William Cecil Ross
Encyclopedia
William Cecil Ross was a politician in Manitoba
, Canada
, and the leader of that province's Communist Party
from 1948 until his retirement in 1981.
Ross was raised in a secular Jewish family that moved from the Ukraine to Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1917. He was originally named Cecil Zuken, but legally changed his name in 1936 (in part to protect his family from anti-Communist harassment). His brother Joseph Zuken
also became a Communist
politician, and was for many years a prominent alderman
from Winnipeg's working-class North End.
With the editorial backing of Dos Yiddishe Vort (a local Jewish newspaper), Ross was elected to the Winnipeg school board in 1936 and served in that capacity until 1939. He was also active in labour organization outside the city, and was imprisoned for six months on sedition charges after leading a strike in Flin Flon. In 1940, Ross campaigned for Leslie Morris
in the federal riding of Winnipeg North
, and thereby contributed to the defeat of Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
incumbent Abraham Albert Heaps
, the most prominent Jewish politician in the city.
Ross first ran for provincial office in the 1945 election
, campaigning for the "Labour Progressive Party" (as the Communist Party had renamed itself) in the riding of Assiniboia. He finished well behind the winner, Ernest Draffin
of the Manitoba CCF
.
Ross became leader of the provincial LPP on December 12, 1948, being elected by acclamation after former leader William Kardash resigned due to health concerns. Ross did not run in the election of 1949
because of a decision by the party to concentrate its resources -- the LPP ran only two candidates, one of whom was elected. Ross continued to lead the LPP (which was renamed the Communist Party in 1959) for thirty-three years, though he was unable to prevent it from declining to a marginal political force.
Ross and Joseph Zuken had a strained relationship in the 1970s, due to Zuken's frequent criticisms of the Soviet Union
and official Communist Party policy. While Zuken voiced concerns about anti-Semitism
in the Soviet Union and restrictions on Jewish travel, Ross was unwilling to make public statements which violated the principle of party unity. Ross defended the Communist government of Czechoslovakia
against accusations of anti-Semitism in 1952, following the trials of Rudolf Slánský
and others.
Despite their differences, the brothers remained close throughout their lives. Ross played a prominent role at Zuken's funeral in 1986.
During the 1980s, Ross wrote in opposition to the Winnipeg School Board's education policy concerning the Ukrainian famine of the early 1930s. Ross acknowledged the death of millions, but denied that the government of Joseph Stalin
had consciously planned an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people. (Mary Kardash
, a Winnipeg school trustee of Ukrainian background, made essentially the same arguments as Ross during the course of these debates).
Ross's wife, Anne Ross, was also a public figure, serving as an administrator at the Mount Carmel Clinic
in Winnipeg. In the early 1970s, this clinic became involved in a public controversy over its decision to offer abortion referral services.
Ross campaigned for federal and provincial office a total of fourteen times. Aside from the 1945 campaign mentioned above, he was a candidate in:
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and the leader of that province's Communist Party
Communist Party of Canada (in Manitoba)
The Communist Party of Canada was founded in 1921. It was an illegal organization for several years, and its meetings were conducted with great secrecy. Until 1924, the "Workers Party" functioned as its public, legal face...
from 1948 until his retirement in 1981.
Ross was raised in a secular Jewish family that moved from the Ukraine to Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1917. He was originally named Cecil Zuken, but legally changed his name in 1936 (in part to protect his family from anti-Communist harassment). His brother Joseph Zuken
Joseph Zuken
Joseph Zuken was a popular Communist politician in Winnipeg and the longest serving elected Communist party politician in North America....
also became a Communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
politician, and was for many years a prominent alderman
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...
from Winnipeg's working-class North End.
With the editorial backing of Dos Yiddishe Vort (a local Jewish newspaper), Ross was elected to the Winnipeg school board in 1936 and served in that capacity until 1939. He was also active in labour organization outside the city, and was imprisoned for six months on sedition charges after leading a strike in Flin Flon. In 1940, Ross campaigned for Leslie Morris
Leslie Morris
Leslie Tim Morris was a Welsh-Canadian politician, journalist and long time member of the Communist Party of Canada and, its front group, the Labour-Progressive Party....
in the federal riding of Winnipeg North
Winnipeg North
For information on the historical provincial constituency, see Winnipeg North .Winnipeg North is a federal electoral district that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1917...
, and thereby contributed to the defeat of Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction...
incumbent Abraham Albert Heaps
Abraham Albert Heaps
Abraham Albert Heaps was a Canadian politician and labour leader.Born in Leeds, England, Heaps immigrated to Canada in 1911 and worked in Winnipeg as an upholsterer. He was one of the leaders of the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 and was a Labor alderman on the Winnipeg City Council from 1917...
, the most prominent Jewish politician in the city.
Ross first ran for provincial office in the 1945 election
Manitoba general election, 1945
Manitoba's general election of October 15, 1945 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.The 1945 provincial election was extremely different from the previous election, which was held in 1941...
, campaigning for the "Labour Progressive Party" (as the Communist Party had renamed itself) in the riding of Assiniboia. He finished well behind the winner, Ernest Draffin
Ernest Draffin
Ernest R. Draffin was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1945 to 1949 as a member of the social-democratic Cooperative Commonwealth Federation....
of the Manitoba CCF
Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation , known informally as the Manitoba CCF, was a provincial branch of the national Canadian party by the same name. The national CCF was the dominant social-democratic party in Canada from the 1930s to the early 1960s, when it merged with the labour movement...
.
Ross became leader of the provincial LPP on December 12, 1948, being elected by acclamation after former leader William Kardash resigned due to health concerns. Ross did not run in the election of 1949
Manitoba general election, 1949
Manitoba's general election of November 10, 1949 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.This election pitted the province's coalition government, made up of the Liberal-Progressive Party and the Progressive Conservative Party, against a variety of...
because of a decision by the party to concentrate its resources -- the LPP ran only two candidates, one of whom was elected. Ross continued to lead the LPP (which was renamed the Communist Party in 1959) for thirty-three years, though he was unable to prevent it from declining to a marginal political force.
Ross and Joseph Zuken had a strained relationship in the 1970s, due to Zuken's frequent criticisms of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and official Communist Party policy. While Zuken voiced concerns about anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
in the Soviet Union and restrictions on Jewish travel, Ross was unwilling to make public statements which violated the principle of party unity. Ross defended the Communist government of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
against accusations of anti-Semitism in 1952, following the trials of Rudolf Slánský
Rudolf Slánský
Rudolf Slánský was a Czech Communist politician. Holding the post of the party's General Secretary after World War II, he was one of the leading creators and organizers of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia...
and others.
Despite their differences, the brothers remained close throughout their lives. Ross played a prominent role at Zuken's funeral in 1986.
During the 1980s, Ross wrote in opposition to the Winnipeg School Board's education policy concerning the Ukrainian famine of the early 1930s. Ross acknowledged the death of millions, but denied that the government of Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
had consciously planned an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people. (Mary Kardash
Mary Kardash
Mary Kardash was a long-time Communist politician in the north end of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She was a member of Winnipeg school board in the 1970s and 1980s, having been elected as a Communist Party of Canada candidate. She had also been active in the Communist Party's predecessor, the...
, a Winnipeg school trustee of Ukrainian background, made essentially the same arguments as Ross during the course of these debates).
Ross's wife, Anne Ross, was also a public figure, serving as an administrator at the Mount Carmel Clinic
Mount Carmel Clinic
Mount Carmel Clinic, a landmark in Winnipeg’s North End community was established by the Jewish community in 1926, to meet the needs of Jewish immigrants. It is considered to be the first community health centre in Canada. The cultural make-up of the Point Douglas and North End communities has...
in Winnipeg. In the early 1970s, this clinic became involved in a public controversy over its decision to offer abortion referral services.
Ross campaigned for federal and provincial office a total of fourteen times. Aside from the 1945 campaign mentioned above, he was a candidate in:
- Winnipeg Ward Two (municipal), 1953 Winnipeg electionWinnipeg municipal election, 1953The 1953 Winnipeg municipal election was held on October 28, 1953 to elect councillors and school trustees in the Manitoba city of Winnipeg. There was no mayoral election; mayors were elected for two-year terms in this period, and 1953 was an off year....
, (635 votes) - Winnipeg North CentreWinnipeg North CentreWinnipeg North Centre was a federal electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that was represented by a Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons from 1925 to 2004...
(federal), 1953 (1606 votes), winner: Stanley KnowlesStanley KnowlesStanley Howard Knowles, PC, OC was a Canadian parliamentarian. Knowles represented the riding of Winnipeg North Centre from 1942 to 1958 on behalf of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and again from 1962 to 1984 representing the CCF's successor, the New Democratic Party .Knowles was widely...
(CCF) - Winnipeg NorthWinnipeg NorthFor information on the historical provincial constituency, see Winnipeg North .Winnipeg North is a federal electoral district that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1917...
(federal), 1957 (1579 votes), winner: Alistair StewartAlistair StewartAlistair McLeod Stewart was a Co-operative Commonwealth Federation member of the Canadian House of Commons. He was born in Buckhaven, Scotland and became a chartered accountant by career....
(CCF) - Winnipeg NorthWinnipeg NorthFor information on the historical provincial constituency, see Winnipeg North .Winnipeg North is a federal electoral district that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1917...
(federal), 1958 (1503 votes), winner: Murray SmithMurray Smith (Canadian politician)William Murray Smith was a Progressive Conservative party member of the Canadian House of Commons. He was born at Cardale, Manitoba and became a barrister by career....
(PC) - BurrowsBurrowsBurrows is a provincial electoral division in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It was created by redistribution in 1957, and formally came into existence in the provincial election of 1958. The riding is located in the northern part of Winnipeg....
(provincial), 1959 (675 votes), winner: John HawrylukJohn HawrylukJohn Martin Hawryluk was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1949 to 1962, initially for the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation and later for its successor party, the NDP.Hawryluk was educated at the University of Manitoba, from which he...
(CCF) - Winnipeg NorthWinnipeg NorthFor information on the historical provincial constituency, see Winnipeg North .Winnipeg North is a federal electoral district that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1917...
(federal), 1962 (1504 votes), winner: David OrlikowDavid OrlikowDavid Orlikow was a Canadian politician, and a long-serving member of the Canadian House of Commons. He represented the riding of Winnipeg North from 1962 to 1988 as a member of the New Democratic Party.-Family:...
(NDP) - InksterInkster riding, ManitobaInkster is a provincial electoral division in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It is located in the northwestern corner of the city of Winnipeg. Officially created by redistribution in 1957, it has formally existed since the provincial election of 1958....
(provincial), 1966 (312 votes), winner: Sidney Green (NDP) - Winnipeg NorthWinnipeg NorthFor information on the historical provincial constituency, see Winnipeg North .Winnipeg North is a federal electoral district that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1917...
(federal), 1968 (869 votes), winner: David OrlikowDavid OrlikowDavid Orlikow was a Canadian politician, and a long-serving member of the Canadian House of Commons. He represented the riding of Winnipeg North from 1962 to 1988 as a member of the New Democratic Party.-Family:...
(NDP) - Winnipeg NorthWinnipeg NorthFor information on the historical provincial constituency, see Winnipeg North .Winnipeg North is a federal electoral district that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1917...
(federal), 1972 (587 votes), winner: David OrlikowDavid OrlikowDavid Orlikow was a Canadian politician, and a long-serving member of the Canadian House of Commons. He represented the riding of Winnipeg North from 1962 to 1988 as a member of the New Democratic Party.-Family:...
(NDP) - St. Johns (provincial), 1973 (66 votes), winner: Saul CherniackSaul CherniackSaul Mark Cherniack, PC, CM, OM, QC is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1962 to 1981, and served as a cabinet minister in the government of Edward Schreyer. He is also a member of the Privy Council, the Order of Canada and the Order...
(NDP) - Winnipeg NorthWinnipeg NorthFor information on the historical provincial constituency, see Winnipeg North .Winnipeg North is a federal electoral district that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1917...
(federal), 1974 (390 votes), winner: David OrlikowDavid OrlikowDavid Orlikow was a Canadian politician, and a long-serving member of the Canadian House of Commons. He represented the riding of Winnipeg North from 1962 to 1988 as a member of the New Democratic Party.-Family:...
(NDP) - Winnipeg NorthWinnipeg NorthFor information on the historical provincial constituency, see Winnipeg North .Winnipeg North is a federal electoral district that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1917...
(federal), 1979 (242 votes), winner: David OrlikowDavid OrlikowDavid Orlikow was a Canadian politician, and a long-serving member of the Canadian House of Commons. He represented the riding of Winnipeg North from 1962 to 1988 as a member of the New Democratic Party.-Family:...
(NDP) - Winnipeg NorthWinnipeg NorthFor information on the historical provincial constituency, see Winnipeg North .Winnipeg North is a federal electoral district that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1917...
(federal), 1980 (195 votes), winner: David OrlikowDavid OrlikowDavid Orlikow was a Canadian politician, and a long-serving member of the Canadian House of Commons. He represented the riding of Winnipeg North from 1962 to 1988 as a member of the New Democratic Party.-Family:...
(NDP) - St. Johns (provincial), 1981 (117 votes), winner: Donald MalinowskiDonald MalinowskiDonald Marto Malinowski, CM was a Catholic priest and politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served as a New Democratic member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1969 to 1986....
(NDP)