Bethune: The Montreal Years. An Informal Portrait

Recollections of three people who knew Dr. Norman Bethune (1890-1939) during his years in Montreal. Bethune, a physician, medical inventor, army officer, artist, and political activist, lived in Montreal from 1928 to 1936, where he was employed as a surgeon, first at the Royal Victoria Hospital and then at the Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur in Cartierville. He also became involved in left-wing politics during this period, joining the Communist Party of Canada in 1935 and organizing the Montreal Group for the Security of the People's Health and workshops to teach poor children how to paint in oils and watercolours. When the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, he left Canada for Madrid to support the anti-fascist Republican forces. In 1938, Bethune went to China to support Mao Zedong's 8th Route Army against the Japanese. On November 1, 1939, he cut his hand while operating and contracted septicaemia. He died on November 12, 1939. The three authors of this "informal portrait" were friends of Bethune while he lived in Montreal. MacLeod was an intern at the Royal Victoria Hospital; Park was a nurse who was active in social and political affairs; and Ryerson, a university lecturer, was secretary of the Quebec Communist Party. Park's two articles are titled "Norman Bethune as I Knew Him" and "The Bethune Health Group."

Toronto, ON

James Lorimer & Company

1978

167p.

en

088862212