Prelims 20/1/04 12:35 pm Page i Jewish Workers and the Labour Movement This page intentionally left blank Prelims 20/1/04 12:35 pm Page iii Jewish Workers and the Labour Movement A Comparative Study of Amsterdam, London and Paris, 1870–1914 KARIN HOFMEESTER Translated by Lee Mitzman Prelims 20/1/04 12:35 pm Page iv First published 2004 by Ashgate Publishing Published 2016 by Rougtledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2004 Karin Hofmeester Karin Hofmeester has asserted her moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Hofmeester, Karin Jewish workers and the labour movement: a Comparative Study of Amsterdam, London and Paris, 1870–1914. – (Studies in labour history) 1.Jewish labour unions – Netherlands – Amsterdam – History – 19th century 2.Jewish labour unions – England – London – History – 19th century 3.Jewish labour unions – France – Paris – History – 19th century 4.Jewish labour unions – Netherlands – Amsterdam – History – 20th century 5.Jewish labour unions – England – London – History – 20th century 6.Jewish labour unions – France – Paris – History – 20th century 7.Jews – Employment – Netherlands – Amsterdam – History 8.Jews – Employment – England – London – History 9.Jews – Employment – France – Paris – History I.Title 331.6’3924’04’09034 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hofmeester, Karin, 1964– Jewish workers and the labour movement : a comparative study of Amsterdam, London and Paris (1870–1914) / Karin Hofmeester. p. cm. — (Studies in labour history) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–7546–0907–3 (alk. paper) 1. Jewish labor unions – Netherlands – Amsterdam – History. 2. Jewish labor unions – England – London – History. 3. Jewish labor unions – France – Paris – History. 4. Labour movement – Cross-cultural studies. I. Title. II. Studies in labour history HD6305.J3H639 2004 331.88’089’92404–dc21 2002036103 ISBN 9780754609070 (hbk) ISBN 9781138251342 (pbk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Bournemouth Colour Press Prelims 20/1/04 12:35 pm Page v Contents General Editor’s Preface vii List of Illustrations viii List of Tables ix Acknowledgements x Note on Translation and Transliteration xi List of Abbreviations xii Glossary xiv Introduction 1 PART ONE: Amsterdam 1 The Social Status of Jewish Workers in Amsterdam 13 2 Relations Between Jews and Non-Jews in the Early Labour Movement 32 3 A Jewish Social-Democratic Club and the First Jewish Members of the SDB 45 4 Jewish Workers See the Light 55 5 A New Jewish Trade Union and the Rise of Jewish Membership in General Organizations 66 6 Joint Organization, but What About Integration? 78 7Jewish Interests in the General Movement and Justification for Specifically Jewish Labour Organizations 86 PART TWO: London 8 From Greeners to Settlers: Arrival, Reception and Everyday Life in the East End 105 9 The First Jewish Socialist Organization in the World 118 v Prelims 20/1/04 12:35 pm Page vi vi Contents 10 Two Newspapers, a Club and Several Trade Unions: The Rise of the Jewish Labour Movement 124 11 Reactions to the Arrival and Presence of the Jewish Immigrants 138 12 The First Major Campaigns, and the First Efforts to Join Forces 144 13 The English Trade Unions Demand Immigration Restrictions 156 14 The Boer War, Nationalism, Anti-Semitism and the Adoption of the Aliens Act 169 15 The Rise of the Jewish Labour Movement: The Start of Integration 176 16 Working Together Proves Difficult 191 17Integration put to the Test and Consolidated 198 PART THREE: Paris 18 ‘Lebn vi got in Frankraykh’: Arrival, Reception and Everyday Life in Paris 207 19 Responses to the Arrival and Presence of the Jewish Immigrants 220 20 Political Discussions at the Café: the Origins of the Jewish Labour Movement 227 21 The Dreyfus Affair and Relations Between the Jewish and French Labour Movements 233 22 The Joint Struggle Against Anti-Semitism and the First Jewish Unions 243 23 The Establishment of Jewish Branches of French Trade Unions 254 24 The Intersektsionen Byuro is Established 262 25 Jewish Branches and Trade Unions and their Interaction with the French Unions 270 Amsterdam, London and Paris: A Comparison 285 Bibliography 311 Index 341 Prelims 20/1/04 12:35 pm Page vii Studies in Labour History General Editor’s Preface Labour history has often been a fertile area of history. Since the Second World War its best practitioners – such as E.P. Thompson and E.J. Hobsbawm, both Presidents of the Society for the Study of Labour History – have written works which have provoked fruitful and wide-ranging debates and further research, and which have influenced not only social history, but history generally. These historians, and many others, have helped to widen labour history beyond the study of organized labour to labour generally, sometimes to industrial relations in particular, and most frequently to society and culture in national and comparative dimensions. The assumptions and ideologies underpinning much of the older labour history have been challenged by feminist and later by post-modernist and anti-Marxist thinking. These challenges have often led to thoughtful reappraisals, perhaps intellectual equivalents of coming to terms with a new post-Cold War political landscape. By the end of the twentieth century, labour history had emerged reinvigorated and positive from much introspection and external criticism. Very few would wish to confine its scope to the study of organized labour. Yet, equally, few would wish now to write the existence and influence of organized labour out of nations’ histories, any more than they would wish to ignore working-class lives and focus only on the upper echelons. This series of books provides reassessments of broad themes of labour history as well as some more detailed studies arising from recent research. Most books are single-authored but there are also volumes of essays centred on important themes or periods, arising from major conferences organised by the Society for the Study of Labour History. The series also includes studies of labour organizations, including international ones, as many of these are much in need of a modern reassessment. Chris Wrigley Chair, Society for the Study of Labour History University of Nottingham vii Prelims 20/1/04 12:35 pm Page viii Illustrations 1.1 Amsterdam around 1900. The Jewish quarter is circled. Amsterdam Municipal Archives 17 2.1 Diamond polisher. F. Leviticus, Geïllustreerde encyclopaedie der diamantnijverheid, Haarlem: De erven F. Bohn 1908 34 3.1 Henri Polak. International Institute of Social History 51 7.1 Cartoon from De Reuke der Liefde, ‘together we keep the party kosher’. International Institute of Social History 93 8.1 Map of the Jewish East London, C. Russell and H.S. Lewis, The Jew in London. A Study of Racial Character and Present-day Conditions, London: Fisher Unwin, 1900. Reproduced courtesy Guildhall Library, Corporation of London 108 12.1 Announcement of the garment workers strike 1889. International Institute of Social History 146 15.1 Rudolph Rocker. International Institute of Social History 178 18.1 The Pletzl of Paris. Adapted from Viviane Issembert-Gannat, Guide du Judaïsme à Paris, Paris: Editions de la Pensée moderne 1964, courtesy Editions Jacques Grancher and Nancy Green 210 22.1 Announcement of a lecture by Charles Rappoport on the congress of the Parti Socialiste Français. Bund archives, International Institute of Social History 245 23.1 Alexander Losovsky. International Institute of Social History 257 24.1 Announcement of ball on shabbes eve organized by the Parizer Bundistisher Ferayn Kemfer. International Institute of Social History 268 viii Prelims 20/1/04 12:35 pm Page ix Tables 1.1 Number of Jews in Amsterdam as a proportion of Amsterdam’s total population 15 1.2 Occupational distribution of the Jews in Amsterdam in 1906, compared with the occupational distribution of the overall population from 1909 18 8.1 Eastern European immigrants in Britain, 1871–1911 105 8.2 Percentages of East European Jews in several industrial sectors in London in 1901 110 18.1 Population of East-European Jews in Paris, 1881–1914 207 18.2 Occupational breakdown of Jewish immigrants in Paris, 1910 212 ix Prelims 20/1/04 12:35 pm Page x Acknowledgements The research on which this book is based was funded largely through a four-year grant from the Postdoctoraal Opleidingscentrum voor de Negentiende en Twintigste Eeuwse Geschiedenis [post-graduate educational centre for nineteenth and twentieth-century history] (PONTEG). The Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek [Netherlands organization for scientific research] (NWO) financed the English translation of the manuscript. Much of the work on this book took place at the International Institute of Social History, where the exceptional collections, the international ambience, and the inspiring contacts with my co-workers contributed greatly to its realization. In the course of my research in archives and libraries in Amsterdam, London, Coventry, Paris, Jerusalem, and New York, I found the staff at these institutions particularly helpful. I am deeply indebted to the researchers who discussed my work with me. I reviewed the section on Amsterdam with Dr Salvador Bloemgarten and Professor Selma Leydesdorff, the one on London with Dr David Feldman, Professor William Fishman and Dr Anne J.