The Jewish Unions in America Pages of History and Memories
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BERNARD WEINSTEIN The Jewish Unions in America Pages of History and Memories TRANSLATED AND ANNOTATED BY MAURICE WOLFTHAL To access digital resources including: blog posts videos online appendices and to purchase copies of this book in: hardback paperback ebook editions Go to: https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/612 Open Book Publishers is a non-profit independent initiative. We rely on sales and donations to continue publishing high-quality academic works. The Jewish Unions in America Pages of History and Memories by Bernard Weinstein, translated and annotated, with an introduction by Maurice Wolfthal https://www.openbookpublishers.com © 2018 Maurice Wolfthal This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). 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ISBN Paperback: 978-1-78374-353-7 ISBN Hardback: 978-1-78374-354-4 ISBN Digital (PDF): 978-1-78374-355-1 ISBN Digital ebook (epub): 978-1-78374-356-8 ISBN Digital ebook (mobi): 978-1-78374-357-5 DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0118 Cover image: Demonstration of Protest and Mourning for Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of March 25, 1911. The U.S. National Archives. Public Domain, https://research.archives. gov/id/5730933. Cover design: Corin Throsby. All paper used by Open Book Publishers is SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) Certified. Printed in the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia by Lightning Source for Open Book Publishers (Cambridge, UK) Contents Abbreviations 1 Introduction 3 Maurice Wolfthal The Jewish Unions in America: Pages of History and Memories 13 Bernard Weinstein The First Jewish Immigrants in the United States 13 How the Jewish Immigrants of the 1880s Earned a Living 21 The First Jewish Workers in the American Trade Unions 34 The First “Radicals” Among the Jewish Immigrants of the 1880s and the Beginning of the Jewish Labor Movement in America 47 The Strange Case of Comrade Wolf 64 Hymie “the American” 66 The First Jewish Theater Choristers’ Union 69 The Jewish Actors’ Union 71 The Yiddish Varieties 74 The Jewish Typesetters’ Union 76 The Founding of the United Hebrew Trades of New York 80 How We Organized Strikes 84 The Panic of 1893 and the First Splits Within the Jewish Labor Movement 93 The Schism in the Socialist Labor Party 100 The First Years of the Jewish Labor Movement in Philadelphia 110 The Beginning of the Jewish Labor Movement in Chicago 114 The Unions of the Cap and Millinery Trade 116 The Millinery Trade and the Union 131 The History of the Tailors in the Men’s Clothing Industry 134 The Struggle of the Tailors’ Union Against the Plague of the “Open Shops” 145 The Custom Tailors’ Union 145 The Story of the Knee-Pants Makers’ Union 147 The Union of the Children’s Jacket Makers 152 The Union of the Basted Children’s Jacket Pressers 154 The Union of the Unbasted Children’s Jacket Makers 156 The Pants Makers’ Union of New York 157 The Vest Makers’ Union in New York 159 The Shirt Makers’ Union 161 The Great Garment Workers’ Strike of 1913 in New York 164 How the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America Was Founded 173 The Women’s Garment Unions in America 178 The Jamaica Incident and Other Trials 187 The Cloak Makers’ Unions in Other Cities 192 The First Jewish Unions of Waist Makers, Wrapper Makers, Buttonhole Makers, Embroidery Workers, and Other Ladies’ Garment Workers 193 The Birth of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union 195 The Strike of 300 Skirt Makers Against the Firm of John Bonwit in 1905 198 The Industrial Workers of the World Also Founds a Cloak Makers’ Union 201 The Reefer Makers’ Strike of 1907 202 The Historic General Strike of the 18,000 Waist Makers in 1909 204 The Great Cloak Makers’ Strike of 1910 and the Founding of the Largest Jewish Union 210 The First Years After the Strike 215 The General Strike of the Cleveland Cloak Makers in 1911 218 The Triangle Fire 220 The Protocol of the New York Ladies’ Waist and Dress Makers’ Union of 1913 221 The General Strike of the Wrapper, Kimono, and Housedress Makers and the White Goods Workers of 1913 222 The Hourwich Affair and the First Civil War in the Cloak Makers’ Union 225 The Organizing Work of the ILGWU in Other Cities from 1915 to 1919 229 The Breaking of the Protocol and the Strikes of 1916, 1919, and 1921 230 The General Strike of the Dress Makers in 1923 233 The Ladies’ Tailors’ Union of New York 235 The Raincoat Workers’ Union 235 The Struggle with the Communists in the Joint Action Committee 236 The General Strike of 1926 and the Expulsion of the Communists 238 The Rebirth of the Cloak Makers’ Union 243 The Jewish Bakers’ Unions 244 The 1927 Bakers’ Strike Against Two Big Firms, Pechter and Messing 250 The Jewish Bakers’ Unions in Other Cities 252 The Furriers’ Union 253 The Founding of the International Fur Workers’ Union 259 The Union of Jewish Painters 265 The Pocketbook Makers’ Union 267 The Suitcase Workers’ Union 272 The Trunk Makers’ Union 273 The Neckwear Makers’ Union 274 The Union of Cleaners and Dyers 279 The Union of Mattress and Bed Spring Makers 282 The Seltzer Workers’ Union of New York 283 The Union of Clerks and Retail Dress-Goods Stores 284 The Union of Grocery Clerks 285 The Union of Jewish Waiters 286 The Union of Paper Box Makers 288 The Union of Jewish Barbers 290 The Union of Jewish Shoemakers 292 The Union of Jewish Tin Workers 295 The Union of Jewelry Workers 296 The Union of Butcher Workers 297 The Union of Jewish Newspaper Writers in New York 299 The Union of Jewish Bookbinders 301 The Jewish Laundry Workers (The Steam Laundry Workers’ Union) 302 The Union of Wet-Wash Laundry Drivers 303 The Pressers of Old Shirts in Hand Laundries 304 The Union of Jewish Inside Iron Workers 305 The Union of Jewish Furniture Drivers 306 The Union of Workers with Live and Kosher-Slaughter Fowl 307 The Little Unions 308 The Disappeared Unions 308 The New Generation of Jewish Workers in America 309 The Jewish Carpenters and Wood Workers 310 Jewish Plumbers 312 Jewish Moving Picture Operators 312 Jewish Bricklayers, Masons, and Plasterers 312 Jewish Metal Workers and Machinists 313 Jewish Workers in Radio and Aviation 313 Jewish Drivers of Cars and Taxis 313 Conclusion 314 Index 317 Abbreviations AFL American Federation of Labor ASWU American Shoe Workers’ Union BSWU Boot and Shoe Workers’ Union CMIUA Cigar Makers’ International Union of America FOTLU Federation of Organized Trade and Labor Unions HATU Hebrew-American Typographical Union ILGWU International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union ISMW International Sheet Metal Workers IWW Industrial Workers of the World LWMU Ladies’ Waist Makers’ Union NMU Neckwear Makers’ Union SLP Socialist Labor Party STLA Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance UGWA United Garment Workers of America UHT United Hebrew Trades ULWIU United Leather Workers’ International Union WTUL Women’s Trade Union League Introduction Maurice Wolfthal Newly arrived in New York in 1882 at age sixteen from Odessa, where he had survived the 1881 pogrom, Bernard Weinstein was first exposed to the realities of American labor while quartered at Castle Garden with hundreds of other poor, homeless immigrants. An elegantly-dressed gentleman showed up one day and offered jobs to as many men as would come, and many of them eagerly signed up. To his dismay, Weinstein soon learned that they had been hired to break a strike by New York’s longshoremen. Weinstein had already been exposed to democratic ideas and revolutionary ferment in Tsarist Russia before he traveled to America with a group from Am olam,1 which organized groups of Russian Jews to emigrate with the aim of founding Socialist agricultural communities. But he found work in a cigar factory on the Lower East Side and a place to live in the slums. Two of his fellow workers were Samuel Gompers, a Vice-President of the Cigar Makers’ International Union, and Abraham Cahan, an ardent member of the Socialist Labor Party. Unionism, socialism, and anarchism were very much in the air, and there had been labor strikes across America. In the 1850s makers of cloaks and flannels struck in Amesbury and Salisbury, MA, as did machine shop workers in Lowell. Shoemakers went on strike in Lynn, MA, in 1860. In 1865 miners walked out at the Marquette Iron Range in Michigan. In the 1860s bricklayers and shipyard workers stopped work 1 Hebrew: The Eternal People.