James Laxer
James Robert Laxer (22 December 1941 – 23 February 2018), also known as Jim Laxer, was a Canadian political economist, historian, public intellectual, and political activist who served as a professor at York University. Best known as co-founder of the Waffle, on whose behalf he ran for the leadership of the New Democratic Party in 1971, he was the author of more than two dozen books, mostly on Canadian political economy and history. Early life and family Laxer was born in Montreal, Quebec, on 22 December 1941 and was the son of Edna May (née Quentin) and Robert Laxer, a psychologist, professor, author, and political activist. His father was Jewish and his mother was from a Protestant family. Both were members of the Communist Party of Canada and its public face, the Labor-Progressive Party, with Robert Laxer being a national organizer for the party. The Laxers left the party, along with many other members, following Khrushchev's Secret Speech revealing Joseph Stalin's crimes, and the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary. James Laxer wrote about his experiences growing up during this period in his memoir Red Diaper Baby: A Boyhood in the Age of McCarthyism. His father came to serve as a significant influence on his political worldview. His paternal grandfather was a rabbi and his maternal grandfather was a minister and Christian missionary to China, where Laxer's mother was born. His brother, Gordon Laxer, became a political economist, author, and founder of the Parkland Institute. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto and Master of Arts (following approval of his thesis French-Canadian Newspapers and Imperial Defence, 1899–1914 in 1967) and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Queen's University. He was an active student journalist both at The Varsity at the University of Toronto and later at the Queen's Journal and was elected president of Canadian University Press in 1965. Laxer married three times. He married Diane Taylor in 1965, from whom he was divorced in 1969. He married Krista Mäeots in 1969 with whom he had two children: Michael and Katherine (known as "Kate"). They were separated at the time of her death in 1978. Laxer married Sandra Price in 1979 with whom he had two more children: Emily and Jonathan. Political career In 1969, Laxer, along with his father Robert Laxer, Mel Watkins, and others, founded the Waffle, a left-wing group influenced by the New Left, the anti–Vietnam War movement, and Canadian economic nationalism, that tried to influence the direction of the New Democratic Party (NDP). Laxer was a principal author of their Manifesto for an Independent Socialist Canada in 1969 alongside Ed Broadbent and Gerald Caplan. The manifesto was debated at the 1969 federal NDP convention and was rejected by the delegates in favour of a more moderate declaration. In 1971, Laxer ran for the leadership of the federal NDP and shocked the convention by winning one-third of the vote on the fourth and final ballot against party stalwart David Lewis. The Waffle was ultimately