James Litterick
| James (Jim) Litterick | |
|---|---|
 |
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| MLA for Winnipeg | |
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In office 1937–1940 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
July 15, 1901 Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom |
| Political party | Communist Party of Manitoba |
| Spouse(s) | Molly Bassin (m. 1936) |
| Profession | politician |
James Litterick (born July 15, 1901) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada, and was the first member of the Communist Party of Canada to be elected to that province's legislature.
Litterick was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He received an education at Clydebrooke and Glasgow, and became a member of the British Socialist Party at age sixteen (his father was also a lifelong socialist). He was jailed for his role in a rent riot at Clydebank in 1920, and joined the newly formed Communist Party of Great Britain the same year.
Litterick moved to Canada in 1925 and initially worked as a miner in Alberta and British Columbia. In 1926, he became the district secretary of the Communist Party of British Columbia. He moved to Montreal in 1930, and became an organizer for the Workers Unity League, a Communist trade union umbrella designed to build a revolutionary trade union movement in Canada. When Communist Party leader Tim Buck was arrested in 1931, Litterick moved to Toronto to take over some of his responsibilities.
In 1934, Litterick was selected as Provincial Secretary of the Communist Party of Manitoba. He was elected to the Manitoba legislature in the provincial election of 1936, during a period of increased popularity for the party. His campaign focused on eliminating the province's 2% wage tax.
He married Molly Bassin in 1936.
Litterick placed second on first-preference votes in the riding of Winnipeg, which elected ten members via preferential balloting. He was declared elected on the second count, after receiving numerous transfer votes from first-place candidate Lewis Stubbs. Litterick regarded himself as an ally of Stubbs, a popular left-wing judge and Independent candidate. Litterick's primary support base was in Winnipeg's working-class north end, and he received considerable support from the city's Jewish community (his wife, Molly, was Jewish).
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