Kossuth Sick Benefit Association : The first Hungarian sick-benefit association was formed in Western Canada in 1901,followed by the establishment of a similar association in Hamilton in 1907. Hungarian sick-benefit associations in Eastern and Western Canada united to form the Hungarian Canadian Mutual Benefit Federation (HCMBF), which received its charter in January, 1928. It changed its name to become the Independent Mutual Benefit Federation (IMBF)when communist-oriented sick-benefit associations of other ethnic groups joined it as affiliates. In 1940, the three largest members of the Federation, the Hungarian, Slovak and English, formed separate sections of the IMBF, with the Hungarian section assuming the name Kossuth Sick-Benefit Association.
As the Communist Party of the United States was influential among Hungarian Canadian worker organizations in Canada,its paper,the UJ ELORE (NEW FORWARD) wielded considerable influence until it lost its mailing privileges in Canada. To replace it, the KANADAI MAGYAR MUNKAS (CANADIAN HUNGARIAN WORKER) was launched by THE HUNGARIAN PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION, in July, 1929. Published until 1967, it served as the mouthpiece of the communist-oriented Hungarian workers' movement. The publishing company also published AZ UTTORO (THE PIONEER), the official organ of the IMBF, as well a monthly for women, A NÖ (THE WOMAN).
To promote and assist the KANADAI MAGYAR MUNKAS (CANADIAN HUNGARIAN WORKER) financially, a number of Hungarian communist-oriented workers' clubs were formed in Eastern Canada in the 1930s. In 1931, eight of these united to form the Workers' Club Association, with headquarters in Hamilton. When these clubs were forced to close immediately after the outbreak of World War II, club members reorganized themselves to form the Canadian Hungarian Democratic Federation, which in 1948 changed its name to the Hungarian Literature Association. The association imported books, periodicals, scripts for plays and other material from communist Hungary, for distribution and sale in Canada. The Hungarian Film Distributors, in turn, imported movies from Hungary, for Hungarian-speaking audiences in Canada. Through such means, these organizations sought to recruit new members, be this for their own organizations, for the IMBF, or the Communist Party of Canada.
After the Second World War, the United Hungarian Relief Committee was formed to aid war-ravaged, post-World War II Hungary. It was supported by all Hungarian-Canadian organizations, no matter what their political orientation. Working through the United Hungarian Relief Fund and the Canadian Red Cross,it collected and distributed some 0,000 dollars among needy Hungarians of the old homeland. George Demmer
