New Book Chronicles RCMP Informant’s Spying on Social Reformers
A new book reveals the extensive spying activities of an RCMP informant on social reformers over decades, shedding light on a hidden history.
Frank Hadesbeck, RCMP, Calgary, Canada, Communism, Social Reformers, Dennis Gruending
OTTAWA: So, there’s this guy named Frank Hadesbeck who was involved with the Communist Party back in the 1940s in Calgary. He did some pretty standard stuff like clerical work and selling books, but he also had a secret life. He was spying on his own comrades!
Yeah, he was known as agent 810 to the RCMP. He’d snoop around, check out mail, and even dig through trash to gather intel. It’s wild to think he was feeding all this info to the national police.
A new book called “A Communist for the RCMP” by Dennis Gruending dives into Hadesbeck’s life as an informant. Gruending, who used to be a New Democrat MP, got his hands on a box of Hadesbeck’s papers and pieced together this fascinating story.
Hadesbeck’s family moved to Canada from Hungary before WWI, and he had a tough childhood. Orphaned at 11, he bounced around doing various jobs. He even fought in the Spanish Civil War! But then, he found himself broke in Alberta, and that’s when the RCMP recruited him.
They told him to join the Communist Party to keep up his cover. A few days later, he was fingerprinted and officially became an informant. He didn’t see himself as a snitch, though. He thought he was part of a team, getting paid a salary plus expenses.
Hadesbeck kept detailed notes about his work, and it turns out he was spying on a lot of people. The RCMP was super worried about Communism during the Cold War, and they wanted to know everything about anyone they thought was a threat.
He even had a list of people to watch, including some pretty big names like Tommy Douglas, who was a major figure in Canadian politics. The RCMP didn’t really care about the reasons behind people’s beliefs; they just wanted dirt.
Hadesbeck’s notes show he was often reckless, implying people were Communists when they weren’t. This kind of scrutiny could ruin lives. People lost jobs and faced harassment just because they were on the RCMP’s radar.
At a book launch, Gruending shared his mixed feelings about Hadesbeck. He felt sympathy for him but also recognized the betrayal he caused to many people.
In 1976, Hadesbeck was told his time as an informant was over. He signed a paper promising to keep it all secret and got a little cash as a goodbye gift. But he kept feeding info to the RCMP for a while after that.
He lived to be 100, passing away in 2006. In his later years, he tried to paint himself as a patriot, but it seems like he was more about the money and thrill than any real ideology.