Editing R. B. Bennett (section)

===Anti-communism===
A nickname that would stick with Bennett for the remainder of his political career, "Iron Heel Bennett",<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1963/11/16/the-great-communist-scare-of-the-thirties|title=The great communist scare of the Thirties &#124; Maclean's &#124; NOVEMBER 16 1963|first=DAVID LEWIS|last=STEIN|website=archive.macleans.ca|access-date=July 9, 2022|archive-date=April 17, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220417234644/https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1963/11/16/the-great-communist-scare-of-the-thirties|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://policyoptions.irpp.org/fr/magazines/making-parliament-work/r-b-bennett-reconsidered-a-long-overdue-remarkable-and-head-turning-portrait/|title=R.B. Bennett reconsidered: A long-overdue "remarkable and head-turning portrait"|website=Policyoptions.irpp.org|access-date=July 9, 2022}}</ref> came from a 1932 speech he gave in Toronto that ironically, if unintentionally, alluded to [[Jack London]]'s socialist [[The Iron Heel|novel]]:

<blockquote>What do they offer you in exchange for the present order? Socialism, Communism, dictatorship. They are sowing the seeds of unrest everywhere. Right in this city such propaganda is being carried on and in the little out of the way places as well. And we know that throughout Canada this propaganda is being put forward by organizations from foreign lands that seek to destroy our institutions. And we ask that every man and woman put the iron heel of ruthlessness against a thing of that kind.<ref>The quote is from: {{cite book|last=Penner|first=Norman|title= Canadian Communism: The Stalin Years and Beyond|publisher=Methuen|year=1988|location=Toronto|page= 117|isbn=0-458-81200-5}}; the irony of the allusion is noted in {{cite book|last=Thompson|first=John Herd|author2=Allan Seager|title=Canada, 1922–1939: Decades of Discord|publisher=McClelland & Stewart|year=1985|location=Toronto|page=[https://archive.org/details/trent_0116300106170/page/226 226]|isbn=0-7710-8564-8|url=https://archive.org/details/trent_0116300106170/page/226}}</ref> </blockquote>

Reacting to fears of communist subversion, Bennett invoked the controversial [[Section 98]] of the ''[[Criminal Code (Canada)|Criminal Code]]''. Enacted in the aftermath of the [[Winnipeg general strike]], Section 98 dispensed with the [[presumption of innocence]] in outlawing potential threats to the state: specifically, anyone belonging to an organization that officially advocated the violent overthrow of the government. Even if the accused had never committed an act of violence or personally supported such an action, they could be incarcerated merely for attending meetings of such an organization, publicly speaking in its defence, or distributing its literature.<ref>{{cite book|last=Brown|first=Lorne|title=When Freedom was Lost: The Unemployed, the Agitator, and the State|url=https://archive.org/details/whenfreedomwaslo0000brow|url-access=registration|publisher=Black Rose|year=1987|location=Montreal|page=[https://archive.org/details/whenfreedomwaslo0000brow/page/42 42]|isbn=0-920057-77-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title=Communist Canada |url=https://www.cbc.ca/history/EPISCONTENTSE1EP13CH3PA3LE.html |website=CBC |access-date=14 March 2022}}</ref> Despite the broad power authorized under section 98, it targeted specifically the [[Communist Party of Canada]]. Eight of the top party leaders, including [[Tim Buck]], were arrested on 11 August 1931 and convicted under section 98.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Plummer |first1=Kevin |title=Historicist: "We Want Tim Buck" |url=https://torontoist.com/2009/05/historicist_we_want_tim_buck/ |website=Torontoist |access-date=14 March 2022 |date=9 May 2009}}</ref>