David Lewis (Canadian politician) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
David Lewis
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Lewis in 1944
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| Leader of the New Democratic Party | |
| In office April 24, 1971 – July 7, 1975 |
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| Preceded by | Tommy Douglas |
| Succeeded by | Ed Broadbent |
| Member of Parliament for York South |
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| In office November 8, 1965 – July 8, 1974 |
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| Preceded by | Marvin Gelber |
| Succeeded by | Ursula Appolloni |
| In office June 18, 1962 – April 8, 1963 |
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| Preceded by | William G. Beech |
| Succeeded by | Marvin Gelber |
| National President Co-operative Commonwealth Federation |
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| In office 1958–1961 |
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| Preceded by | M. J. Coldwell |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| National Chairman Co-operative Commonwealth Federation |
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| In office 1954–1958 |
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| Preceded by | Percy Wright |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| National Secretary Co-operative Commonwealth Federation |
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| In office 1936–1950 |
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| Preceded by | M. J. Coldwell |
| Succeeded by | Lorne Ingle |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
David Losz
June 23 or October 1909 Svisloch, Russian Empire |
| Died | May 23, 1981 (aged 71) Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| Political party | CCF New Democratic Party |
| Other political affiliations |
Labour |
| Spouse | Sophie Carson |
| Children | 4, including Stephen Lewis |
| Parents | Moishe Lewis Rose Lazarovitch |
| Alma mater | McGill University Lincoln College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
David Lewis (born David Losz; 1909 – 1981) was an important Canadian lawyer and politician. He was a key figure in creating the New Democratic Party (NDP) in 1961. Before that, he was the national secretary for the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) from 1936 to 1950.
In 1962, he became a Member of Parliament (MP) for York South. He later became the national leader of the NDP, serving from 1971 to 1975. After leaving politics, he taught at Carleton University and wrote for the Toronto Star. He was also given the Order of Canada for his public service. David Lewis passed away in Ottawa in 1981 after a long illness.
Lewis's political ideas were shaped by the Jewish Labour Bund, which supported parliamentary democracy. He was strongly against communism and worked to remove communist influence from the labour movement in Canada. He also helped write the Winnipeg Declaration, which updated the CCF's economic policies to include working with capitalism, but with government rules.
The Lewis family has a long history in socialist politics. David's father was involved in the Bund in Russia. David's eldest son, Stephen Lewis, later led the Ontario NDP. When David became the NDP's national leader in 1971, he and Stephen were one of the first father-and-son teams to lead Canadian political parties at the same time.
Contents
Early Life and Family History
Growing Up in the Russian Empire
David Losz was born in October 1909 in Svisloch, which was then part of the Russian Empire. His family later used June 23 as his official birth date when they came to Canada. Svisloch was a small town in what is now Belarus, where most people were Jewish. It had factories, which made its people open to social democratic ideas and the labour movement.
David's father, Moishe Losz, was the head of the Bund in Svisloch. The Bund was a secret socialist group that wanted to overthrow the Tsar and bring equality for everyone, including Jewish people. David grew up learning about their ideas. The Bund believed in a secular (non-religious) approach, even though its members were mostly Jewish.
Moishe and David believed in a practical approach to politics. They thought it was better to work with many people, even if it meant not being perfectly pure in their beliefs. David carried this idea into his work with the CCF and NDP, often choosing practical solutions over strict ideology.
During a time of war in 1920, Moishe Losz opposed the Bolsheviks and was even jailed. Because it was unsafe, Moishe left for Canada in May 1921. By August, he had saved enough money to bring his family, including David, to Montreal.
Life in Canada and Education
The Losz family arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the fall of 1921, then traveled by train to Montreal. David, who spoke only Yiddish, learned English by reading a book by Charles Dickens with a Yiddish-English dictionary. A teacher at his school also helped him learn English.
In high school, David met A.M. Klein, who became a famous Canadian poet, and Irving Layton, another well-known writer. He also met Sophie Carson, who later became his wife. Sophie's father was unsure about David because he was a new immigrant.
David spent five years at McGill University, studying arts and law. There, he helped start the Montreal branch of the Young People's Socialist League, a group that was against communism. He also started a campus magazine called The McGilliad, where he wrote about his anti-communist views. At McGill, he worked with other important Canadian socialists like F. R. Scott.
Studying at Oxford University
Winning a Rhodes Scholarship
With encouragement from F. R. Scott, David Lewis applied for a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University in England. During his interview, he told the board that if he became prime minister, he would take over the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), a major company. Even with this bold statement, the board was impressed that he wasn't a communist, and he won the scholarship.
Getting Involved in Politics at Oxford
When David Lewis arrived at Lincoln College in 1932, he quickly became a leader in socialist groups at the university. He was known as a powerful debater. He helped make the Oxford University Labour Club more active and serious about socialist ideas.
Lewis worked to stop communists from gaining power at Oxford. He believed in achieving change through democratic means, like voting and parliamentary action, rather than violent revolution. This approach, which combined Marxist ideas about economics with a focus on parliamentary politics, shaped his future career.
In 1935, after graduating, the British Labour Party offered him a chance to become a Member of Parliament in England. However, he chose to return to Canada to help build the new Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), even though it was a much smaller party at the time.
Debating at the Oxford Union
Lewis was also very active in the Oxford Union, a famous debating club. In 1933, he took part in a debate on the topic "That this House will under no circumstances fight for its King or Country." This debate was very controversial and made news across the British Empire. Lewis spoke for the side that won, causing a stir in newspapers.
He became president of the Oxford Union in late 1934. People noted that he was different from past presidents, being more serious and less traditional.
Becoming CCF National Secretary
Returning to Canada and Starting Work
David Lewis and Sophie Carson got married in August 1935, soon after they returned to Canada. In 1935, Lewis became the National Secretary of the CCF. This was a challenging job because the CCF was a new party, and Canada was a very capitalist country. The party also had little money.
Lewis, along with other CCF founders like J. S. Woodsworth and Tommy Douglas, believed in social justice and improving society. They wanted to change things for the better in the present, not just hope for a better afterlife.
By 1937, it was clear the CCF needed to change its image because voters thought it was too extreme. Lewis worked to make the party's policies more moderate. In 1938, he started working full-time as the CCF National Secretary, earning a low salary for such a big job.
Building the Party and Changing Policies
As National Secretary, Lewis focused on organizing the party and building connections with unions. He worked to soften the party's image and change some of the more radical language in its founding document, the Regina Manifesto. This document had called for getting rid of capitalism. Lewis and others spent years trying to update this, finally succeeding with the Winnipeg Declaration in 1956.
At the 1944 CCF convention, Lewis helped pass a resolution that said large businesses could exist in the party's vision, as long as they operated fairly and efficiently. This showed that Lewis supported a mixed economy, where both private businesses and government-owned industries could exist.
Lewis believed it was better to work with the majority of people, even if it meant making compromises, rather than sticking to a perfectly pure ideology. He often had to be strict with party members who made radical statements that could hurt the party's goals. He believed that party discipline and unity were very important.
=Make This Your Canada and Elections
Writing a Book for Change
In 1943, Lewis co-wrote a book called Make This Your Canada with F. R. Scott. The book argued that government economic planning, which had worked during wartime, could also work in peacetime. They called for a mixed economy and for public ownership of important industries. The book was popular in Canada, selling over 25,000 copies in its first year.
Early Election Campaigns
Lewis first ran for election in 1940 but did not win. In 1943, he ran in a special election in Montreal. It was a tough campaign, and he lost to a communist candidate. This experience affected Lewis's future election choices.
The 1945 elections were a difficult time for the CCF. The party faced strong opposition and lost many seats. Lewis ran in Hamilton West but was defeated. He ran again in 1949 but lost once more.
Fighting Communist Influence in Unions
Lewis and others worked hard to remove communist influence from Canadian labour unions. They believed that communists were hurting the labour movement and the CCF. A big moment came in 1956 when Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union spoke out against Stalin's harsh rule. This caused a split in the communist movement in Canada and greatly weakened its power in unions and politics.
Working as a Labour Lawyer
In 1950, Lewis left his role as CCF national secretary and moved to Toronto to practice law. He became a chief legal advisor for the United Steelworkers of America (USW) in Canada, helping them organize and deal with other unions. He earned much more money as a lawyer than he had as a party secretary.
During this time, he bought his first house in Toronto, where his children, including Stephen Lewis, grew up. His mother also moved in with them after his father passed away.
Creating the Winnipeg Declaration and the New Party
Even though he was no longer running the party day-to-day, Lewis remained involved. He became the party's national chairman in 1954. He played a key role in writing the 1956 Winnipeg Declaration, which replaced the older Regina Manifesto. This new declaration made the party's platform more moderate, removing strict calls for state control of all industries.
Lewis worked very hard, even collapsing from exhaustion in 1956. The CCF suffered a big defeat in the 1958 Canadian federal election. It became clear that the party needed to change. Lewis and others worked with the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) to create a new party that would appeal to more people.
Leading the New Democratic Party
In 1958, Lewis worked closely with CLC president Claude Jodoin and Stanley Knowles to combine the labour and social-democratic movements into a new party. Tommy Douglas, the premier of Saskatchewan, was chosen to be the first leader of this new party.
In July 1961, the CCF officially became the New Democratic Party (NDP). Douglas was elected as its first leader.
Becoming a Member of Parliament
Representing York South
After the NDP was formed, Tommy Douglas encouraged David Lewis to run for election. Lewis decided to run in his home area of York South. He faced challenges, especially among the Jewish community in Forest Hill, who saw him as an outsider. However, he was elected as an MP on June 18, 1962.
Lewis's first term was short, as the government fell in 1963, and he lost his seat. But he was re-elected in 1965 and again in 1968. After Douglas lost his seat, Lewis became the NDP leader in the House of Commons of Canada.
During the October Crisis in 1970, when the government used the War Measures Act in Quebec, Lewis and Douglas were among the few MPs who voted against it. They believed it gave too much power to the police and military and limited people's freedoms.
Leading the NDP
Father and Son Leaders
During the early 1970s, David Lewis and his son, Stephen Lewis, both held important leadership roles. Stephen was elected leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party in 1970. This made them one of the first father-and-son teams to lead major political parties in Canada at the same time.
In 1971, David Lewis ran to become the national leader of the NDP. The leadership convention was lively, with many debates. Lewis won the leadership on April 24, 1971.
The "Corporate Welfare Bums" Campaign
David Lewis led the NDP in the 1972 Canadian federal election. During this campaign, he became famous for calling Canadian corporations "corporate welfare bums," arguing that they received too much government help. This phrase was also the title of his 1972 book, Louder Voices: The Corporate Welfare Bums.
The 1972 election resulted in a minority government for the Liberals, meaning they needed support from other parties to pass laws. The NDP, led by Lewis, held the balance of power. They supported Pierre Trudeau's Liberal government in exchange for the Liberals adopting some NDP ideas, like creating Petro-Canada, a government-owned oil company.
However, Lewis believed that the NDP wasn't getting enough credit for these changes. In the 1974 Canadian federal election, the NDP lost many seats, and Lewis lost his own. He resigned as party leader in 1975. It was later revealed that he had been secretly battling leukemia for about two years.
Later Years and Legacy
After leaving politics, Lewis became a professor at Carleton University in Ottawa. In 1978, he visited his hometown of Svisloch one last time as a travel writer for The Toronto Star. He noted that no Jewish people lived there anymore, as the Holocaust had destroyed the town's Jewish community.
He wrote the first part of his memoirs, The Good Fight: Political Memoirs 1909–1958, which was published in 1981. David Lewis passed away from leukemia on May 23, 1981, in Ottawa.
His family continued his legacy in politics and public service. His son, Stephen Lewis, became a well-known politician and later a United Nations Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. His other son, Michael Lewis, was also an important organizer for the NDP. His daughter, Janet Solberg, became president of the Ontario NDP. His granddaughter, Nina Libeskind, is married to famous architect Daniel Libeskind. His grandson, Avi Lewis, is a broadcaster.
Awards and Recognition
In December 1976, David Lewis was named a Companion of the Order of Canada, the highest level of this honour. He received it in April 1977 for his contributions to labour and social reform in Canada. David Lewis Public School in Scarborough, Ontario, is named in his honour.
Images for kids
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Federal Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) delegation attending the September 1944 Conference of Commonwealth Labour Parties in London, England.
