Few, if any, can match the first-hand, life-long experience of Patrick Walsh in battling the Communist conspiracy in Canada. His wide experience as a trade union organizer, soldier, undercover agent for the RCMP, lecturer, writer, and researcher on Communism, Marxism, and related subjects, has made him one of the free world's leading authorities in his field and ably qualified him to write this extensive paper on Red infiltration and subversion in Ottawa.
In 1953, after his service with the RCMP, Mr. Walsh was a voluntary witness before the USA House of Representative unAmerican Activities Committee, and received its thanks for the valuable evidence he presented, particularly on the top Communist agent, Alger Hiss.
Patrick Walsh is now an Executive Board Member of the World Anti-Communist League, and research director of the Canadian League of Rights.
Mr. Walsh, in this booklet, does not pretend to deal with more than a few highlights of a long history of Communist infiltration and subversion within the Federal Government. He goes right back to the recruitment of Oscar D. Skelton by Comrade Louis Kon in 1923, and shows how Skelton - the 'father' of External Affairs - used his key position to recruit young Marxists and 'colonize' the Federal civil service in general, and External Affairs in particular, with Marxists and Red 'sleepers' who could be activated in the future.
Perhaps even more incredible than the success in recruiting young academics of well-to-do backgrounds at our universities was the support and cover-up these subversives received in their betrayal of Canada from some civil servants in top positions, from Cabinet Ministers, and even from Prime Ministers. As Whittaker Chambers, in his classic, Witness, so eloquently puts it:
Security shatters, not because there are no more locks, but because the men naturally trusted with the keys and combinations are themselves the conspirators.It should be noted - indeed, emphasized - that while Mr. Walsh exposes a number of individuals within the public service who turned out to be Red agents and subversives, this in no way reflects upon the character and integrity of the tens of thousands of dedicated men and women who have laboured throughout the years in the Federal civil service. The betrayer, we must remember, is the exception, not the rule, and we must thank God for the commitment and loyalty of the great majority of those public servants whose only loyalty and commitment are to our country and our people.
As publisher of The Canadian Intelligence Service and other reports for over thirty years, most of the facts presented by Mr. Walsh are familiar to me. But the marshalling of this material in chronological order and its presentation in a concise and coherent continuum will make it much easier for this essential documentation to be grasped by our countrymen.
Therefore, in writing this little work, Mr. Walshhas rendered a significant service to the cause of freedom in Canada. And because he is one of this country's true patriots, this service in itself will be his reward.
Ron Gostick
