CANADA: Anti-Communist Agent

Canada’s pioneer hunter of Communists retired last week. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superintendent John Leopold had spent seven years (1921-28) as an undercover agent in the Canadian Communist Party, had helped convict eight Communist leaders of sedition in 1931 and presented the chief evidence against the Red espionage ring in 1946. Last week John Leopold let fly against the “apathy, indifference and complacency” of the Canadians who feel that Communists are less dangerous now because party membership, has dropped. Said he: “You can’t gauge a potential fifth column in terms of numerical strength. The Communists have stripped away their dead wood and are more dangerous now than ever.”