Bolsheviki: A Dead Serious Comedy
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2nd Eastern Ontario Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Canadian Infantry Division
Private
Shot: August 12, 1918
Desertion – Went absent and was arrested almost a year later in Mazingarbe
15. Harold Edward James Lodge
19th Central Ontario Battalion, 4th Brigade, 2nd Canadian Infantry Division
Private
Shot: March 13, 1918
Desertion – Absent for five weeks
16. Thomas L. Moles
54th Kootenay Battalion, 11th Brigade, 4th Canadian Infantry Division
Private
Shot: October 22, 1917
Desertion – Ordered to rejoin his company, he deserted and was arrested three weeks later
17. Eugene Perry
22nd Canadien-Français Battalion, 5th Brigade, 2nd Canadian Infantry Division
Private
Shot: April 11, 1917
Desertion – Missing on duty at Vimy Ridge and captured seven hours later
18. Edward James Reynolds
3rd Toronto Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Canadian Infantry Division
Private
Shot: August 23, 1916
Desertion – Arrested after refusing to follow orders
19. John William Roberts
2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles, 8th Brigade, 3rd Canadian Infantry Division
Private
Shot: July 30, 1916
Desertion – Went awol in Canada and later deserted in France
20. Dimitro Simizki
52nd Northern Ontario Battalion, 9th Brigade, 3rd Canadian Infantry Division
Private
Shot: October 9, 1917
Cowardice – Arrested after refusing to follow orders
21. Charles Welsh
8th Battalion (90th Winnipeg Rifles), 2nd Brigade, 1st Canadian Infantry Division
Private
Shot: March 6, 1918
Desertion – Went missing at Passchendaele and captured four months later
22. James H. Wilson
4th Central Ontario Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Canadian Infantry Division
Private
Shot: July 9, 1916
Desertion – Discharged for infractions as “undesirable for military service,” he was later reinstated and then charged with desertion
23. Elsworth Young
25th Nova Scotia Battalion, 5th Brigade, 2nd Canadian Infantry Division
Private
Shot: October 29, 1916
Desertion – Failed to report on duty for Battle of Courcelette
24. Alexander Butler
Royal Canadian Dragoons Trooper
Shot: July 2, 1916
Murder – Shot trooper five times in the chest
25. Benjamin De Fehr
1st Canadian Reserve Park
Shot: August 25, 1916
Murder – Shot and killed sergeant major
David Fennario is a Montreal playwright and performer. Four of his plays have won awards. On the Job won the Chalmers Award in 1976; Balconville won the Chalmers Award in 1980; Joe Beef won the Prix Pauline-Julien in 1986; and Death of René Lévesque won the Montreal Gazette Play of the Year in 2003.
Three of his plays have been televised on cbc, and he has been profiled as an artist by the National Film Board and by Bravo TV.
Fennario has taught courses, seminars, and workshops in playwriting and performance at educational institutions across Canada, including McGill, Concordia, Toronto, and Simon Fraser Universities.
He is a former weekly columnist for the Montreal Gazette and has had articles published in the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Le Devoir, and La Presse.
Well known as a social activist, Fennario was the 2007 candidate for Québec solidaire in the community of Vielle Verdun, where he was born and still resides.
The following poem is a result of my attempt to put together an official biography listing the usual self-promoting credits.
Disclaimer
Little room for error in my life at this time
functioning too long on the utter edge of complete disaster
like so many of my dead friends
But I must finally admit that I can’t really be or see myself
defined by a public list of credits that discredit me
Almost an accident that I actually lived this long or wasn’t
locked up or gone missing or killed somebody rather than kill myself
When you’re safe you’re not living
When you’re living you’re not safe
I breathe and live for revolution
Also by
David Fennario
On the Job (1976)
Nothing to Lose (1977)
Balconville (1979, 2001)
The Death of René Lévesque (1990, 2003)
Joe Beef (1991)
Doctor Thomas Neill Cream: Mystery at McGill (1994)
Banana Boots (1998)
All available from Talonbooks
Copyright © 2012 David Fennario
Talonbooks
P.O. Box 2076, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada v6b 3s3
www.talonbooks.com
Typeset & Cover Design by Typesmith.
Cover photo © Canadian War Museum: Canadian soldier returning from the front. CWM 19920085-028. George Metcalf Archival Collection
First printing: 2012
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts; the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund; and the Province of British Columbia through the British Columbia Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit for our publishing activities.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For a copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.
Rights to produce Bolsheviki, in whole or in part, in any medium by any group, amateur or professional, are retained by the author. Interested persons are requested to apply to him care of Talonbooks: email
info@talonbooks.com or telephone 604-444-4889.
Every reasonable effort has been made to locate the owners of rights to previously published works and the translations printed here.
Cataloguing data available from Library and Archives Canada
ISBN 978-0-88922-714-9