The Red Jew

All his adult life, Joseph Baruch Salsberg served two masters: his Jewish faith and Communism. Last week, when circumstances finally forced him to stand up for one or the other, Joe Salsberg chose Communism. At a Red rally in Toronto, he publicly condoned the recent purges of Jews behind the Iron Curtain, and sounded the party line against his own people.

Until the showdown on Communist antiSemitism, Salsberg had skillfully played both sides of the street and become Canada's most successful Communist politician. A top official in the Labor-Progressive (Communist) Party, he continued to be a regular worshiper at the synagogue, an active Zionist, and something of a scholar of Hebrew literature. He made pilgrimages to both the Soviet Union and Israel, artfully blended the party line with learned Talmudic references in his political speeches. Solidly backed by the Jewish vote in Toronto's St. Andrew's district, Salsberg was elected to the Ontario legislature in 1943. His constituents re-elected him in 1945, 1948 and 1951. Knowing him as they do now, it is doubtful that they will do it again.

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