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Union Station hadn't seen a crowd that size since the Prince of Wales had visited. A throng of more than five thousand men, women, and children crammed into every corner of the concourse on November 24, 1934. Waving red banners, they eagerly awaited of the arrival of the 9:30 p.m. train from Kingston carrying Tim Buck, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Canada (CPC), who'd been released from the penitentiary mere hours earlier. Prison officials, hoping to avoid just such an uproarious welcome, had attempted to keep his release quiet. Buck didn't even know he was going home until an hour before boarding the train. But at the train station, Buck eluded his escort, who'd been under orders to keep Buck in the car until right before the train's departure, and managed a brief phone call to Toronto. His comrades alerted the press and hastily distributed leaflets among the public. As The Star reported, news of Buck's impending arrival "swept working class districts like wildfire," and the jubilant turnout at Union Station defied all expectations.