Researching William Paul

Born July 9, 1854 in Camden, Canada West, William was the first born of seven sons, and one daughter. He was educated exclusively in the common schools of Camden and Sheffield.

Before entering politics, W. J. Paul worked as a farmer, and within both the lumber industry and the cheese industry. He began his political career in the Sheffield county council where he served as reeve or commissioner for approximately ten years.

In 1905, he was elected by a significant majority to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as representative for the riding of Addington. So popular was his candidacy that in the general election of 1908 he was returned to office without opposition. As a member of the Provincial House, he served on a variety of Standing Committees, including Agriculture and Colonization, Standing Orders, and Privileges and Elections.

He was elected to the House of Commons for the riding of Lennox and Addington on November 15, 1911 to serve in the Conservative Caucus. He continued on as a Conservative MP until the Conscription Crisis of 1917, when he joined with the newly formed Unionist Party. He was elected to serve in the Unionist Caucus on March 18, 1918, and finished his final term in the House of Commons on October 4, 1921.

Paul died September 1, 1929 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Born in Glasgow, Paul became an active socialist and joined the Socialist Labour Party (SLP) soon after it was founded. In 1911, he moved to Derby, where he ran a market stall selling hosiery and drapery. Moving his stall from city to city, he was able to link members across northern England and the Midlands, and surreptitiously distribute radical literature.

Paul fully endorsed the 's opposition to World War I, and he supported Derby anti-war activist Alice Wheeldon. In 1917, he authored The State: its Origin and Functions, in which he developed the Marxist theory of the state. He became co-editor of the 's newspaper, The Socialist, and its national organiser. He stood for the party in the 1918 general election in Ince, taking 13% of the votes cast.

Within the, he was a proponent of communist unity, and after this was rejected by the majority of the party, he became a founder member of the Communist Unity Group. This group joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) at its founding conference, where Paul put the case against affiliation to the Labour Party. Although the new party voted to affiliate, the Labour Party refused to accept this.

In 1921, Paul became the editor of the 's publication Communist Review, and he stood for Parliament in Manchester Rusholme at the 1923 and 1924 general elections. His candidacies were supported by the local Labour Party.

Paul then became the editor of the Sunday Worker, published by the National Left-Wing Movement. Removed from his posts during the period of Bolshevisation, he remained active in the local peace and Anglo-Soviet friendship movements.

Born in Nevada County, California, Bill Paul lived in three group homes and attended four high schools during adolescence. He began his study of judo with Richard Takemoto in Oakland, continuing with Mits Kimura at the San Francisco Judo Institute from 1957 and competing successfully in numerous judo tournaments during the later 1950s and early 1960s. Between 1962 and 1964 he worked as a bouncer at Pierre's Bar in San Francisco's North Beach area.Having spent time training in Japan, in late 1964 he was an alternate on the US Olympic judo team, and he captained the US team at the Pan American Games in Winnipeg during 1967. Thereafter he largely switched to the study of the Chinese martial arts, especially T'ai chi ch'uan.

It was also during the late 1960s that Paul became politically active. A keen photographer, he documented clashes between police and student protesters during the unrest at the San Francisco State University and was later reported to have defended Vietnam War protesters from assaults by angry onlookers during peace marches in San Francisco. Although a self-avowed pacifist with regards to violence as an instrument of state policy, he was notably drawn to interpersonal conflicts and he continued to work as a bouncer at several gay bars in San Francisco.

Paul received a Master's Degree from San Francisco State University in 1974 and then a Doctorate of Education degree from Harvard University. His thesis was on the use of humane, nonviolent self defense, especially for workers in psychiatric institutions; a development of the self defense methods that he had taught to university students, gay activists and women's rights groups. He continued to refine this system, which combined elements of Chinese martial arts and judo with conflict de-escalation and resolution techniques, for the remainder of his life, eventually producing a VHS video guide for instructors in the system.

During the 1980s Paul became increasingly politically active as an advocate of gay rights. He was a member of the Stonewall Democrats and took part in numerous protests, including being instrumental in the November 27, 1985 protest that inspired the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. He was also a vocal supporter of the Gay Games.

He died in 1989 due to a brain tumor associated with HIV.