Dorise Nielsen

Dorise W. Nielsen
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for North Battleford
In office
March 26, 1940 – June 10, 1945
Preceded by Cameron Ross McIntosh
Succeeded by Frederick Townley-Smith
Personal details
Born Doris Webber
July 30, 1902
London, England
Died December 9, 1980(1980-12-09) (aged 78)
Beijing, China
Political party United Progressive (1940-1943)
Labor-Progressive (1943-1959)
Spouse(s) Peter Nielsen (sep. 1940, died 1956)
Children 4 (1 died in infancy)[1]
Occupation Teacher

Dorise Winifred Nielsen (July 30, 1902 – December 9, 1980) was a Canadian communist politician, feminist and teacher.

Biography

Before politics

Born in London, England, Doris Webber arrived in Canada and settled in Saskatchewan in 1927 to work as a teacher and married Peter Nielsen, a homesteader, the same year. Adding an 'e' to her given name on her marriage certificate, she became Dorise Nielsen.[2]

Political career

She joined the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in 1934 and was a CCF campaign manager during the 1938 provincial election. By 1937, she joined the Communist Party of Canada but did not disclose her membership until 1943 remaining a member of the CCF until her riding association was dissolved because of its support of a popular front campaign with the Communists.[3]

She was the first member of the Communist Party of Canada to be elected to the House of Commons of Canada,[3] serving during World War II. She was the third woman elected to Canadian Parliament and the first to still be raising young children while holding political office. She won a seat in the 1940 federal election representing the Saskatchewan riding of North Battleford on the "United Progressives" label, beating the Liberal candidate in a two-way race.[4] Canada banned the Communist Party in June 1940 due to the party's opposition to the war.[5] Nielsen, through indirect contact with Montreal-based Communist leaders who had escaped imprisonment, became a spokeswoman for the Communist Party through speeches made in the House of Commons.[3][6]

When the Labor-Progressive Party was officially formed in 1943 as a legal front for the still banned Communist Party, Nielsen declared her affiliation with the party and was elected to its national executive committee.[7] She ran for re-election in the 1945 election for the Labor-Progressive Party (the name the Communist Party would use until 1959), but came in third behind the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation and Liberal candidates with 13% of the vote.[8]

After her defeat, she and her children moved to Toronto where she worked as an organizer for the Labor-Progressive Party and wrote a weekly column for its newspaper, Canadian Tribune, called "Women's Place is Everywhere".[9] She helped found the Congress of Canadian Women and attended the Women's International Democratic Federation Peace Congress in Budapest in 1948[10] and helped found the Canadian Peace Congress the next year.[11]

In 1949, she became executive secretary of the Canadian-Soviet Friendship Association and organized national tours and local chapters, distributed films and books, and did most of the organizational work for the association. Frustrated by having to play second fiddle to CSFA president Dyson Carter and being paid a lower salary than him, she resigned in the summer of 1953. [12]

She ran again for the LPP in the 1953 election, this time in Brantford, Ontario, but came in last place with 216 votes.[13]

After politics

Finding it difficult to find work outside of the party due to her age and possibly blacklisted due to her Communist allegiance, she found a job in the mid-1950s working in the office of the United Electrical Workers but found it dull, and left Canada in 1955 for London, England with her partner, Constant Godefroy (she had been estranged from husband Pete Nielsen since 1940). They returned to Canada in 1956, and Nielsen found a job clipping articles for Maclean-Hunter Publishing.[14]

In 1957, Nielsen and Godefroy received permission to go to the People's Republic of China, where she lived until her death, working most of that time as an English teacher and as an editor for the Foreign Languages Press in Beijing.[15]

She became a Chinese citizen in 1962.[16]

Family

Dorise and Peter Nielsen had four children, one of whom died in infancy.[1] Their youngest daughter was Thelma Nielsen, known as Sally (born 1931), who in 1980 married Dyson Carter, Dorise Nielsen's former superior at the Canadian-Soviet Friendship Association.[16][17]

Election results

Canadian federal election, 1953: Brantford
Party Candidate Votes
LiberalJames Elisha Brown9,576
Progressive ConservativeJohn Tozeland Shillington7,912
Co-operative CommonwealthJohn Houison Gillies3,839
Labor–ProgressiveDorise Winifred Nielsen216
Canadian federal election, 1945: North Battleford
Party Candidate Votes%±%
Co-operative CommonwealthFrederick W. Townley-Smith5,04931.55
LiberalJohn Hornby Harrison4,42027.62–15.22
Labor–ProgressiveDorise W. Nielsen2,12413.27–43.89
Progressive ConservativeAlbert C. Cadieu2,03912.74
Social CreditJohn William Evanishen1,5259.53
Independent LiberalCameron Ross McIntosh8475.29–37.55
Total valid votes 16,004100.0  
Co-operative Commonwealth gain from Unity Swing +23.38
Canadian federal election, 1940: North Battleford
Party Candidate Votes%±%
UnityDorise W. Nielsen10,50057.16
LiberalCameron Ross McIntosh7,86842.84–2.23
Total valid votes 18,368100.0  
Unity gain from Liberal Swing +29.70

References

  • Faith Johnston (2006). A great restlessness. Univ of Manitoba Press. ISBN 978-0-88755-690-6.
  • Faith Johnston: The Communists, the CCF and the Popular Front, Seventh Annual Robert S. Kenny Prize Lecture, May, 2007
  • Dorise Nielsen
  • Dorise Nielsen – Parliament of Canada biography
  1. 1 2 Scully, Eileen. "Scully on Johnston, 'A Great Restlessness: The Life and Politics of Dorise Nielsen'". H-Net. History Department, Michigan State University. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  2. ↑ Faith Johnston (2006). A great restlessness. Univ of Manitoba Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-88755-690-6.
  3. 1 2 3 http://nextyearcountrynews.blogspot.ca/2010/05/dorise-nielson-saskatchewans-communist.html
  4. ↑ http://www.parl.gc.ca/About/Parliament/FederalRidingsHistory/hfer.asp?Language=E&Search=Det&Include=Y&rid=1245
  5. ↑ Francis et al. Destinies: Canadian History Since Confederation, 5th Ed. Thomson/Nelson Canada Ltd., 2004. pg 287.
  6. ↑ http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/nielsen_dorise_winifred_1902-80.html
  7. ↑ http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=13651
  8. ↑ http://www.parl.gc.ca/About/Parliament/FederalRidingsHistory/hfer.asp?Language=E&Search=Cresdetail&Election=6747
  9. ↑ Faith Johnston (2006). A great restlessness. Univ of Manitoba Press. p. 213. ISBN 978-0-88755-690-6.
  10. ↑ Faith Johnston (2006). A great restlessness. Univ of Manitoba Press. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-88755-690-6.
  11. ↑ Faith Johnston (2006). A great restlessness. Univ of Manitoba Press. p. 219. ISBN 978-0-88755-690-6.
  12. ↑ Faith Johnston (2006). A great restlessness. Univ of Manitoba Press. pp. 226–231. ISBN 978-0-88755-690-6.
  13. ↑ Faith Johnston (2006). A great restlessness. Univ of Manitoba Press. p. 232. ISBN 978-0-88755-690-6.
  14. ↑ Faith Johnston (2006). A great restlessness. Univ of Manitoba Press. pp. 232–235. ISBN 978-0-88755-690-6.
  15. ↑ Faith Johnston (2006). A great restlessness. Univ of Manitoba Press. pp. 237–306. ISBN 978-0-88755-690-6.
  16. 1 2 http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000002656.pdf
  17. ↑ Anderson, Jennifer (2007). "The Pro-Soviet Message in Words and Images: Dyson Carter and Canadian "Friends" of the USSR". Journal of the Canadian Historical Association. 18 (1): 185. doi:10.7202/018259ar. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.