Moishe Lewis
Moishe Lewis, originally named Moishe Losz, was born in 1888 in Svislach, a region that was part of the Russian Empire and is now in Belarus. He became a significant figure as the chairman of the Bund, a Jewish socialist labor movement focused on advocating for workers' rights and countering anti-Semitism. Lewis was deeply involved in organizing Jewish workers, strikes, and educational initiatives, including establishing Yiddish schools to support the Jewish working class. His political activities led to clashes with the Bolshevik regime, resulting in his arrest in 1920. After escaping to North America with his family in 1921, he continued his activism in Montreal by re-establishing the Bund within the local Jewish community.
Lewis played a crucial role in various projects, notably the Tailor Project, which successfully facilitated the immigration of Jewish tailors to Canada, thereby aiding them in escaping potential dangers in Europe. His influence extended beyond his lifetime; the Workman's Circle building in Montreal was named in his honor, and the Moishe Lewis Foundation was established to continue his legacy. His son, David Lewis, followed in his footsteps, becoming a notable figure in Canadian politics as a proponent of social democracy. Moishe Lewis passed away in 1950, remembered as a key Jewish Socialist leader of his time.
On this Page
Moishe Lewis
Labor activist
- Born: 1988
- Birthplace: Svislach, Russian Empire (modern Belarus)
- Died: 1950
- Place of death: Canada
Also known as: Moishe Losz, Morris Lewis
Significance: Moishe Lewis was a prominent labor activist in the Jewish communities of Europe and Canada in the early- to mid-twentieth century. He helped develop the Bund, a political party and organization the spread Socialist views within the Jewish working class. After imprisonment by the Bolsheviks, Lewis moved to Canada where he continued to advocate for labor issues.
Background
Moishe Lewis was born Moishe Losz in 1888 in Svislach, a region then part of the Russian Empire but is today in Belarus. Lewis became the chairman on the Bund, a powerful political party in the Svislach region. The Bund was known for leading a Jewish, socialist labor movement.
Like most socialist movements, the Bund was focused on promoting the rights of the working class. They sought to increase wages, safety standards, and the overall societal place of the workers. The Bund sought to ally itself with the many other socialist movements that occurred during the Russian Empire in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. However, unlike most of those parties, the Bund also fought against anti-Semitism.
Life’s Work
As a leader of the Bund, Lewis was very politically active. He was known for advocating for Marxist theory, helping organize Jewish workers, and helping to organize strikes and demonstrations against the wealthy. He was also known for establishing Yiddish schools and helping to provide a better education for the Jewish working class.
Due to his associations with the Bund, Lewis was considered an enemy of the Russian Bolshevik revolution, which began in 1917. He was arrested and jailed in 1920, and though he was freed by Polish invaders, Lewis realized that his life was in danger as long as he remained in what would become the Soviet Union. In May 1921, Lewis took his family and immigrated to North America. Lewis’s wife, Rose, had a brother, Eli, who had moved to the United States twenty years earlier. Eli had started a successful clothing factory in Montreal and promised to provide Lewis with a job. When they arrived, they discovered that a small Jewish immigrant community had established itself in Montreal. To help him and his family find acceptance in Canada, he changed his family named from Losz to Lewis.
Lewis once again began promoting the Bund to the Jewish workers. He was quickly successful at organizing and motivating the working class, becoming an important leader in the small, Canadian branch of the Bund. In 1934, Lewis opened the Workman’s Circle building in Montreal. The structure quickly developed into a hub for Jewish Socialists.
Impact
Lewis was known as one of the most important Jewish Socialist activists of his era. He was heavily involved with the establishment of the Bund in Canada, as well as many of the organization’s projects during his years of leadership. One of the most prominent projects undertaken by Lewis and the Bund was the Tailor Project. The project involved convincing the Canadian government that tailors were desperately needed by the garment industry to meet the continually expanding demands of the growing Canadian economy, resulting in the Canadian government relaxing its immigration limits for Jewish tailors. By 1949, roughly two thousand Jewish tailors had successfully immigrated to Canada through the Tailor Project, saving them from dangers they might face in Europe.
Lewis passed away in 1950. To honor his work, the Bund renamed the Workman’s Circle to the Moishe Lewis Branch. In 1975, the Jewish Labour Committee continued to honor his legacy by creating the Moishe Lewis Foundation.
Lewis’s son, David Lewis, became a prominent Canadian politician. Like his father, David promoted social democratic views in mainstream Canadian politics. He went on to become a member of parliament and a leader of the New Democratic Party.
Bibliography
Fuerstenberg, Adam. “The Marvellous Trajectory of David Lewis’ Life and Career.” Beth Tzedek Congregation of Toronto, 2011, web.archive.org/web/20110719123020/http://www.beth-tzedec.org/home.do?ch=content&cid=4688. Accessed 6 July 2023.
“Lewis, David.” McMaster University, 2023, archives.mcmaster.ca/index.php/lewis-david. Accessed 6 July 2023.
“Moishe Lewis Branch.” Workman’s Circle, CJHN.ca, 2023, www.cjhn.ca/en/permalink/cjhn16815. Accessed 6 July 2023.
“Moishe Lewis Foundation – Lo Foundation Moishe Lewis.” Canadian Charity Organizations, 2023, opengovca.com/charity/891015992RR0001. Accessed 6 July 2023.
“The Dresden Story: Racism, Human Rights, and the Jewish Labour Committee of Canada.” History Cooperative, historycooperative.org/journal/the-dresden-story-racism-human-rights-and-the-jewish-labour-committee-of-canada/. Accessed 6 July 2023.
“The Tailor Project: How 2,500 Jewish Holocaust Survivors Found a New Life in Canada.” Second Press, secondstorypress.ca/adult/tailor-project. Accessed 6 July 2023.
“The Tailor Project.” Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada, www.jhcwc.org/exhibitions/a-stitch-in-time/the-tailor-project/. Accessed 6 July 2023.