PM John Diefenbaker: A strong voice at the UN for the “Captive Nations” bloc or more 30 years the profascist Anti- va Stetsko, its longtime ed- When Diefenbaker died, Bolshevik Bloc of Nations (ABN) li- itor (1957-96). She took on the ABN’s cover heralded Fonized John Diefenbaker for sharing her husband’s role as ABN him as “The Greatest their hatred of the so-called “Soviet imper- president (1986-96), presid- Champion of Freedom ium member of the World ium.” ABN praise for Diefenbaker was re- and Independence.” peatedly expressed in ABN Correspondence, AntiCommunist League and the world’s leading propaganda organ for president of the Banderite Having evolved from a the Ukrainian cult of Nazi collaborator, Ste- Organization of Ukrainian Nazi network of East pan Bandera. At least two dozen of its arti- Nationalists in 1991.4 European armies into a cles over a 36-year period, hailed Dief as a In 1992 Slava boast- proNATO bloc of CIA- heroic Cold Warrior.1 The ABN was espe- ed in her keynote address to backed “Captive Na- cially grateful for his use of Canada’s plat- the ABN’s global congress tions,” the ABN exalted in Toronto, that the “ABN form at the UN for a fiery speech in 1960, Dief for his inflammatory during his time as Prime Minister (1957-63). had been able to establish antiSoviet speech at the As Global Affairs Canada says when working relations with var- proudly recounting its own history: “At the ious world leaders.” After UN in 1960. That diatribe United Nations, the initiative closest to ... citing US presidents Reagan cemented Canada’s role Prime Minister [Diefenbaker’s] heart was ... and Nixon, and vice-presi- as a firm ally of the US, denouncing Soviet imperialism.”2 dent Bush Sr., she listed a NATO and the ABN. Upon his death in 1979, ABN Corre- who’s who of notorious US- spondence exalted Diefenbaker on its cov- backed despots and war criminals with USSR at the UN. The BFC is made up of er as “The Greatest Champion of Freedom whom the ABN had worked. The patholog- the Estonian Central Council (ECC) in Ca- and Independence.” The ABN called him ically anticommunist tyrants cited by Stet- nada (pp.28-31), the Latvian National Fed- the highest-ranking government official sko included Ngo Dinh Diem and Nguyen eration in Canada (pp.38-39) and the Lith- in the West to publicly support the inde- Van Tieu (South Vietnam), Ferdinand Mar- uanian-Canadian Community (pp.34-37). Its pendence of Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, cos (Philippines), Rhee Syngman (South 1960 delegation included ECC vice pres. Estonia and other subjugated nations in Korea), Francisco Franco (Spain), Chiang Aksel Luitsalu, a former police chief in Nazi the USSR and satellite countries... He Kai-shek (Taiwan), Narong Kittikachorn Estonia and senior officer of Estonia’s SS. entered into the history of nations subju- Diefenbaker saw eye to eye with the gated by Russian Imperialism and Com- (Thailand) and Nobusuke Kishi (Japan). To munism as the most outstanding defender these far-right ABN allies, Stetsko added a antiSoviet BFC and was glad to decry the of their independence and supporter of few NATO leaders, including Diefenbaker.5 USSR, especially after its anti-Imperialist their liberation struggle.3 A climax in Dief’s “working rela- declaration at the UN on Sept. 23. When The ABN cover used a smiling pho- tions” with the ABN was his UN speech, this Soviet resolution on “Granting Inde- to of Diefenbaker which he signed for Sla- Sept. 26, 1960. In August, he met leaders of pendence to Colonial Countries and Peo- ples”6 came before the UN in December,7 it .... continued from previous page the ABN-linked Baltic Federation of Cana- da (BFC) who urged him to denounce the was supported by the Non-Aligned Move- mat and policy maker during five presidencies. ment and 89 UN member states voted in fa- She has also played key roles in many power- 9. Simpson, op. cit., pp.274-75. vour. While no countries voted against the 10. Ibid. ful institutions sauch as the National Security USSR’s milestone declaration, nine ab- 11. ABN Correspondence, Sept-Oct. 1960, p.2. 8 Council, the Council on Foreign Relations, the bit.ly/NCNCgoal stained. All colonial powers except one, the Trilateral Commission, Atlantic Council, Free- 12. ABN Correspondence, Jan.-Feb. 1969, p.2. Dominican Republic, ruled by a US-backed dom House, Thomson Reuters, American Uni- bit.ly/WACL-69 military dictator, Rafael Trujillo, since 1930. 13. Moss Robeson, “Is Paula Dobriansky a Neo- American historian Mary Heiss cites versity in Afghanistan and the National Endow- Banderite?” Covert Action, July 4, 2018. ment for Democracy. bit.ly/CA-Dobriansky declassified US government telegrams to 14. Ukrainian Observer, Jan.-Feb. 1952, p.15. show that its officials conspired to References and notes bit.ly/Dobriansky-1952 undercut Khrushchev’s declaration, [by] 1. See this search of ABN Correspondence 15. Ukrainian Review, 1954, p.72. bit.ly/Dob-54 depicting the Soviet Union itself as a bit.ly/ABN-captive 16. ABN Correspondence, Mar.-April 1982, p.33- colonial power. “Inasmuch as there will 2. WACL Bulletin, Sum. 1973. bit.ly/WACL73-2 35. bit.ly/Dobriansky-1982 be [a] clear majority in [the UN] for any 3. “The National Committee for Free Europe, 17. Ukrainian Observer (Jan-Feb 1952, p.15); statement condemning colonialism,” the 1949,” May 29, 2007. bit.ly/CIA-NCFE Ukrainian Review (Winter 1954, p.72; Fall 1959, Sec. of State...advised the US delegation 4. John Prados, Safe for Democracy: The Secret pp.94-95; Spring 1964, pp.14-16); ABN Corre- to the UN, “[the] best course we can fol- Wars of the CIA, 2006. bit.ly/CIAwars spondence (Mar-Apr 1957, p.14; Sep-Oct 1960, low is to seek [to] turn [the] declaration 5. Christopher Simpson, Blowback: America’s Re- p.2; Jan-Feb 1960, p.16; Mar-Apr 1962, p.3; against [the] Soviets themselves by por- cruitment of Nazis and its Destructive Impact on May-Jun 1962, p.32; Mar-Apr 1966, p.37; Nov- traying them in true colonialist colors.”9 our Domestic and Foreign Policy, 1988. p.126. Dec 1966, p.5; Jul-Aug 1968, p.13; Jan-Feb “It [was] important,” said the State 6. Ibid., p.268. 1969, pp.2,4,27; May-Jun 1970, pp.12-16; Jan- Department, to “secure as much support as 7. Public Law 86-90 “Captive Nations Week” Feb 1979, p.43; Mar-Apr 1982, p.40; Jul-Oct possible” from other countries for the West’s bit.ly/PL86-90 1982, pp.33, 58-62, 87-90; Sep-Oct 1990, p.19.) 8. Edward Lozansky, “Some Notes on the Discus- bit.ly/ABNCor “proposition” that the USSR was a “major sion of the Captive Nations Resolution at the 18. George W. Bush, “Remarks at the Victims of colonial power.” To do this, the US gave pro- Russian Academy of Sciences,” July 15, 2008. Communism Memorial Dedication,” June 12, paganda material on the Baltics and Central bit.ly/FictiveCNs 2007. bit.ly/GWBanticom Asia to UN delegations.10 20 Press for Conversion! Issue # 70 Spring 2021 These are two of the Canadian St. Volodymyr monuments glorifying fascist Ukrainian Ukrainian armies that Cemetery, killed Jews, Russians, Oakville, Poles, Ukrainian Reds, Ontario antifascist partisans and Soviet soldiers. Since 2012, Ukraine, Canada and the Canada’s Liberal US were the only countries that vot- government, which ed “NO” to a UN resolution to oppose granted safe haven the Glorification of Nazism. to thousands of The Russian motion opposes pro- veterans of these Nazi monuments, place names and fascist armies, still events that fuel “racism, xeno- funds key groups phobia and related intolerance.” that glorify them as ‘freedom fighters.’ “Dief the Chief” put the Tory in inflammatory at the UN The image above shows the apex of a three- In his speech, Diefenbaker said Soviet metre tall monument with the lion symbol of the opposition to colonialism had turned the Nazi Waffen SS Galicia. In July 2020, when This cenotaph honours Stepan Bandera’s UN into a “circus.” With its “gigantic painted with the words “Nazi War Monument,” fascist Ukrainian Insurgent Army and its propaganda drama of destructive misrep- police said this truthful graffiti was a hate crime. many veterans who came to Canada. resentation,” he claimed the USSR had “launched a major offensive in the cold war.” dom from fascism. Having greeted German place, violent far-right dictatorships were be- Decrying Soviet “propaganda” that the US troops as their liberators in 1941, these “free- ing installed and armed, with Canada’s help. had “aggressive designs,” he said it was “re- dom-loving” East Europeans later fled their For example in 1960, UN peacekeep- strained,” “wise” and “conciliatory.” The homelands en masse to avoid their “Judeo- ers from Canada were aiding a vicious re- US, he claimed, offered “a constructive pro- Bolshevik” enemies. Finding safe haven in gime change in Africa. But Diefenbaker’s gramme” for a “world community of peace,” Nazi Germany, some 160,000 East Europe- UN speech painted a rosy picture of the UN “international conciliation and world fellow- ans were soon embraced by Canada, which mission in the Congo (ONUC). A crisis had ship,” while the USSR “now seems bent on had its own antisemitic/anticommunist elites. been sparked by the secession of Congo’s destroying the United Nations.”11 Diefenbaker’s UN lecture extolled mineral-rich Katanga region. Just 12 days After giving the Canadian govern- Canada. “[T]here are few that can speak with before Diefenbaker’s UN speech, a US- ment’s view that the USSR was the world’s the authority of Canada on the subject of backed coup ousted Patrice Lumumba, the worst imperial power, Diefenbaker gloated colonialism,” he declared, “for Canada was first elected leader of the formerly enslaved that “600 million people” had “attained their once a colony of both France and the Unit- masses of this once-captive Belgian colony.