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310:. In the November 1933 election Penner topped all vote-getters in the city's North End to win election, assuming his seat on January 2, 1934. Penner would be regularly re-elected as a Winnipeg alderman, holding the position until 1960, excepting a time during WWII when he was put in a concentration camp for being a Communist. Penner thereby became the longest serving elected Communist alderman in North America.
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268:.... The existence of the proletarian dictatorship is in constant danger if the workers of other countries do not rally to its support.... The international solidarity of the proletariat is not merely a toy or a fine phrase for the workers, but a vital necessity, without which the cause of the working class is doomed to destruction."
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with
Winnipeg politicians from across the political spectrum advocating for his pardon, culminating in Penner's release in July 1942. Following his release, Penner joined his Communist Party associates in advocating publicly for the immediate opening of a second front in Europe to take military
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In addition to his service in municipal politics, Penner stood for higher electoral office at least two more times, running again for the provincial legislature in the election of 1932, picking up 1,106 votes in a losing effort, and in the 1958 Manitoba election, in which he received 588 votes
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Penner would run again in the annual election of 1932. In his second effort at election as
Winnipeg Mayor, Penner captured 3,495 votes out of 49,387 ballots cast (7.1%), finishing in last place in a four-person race.
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Penner would continue to work as a florist until 1917. He then moved to a position as a bookkeeper for the
Workers' and Farmers' Cooperative Company in Winnipeg, where he would remain until the early 1930s.
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Penner was unseated from the
Winnipeg City Council as a result of his incarceration in a concentration camp, only to be replaced in a by-election by former Communist member of the Winnipeg City Council
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and was the party's western organiser. That fall he ran as the candidate of the
Workers' Alliance, the "legal political party" associated with the underground Communist Party at that time for the
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in 1906, where he worked as a clerk and floral designer in a florist firm. It was there that he met his future wife, Rose
Shapack, a Jewish Russian immigrant, in 1906 during an address by
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family. Appalled by the poverty among the peasantry in the
Tsarist regime, Penner became a revolutionary socialist at an early age — political activity which forced him to emigrate to
154:, Penner would become the first Canadian Communist interned for political security reasons. He would be incarcerated from June 1940 until being granted his release in July 1942.
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September 1942 ad for a public program of the "Communist-Labor Total War
Committee" advocating speedy opening of a second front in Europe, featuring a speech by Jacob Penner.
264:"The Communist Revolution can triumph only as a world revolution.... In the years 1917, 1918, 1919, all the powers sought to overthrow Soviet Russia; in 1919 they throttled
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With little hope of winning office in the election, Penner made use of the campaign to advocate for world revolution, not hesitating to declare his allegiance to the
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Penner was very popular among his constituents in the city's impoverished north end and attracted support from across party lines. He was an early advocate of a
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city council in 1933. He would remain at that post until 1960, becoming the longest serving elected
Communist city council member in North America.
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entry into the war on the side of the
British Empire, France, and the United States in the summer of 1941, Penner's incarceration became a
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356:, Penner became the first Canadian Communist interned for security reasons, being arrested on June 11, 1940 under Regulation 21 of the
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and appealing for the overthrow of capitalism. He declared in a published election statement during the 1921 federal campaign that
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was stricken from the ballot on a legal technicality, Penner was tapped as a Communist candidate for Winnipeg's
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Penner first ran in a Winnipeg city political race in 1931 when he was selected as the Communist candidate for
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as "active and dangerous Communists," Penner was interred in a camp for political prisoners located at
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pressure off the Soviet Union, which was fighting for its survival in the aftermath of Nazi Germany's
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was elected to succeed him on the Winnipeg City Council. Zuken would serve into the 1980s.
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provincial election, garnering 2,015 votes on the first count in another losing effort.
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Communist Party of Canada (Manitoba) candidates in Manitoba provincial elections
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Penner died on August 28, 1965. He was 85 years old at the time of his death.
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Upon arriving in Canada, Penner worked for a time in the fruit orchards of
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Jacob Penner was born August 12, 1880, in or near Ekaterinoslav (today's
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Episode 33, White Pine Pictures, March 2010; 0:08 to 0:26 time mark.
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In the 1921 race, Penner drew a total of 565 votes in the urban
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and used his political position to campaign for these reforms.
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520:"Jacob Penner: Workers' Alliance Candidate in North Winnipeg,"
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In 1933, after Communist Party Political Committee member
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movement (OBU), and played a role as an organiser of the
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at the Winnipeg Radical Club. The pair married in 1912.
127:(August 12, 1880 – August 28, 1965) was a popular
677:"A Glowing Dream: The Story of Jacob and Rose Penner,"
455:"A Glowing Dream: The Story of Jacob and Rose Penner,"
477:"Who's Who in the Civic Election: Ald. Jacob Penner,"
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People detained under Defence of Canada Regulations
749:Candidates in the 1921 Canadian federal election
714:People from the Russian Empire of German descent
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545:Canadian Communism: The Stalin Years and Beyond.
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241:In 1921, he participated in the founding of the
221:and was an opponent of conscription during the
680:A Scattering of Seeds: The Creation of Canada,
495:Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1975; pg. 29.
458:A Scattering of Seeds: The Creation of Canada,
682:Episode 33, White Pine Pictures, March 2010.
279:Penner also stood as a Communist in the 1927
598:"Penner and Naviziwsky Remanded in Custody,"
391:, who ran of necessity as an "Independent."
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194:. He then moved east to the prairie city of
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618:vol. 51, no. 141 (June 12, 1940), pp. 1, 5.
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332:When he retired in 1960, fellow Communist
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493:The Communist Party of Canada: A History.
276:electoral district in a losing campaign.
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651:vol. 32, no. 286 (Dec. 2, 1921), pg. 16.
603:vol. 51, no. 160 (July 4, 1940), pg. 13.
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560:"Ten-Year Record of Vote for Mayoralty,"
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453:Jacob Penner audio testimony,
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426:and served as the province's
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358:Defence of Canada Regulations
287:Communist city council member
655:"Second Campaign Statement,"
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646:"First Campaign Statement,"
430:in the 1980s. Another son,
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129:international socialist
510:Oct. 19, 1921, pg. 13.
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319:unemployment insurance
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217:, he helped found the
434:, was a professor at
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32:Penner as a young man
405:Operation Barbarossa
724:Canadian Mennonites
631:Lethbridge Herald,
581:Canadian Communism,
389:Martin "Joe" Forkin
373:Kananaskis, Alberta
175:, then part of the
135:. A founder of the
719:Russian Mennonites
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340:Wartime internment
90:Co-founder of the
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649:Winnipeg Tribune,
616:Winnipeg Tribune,
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72:(1965-08-28)
20:Jacob Penner
704:1965 deaths
699:1880 births
163:Early years
693:Categories
394:Following
82:Politician
79:Occupation
44:1880-08-12
442:Footnotes
418:One son,
233:in 1919.
187:in 1904.
181:Mennonite
158:Biography
583:pg. 185.
579:Penner,
281:Manitoba
200:Manitoba
196:Winnipeg
145:Winnipeg
139:and the
102:Children
377:Calgary
352:During
215:Marxist
173:Ukraine
150:During
56:Ukraine
684:—Video
396:Soviet
185:Canada
133:Canada
640:Works
381:Nazi
317:and
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