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.
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.
While Zuken voiced concerns about anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union and restrictions on Jewish travel, Ross was unwilling to make public statements which violated the principle of party unity.
Ross acknowledged the death of millions, but denied that the government of Joseph Stalin had consciously planned an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people.