The fonds pertains primarily to the Cecil-Ross Society History Project, which consists of 491 hours of oral history interviews with members, former members, and those whose activities brought them into contact with the Communist Party of Canada. Textual records include transcripts, written accounts from interview sessions where no taping was allowed, a glossary of relevant terms, and correspondence relating to the project.
Cecil-Ross Society of Canada : The Cecil-Ross Society was a revisionist education foundation operated by some former members of the Communist Party of Canada after they were forced to terminate their association with the party in 1992 in a political and legal dispute following the fall of the Soviet Union. The society had been founded by the Communist Party some years before in order to hold various party assets. The Society was chartered under the Societies Act by George Hewison and other leaders of the Communist Party of Canada. The society was named for the intersection of Cecil Street and Ross Street in Toronto, which was for many years the location of the Communist Party headquarters. The Communist Party had split as the result of a new programme adopted in 1992 which marked the abandonment of Marxism-Leninism as the party's ideology. An orthodox left minority in the Communist Party, led by Miguel Figueroa, Elizabeth Rowley and former leader William Kashtan, resisted this effort and, after being defeated at the party's 1992 convention, several members of the opposition were expelled by the Central Executive. They, in turn, sued the party. As the result of a court settlement, the Hewison group relinquished the name Communist Party of Canada, but retained the Cecil-Ross Society and were permitted by the settlement to transfer to it roughly half of the party's assets and the rights to the party's weekly paper "Canadian Tribune," which ceased publication. The Cecil-Ross Society was not a political party and was restrained by the strictures of the Societies Act, meaning that it was only allowed to utilize its resources for educational and research purposes rather than for party political activity. The Cecil-Ross Society attempted two publishing endeavors, the magazines "New Times" and "Ginger", both of which were short-lived. The society also created an oral history archive by recording the memoirs of veteran Communists. After several years, the Cecil-Ross Society disbanded its central organization and divided its remaining funds amongst its local branches throughout the country. Most of these branches no longer exist, though one reportedly remains in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Morris, Tom, 1935-2016 : Tom Morris was born in Moscow in 1935. His parents, Sylvia and Leslie Morris, were CPC activists. His father was General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1962-1964, preceding his premature death in the mid 1960s. Tom was disciplined by the Party for opposing the Soviet intervention in then Czechoslovakia in 1968, but worked his way back into acceptance and was Editor of the Canadian Tribune from 1985 until the negotiated settlement in 1992. At the time of his resignation from the Communist Party of Canada in 1992, he was a member of its Central Executive Committee, holding the post of Education Secretary. Tom Morris died in April 2016.
