{{Short description|Canadian trade unionist (1888–1950)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2016}} {{Infobox person | name = Morris Lewis | birth_name = Mojżesz Łoś (Moishe Losz) | other_names = Moishe Lewis | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date text|1888}} | birth_place = Świsłocz, Congress Poland (now Belarus) | death_date = {{Death date and age|1950|02|04|1888}} | death_place = | occupation = | nationality = | website = | spouse = Rose Lazarovitch (Róża Lazarowicz) | children = David Lewis | parents = | relatives = Stephen Lewis (grandson) <br> Avi Lewis (great-grandson) <br> Michele Landsberg (granddaughter-in-law) <br> Daniel Libeskind (grandson-in-law) <br> Naomi Klein (great-granddaughter-in-law) | alma_mater = | political_party = Jewish Labour Bund }} '''Morris Lewis''' (born '''Mojżesz Łoś''', sometimes known as '''Moishe Lewis''', 1888–1950) was a Polish-Jewish labour activist in eastern Europe and Canada.
==Life and work== A tanner by trade, Losz was born and raised in Świsłocz in Congress Poland (now a part of modern-day Belarus). He was the chairman of the Jewish Labour Bund in Świsłocz,<ref name=smith>Smith, Cameron, ''Unfinished Journey: The Lewis Family''. Toronto: Summerhill Press. (1989) {{ISBN|0-929091-04-3}}, page 111</ref> The Bund was both an active political party and a Jewish, Socialist labour movement.<ref name="smith127">Smith, p.127</ref> It was preoccupied in changing the system that was at the roots of low pay and dangerous, harsh working conditions.<ref name="smith127"/>
When the Russian Civil War and the Polish-Soviet War were at their fiercest, in the summer of 1920, Poland invaded, and the Bolshevik Red Army counter-attacked. Świsłocz was on the Polish-Russian border and was occupied by the Soviets in July 1920. Losz openly opposed the Bolsheviks and would later be jailed by them for his opposition.<ref>Smith. pp.17-19</ref> He barely escaped with his life. When the Polish army recaptured Świsłocz on August 25, 1920, they falsely accused five Jewish locals of being spies and executed them.<ref>Smith, pp. 114-15</ref> Realising that he was not safe under either regime, and the prospects for the future of his family were bleak, he left for Canada in May 1921, to work in his brother-in law's clothing factory in Montreal, Quebec.<ref name="Smith, p. 115">Smith, p. 115</ref>
Losz anglicized the family name to "Lewis" and saved up enough money to send for his family within a few months.<ref name="Smith, p. 115"/>
Losz, now Lewis, resumed his labour activism in Canada becoming involved with the Arbeiter Ring (Workmen's Circle). He was Secretary of the Canadian Jewish Labour Committee, a labour and civil rights organization, for several decades.<ref> {{Cite journal | last1 = Lambertson | first1 = Ross | date = Spring 2001 | title = "The Dresden Story": Racism, Human Rights, and the Jewish Labour Committee of Canada | website = History Cooperative | location = Champaign | publisher = University of Illinois Press | volume = 47 | url = http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/llt/47/03lamber.html | access-date = 30 March 2026 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081205074028/http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/llt/47/03lamber.html | archive-date = 5 December 2008 }}</ref>
In 1947, Lewis and Kalmen Kaplansky spearheaded "The Tailors Project" by the Workmen's Circle and Jewish Labour Committee to bring European Jewish refugees to Montreal to work in the needle trades.<ref>Smith, p. 215</ref> They were able to do this through the federal government's "bulk-labour" program that allowed labour-intensive industries to bring European displaced persons to Canada, in order to fill those jobs.<ref>Smith, p. 216</ref> For Lewis' work on this and other projects during this period, the Montreal branch was renamed the Moishe Lewis Branch, after he died in 1950. The Jewish Labour Committee also honored him when they established the Moishe Lewis Foundation in 1975.<ref>Smith, p. 218</ref>
==Descendants== His son David Lewis would become a labour lawyer and leading figure in the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and then leader of the federal New Democratic Party.<ref name="Who Are You?"> {{Cite news | author = CBC Staff | date = 2007 | title = Who Do You Think You Are? Avi Lewis | work = CBC News | location = Toronto | publisher = Canadian Broadcasting Corporation | url = http://www.cbc.ca/whodoyouthinkyouare/stories/ext_avi2.php | access-date = 29 March 2026 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080612120433/http://www.cbc.ca/whodoyouthinkyouare/stories/ext_avi.php | archive-date = 12 June 2008 | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref name="Leader Vote Globe"> {{Cite news | last = Goldblatt | first = Murry | title = Long road to the top | work = The Globe and Mail | location = Toronto | page = 3 | publisher = FP Publications | date = April 26, 1971 | url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-globe-and-mail-long-road-to-the-top/194497466/
| access-date = March 30, 2026 | via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> His grandson Stephen Lewis was leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party in the 1970s and later Canada's ambassador to the United Nations.<ref name ="ONDP Leader Stephen"> {{Cite news | last1 = Clark | first1 = Campbell | date = 25 March 2026 | title = The NDP ponders a leap to the left with Avi Lewis | work = The Globe and Mail | location = Toronto | publisher = The Woodbridge Company | issn = 0319-0714 | page = A7 | url = https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/opinion/article-the-ndp-ponders-a-leap-with-avi-lewis/ | access-date = 29 March 2026 | id = {{ProQuest|3321154423}} }}</ref><ref name ="Stephen's UN Term Begins"> {{Cite news | last1 = Harper | first1 = Tim | date = 21 October 1984 | title = Lewis tells why he took U.N. post | work = The Sunday Star | location = Toronto | publisher = Torstar | issn = 0319-0781 | page = A1 | url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star-lewis-tells-why-he-took/194494977/ | access-date = 29 March 2026 | via = Newspapers.com }}</ref><ref name ="Stephen's UN Term Ends"> {{Cite news | last1 = Howard | first1 = Ross | date = 28 July 1988 | title = PM appoints Liberal and long-time friend as UN ambassador | work = The Globe and Mail | location = Toronto | publisher = Thomson Newspapers | issn = 0319-0714 | page = A1 | url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-globe-and-mail-pm-appoints-liberal-a/194494018/ | access-date = 29 March 2026 | via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> His great-grandson is current NDP leader Avi Lewis, a former journalist who also made documentaries with his wife Naomi Klein.<ref name = "New NDP Leader 2026"> {{Cite news | last1 = Ramzy | first1 = Mark | date = 29 March 2026 | title = Avi Lewis to lead NDP after successful populist left-wing leadership campaign | work = Toronto Star | publisher = Torstar | issn = 0319-0781 | url = https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/avi-lewis-to-lead-ndp-after-successful-populist-left-wing-leadership-campaign/article_af1a5883-1a66-40b7-9716-e3f4fedec8a3.html | access-date = 29 March 2026 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20260330014404/https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/avi-lewis-to-lead-ndp-after-successful-populist-left-wing-leadership-campaign/article_af1a5883-1a66-40b7-9716-e3f4fedec8a3.html | archive-date = 30 March 2026 | url-status = live }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Moishe}} Category:1888 births Category:1950 deaths Category:Activists from Montreal Category:General Jewish Labour Bund politicians Category:Canadian civil rights activists Category:Canadian socialists Category:Jewish Canadian activists Category:Jews from the Russian Empire Category:Canadian Ashkenazi Jews Category:Canadian people of Belarusian-Jewish descent Category:Polish emigrants to Canada Category:People from Svislach Category:Lewis family (Canada) Category:People of the Russian Civil War Category:19th-century Belarusian people Category:20th-century Belarusian Jews Category:Canadian people of the Russian Civil War Category:Tanners Category:Jewish trade unionists Category:20th-century Canadian trade unionists