Eight Men Speak
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Eight Men Speak is a Canadian play written in 1933 by a committee of Oscar Ryan, E. Cecil-Smith, Frank Love and Mildred Goldberg. Although the play made only one performance in its initial run, the attempts by the authorities to suppress it backfired into a political embarrassment for the Canadian government and Prime Minister R. B. Bennett.
The agit-prop play told the story of Tim Buck and his arrest as a communist under Section 98 of the Criminal Code of Canada that made simple association with an organization advocating violent overthrow of the government a crime. Furthermore, it details the apparent assassination attempt on Buck during a prison riot when shots were fired into his cell despite the fact he was not participating in the riot in any way.
The play is most noted by the reaction of the local authorities who reacted to the play's one performance at Toronto's Standard Theatre on December 4, 1933. The police ordered the play closed and threatened to revoke the theatre's license if the play was performed again. A theatre in Winnipeg had its license revoked to preempt the play being performed there.
When the Progressive Arts Club had a meeting to protest this censorship, a former minister, A. E. Smith described the play and its allegations of the attempted assassination of the Communist leader. As a result, Smith was indicted for sedition, but the resulting trial allowed Buck to take the stand and relate the events of the incident in open court. Smith was acquitted and Buck and his comrades were soon released afterward.
