May Day

What did the labor movement mean to Jews in the first half of the 20th century? Jewish Socialists, International Labor activists, Communists, Yiddish socialists, Russian Jews, the Bundt -- so many secularizing Jews were leftists who saw May 1 as the international day to celebrate labor. Now much is forgotten, and we don’t even remember it on May 1.

Cesar Chavez (March 31, 1927)

I include Cesar Chavez, founder of the United Farm Workers of America, as a hero because I admire his fight for the rights of workers. This is a fight that Jewish labor leaders contributed to for a long time, and one that I hope idealistic secular Jews haven't forgotten. Unfortunately Chavez is dead and farm workers are still suffering. And in quite a few states, seemingly established labor rights for many workers, not just farm workers -- such as collective bargaining -- are in danger.

The Workmen’s Circle

The first convention of the Workman’s Circle took place in New York on March 29-30, 1901. The Workmen’s Circle, founded as a local organization in 1892 and made national in 1900, was (and to some extent still may be) a secular Jewish organization, originally a labor organization that promoted the use of Yiddish. Peak membership: 87,000 in 1925. Again, an example of the Jewish commitment to the labor movement that I mentioned yesterday.

The Workmen's Circle page of the American Jewish Historical society explains that the organization:

"was established as a social and cultural Jewish labor fraternal order. Its purpose was to provide members with mutual aid and health and death benefits and to support the labor and socialist movements of the world. Historically, the Workmen’s Circle was closely tied to Jewish unions, the Yiddish labor press, and the Socialist Party. The Circle was highly dedicated to raising the education levels of members and bringing social change in America. Workmen’s Circle functions provided a place for Jewish radicals of different ideals to mingle. ..."

"The Workmen’s Circle, dedicated to the promotion of progressive Yiddish culture, established a wide array of cultural activities including the publication of books, adult education and singing and drama clubs. It also promoted Jewish education for young people by opening afternoon schools for Jewish children in 1916. In addition, the Workmen’s Circle established homes for the aged, camps, Yiddish theater clubs, and several choirs."

Clearly, the Workmen's Circle was an organization dedicated to secular Jewish life and values. If it had a presence in St.Louis when I was growing up there, I was completely unaware of it, however.

Wisconsin Labor vs. the Triangle Fire

I think of labor rights and unionizing as a Jewish issue as well as an American issue. Today I read an op-ed in the Forward that makes that point. It begins:

"It’s a remarkable coincidence that the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire follows so closely on the heels of the great Wisconsin labor awakening. Like the yearly coincidence of Purim and St. Patrick’s Day, with their overlapping themes of national redemption and drunken revelry, the Wisconsin-Triangle convergence raises a host of fundamental questions about the nature of our society and the mutual obligations of individual and community."

"Here are a few: Has a century of progress made unions and collective bargaining obsolete? Is it really progress when we eliminate workplace disasters by eliminating workplaces? Can we say we’ve learned the lessons of the Triangle tragedy if half of us have learned that rich and poor alike deserve equal access to health care and parental leave, while the other half want to bring back the good old days when workers knew their place and owners were free to run their businesses as they wished without interference from pesky regulators and unions?"

The commemorations of the Triangle Fire, where 100 years ago yesterday 146 young women workers died because they were locked in a dangerous workplace, are reminding people (including me) that labor rights have been a humanitarian and ethical issue for a long time. We seem to be regressing. Maybe workplace safety -- the main issue highlighted by the tragic fire -- continues to receive a commitment even from the worst of the Wisconsin, Ohio, and other Tea Party governors. (Maybe not?) But the right to fair wages and above all the right to bargain, once thought established, is eroding fast.