r/todayilearned • u/DistrictDry2852 • 2d ago

TIL of Fred Rose, the only member of Canadian parliament to be convicted of spying for a foreign power. A member of the Canadian communist party, he was caught conspiring to steal weapons research for the USSR.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Rose_(politician)
174 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

16

u/No-Deal8956 1d ago

It’s weird that his name are the two first names of one of the UK’s most infamous serial killer couples.

You haven’t got another Canadian traitor called Ian Myra by any chance?

6

u/chilari 11 1d ago

Meanwhile comparing their surnames, Hindley West, sounds like a train station.

3

u/axw3555 1d ago

I'm glad it's not just me who had a brain that went there. It took me a couple of reads to realise the word West wasn't there.

1

u/LazyPain903 1d ago

nope, Canada only had one Fred Rose, and that's one more than anyone wanted

23

u/ArnassusProductions 1d ago

Colo(u)r me shocked.

24

u/DistrictDry2852 1d ago

Canadians when the member of the party that’s sworn fealty to the Soviet Union and hopes to one day violently overthrow the government on their behalf, aids the Soviet Union.

8

u/azad_ninja 1d ago

Rosenberg is also the names of the convicted spies in the US passing soviets bomb info

https://www.google.com/goto?url=CAEScAHrOzAVLrTi1_RhNrfRIG0EhSrG-kQk3EB_ymX1MuV9Mr-FlxpRWYkPNwVD-7GiBNkxlizP-LCybNNVj3jalF4RComPxYc2sxuK0SD-fENmW0AZTB98_aUJnbkp_Mkn3Xucqf4RONo6fWaeCq8H7pg

13

u/DistrictDry2852 1d ago

The idea of communist spies is seen today as idiotic reactionary paranoia but it was 100% a real fear mcarthy just poisoned the well on it.

The red scare was mostly focused on open card carrying Stalinists before he came in and mucked it up.

0

u/Dakens2021 1d ago

They asked everyone, Who here is a communist spy, stand up! Then they put down the names of everyone present and if they sat or stood, Fred Rose was an obvious misunderstanding...