Maurice "Morry" Levitas (February 1, 1917 - February 14, 2001) was an Irish academic and communist.

Biography

Levitas was born at Warren Street, in the Portobello area of Dublin. He was known to his family and friends as "Morry".
His parents, Harry Levitas and Leah Rick, having emigrated to Ireland from Lithuania and Latvia in 1912, were married in the Camden Street Synagogue in Dublin. Harry Levitas was a member of the Tailors and Pressers Union, known in Dublin as the Jewish Union.
Maurice attended St Peter's Church of Ireland National School.
In 1927, the family emigrated to Britain, first to Glasgow then to London
Maurice Levitas joined the Communist Party of Great Britain

Communist Party of Great Britain

The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...

 in 1933 and was also an active trade unionist. He and his brothers Max and Sol, were involved in the 1936 ‘Battle of Cable Street

Battle of Cable Street

The Battle of Cable Street took place on Sunday 4 October 1936 in Cable Street in the East End of London. It was a clash between the Metropolitan Police, overseeing a march by the British Union of Fascists, led by Oswald Mosley, and anti-fascists, including local Jewish, socialist, anarchist,...

’ against the British Union of Fascists

British Union of Fascists

The British Union was a political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Sir Oswald Mosley as the British Union of Fascists, in 1936 it changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists and then in 1937 to simply the British Union...

.

In 1937, he joined the Connolly Column

Connolly Column

The Connolly Column was the name given to the Irish volunteers who fought for the Second Spanish Republic in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. They were named after James Connolly, the executed leader of the Irish Citizen Army...

 of the International Brigade and fought in the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

. He was captured in 1938 and released in February 1939.

In 1942, Levitas enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps and served in India and Burma. In 1948, having resumed employment as a plumber, he was offered a place in an emergency Teachers' Training College.
In 1964, Levitas graduated with an honours degree in sociology from the University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

 and became a senior lecturer in the sociology of education at Durham University

Durham University

The University of Durham, commonly known as Durham University, is a university in Durham, England. It was founded by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837...

.

He attended the commemoration of the Connolly Column in 1991 in Liberty Hall, Dublin, where he was chosen to read out the list of members. He also attended, in 1997, a ceremony in the Mansion House by the Lord Mayor of the surviving Irish members of the International Brigade.

He emigrated to East Germany in 1985 to work as an English teacher, returning to England in 1990 following the fall of the Berlin wall.

He died in London on the 14th of February 2001.

His brother Max Levitas was communist councillor for 15 years in Stepney

Stepney

Stepney is a district of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in London's East End that grew out of a medieval village around St Dunstan's church and the 15th century ribbon development of Mile End Road...

 in London. His daughter is the sociologist Ruth Levitas

Ruth Levitas

Ruth Levitas is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Bristol. She is well known internationally for her research on utopia. Her book, The Concept of Utopia , addresses the notion of the ideal society throughout European history...

 and his son is the theatre historian Ben Levitas.

Publications

• Marxist Perspectives in the Sociology of Education by Maurice Levitas (1974)
• Erich Honecker Cross Examined edited and translated by Maurice Levitas(1992)