The Jewish Left in Canada · 1926–2026
A century of secular, socialist Jewish life.
From the Labour League to today, a hundred years of building Jewish culture and fighting for justice.
Where we came from
Our Roots
The United Jewish People's Order is a national Canadian organization with sections in Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Toronto which evolved from the Workmen's Circle or Arbeter Ring, a socialist umbrella organization that included Bundists, socialists, free thinkers, secularists and Yiddishists.
In 1926 the Workmen's Circle disenfranchised and/or expelled those members it considered radicals (supporters of the 1917 Russian revolution). These 'radical' individuals formed the Labour League Mutual Benefit Society (LLMBS) in Toronto, and the Canadian Workers' Circle (in Montreal and in Winnipeg), and other names in various Canadian cities. These organizations met the needs for a progressive social community and schooling for children, providing benefits for its members such as medical (decades before universal healthcare was instituted), unemployment and mortuary coverage, and a credit union, all quite revolutionary at the time.
The cultural and educational activities were mainly conducted in Yiddish, catering to the influx of Eastern European Jewish immigrants. Each centre maintained its cultural activities under the name of the Yiddisher Arbeter Kultur Tsenter (Jewish Workers' Cultural Centre). The vast majority of members were poor and working class people labouring in sweatshops and often living in substandard conditions. Many were in the forefront of the movement to create workers' unions. They were socialists who were committed to equality and bringing about a "nayer, frayer velt" – a newer, freer world.
The major emphasis of these organizations' programming was to preserve the rich history and values of Yiddish culture or Yiddishkayt, (Jewishness), through the creation of choirs, orchestras, children's schools (Folk Shules), activity clubs, camps, dance and theatre groups.
In Toronto the Frayhayt Gesangs Fareyn (Freedom Singing Society) which subsequently became the Toronto Jewish Folk Choir (TFJC) was part of the similarly-named left-wing choral movement in North America, and was autonomously formed in 1925. The same was true with Camp Kindervelt (Children's World), which evolved into Camp Naivelt. Within a few years both groups requested to become institutions of the Labour League. With the purchase of a house at 414 Markham Street, Toronto's Morris Winchevsky School (MWS) was founded in 1928 by the LLMBS. Subsequently other school locations were opened to meet growing demands. In 1959 MWS became an autonomous charitable organization as UJPO-Toronto withdrew its financial support, and in 1978 the TJFC also acquired autonomy and charitable status for similar reasons.
The founders were committed to perpetuating the Yiddish language including an understanding of the traditions of social justice and humanism and to making secular Jewish life relevant and accessible through a wide variety of cultural, social, and educational programs. By the 1960's the language of teaching was English. Subsequently, other school locations were opened to meet demands.
In the summer of 1944, the leaders of Toronto's Labour League and the Canadian Workers' Circles met in Toronto to consider the feasibility of merging into a single national association and in August 1945, the United Jewish People's Order (UJPO) was born, following a national conference in 1944 of similar autonomous secular left-wing Jewish-Canadian organizations. As a national organization it was and is the public voice for and representative of its constituent members. True to its origins, over the years the UJPO became and remains notable for its prominent cultural institutions to preserve progressive Yiddish culture, its steadfast support of unions and workers' rights, its activism against anti-Semitism and all forms of racism, its campaigning for world peace, and its opposition to all manifestations of oppression and exploitation, sexism and homophobia.
The UJPO's predecessors originally operated out of people's homes, being run solely by dedicated members volunteering countless hours of time. Branches and lodges were established to service various groupings of members, each programming its own social and cultural events. At its heyday in the 1940's and 1950's, the UJPO boasted more than 2,500 members nation-wide; additional branches were established in Hamilton and Niagara Falls Ontario, and Calgary, Alberta and Vancouver, British Columbia, among others.
As the organization continued to grow, it purchased a building to better meet the needs of the members. Its first Toronto home was at 83 Christie Street. In Montreal UJPO's home was in the Morris Winchevsky School's edifice and in Winnipeg, in the Sholem Aleichem School building. In 1960 the Toronto UJPO moved into the Morris Winchevsky School's newly built Winchevsky Centre which also houses UJPO Canada's office.
Today, UJPO, MWS and Naivelt are thriving.
A radical timeline
1925, 2026.
A children's summer camp, originally called Kindervelt, is founded by a group of six women from the Jewish Women's Labour League, dominated by members of the Communist Party. The first summer camp is held at Long Branch and moves the following year to a leased property in Rouge Hills.
An amateur choral group is founded by Jewish immigrant labourers, originally called the Freiheit Gezangs Farein (Freedom Singing Society), which later affiliates with the Labour League and changes its name to the Toronto Jewish Folk Choir.
The Labour League, with indirect ties to the Canadian Communist Party, is founded as a secular Jewish mutual benefits society after pro-Soviet members break off from the Arbeiter Ring (the Workmen's Circle), a Yiddish-language, socialist, secular North American fraternal organization. In Montreal, a sister organization also breaks away from the Arbeiter Ring and forms the Canadian Labour Circle.
Morris Winchevsky Shules are established in Montreal and Toronto. Camp Kindervelt is taken over by the male-run Labour League in 1929.
The Liberty Temple Association in Winnipeg breaks off from the Arbeiter Ring over its pro-Soviet stance and takes control of the assets, becoming a sister organization of the Toronto Labour League and the Montreal-based Canadian Labour Circle.
After the ten-year lease for the Rouge Hills land expires, 104 acres of land along the Credit River in Brampton are purchased from the Canadian National Railways using a member of the Labour League named Alick Boksen as a front buyer to establish Camp Naivelt. An urban legend would later emerge that CN refused to sell to Jews, but the story has since been discredited.
The United Jewish People's Order is founded as a national organization to merge the Toronto-based Labour League with the Canadian Labour Circle in Montreal and the Liberty Temple Association in Winnipeg as well as sister organizations in Hamilton, Calgary & Windsor. Camp Naivelt, the Toronto Jewish Folk Choir and the Morris Winchevsky Shules in Montreal and Toronto are now part of the new UJPO along with the Sholem Aleichem shule (previously the Liberty Temple shule) in Winnipeg.
UJPO member Fred Rose, the first Communist MP ever elected to the House of Commons, is arrested on charges of espionage after he is exposed as a Soviet spy by defector Igor Gouzenko.
Driven by the horrors of the Holocaust and the new Soviet party line, UJPO reverses its previous anti-Zionist position and endorses the creation of the State of Israel.
The far right Quebec premier Maurice Duplessis orders Montreal's UJPO headquarters padlocked under provincial anti-Communist legislation.
UJPO is expelled from the Canadian Jewish Congress in the midst of the Cold War. Its socialist, pro-Soviet ideology is considered unwelcome amongst the mainstream Jewish community.
The Travellers are formed at Camp Naivelt after a visit by Pete Seeger who suggests that Naivelters form a Canadian version of The Weavers.
The Twentieth Congress of the Soviet Communist Party reveals Stalin's crimes. The UJPO community is torn apart by the revelations, especially reports of widespread antisemitism in a nation that had long been considered a progressive haven for the Jewish community. During the next three years, 30% of UJPO members, many still reeling from the revelations, will leave the organization in an exodus that will cause deep rifts. At the end of 1956, UJPO votes to assert its independence from the Communist Party.
Claiming that UJPO is not sufficiently critical of the Soviet Union, a number of leaders break away with J.B. Salsberg and form the New Fraternal Jewish Association a year later.
UJPO moves into new headquarters, the Winchevsky Centre, at 585 Cranbrooke Avenue in Toronto which remains our home for more than 60 years.
Seeking a congregational milieu, a group of nine UJPO families sever ties and form the Secular Jewish Association (SJA), which later becomes Oraynu, Toronto's secular congregation for Humanistic Judaism. In later years, UJPO and SJA collaborate on a number of initiatives.
UJPO Montreal closes down and sells its headquarters. After a brief revival in the early 90's, it becomes defunct once again.
UJPO is re-admitted to the Canadian Jewish Congress.
UJPO is once again expelled from the CJC and the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto after a controversial panel discussion at the Winchevsky Centre featuring anti-Zionist Auschwitz survivor Hajo Mayer.
UJPO celebrates its 100th anniversary stronger than it's been in decades. The Toronto Jewish Folk Choir is relaunched after a hiatus of almost 13 years.
