Jan Lakeman

John "Jan" Lakeman (April 6, 1887 – November 7, 1956) was a mid-20th century labour rights activist, perennial election candidate and leader of the provincial Communist Party in Alberta, Canada.

Born in the Netherlands, he came to Canada in 1905,[1] eventually finding work in Edmonton with the Canadian National Railway.

Communists were accepted in the Labour Party in the early 1920s and Lakeman was elected president of the Edmonton association for the Canadian Labour Party Alberta branch.

[3] After a visit to Moscow in 1929, he was expelled from his union and from the Labour Party and lost his job.

He ran as a Communist in elections in the 1930s and during World War II after the CPC was renamed the Labor-Progressive Party.