helping the working class bring about socialism...
in 1953 had ramifications in the RWP and in Dowson's own family. His brother Murray
Murray Dowson
Murray Dowson was a Canadian Trotskyist politician.In the mid-1930s, Murray joined the Workers' Party of Canada while a student at York Memorial Collegiate. He later joined B. J. Field's League for a Revolutionary Workers Party before rejoining the Trotskyists...
and brother-in-law Joe Rosenthal formed a pro-Pablo
Michel Pablo
Michel Pablo was the pseudonym of Michalis N. Raptis , a Trotskyist leader of Greek origin.- Early activism :...
minority, and split from the RWP to form a Trotskyist tendency within the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). It soon disappeared.
Federal politics
Ross Dowson ran for the Canadian House of CommonsCanadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
on two occasions. He was a candidate in a 1957 by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
in the rural riding
Electoral district (Canada)
An electoral district in Canada, also known as a constituency or a riding, is a geographical constituency upon which Canada's representative democracy is based...
of Hastings—Frontenac
Hastings—Frontenac
Hastings—Frontenac was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1953 to 1968, and from 1979 to 2004.-Constituency boundaries:...
, in which the CCF decided not to run a candidate. Running under the "Labour" label, Dowson received only 266 votes in a two-way race against External Affairs minister Sidney Earle Smith. In the 1958 general election
Canadian federal election, 1958
The Canadian federal election of 1958 was the 24th general election in Canada's history. It was held to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 24th Parliament of Canada on March 31, 1958, just nine months after the 23rd election...
, Dowson was again a candidate in the Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
riding of Broadview. He placed fourth with 477 votes. This time he ran as a "Socialist" candidate, despite the fact that the democratic socialist
Democratic socialism
Democratic socialism is a description used by various socialist movements and organizations to emphasize the democratic character of their political orientation...
CCF also stood a candidate. Dowson also filed his nomination papers as a "Labour" canadidate against new Progressive Conservative leader Robert Stanfield
Robert Stanfield
Robert Lorne Stanfield, PC, QC was the 17th Premier of Nova Scotia and leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. He is sometimes referred to as "the greatest prime minister Canada never had", and earned the nickname "Honest Bob"...
in the 1967 Colchester—Hants
Colchester—Hants
Colchester—Hants was a federal electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1935 to 1968....
by-election but withdrew when Elwood Smith entered the race as an Independent candidate with informal NDP backing.
1960s
By 1961, Dowson and his Trotskyist group had returned to an entrism policy towards social democracySocial democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
and joined the New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
at its founding. In that year, the Trotskyist movement relaunched itself as the "League for Socialist Action", with branches in Toronto and Vancouver and Dowson as national secretary.
As well as being national secretary of first the RWP and then the LSA, Dowson was also editor of the group's newspaper, which was first called Vanguard and later Labour Challenge. The LSA grew during the student radicalization of the late 1960s, bringing youth into the movement.
In 1964, the LSA developed a Quebec counterpart, the Ligue Socialiste Ouvriere.
In the late 1960s, Canadian Marxist academics, under the influence of the then-predominant dependency theory
Dependency theory
Dependency theory or dependencia theory is a body of social science theories predicated on the notion that resources flow from a "periphery" of poor and underdeveloped states to a "core" of wealthy states, enriching the latter at the expense of the former...
, tended to view Canada as an economic colony of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Dowson was influenced by this analysis, which also influenced the Waffle
The Waffle
The Waffle was a radical wing of Canada's New Democratic Party in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It later transformed into an independent political party, with little electoral success before it permanently disbanded in the mid-1970s...
movement in the NDP. Dowson moved towards a position that held that Canadian nationalism was progressive against American imperialism, a view that put him in the minority in the LSA.
Split from the LSA
Dowson's faction was defeated at the LSA's 1973 convention and, in early 1974, he and about 20 supporters left the LSA and the United Secretariat of the Fourth International to form the Socialist LeagueSocialist League (Canada)
The Socialist League was a Canadian Trotskyist group formed in 1974 by Ross Dowson and approximately twenty other former members of the League for Socialist Action after their faction was defeated at the 1973 LSA national convention. Dowson had previously been the leader of the LSA...
. This group came to be known as the "Forward Group" after the name of its newspaper. The group grew initially, but soon declined. By 1989, it had been reduced to a small group of friends around Dowson when he suffered a devastating stroke that left him unable to speak or write for the rest of his life.
Conclusion
Professionally, Dowson was a machinist as a youth and later a lithographer and printer by training, but spent almost his entire working life as a full-time paid staffer (at times the only one) for the organization. For the new generation of recruits in the Sixties and early Seventies, he was the major link to the older generation of class-struggle militants and Marxists who had built the labour and socialist movements in previous decades.Dowson's brothers Hugh, Murray
Murray Dowson
Murray Dowson was a Canadian Trotskyist politician.In the mid-1930s, Murray joined the Workers' Party of Canada while a student at York Memorial Collegiate. He later joined B. J. Field's League for a Revolutionary Workers Party before rejoining the Trotskyists...
and his sisters Joyce (Dowson) Rosenthal and Lois (Dowson) Bédard were also active in the Trotskyist movement.
Dowson's niece, Anne Lagacé Dowson
Anne Lagacé Dowson
-Radio career:A longtime host of CBC Radio's Radio Noon, a daily current affairs and phone-in program in Quebec, she left to run in 2008. She also hosted Home Run in Montreal, and was producer of C'est la Vie. She was a news reporter, arts reporter, press reviewer, and has guest hosted Cross...
, is a broadcaster and politician.