Carr, Sam

• Kogan, Schmil

Sam Carr was born as Schmil Kogan in Tomashpil, in Russian Ukraine in 1906. His family enjoyed privileges within his community, as his father was an accountant to a large sugar refinery. In 1919, the sugar refinery was attacked in an antisemitic pogrom, and his father was killed. Sam fled to Romania, where he joined the Romanian underground and distributed radical leaflets. He immigrated to Canada in 1924, living in Regina and Winnipeg before settling in Montreal. Upon arriving in Canada, he joined the Communist Party of Canada. In 1927, the Party sent him to Toronto. For two years, Sam trained at the Lenin School in Moscow. Returning to Canada, he was appointed national organizer for the Canadian Communist Party. In 1931, he was arrested under the Sedition Act, and spent 28 months in Kingston Penitentiary. He was arrested in 1949 in the aftermath of the revelations of espionage during the Gouzenko Affair. He was charged for allegedly helping Soviet embassy officials falsify a passport. After his release from prison, he did not rejoin the Communist Party of Canada, but remained a committed Marxist through his work in other Leftist organizations, including the United Jewish People’s Order.

C. Long, 2021.