William Cecil Ross (May 11, 1911 – June 4, 1998) was a politician in

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

, Canada, the leader of the

Young Communist League The Young Communist League (YCL) is the name used by the youth wing of various Communist parties around the world. The name YCL of XXX (name of country) originates from the precedent established by the Communist Youth International. Examples of YC ...

and later the leader of that province's

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

from 1948 until his retirement in 1981. Ross was raised in a secular

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family that moved from the

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, 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 (December 12, 1912 – March 24, 1986) was a popular Communist politician in Winnipeg and the longest serving elected Communist party politician in North America. He served on the Winnipeg city council from 1961 to 1983. Joe Zuk ...

also became a

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

politician, and was for many years a prominent

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

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 Flin Flon (pop. 5,185 in 2016 census; 4,982 in Manitoba and 203 in Saskatchewan) is a mining city, located on a correction line on the border of the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, with the majority of the city located within ...

. In 1940, Ross campaigned for

Leslie Morris Leslie Tom Morris (October 10, 1904 – November 13, 1964) was a Welsh-Canadian politician, journalist and longtime member of the Communist Party of Canada and, its front group, the Labor-Progressive Party. He was leader of the Ontario Labor-P ...

in the federal riding of

Winnipeg North Winnipeg North (french: Winnipeg-Nord) is a federal electoral district in Canada that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1917. It covers the northern portion of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Geography The riding includes the ne ...

, and thereby contributed to the defeat of

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialism, democra ...

incumbent

Abraham Albert Heaps Abraham Albert Heaps (December 24, 1885 – April 4, 1954), known as A. A. Heaps, was a Canadian politician and labour leader. A strong labourite, he served as MP for Winnipeg North from 1925 to 1940. Born in Leeds, England, Heaps emig ...

, the most prominent Jewish politician in the city. Ross first ran for provincial office in the 1945 election, campaigning for the "

Labor-Progressive Party The Labor-Progressive Party (french: Parti ouvrier-progressiste) was the legal Front organization, front of the Communist Party of Canada from 1943 to 1959. Origins and initial success In the 1940 Canadian federal election, 1940 federal elect ...

" (as the Communist Party had renamed itself) in the riding of

Assiniboia Assiniboia District refers to two historical districts of Canada's Northwest Territories. The name is taken from the Assiniboine First Nation. Historical usage ''For more information on the history of the provisional districts, see also Distric ...

. 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

Bill Kardash William Arthur Kardash (June 10, 1912 – January 17, 1997) was a politician and member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1941 until 1958. He served as Winnipeg MLA from 1941 to 1958, as Worker's Candidate at first, then as a represe ...

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 The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and official Communist Party policy. While Zuken voiced concerns about

anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

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 , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

against accusations of anti-Semitism in 1952, following the trials of

Rudolf Slánský Rudolf Slánský (31 July 1901 – 3 December 1952) was a leading 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 Czechosl ...

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 The Holodomor ( uk, Голодомо́р, Holodomor, ; derived from uk, морити голодом, lit=to kill by starvation, translit=moryty holodom, label=none), also known as the Terror-Famine or the Great Famine, was a man-made famin ...

of the early 1930s. Ross acknowledged the death of millions, but denied that the government of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

had consciously planned an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people. (

Mary Kardash Mary Kardash (born Mary Kostaniuk; 1913 – 1994) was a Communist and feminist activist in Canada.

, 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 Anne Ross (born 17 March 1985 in Dersum, Lower Saxony) is a German singer. She was a member of the German pop girl group, Preluders. After Preluders disbanded, she and Manel Filali teamed up to form the duo Milk & Honey. She is married to , a ...

, was also a public figure, serving as an administrator at the

Mount Carmel Clinic Mount Carmel Clinic is a community health center A healthcare center, health center, or community health center is one of a network of clinics staffed by a group of general practitioners and nurses providing healthcare services to people in a ce ...

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 election, (635 votes) *

Winnipeg North Centre Winnipeg North Centre was a federal electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that was represented by a Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of Canada from 1925 to 2004. It is a largely working class riding in Winnipeg and has tradition ...

(federal), 1953 (1606 votes), winner:

Stanley Knowles Stanley Howard Knowles (June 18, 1908 – June 9, 1997) was a Canadian parliamentarian. Knowles represented the riding of Winnipeg North Centre from 1942 to 1958 on behalf of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and again from 1 ...

(CCF) *

(federal), 1957 (1579 votes), winner: Alistair Stewart (CCF) *

(federal), 1958 (1503 votes), winner: Murray Smith (PC) * Burrows (provincial), 1959 (675 votes), winner: John Hawryluk (CCF) *

(federal), 1962 (1504 votes), winner:

David Orlikow David Orlikow (April 20, 1918 – January 19, 1998) was a Canadian politician, and a long-serving member of the House of Commons of Canada. He represented the riding of Winnipeg North from 1962 to 1988 as a member of the New Democratic Party. ...

(NDP) * Inkster (provincial), 1966 (312 votes), winner: Sidney Green (NDP) *

(federal), 1968 (869 votes), winner:

(NDP) *

(federal), 1972 (587 votes), winner:

(NDP) * St. Johns (provincial), 1973 (66 votes), winner:

Saul Cherniack Saul Mark Cherniack, (January 10, 1917 – March 30, 2018) was 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. ...

(NDP) *

(federal), 1974 (390 votes), winner:

(NDP) *

(federal), 1979 (242 votes), winner:

(NDP) *

(federal), 1980 (195 votes), winner:

(NDP) *St. Johns (provincial), 1981 (117 votes), winner: Donald Malinowski (NDP)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, William Cecil 1911 births 1998 deaths Communist Party of Canada (Manitoba) candidates in Manitoba provincial elections Labor-Progressive Party candidates in the 1953 Canadian federal election Labor-Progressive Party candidates in the 1957 Canadian federal election Labor-Progressive Party candidates in the 1958 Canadian federal election Communist Party of Canada candidates in the 1962 Canadian federal election Jewish Canadian politicians Jewish socialists Ukrainian emigrants to Canada Canadian people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent