Lea Roback

Léa Roback (3 November 1903 – 28 August 2000) was a Canadian trade union organizer, social activist, pacifist, and feminist. She campaigned against exclusion, violence, racism and injustice. A polyglot and a suffragist, she was a pioneer of feminism in Quebec. A Syndicalist,Communist and a Marxist, she opened the first Marxist book store in Montreal.

Born in Montreal on Guilbault Street in 1903, the second of nine children, she was the daughter of Polish Jewish immigrants. Her father was a tailor who, along with his wife, Fanny, ran a general store. They were the only Jews in Beauport, the town where Roback grew up. She spoke Yiddish at home, French with Beauport locals, and English at school. Her family valued reading and the arts. In her youth, she was influenced by her maternal grandmother, an independent woman.

With her family, Roback returned to Montreal in 1915. While working at British American Dyeworks, she became aware of the differences between the various sectors of Montreal society. Her next job was as a cashier at Her Majesty's Theatre. Interested in literature, she saved money to enroll at the University of Grenoble in 1926, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree. On her return from Grenoble, she joined her sister in New York City. In 1929, she went to Berlin to visit her brother Henri, a medical student. She learned the German language, took university courses, and taught English. She also visited England and Italy, developing a strong commitment to Communism.

In 1929, Roback became a member of the Communist Party of Canada. She felt seduced by the socialists, but she believed they did not put their words into action, hence she shifted her support to Marxism-Leninism. In her 1988 interview with Nicole Lacelle, Roback said that it was during this period that she gained genuine political consciousness. In the fall of 1932, when the war in Europe escalated, Roback, a Jew and a foreigner, was forced to leave return to Montreal. In 1934, she spent a few months in the Soviet Union with a lover. Returning for good to Montreal, she participated in the organization of the unemployed, which was led by Norman Bethune. She also worked at the Young Women's Hebrew Association. In 1935, she established the first Marxist bookshop in Montreal, Modern Book Shop.

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