Maurice Spector (1898 - August 1, 1968) 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. 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... August 1 is the 213th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (214th in leap years), with 152 days remaining. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... Leon Trotsky ▶ (help· info) (Russian: Лев Давидович Троцкий; also transliterated Leo, Lev, Trotskii, Trotski, Trotskij and Trotzky) (October 26 (O.S.) = November 7 (N.S.), 1879 – August 21, 1940), born Lev Davidovich Bronstein (Лев Давидович Бронштейн), was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. ... The first edition of Communist International, journal of the Comintern published in Moscow and Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg) in May 1919. ...

Spector was influenced by Trotsky's work 'The Bolsheviki and World Peace' which was inexplicably published in the Toronto Mail and Empire in January 1918, and by Social Democratic Party of Canada (SDP) Dominion Secretary Isaac Bainbridge who introduced him to Lenin's writings and compelled him to join the SDP. Spector engaged with the left-wing of the Canadian SDP, and eventually left to form the Communist Party of Canada. The Social Democratic Party was a social democratic political party founded in 1911 by members of the right wing of the Socialist Party of Canada, who were dissatisfied with what they saw as that partys rigid, doctrinaire approach. ...

In 1928, Maurice Spector, while attending the Sixth Congress of the Comintern in Moscow, accidentally got hold of a copy of Trotsky's Critique of the Draft Programme of the Communist International, which criticised the position of Bukharin and Stalin, and especially exposed the anti-Marxist theory of "socialism in one country". This critique was a landmark in the ideological arming of the International Left Opposition. In a truly prophetic statement, Trotsky warned that if this position were adopted by the Communist International, it would inevitably mark the beginning of a process that would lead to the nationalist and reformist degeneration of every Communist Party in the world. Three generations later, his prediction - which was ridiculed by the Stalinists at the time - has been shown to be correct. The Comintern (from Russian Коммунистический Интернационал (Kommunisticheskiy Internatsional) – Communist International), also known as the Third International, was an independent international Communist organization founded in March 1919 by Vladmir Lenin, Leon Trotsky and the Russian Communist Party (bolshevik), which intended to fight by all available means, including armed force, for the overthrow of... Moscow (Russian: Москва́, Moskva, IPA: â–¶ (help· info)) is the capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva. ... Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin ( Russian: Николай Иванович Бухарин), ( October 9 ( September 27 Old Style) 1888 – March 13, 1938) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and intellectual, and later a Soviet politician. ... Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი; see Other names section) (December 21, 1879[1] – March 5, 1953) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and leader of the Soviet Union. ... With the prospect of world revolution so close at hand in the early part of the 20th Century, communists, socialists and workers movements in general were dominated by a feeling of overwhelming optimism, which in the end proved to be quite premature. ... This article is part of the Communism series. ... In modern usage, a communist party is a political party which promotes communism, a sociopolitical philosophy based on the particular interpretation of Marxism put forth by Vladimir Lenin. ... Stalinism is a term used to describe a form of authoritarian communist state, much like the political regime of Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union. ...

Stalin had no intention of circulating Trotsky's document. But by a strange accident of history, that is what happened. At that time, when the Stalinist regime had not yet been consolidated, the Communist International still had to observe certain norms of democratic centralism, which permitted the circulation of minority opinions. Although Trotsky had been expelled from the Russian party a year earlier, he took advantage of the Congress to appeal to the Communist International. In the process he submitted his document on the Draft Programme. Through a blunder in the apparatus, they circulated Trotsky's document to the heads of the delegations, including members of the programme commission. It was here that the American James Cannon and Maurice Spector first saw and read Trotsky's document. Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი; see Other names section) (December 21, 1879[1] – March 5, 1953) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and leader of the Soviet Union. ... James P. Cannon (1940) James Patrick Cannon (1890-1974) was an American Communist and then Trotskyist leader. ...

"Through some slip-up in the apparatus in Moscow," recalls Cannon, "which was supposed to be airtight, this document of Trotsky came into the translating room of the Comintern. It fell into the hopper, where they had a dozen or more translators and stenographers with nothing else to do. They picked up Trotsky's document, translated it and distributed it to the heads of the delegations and the members of the programme commission. So, lo and behold, it was laid in my lap, translated into English! Maurice Spector, a delegate from the Canadian party, and in somewhat the same frame of mind as myself, was also on the programme commission and he got a copy. We let the caucus meetings and the Congress sessions go to the devil while we read and studied this document. Then I knew what I had to do, and so did he. Our doubts had been resolved. It was as clear as daylight that Marxist truth was on the side of Trotsky. We had a compact there and then - Spector and I - that we would come back home and begin a struggle under the banner of Trotskyism." (History of American Trotskyism, New York, 1944, pp. 49-50).

Spector was a founder of the Canadian Trotskyist which was first constituted as a branch of the Communist League of America in 1929. In 1932 he co-founded, with Jack MacDonald, the International Left Opposition (Trotskyist) Canada, a section of Trotsky's Left Opposition. Spector later moved to New York City and became a leading member of the Trotskyist movement there. He presented the International Report at the founding convention of the Socialist Workers Party at the end of 1938, but dropped out of the party in 1939. (Contrary to some reports, he did not take part in the 1939-40 debate between James Cannon and Max Shachtman). He later became editor of a children's magazine published by the Labour Zionist movement. The Communist League of America (Left Opposition) was founded by James P. Cannon, Max Shachtman and Martin Abern in 1928 after their expulsion from the Communist Party USA for Trotskyism. ... Jack MacDonald (nicknamed Moscow Jack Macdonald in the 1920s) born in Falkirk, Scotland, was a founding member of the Communist Party of Canada and one if its leaders. ... The International Left Opposition (Trotskyist) of Canada, the Workers Party of Canada, Socialist Policy Group, Socialist Workers League, Revolutionary Workers Party, League for Socialist Action and Revolutionary Workers League were names of successive Trotskyist organisations in Canada. ... The Left Opposition was a faction within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1923-1927. ... Nickname: The Big Apple Motto: Official website: City of New York Location Location in the state of New York Government Counties (Boroughs) Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Geographical characteristics Area Total 468. ... There are various Socialist Workers Parties throughout the world. ... James P. Cannon (1940) James Patrick Cannon (1890-1974) was an American Communist and then Trotskyist leader. ... Max Shachtman (September 10, 1904 - 1972) is best known as an American Trotskyist theorist. ... Labor Zionism (or Labour Zionism) is the traditional left-wing of the Zionist ideology. ...