Roy Leitch
{{use dmy dates|date=November 2015}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Roy Leitch
|image = RoyLeitchNovaScotia1.jpg
|caption = Roy Leitch, c. 1914
|other_names =
|occupation = {{hlist|Activist|military volunteer}}
|birth_date = {{birth year|1882}}
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1957|1882}}
|birth_place = Prince Edward Island, Canada
|death_place =
|alma_mater = Dalhousie University
|module =
{{Infobox military person
|embed = yes
|embed_title = Military Service
| allegiance = {{flag|Spanish Republic}}
| branch = Spanish Republican Army
| serviceyears =
| unit = {{Tree list}}
{{Tree list/end}}
| rank =
| awards =
| battles = {{Tree list}}
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}}
}}
Roy Leitch (1882–1957) was a Canadian Rhodes scholar, professor, activist and soldier of the Serbian Campaign (World War I). He later fought in the Spanish Civil War, serving in the Mackenzie–Papineau Battalion. He self-published the newspaper Storm (1939–1957). He used his newspaper to expose corruption by lawyers, clergy and all forms of government.
Biography
Leitch was born in Prince Edward Island. He attended Dalhousie University, and while there he was named a Rhodes Scholar (1911), and later a professor of English Composition (1929–1931).{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/calendardalhous05univgoog#page/n153/mode/2up/search/roy|title=Calendar of Dalhousie University, 1908-09|accessdate=18 May 2015}}
As an activist he formed his own political party, the Christian Socialists, which failed to garner a membership. He started the Catamaran Club for boys, also known as the Unholy Angels Club, and provided a place for homeless youth to stay. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police had him under surveillance as a communist in 1935.Weekly summary report on Revolutionary Organizations and Agitators in Canada. Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Ottawa 30 January 1935. No. 742 On 16 January 1935, Leitch was a guest speaker at the Unemployed and Tax Payers Association of Halifax, N.S.
At age 49, Leitch became a soldier and fought fascism in the Spanish Civil War (1937). The Communist Party of Canada (which included Dr. Norman Bethune) had a significant recruitment effort in Nova Scotia for the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion to fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War, even though at that time, joining the Battalion was illegal in Canada. There were 31 volunteers from the Maritimes, 19 from Nova Scotia.Renegades: Canadians in the Spanish Civil War By Michael Petrou, p. 21 (1500 volunteers were recruited across the country and half of them were killed in the defeat.) From 3–18 February 1939, 421 returning soldiers of the Battalion disembarked at Halifax.{{cite book|title=The Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion: The Canadian Contingent in the Spanish Civil War|author=Howard, V.|date=1987|publisher=MQUP|isbn=9780773582576|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LrQSBJ1pawMC|page=234|accessdate=18 May 2015}} The last Nova Scotian veteran of the "Mac-Paps" died in the 1980s. The Canadian Government has always denied official recognition of these veterans.{{cite web|url=http://nslegislature.ca/index.php/committees/committee_hansard/C11/va_2010sep09|title=Veterans Affairs / Standing Committees / Committees / The Nova Scotia Legislature|publisher=nslegislature.ca|accessdate=18 May 2015}} On 20 October 2001, Governor General of Canada Michaëlle Jean commemorated a monument to the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion in Ottawa.
Leitch built a cabin in the woods on Colpitt Lake in Spryfield, Nova Scotia during the 1930s. From his cabin he self-published the newspaper Storm (1939–1957). He used his newspaper to expose corruption by lawyers, clergy and all forms of government.
See also
References
Endnotes
{{Reflist}}
Texts
- [https://novascotia.ca/nsarm/library/library.asp?ID=10103 The Storm - Nova Scotia Archives]
- Beeching, William C. Canadian volunteers: Spain 1936–1939. Regina: U. of Regina, 1989
- Howard, Victor, with Mac Reynolds. The Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion: the Canadian contingent in the Spanish civil war. Ottawa: Carleton, 1986
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20131113024336/http://www.ubcpress.ca/books/pdf/chapters/2008/Renegades.pdf Petrou, Michael. Renegades: Canadians in the Spanish Civil War. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2008]
- Zuehlke, Mark (2007) [https://books.google.com/books?id=-k_UqF_qPM8C&dq=Zuehlke%2C+Mark+%282007%29+The+gallant+cause+%3A+Canadians+in+the+Spanish+Civil+War%2C+1936-1939&pg=PP5 The gallant cause: Canadians in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939], Wiley & Sons Canada {{ISBN|978-0-470-83926-3}}
External links
- [http://digitalcollections.halifaxpubliclibraries.ca/imagezoomview/bitstream/handle/10960/88/WM95%2074%201.jpg?sequence=3 Photo of Leitch's Cottage, Spryfield, Nova Scotia]
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Category:Military history of Nova Scotia
Category:Canadian Rhodes Scholars
Category:Canadian military personnel of World War I
Category:Canadian people of the Spanish Civil War
Category:Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)