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Red Morning

Red Morning was a revolutionary group founded in Toronto in the early 1970s. Quasi-Marxist in orientation Red Morning sought to organize working-class youth into a revolutionary force to contest capitalism. Far more overtly radical than many of their contemporaries Red Morning rejected non-violence and adopted much of the militant rhetoric and imagery that had become popular in the United States by the late 1960s. (They had originally adopted the name "Rising Up Angry" but changed it to Red Morning when the original Rising Up Angry group in the United States objected to the Canadian group's use of their name.)

In 1971 Red Morning led a parade to protest the War Measures Act during which several of their members began to throw rocks at the Eaton Centre windows. The Eaton's "riot" concluded after 15 windows had been smashed and more than a dozen arrests.

In 1971 residents of the Don Vale neighbourhood complained that Red Morning had spray painted revolutionary slogans on local streets and buildings. According to a local youth worker they had also approached employees of the Don Vale Teen Drop-In Centre asking to screen revolutionary films and to speak with local youth.



Peter Graham, "Radical Ambition: A Portrait of the Toronto New Left, 1958-1985," (PhD diss., Queen's University, 2016).

Norman G. Browne, "Radical Group Moves in Ward," (7 News, Oct 22, 1971)