Bill Kardash

William Arthur Kardash(June 10, 1912– January 17, 1997) was a politician and member of theLegislative AssemblyofManitobafrom 1941 until 1958.He served as Winnipeg MLA from 1941 to 1958, as Worker's Candidate at first, then as a representative of the Labor-Progressive Party. He was among the handful of Communists elected in Winnipeg between 1927 and 1983.

The youngest child ofUkrainian Canadianparents Danylo Kardash and Ulyta Byck, he was born inHafford,Saskatchewan,north ofSaskatoon,and educated at Hafford High School.

Kardash was a veteran of theSpanish Civil War,having fought with theMackenzie–Papineau Battalion,in which he lost a leg.He was a member of theCommunist Party of Canadaand, after 1943, theLabor-Progressive Party,which was the legal front of the Communist Party after it was banned. Kardash became the first leader of the Manitoba LPP in 1943, retaining the position until 1948 when he resigned for health reasons. He was also the first national chairman of the LPP.

In 1940, Kardash marriedMary Kostaniuk,with whom he had two children, Ted and Nancy.

In1941,he was elected to the provincial legislature in the ten-member district ofWinnipeg.He was re-elected in1945.In1949and1953,he was reelected in the new four-member district ofWinnipeg North.

The LPP's popularity declined after 1945. Kardash was the only candidate to run for the LPP in the Manitoba elections of 1953 and1958.

Kardash was defeated in the 1958 general election.His defeat was due in part to the pressures of theCold War,as well as the abolition ofproportional representationand multi-member districts. This caused him to contest a single-member election held underfirst-past-the-post voting:he contestedBurrowsand came second toCo-operative Commonwealth FederationcandidateJohn Hawryluk(socialismas practised by theCCFand its successor, theNew Democratic Party,was popularly considered more moderate). After his defeat, the LPP would never again elect a candidate to the legislature.

In 1948, Kardash became general manager of the People's Co-operative Dairy, Fuel and Lumber Yards in 1948, retiring in 1982. He served as president of the board of directors for the co-operative until the business was sold to its employees in 1993.

Kardash ran in the newPoint Douglasconstituency in1969for the (renamed)Communist Party of Manitoba,but received only 421 votes (9.81%), coming in last in a four-candidate race won byDonald Malinowskiof theNDP.

Kardash remained active in Winnipeg's Ukrainian community for the rest of his life.

Bill's wife, Mary, was also a longtime communist activist and school trustee in Winnipeg.

In 1995, he attended a public dedication ceremony at theOntariolegislature held to honour veterans of theMackenzie–Papineau Battalion,of which he was one.

After Kardash's death in 1997, the Manitoba legislature held a moment of silence in his honour.

External links

• Election Handbills of a Spanish Civil War Veteran,by Kaarina Mikalson: Lieutenant William (Bill) Kardash
• Canada and the Spanish Civil War website has reproductions of three pieces of Kardash's 1941 election campaign literature: "Elect a True Champion of People's Democracy... Restore Democratic Rights... Tax profits, not wages... For workers' representation, not sell-out and coalition" (four-page pamphlet), "Who is Kardash?" (four-page pamphlet); "Mothers and Wives of Winnipeg" (3-page pamphlet).