Oscar Ryan
Oscar Ryan was a significant figure in Canadian arts and political activism, born on June 27, 1904, in Montreal, Quebec, to Jewish immigrant parents from Russia and Romania. His early life was marked by hardship, particularly after his father's departure in 1919, which led him to work various odd jobs while excelling academically. Although Ryan did not obtain a university degree, his passion for social reform drove him to become an influential political activist in the 1920s, where he wrote poetry and edited magazines focused on civil rights and political change.
In 1931, he was jailed for his activism during an election meeting, a testament to his commitment to free speech. Ryan co-founded the Progressive Arts Club in 1931, aiming to promote performing arts among the working class and to advocate for social change through artistic expression. He wrote plays, including "Unity" and "Eight Men Speak," the latter addressing the arrest of Communist Party members in Canada, and contributed to various publications under pseudonyms. Throughout his life, Ryan continued to engage in theater criticism and wrote a biography of Tim Buck, solidifying his legacy as a vital contributor to Canadian cultural and social consciousness until his death in 1988.
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Oscar Ryan
Writer
- Born: June 27, 1904
- Birthplace: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Died: August 8, 1988
Biography
Oscar Ryan, the oldest of two children, was born on June 27, 1904, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to Adolph Weinstein and Sara Rein Weinstein, Jewish immigrants. His mother came from Russia and his father from Romania. The family struggled to survive and, when his father left the family in 1919, his mother went to work in a clothing factory and Ryan worked at odd jobs after school.
Ryan graduated at the top of his class and received a full scholarship for high school. He was never able to earn a university degree. He supported himself through odd jobs ranging from woodworking to copywriting. In the 1920’s, Ryan became a political activist. He spent a decade writing poetry and editing magazines dedicated to political reform and civil rights such as Young Worker and Canadian Labor Defender. In 1928, he gave a speech for the Young Communist League. His crusade for free speech and the right to belong to any political party culminated in 1931 in a harsh, fifteen-day jail sentence for obstructing traffic at a street corner during an election meeting.
In 1931, Ryan and a group of thirty-five writers, artists, and playwrights formed the Progressive Arts Club, dedicated to fostering performing arts among the working class, using the arts as a vehicle for social reform, and developing a distinctly Canadian voice in the arts. The group produced a newsletter, Masses, that combined original works of fiction or poetry dealing with social and political change with instructions for forming local arts groups. The newsletter ran for twelve issues from 1932 until 1934. Ryan also wrote for the Worker and the Daily Clarion. At the latter, he began a column about theater news called “Footlight Footnotes.”
The Workers’ Theater performed plays written by the Progressive Arts Club. In 1933, Ryan’ s final year as a member of the editorial board of Masses, he wrote Unity, a one-act play urging workers to unite. The May Day performance staged in 1933 by the Workers’ Theater almost was cancelled when police arrested two of the actors. A few months later, Ryan wrote and performed in Eight Men Speak, an expose play inspired by the arrest of Canadian Communist Party members, known as the Kingston 8, and their leader Tim Buck. The play was instrumental in the release of the men in 1936. Ryan was an active member of the Canadian Defense League, and between 1932 and 1934 he wrote three pamphlets for the league, one centering on the Kingston 8.
Ryan was part of a reserve unit during World War II. He married actress Toby Gordon, a cofounder of the Workers’ Theater, in 1949, and the couple had a daughter, Sandy Ellen. From 1955 until 1981, Ryan wrote theater reviews for the Canadian Tribune using the pseudonym Martin Stone. He also traveled to the Soviet Union. He wrote a biography of Tim Buck that was published in 1975; five years later, his autobiographical novel, Soon to Be Born, was published. In 1982, Ryan witnessed a revival of his play Eight Men Speak. In 1983, he reprised his “Footlight Footnotes” column for the Canadian Tribune and from 1981 until his death on August 8, 1988, he published his theater reviews under his own name. Ryan’s legacy is Canadian social and cultural consciousness-raising.