In this episode, we discuss Toronto's crackdown on communist activity in the city in the late 1920s! This episode gets into the interrelated histories of policing, the issue of free expression, access to public space, journalism, leftist politics, and more.

For those interested in learning more about the topics covered in this episode and/or want to read some of the sources we quote from in the episode, check out the following:

• Lita-Rose Betcherman, The Little Band: The Clashes between the Communists and the Political and Legal Establishment in Canada, 1928–32 (Ottawa: Deneau, 1982)
• J. Petryshyn, “Class Conflict and Civil Liberties: The Origins and Activities of the Canadian Labour Defense League, 1925 - 1940" Labour/Le Travailleur 10 (Autumn 1982), 39–63
• Bryan D. Palmer and Gaétan Héroux, Toronto’s Poor: A Rebellious History (Toronto: Between the Lines, 2016)
• Dennis G. Molinaro, An Exceptional Law: Section 98 and the Emergency State, 1919–1936 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2017)
• Manifesto of the Workers’ Party of Canada, December 1921, accessible at https://www.marxists.org/history//canada/socialisthistory/Docs/Leninist/WP_Manifesto_21.htm
• “Toronto Police Use Fists, Feet and Batons to Clear Queen’s Park,” Toronto Daily Star, 14 August 1929, 1–2
• “Toronto's 'Red Demonstration' Proves to be Immediate Fiasco As Watchful Police Arrest Six” [Page 2 Title: "Toronto's 'Red Demonstration' Fails"], Globe, 14 August 1929, 1–2
• Editorial, “No Compromise with the Reds,” Globe, 30 July 1929, 4
• Editorial, “The Right of Public Assembly,” Toronto Daily Star, 30 April 1929, 6
• The Observer, “The Law and the Courts Sufficient Protection,” Toronto Daily Star, 30 April 1929, 6
• "Evidence Lacking against Woman Garrow Finds” Toronto Daily Star, 19 November 1929, 1–2

--

Listening T.O. History is created and hosted by Steve Penfold and Louis Reed-Wood. Our artwork was made by Nethkaria, our intro music was recorded by the National Promenade Band, and our outro music was created by Holizna. Follow us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/listeningt.o.history) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/people/Listening-TO-History/61553456499160/) for additional content and announcements, and get in touch at listeningTOhistory[at]gmail.com!

In today's episode, we discuss the classic Canadian movie Goin' Down the Road! Released in 1970, this movie tells the story of two Maritimers who come to Toronto looking for better pay and good times. We chat about the how the movie portrays Toronto at the time, and how that portrayal compares to other historical sources.

For those interested in learning more about the topics covered in this episode, check out the following sources:

• Greg Marquis, "Confederation's Casualties: The 'Maritimer' as a Problem in 1960s Toronto," Acadiensis 39, no. 1 (Winter/Spring 2010): 83–107.
• Geoff Pevere, Donald Shebib's Goin' Down the Road (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012).
• Daniel Ross, The Heart of Toronto: Corporate Power, Civic Activism, and the Remaking of Downtown Yonge Street (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2022).
• Keith Whitney, "Skid Row," in The Underside of Toronto, ed. W. E. Mann (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1970). Available at https://archive.org/details/undersideoftoron0000na/mode/1up.
• "It's the Yonge Street Strip for Action on Saturday Night," Toronto Star, 20 September 1969, 1.

--

Listening T.O. History is created and hosted by Steve Penfold and Louis Reed-Wood. Our artwork was made by Nethkaria, our intro music was recorded by the National Promenade Band, and our outro music was created by Holizna. Follow us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/listeningt.o.history) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/people/Listening-TO-History/61553456499160/) for additional content and announcements, and get in touch at listeningTOhistory[at]gmail.com!

On today's episode, we discuss student activism at the University of Toronto in the 1960s and '70s, with a specific focus on a conflict over who was allowed to access the stacks at Robarts Library. It’s also a chance to talk about how the university changed from the late nineteenth century, the last time we covered its history, to the 1970s!

For those interested in learning more about the topics covered in this episode, check out the following sources:

• Martin Friedland, The University of Toronto: A History, 2nd ed. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013)
• Doug Owram, Born at the Right Time: A History of the Baby-Boom Generation (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996)
• Kenneth Cmiel, "The Politics of Civility," in The Sixties: From Memory to History, ed. David Farber (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1994)
• Karen Dubinsky, Catherine Krull, Susan Lord, Sean Mills, and Scott Rutherford, eds., New World Coming: The Sixties and the Shaping of Global Consciousness (Toronto: Between the Lines, 2009)

--

Listening T.O. History is created and hosted by Steve Penfold and Louis Reed-Wood. Our artwork was made by Nethkaria, our intro music was recorded by the National Promenade Band, and our outro music was created by Holizna. Follow us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/listeningt.o.history) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/people/Listening-TO-History/61553456499160/) for additional content and announcements, and get in touch at listeningTOhistory[at]gmail.com!