Sidney Hillman
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Sidney Hillman (March 23, 1887 – July 10, 1946) was an American labor leader. He was the head of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) was a United States labor union known for its support for "social unionism" and progressive political causes. Led by Sidney Hillman for its first thirty years, it helped found the Congress of Ind ...
and was a key figure in the founding of the
Congress of Industrial Organizations The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of ...
and in marshaling labor's support for
President Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
and the New Deal coalition of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
.


Early life

Sidney Hillman was born in
Žagarė Žagarė (, see also other names) is a city located in the Joniškis district, northern Lithuania, close to the border with Latvia. It has a population of about 2,000, down from 14,000 in 1914, when it was the 7th largest city in Lithuania. Žag ...
,
Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
, then part of the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
, on March 23, 1887, the son of
Lithuanian Jewish Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent areas o ...
parents. Sidney's maternal grandfather was a small-scale merchant; his paternal grandfather was a
rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
known for his
piety Piety is a virtue which may include religious devotion or spirituality. A common element in most conceptions of piety is a duty of respect. In a religious context piety may be expressed through pious activities or devotions, which may vary among ...
and lack of concern for material possessions.Steven Fraser, ''Labor Will Rule: Sidney Hillman and the Rise of American Labor.'' New York: The Free Press, 1991; pp. 3-4. Hillman's father was himself an impoverished merchant, more concerned with reading and prayer than with his faltering business. From a young age Sidney had shown great academic promise, mastering the rote memorization upon which the ''
cheder A ''cheder'' ( he, חדר, lit. "room"; Yiddish pronunciation ''kheyder'') is a traditional primary school teaching the basics of Judaism and the Hebrew language. History ''Cheders'' were widely found in Europe before the end of the 18th ...
'' education of the day was based.Fraser, ''Labor Will Rule,'' pg. 9. By the age of 13, Hillman had memorized several volumes of the
Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...
. The next year he was chosen by the Hillman rabbinical clan to go away to attend ''
yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are s ...
'' in
Vilijampolė Vilijampolė is a neighborhood in the city of Kaunas, Lithuania, located on the right bank of the Neris River and the Nemunas River, near their confluence. Part of a larger which consists of Vilijampolė, , , and neighorhoods, and covers 1,720 h ...
, a small town across the river from the city of
Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...
. It was hoped that Sidney would follow in the Hillman family tradition by becoming a rabbi. Things did not proceed as planned, however. While in Slobodka, Hillman began to regularly attend the secret meetings of an illegal study circle headed by a local
druggist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...
. The study circle's members read radical literature and books on
political economy Political economy is the study of how Macroeconomics, economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and Economy, national economies) and Politics, political systems (e.g. law, Institution, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied ph ...
, and Hillman was here exposed to the works of
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
,
Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
,
John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, Member of Parliament (MP) and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of classical liberalism, he contributed widely to ...
, and
Herbert Spencer Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English philosopher, psychologist, biologist, anthropologist, and sociologist famous for his hypothesis of social Darwinism. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest" ...
in Russian translation.


Career


Early career


Russia

Early in 1903, Hillman passed from the training grounds of the
Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
study circle to fully fledged membership in the Bund, a revolutionary
socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
union of Jewish workers within
the Pale The Pale (Irish: ''An Pháil'') or the English Pale (' or ') was the part of Ireland directly under the control of the English government in the Late Middle Ages. It had been reduced by the late 15th century to an area along the east coast st ...
in conflict with the Tsarist authorities. Hillman became a leading activist in the Bund, leading the first
May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve. T ...
march ever conducted by the organization through the streets of Kovno in 1904.Fraser, ''Labor Will Rule,'' pg. 14. Hillman was arrested shortly thereafter for his revolutionary activities and sat in prison for several months, where he learned more about revolutionary social theory from fellow prisoners. By 1905 Hillman — along with many others in the Bund — had come to identify himself with the
Menshevik The Mensheviks (russian: меньшевики́, from меньшинство 'minority') were one of the three dominant factions in the Russian socialist movement, the others being the Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. The factions eme ...
wing of the
Russian Social Democratic Labor Party The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP; in , ''Rossiyskaya sotsial-demokraticheskaya rabochaya partiya (RSDRP)''), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party or the Russian Social Democratic Party, was a socialist pol ...
(RSDLP), identifying in particular with the
internationalism Internationalism may refer to: * Cosmopolitanism, the view that all human ethnic groups belong to a single community based on a shared morality as opposed to communitarianism, patriotism and nationalism * International Style, a major architectur ...
of
Julius Martov Julius Martov or L. Martov (Ма́ртов; born Yuliy Osipovich Tsederbaum; 24 November 1873 – 4 April 1923) was a politician and revolutionary who became the leader of the Mensheviks in early 20th-century Russia. He was arguably the closes ...
. Hillman played only a minor local role during the
Russian Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...
, engaging in the distribution of leaflets, raising funds for the revolutionary organization, and informally speaking on the streets to groups of workers.


Great Britain

In 1906, Tsarist repression in the form of
police raid A police raid is an unexpected visit by police or other law-enforcement officers with the aim of using the element of surprise in order to seize evidence or arrest suspects believed to be likely to hide evidence, resist arrest, be politicall ...
s and organized
pogrom A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russia ...
s forced the Russian socialist movement back underground.Fraser, ''Labor Will Rule,'' pg. 20. Hillman joined the exodus of revolutionaries from the country in October 1906, traveling under a false passport through
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
to
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
,
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, where he joined his uncle, a prosperous furniture dealer, and two brothers already living there.


Chicago

In the summer of 1907, Hillman emigrated once again, this time setting out for America aboard the White Star liner ''
Cedric Cedric () is a masculine given name invented by Walter Scott in the 1819 novel ''Ivanhoe''.Sir Walter Scott, Graham Tulloch (ed.), ''Ivanhoe'', vol. 8 of The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, Edinburgh University Press, 1998, , "explanator ...
,'' arriving in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on August 8.Fraser, ''Labor Will Rule,'' pg. 23. Hillman's prospects were poor in New York and he soon set out for
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
, where a friend and a more favorable job market awaited him. In Chicago, Hillman worked briefly picking orders in a warehouse for $6 a week. He then found a slightly better-paying job as a clerk in the infants' wear department of Sears, Roebuck & Co. Hillman remained in that position for nearly two years before being fired in the spring of 1909 during a downturn of business. The unemployed Hillman found work in the garment industry as an apprentice garment cutter for
Hart Schaffner & Marx Hart Schaffner Marx is an American manufacturer of tailored menswear owned by New York-based Authentic Brands Group. Founded in 1887 and incorporated in 1911 as "Hart Schaffner & Marx", the company is located in Des Plaines, Illinois. History T ...
, a prominent manufacturer of men's clothing. It would prove to be Hillman's last job as a worker at the bench.


Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union


Formation

When a spontaneous strike by a handful of women workers there led to a citywide strike of 45,000 garment workers in 1910, Hillman was a rank-and-file leader in the
strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...
. That strike was a bitter one and pitted the strikers against not only their employers and the local authorities, but also their own union, the
United Garment Workers The United Garment Workers of America (UGW or UGWA) was a United States labor union which existed between 1891 and 1994. It was an affiliate of the American Federation of Labor. History The UGWA was formed in New York in April 1891 and lead ...
, a conservative
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affiliate. When the UGW accepted an inadequate settlement, the membership rejected the offer and continued the strike, winning some gains at Hart, Schaffner. Hillman became a business agent for the new local. The leadership of the international union mistrusted the more militant local leadership in Chicago and in other large urban locals, which had strong
Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
loyalties. When it tried to disenfranchise those locals' members at the UGW's 1914 convention, those locals, representing two thirds of the union's membership, bolted to form the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) was a United States labor union known for its support for "social unionism" and progressive political causes. Led by Sidney Hillman for its first thirty years, it helped found the Congress of Ind ...
. Hillman had taken the position of Chief Clerk within the
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), whose members were employed in the women's clothing industry, was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States, one of the first U.S. unions to have a primarily female membe ...
in New York in early 1914. He found that job, in which he tried to maintain the stability imposed on a ferociously competitive industry by the Protocols of Peace, and in which the internal rivalries within the union threatened to flare up into all-out conflict, frustrating. When the insurgents who had walked out of the UGW convention to form the Amalgamated sent him a telegram imploring him to accept the Presidency, followed by another telegram from Bessie Abramowitz (b.1889). She was one of the original leaders of the 1910 strike, an important figure in union politics and his fiancée. Hillman accepted and left the ILG after less than a year. Hillman knew the risks he was taking. The AFL refused to recognize the new union and the UGW regularly raided it, furnishing strikebreakers and signing contracts with struck employers, in the years to come. He helped the Amalgamated solidify its gains and extend its power in Chicago through a series of strikes in the last half of the 1910s and to extend the union's membership into important garment centers in
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
and
Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...
, where the union had to overcome divisions within garment workers on ethnic lines and the opposition of the
Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines genera ...
. Manning ramparts for Hillman in Rochester was
Paul Blanshard Paul Beecher Blanshard (August 27, 1892 – January 27, 1980) was an American author, assistant editor of ''The Nation'' magazine, lawyer, socialist, secular humanist, and from 1949 an outspoken critic of Catholicism. Early life and educa ...
. The ACWA also benefited from the relatively pro-union stance of the federal government during
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, during which the federal Board of Control and Labor Standards for Army Clothing enforced a policy of
labor peace Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
in return for
union recognition A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and Employee ben ...
. Hillman was particularly receptive to the opportunities that government intervention in labor relations presented the union; he not only did not have the ingrained distrust of governmental regulation that now marked
Samuel Gompers Samuel Gompers (; January 27, 1850December 13, 1924) was a British-born American cigar maker, labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and served as the organization's ...
and other leaders of the AFL, but had a firm belief in the sort of
industrial democracy Industrial democracy is an arrangement which involves workers making decisions, sharing responsibility and authority in the workplace. While in participative management organizational designs workers are listened to and take part in the decisi ...
in which government helped mediate between labor and management. The government's interest in maintaining production and avoiding disruptive strikes helped the Amalgamated organize non-union outposts such as Rochester and control the cutthroat competition that had prevailed in the industry for decades. That policy ended in 1919, when employers in nearly every industry with a history of unionism went on the offensive. The ACWA not only survived a four-month lockout in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in 1919, but came away in an even stronger position. By 1920, the union had contracts with 85 percent of men's garment manufacturers in the city and had reduced the workweek to 44 hours.


Social unionism and economic rationalization

The ACWA pioneered a version of "social unionism" in the 1920s that offered low-cost
cooperative housing A housing cooperative, or housing co-op, is a legal entity, usually a cooperative or a corporation, which owns real estate, consisting of one or more residential buildings; it is one type of housing tenure. Housing cooperatives are a distinc ...
and
unemployment insurance Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a comp ...
to union members and founded a bank (
Amalgamated Bank Amalgamated Bank () is an American financial institution. It is the largest union-owned bank and one of the only unionized banks in the United States. Amalgamated Bank is currently majority-owned by Workers United, an SEIU Affiliate. Founded on ...
) that would serve labor's interests. Hillman had strong ties to many progressive reformers, such as
Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, and author. She was an important leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage ...
and
Clarence Darrow Clarence Seward Darrow (; April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938) was an American lawyer who became famous in the early 20th century for his involvement in the Leopold and Loeb murder trial and the Scopes "Monkey" Trial. He was a leading member of t ...
, who had assisted the Amalgamated in its early strikes in Chicago in 1910 and New York in 1913. While other unions, notably the railroad brotherhoods and building trades unions within the AFL also founded banks of their own, the Amalgamated also used its banks to supervise the business operations of those garment businesses that came to it for loans. Under Hillman's leadership, the union tried to moderate the fierce competition between employers in the industry by imposing industry wide working standards, thereby taking wages and hours out of the competitive calculus. The ACWA tried to regulate the industry in other ways, arranging loans and conducting efficiency studies for financially troubled employers. Hillman also favored "constructive cooperation" with employers, relying on arbitration rather than strikes to resolve disputes during the life of a contract. As Hillman explained his philosophy in 1938: :Certainly, I believe in collaborating with the employers! That is what unions are for. I even believe in helping an employer function more productively. For then, we will have a claim to higher wages, shorter hours, and greater participation in the benefits of running a smooth industrial machine.... Hillman's belief in stability as the basis for progress was coupled with a willingness to embrace industrial engineering approaches, such as
Taylorism Scientific management is a theory of management that Analysis, analyzes and wikt:synthesis#Noun, synthesizes workflows. Its main objective is improving economic efficiency, especially Workforce productivity, labor productivity. It was one of the ...
, that sought to rationalize the work processes as well. This put Hillman and the ACW leadership at odds with the strong
anarcho-syndicalist Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and thus control influence in b ...
tendencies within the union's membership, many of whom believed in
direct action Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...
as a principle as well as tactic.


Bolshevism

On the other hand, it made Hillman receptive in the early 1920s to the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
's reconstruction efforts, particularly during its
New Economic Policy The New Economic Policy (NEP) () was an economic policy of the Soviet Union proposed by Vladimir Lenin in 1921 as a temporary expedient. Lenin characterized the NEP in 1922 as an economic system that would include "a free market and capitalism, ...
phase. Hillman led the union into a joint business project with the Soviet Union that brought western technology and principles of industrial management to ten clothing factories in the Soviet Union. The mechanism for this interaction was the
Russian-American Industrial Corporation The Russian-American Industrial Corporation (RAIC) (Russian: Русско-американская индустриальная корпорация) was an international economic development venture launched in 1922 by the Amalgamated Clothing Wo ...
(RAIC) at 31 Union Square, New York City, launched by Hillman with
Max Lowenthal Max Lowenthal (1888–1971) was a Washington, DC, political figure in all three branches of the federal government in the 1930s and 1940s, during which time he was closely associated with the rising career of Harry S. Truman; he served under Osca ...
as his attorney. Both Hillman and Lowenthal were also among the original directors of the
Amalgamated Bank Amalgamated Bank () is an American financial institution. It is the largest union-owned bank and one of the only unionized banks in the United States. Amalgamated Bank is currently majority-owned by Workers United, an SEIU Affiliate. Founded on ...
of New York, as advertised in the '' Liberator'' magazine. The ad mentions that the bank is owned and operated by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers. It lists chairman
Hyman Blumberg Surname Hyman is the surname of: * Alan Hyman (1910–1999), author and screenwriter * Alexander C. Hyman (Born 1993), American Businessman * Albert Hyman (1893–1972), co-inventor of the artificial pacemaker * Anthony Hyman (disambiguation), se ...
, president R. L. Redheffer, vice president Jacob S. Potofsky, cashier Leroy Peterson, and directors: Sidny Hillman, Max Lowenthal,
August Bellanca August Bellanca (1880–1969) was an American labor activist who was a founder and three-time vice president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA). The ACWA was formed as an offshoot of United Garment Workers and was the result of ...
, Joseph Gold,
Fiorello H. La Guardia Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (; born Fiorello Enrico LaGuardia, ; December 11, 1882September 20, 1947) was an American attorney and politician who represented New York in the House of Representatives and served as the 99th Mayor of New York City from ...
, Abraham Miller,
Joseph Schlossberg Joseph Schlossberg (May 1, 1875 – January 15, 1971) was a Belorussian-born Jewish-American labor activist. Life Schlossberg was born on May 1, 1875 in Koidanovo, Minsk Governorate, Russia, the son of Max Schlossberg and Bessie Feldman. He immig ...
,
Murray Weinstein Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust * D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian whole ...
,
Max Zaritsky Max Zaritsky (1885–1959) was an American union leader of the United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers International Union (UHCMW) as well as co-founder of both the American Labor Party and Liberal Party of New York State. Background Ma ...
, and
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. Hillman's support for the Soviet experiment won him the enthusiastic support of the
Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
in the early 1920s; it also further alienated him from those in the Socialist Party and associated with the Daily Forward under the leadership of
Abraham Cahan Abraham "Abe" Cahan (Yiddish: אַבֿרהם קאַהאַן; July 7, 1860 – August 31, 1951) was a Lithuanian-born Jewish American socialist newspaper editor, novelist, and politician. Cahan was one of the founders of ''The Forward'' (), a ...
, with whom Hillman and the Amalgamated already had strained relations. While Hillman's relationship with the Communist Party ultimately broke up in the conflict over whether to support
Robert La Follette, Sr. Robert Marion "Fighting Bob" La Follette Sr. (June 14, 1855June 18, 1925), was an American lawyer and politician. He represented Wisconsin in both chambers of Congress and served as the 20th Governor of Wisconsin. A Republican for most of his l ...
's candidacy for
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on the
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ticket in 1924, Hillman never faced the sort of volcanic upsurge that nearly tore apart the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union during this period and never undertook the wholesale purges that
David Dubinsky David Dubinsky (; born David Isaac Dobnievski; February 22, 1892 – September 17, 1982) was a Belarusian-born American labor leader and politician. He served as president of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) between 1932 ...
and other leaders of the ILGWU used to stay in power. By the end of the decade, after fighting and losing battles in
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
,
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
and Rochester, the CP was no longer a significant force in the union.


Fighting organized crime

While battling the CP, Hillman turned a blind eye to the infiltration of gangsters within the union. The garment industry had been riddled for decades with small-time gangsters, who ran protection and loansharking rackets while offering muscle in labor disputes. First hired to strongarm strikers, some went to work for unions, who used them first for self-defense, then to intimidate strikebreakers and recalcitrant employers. ILG locals used "Dopey"
Benny Fein Benjamin "Dopey Benny" Fein (c. 1889–1962) was an early Jewish American gangster who dominated New York labor racketeering in the 1910s. With a criminal record dating back to 1900, Fein's arrest record included thirty charges from petty theft an ...
and his sluggers, who were more often hired by unions than employers although they were thugs for hire. Internecine
warfare War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular ...
between labor sluggers eliminated many of the earliest racketeers. "Little Augie"
Jacob Orgen Jacob "Little Augie" Orgen (January 1893 – October 16, 1927) was a New York gangster involved in bootlegging and labor racketeering during Prohibition. Biography Born to a middle-class Orthodox Jewish family from Austria as Jacob Orgenstein, ...
took over the racket, providing muscle for the ILGWU in the 1926 strike. Louis "Lepke" Buchalter had Orgen assassinated in 1927 in order to take over his operations. Buchalter took an interest in the industry, acquiring ownership of a number of trucking firms and control of local unions of truckdrivers in the garment district, while acquiring an ownership interest in some garment firms and local unions. Buchalter, who had provided services for some locals of the Amalgamated during the 1920s. also acquired influence within the ACWA. One of his allies within the ACWA was Abraham Beckerman, a prominent member of the Socialist Party with close ties to ''The Forward'', whom Hillman used to inflict strongarm tactics on his communist opponents within the union. Beckerman and Philip Orlofsky, another local officer in Cutters Local 4, made sweetheart deals with manufacturers that allowed them to subcontract to cut rate subcontractors out of town, using Buchalter's trucking companies to bring the goods back and forth. In 1931 Hillman resolved to act against Buchalter, Beckerman, and Orlofsky. He began by orchestrating public demands on
Jimmy Walker James John Walker (June 19, 1881November 18, 1946), known colloquially as Beau James, was mayor of New York City from 1926 to 1932. A flamboyant politician, he was a liberal Democrat and part of the powerful Tammany Hall machine. He was forced t ...
, the corrupt
Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...
Mayor of New York, to crack down on racketeering in the garment district, Hillman then seized control of Local 4, expelling Beckerman and Orlofsky from the union, then taking action against corrupt union officials in
Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
and
New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
. In the course of that strike the union picketed a number of trucks run by Buchalter's companies to prevent them from bringing finished goods back to New York. While the campaign cleaned up the ACWA, it did not drive Buchalter out of the industry. The union may, in fact, have made a deal of some sort with Buchalter, although no evidence has ever surfaced, despite intensive efforts to find it by political opponents of the union, such as
Thomas Dewey Thomas Edmund Dewey (March 24, 1902 – March 16, 1971) was an American lawyer, prosecutor, and politician who served as the 47th governor of New York from 1943 to 1954. He was the Republican candidate for president in 1944 and 1948: although ...
and
Westbrook Pegler Francis James Westbrook Pegler (August 2, 1894 – June 24, 1969) was an American journalist and writer. He was a popular columnist in the 1930s and 1940s famed for his opposition to the New Deal and labor unions. Pegler aimed his pen at president ...
. Buchalter claimed, before his execution in 1944, that he had never had any deal with either Hillman or Dubinsky, head of the ILGWU. He did claim to have murdered a factory owner and labour opponents of Hillman at Hillman's behest, a claim which was never corroborated.


Great Depression and CIO

The
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
reduced the Amalgamated's membership to one third or less of its former strength. Like many other unions, the ACWA revived with the passage of the
National Industrial Recovery Act The National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 (NIRA) was a US labor law and consumer law passed by the 73rd US Congress to authorize the president to regulate industry for fair wages and prices that would stimulate economic recovery. It also e ...
, whose promise of legal protection for workers' right to organize brought thousands of garment workers back to the ACWA. The AFL finally allowed the ACWA to affiliate in 1933. Hillman was a supporter of the
New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
and Roosevelt from the outset. FDR named him to the Labor Advisory Board of the
National Recovery Administration The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was a prime agency established by U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in 1933. The goal of the administration was to eliminate "cut throat competition" by bringing industry, labor, and governmen ...
in 1933 and to the National Industrial Recovery Board in 1934. Hillman provided key assistance to Senator Robert F. Wagner in the drafting of the
National Labor Relations Act The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, is a foundational statute of United States labor law that guarantees the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and ...
and to Secretary of Labor
Frances Perkins Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Perkins; April 10, 1880 – May 14, 1965) was an American workers-rights advocate who served as the 4th United States secretary of labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position. A member of th ...
in winning enactment of the
Fair Labor Standards Act The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) is a United States labor law that creates the right to a minimum wage, and "time-and-a-half" overtime pay when people work over forty hours a week. It also prohibits employment of minors in "oppres ...
. Within the AFL, Hillman was one of the strongest advocates for organizing the mass production industries, such as automobile manufacture and steel, where unions had almost no presence, as well as the textile industry, which was only partially organized. He was one of the original founders in 1935 of the Committee for Industrial Organizing (later the
Congress of Industrial Organizations The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of ...
; CIO), an effort led by
John L. Lewis John Llewellyn Lewis (February 12, 1880 – June 11, 1969) was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) from 1920 to 1960. A major player in the history of coal mining, he was the d ...
, and became Vice-President of the CIO when it established itself as a separate union confederation in 1937. Hillman played a role in nearly every major initiative of the CIO in those years. He oversaw, and provided major financial support for, the
Textile Workers Organizing Committee Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
, which sought to establish a new union for textile workers after the disastrous defeat of the United Textile Workers' strike in 1934. The
Textile Workers Union of America The Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA) was an industrial union of textile workers established through the Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1939 and merged with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America to become the Amalgamated Clo ...
, with more than 100,000 members, came out of that effort in 1939. Hillman also played a decisive role in mediating the internal disputes that nearly destroyed the
United Auto Workers The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers (UAW), is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States (including Puerto Rico ...
in its infancy in 1938 and helped create the
Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Workers Union of America Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) is a labor union in the United States. Founded in 1937, the RWDSU represents about 60,000 workers in a wide range of industries, including but not limited to retail, grocery stores, poultry pro ...
through the CIO's Department Store Workers Organizing Committee. Hillman and Lewis eventually had a falling out, with Lewis advocating a more independent tack in dealing with the federal government than Hillman. Lewis, however, gradually distanced himself from the CIO, finally resigning as its head and then withdrawing the
United Mine Workers The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the Unit ...
from it in 1942. Hillman remained in it, still the second most visible leader after
Philip Murray Philip Murray (May 25, 1886 – November 9, 1952) was a Scottish-born steelworker and an American labor leader. He was the first president of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC), the first president of the United Steelworkers of ...
, Lewis' successor.


Political activities

Hillman and Dubinsky founded the
American Labor Party The American Labor Party (ALP) was a political party in the United States established in 1936 that was active almost exclusively in the state of New York. The organization was founded by labor leaders and former members of the Socialist Party of ...
in 1936, an ostensibly independent party that served as a halfway house for Socialists and other leftists who wanted to support FDR's reelection but were not prepared to join the Democratic Party, with its alliance with the most reactionary white elites in the South. Dubinsky later split from the Labor Party over personal and political differences with Hillman to found the
Liberal Party of New York The Liberal Party of New York is a political party in New York. Its platform supports a standard set of socially liberal policies, including abortion rights, increased spending on education, and universal health care. History The Liberal Party wa ...
. Hillman was a strong opponent of
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
and a supporter of U.S. aid to
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. Roosevelt appointed Hillman to the National Defense Advisory Committee in 1940 and named him associate director of the
Office of Production Management The Office of Production Management was a United States Government agency that existed from January 1941 to centralize direction of the federal procurement programs and quasi-war production during the period immediately proceeding the United State ...
in 1941. When FDR created the
War Production Board The War Production Board (WPB) was an agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established it in January 1942, with Executive Order 9024. The WPB replaced the Sup ...
in 1942, he appointed Hillman to serve as the head of its labor division. As in the case in World War I, Hillman used the influence of the federal government to advance both labor's social goals and its immediate organizing needs. Hillman was unable to persuade the Board to
debar Debar ( mk, Дебaр ; Albanian: ''Dibër''/''Dibra'' or ''Dibra e Madhe;'' ) is a city in the western part of North Macedonia, near the border with Albania, off the road from Struga to Gostivar. It is the seat of Debar Municipality. Debar has an ...
labor law violators but did help introduce
arbitration Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or 'arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ' ...
as an alternative to strikes in defense industries. Hillman's prioritization of emergency production for national defense over labor radicalism brought him criticism from others within the CIO, as when he stood with the Roosevelt administration's decision to send in troops to break a
wildcat strike The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the ...
at the
North American Aviation North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included: the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F ...
plant in
Inglewood, California Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 107,762. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. The city is in the South Bay ...
in 1941. (The strikers' wage demands were soon conceded in arbitration, which the Communist-supported strike had forestalled.) Hillman also believed in the need for unions to mobilize their members politically. He and Lewis founded Labor's Non-Partisan League, which campaigned for Roosevelt in 1936 and again in 1940, even though Lewis himself had endorsed
Wendell Willkie Wendell Lewis Willkie (born Lewis Wendell Willkie; February 18, 1892 – October 8, 1944) was an American lawyer, corporate executive and the 1940 Republican nominee for President. Willkie appealed to many convention delegates as the Republican ...
that year. Hillman was the first chair of the CIO Political Action Committee, founded in 1942, as well as of the National Citizens Political Action Committee (NCPAC) (which co-founded the 1948 Progressive Party). In July 1943,
Philip Murray Philip Murray (May 25, 1886 – November 9, 1952) was a Scottish-born steelworker and an American labor leader. He was the first president of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC), the first president of the United Steelworkers of ...
of the CIO led formation of the
CIO-PAC The first-ever "political action committee" in the United States of America was the Congress of Industrial Organizations – Political Action Committee or CIO-PAC (1943–1955). What distinguished the CIO-PAC from previous political groups (inclu ...
, of which Hillman was the first head. In Roosevelt's last election in
1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...
, Hillman raised nearly $1 million on behalf of the Democrat national ticket. Hillman was also credited with grass roots activities, registering labor voters and bringing them in heavy numbers to the polls.


Personal life

Hillman and Bessie Abramowitz were married in 1916 and had two daughters.


Death

Hillman, who had been sick for some time, died of a heart attack at age 59 on July 10, 1946, at his summer home in
Point Lookout, New York Point Lookout is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in the town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, United States. The population was 1,219 at the time of the 2010 census. The town is mostly made up of residential homes, wit ...
. His body was interred in a
mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...
located at
Westchester Hills Cemetery The Westchester Hills Cemetery is at 400 Saw Mill River Road in Hastings-on-Hudson, Westchester County, New York, approximately 20 miles north of New York City. It is a Jewish cemetery, and many well-known entertainers and performers are interr ...
, 20 miles north of New York City.


Legacy

According to labor historian David Brody, Hillman built upon the conservative job-oriented unionism that dominated the American scene, discarding his youthful radicalism and opposition to capitalism. Hillman was realistic, nonideological, and eager for tangible results. Under Hillman's leadership, the Amalgamated became an active partner in the men's clothing business, building two banks, fostering low-cost unemployment insurance, and setting up internal educational and social support programs for union members. This was the "New Unionism"of the 1920s, which combined a large powerful union, with many small capitalist enterprises, all of them controlled by Jews who could talk together easily. Hillman's broader perspective gave him a leading role in forming the CIO and establishing entirely new mass-production unions that confronted not small local Jewish capitalists but world-class corporations. Hillman also was a pioneer in integrating union power with major political powers on a national level. The New Deal had proven a bonanza for union membership growth, and beginning with the 1936 presidential election, Hillman pushed hard for labor to give systematic nationwide support to Roosevelt and the New Deal cause. His main rival was John L. Lewis, who broke with Roosevelt, and with the CIO, leaving Hillman the central labor politician in the national Democratic Party. Hillman's successor as head of the ACWA,
Jacob Potofsky Jacob Samuel Potofsky (November 26, 1894 – August 5, 1979) was a Russian Empire-born American trade unionist, best known as second president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, succeeding founder Sidney Hillman. Background Jacob S ...
, took a far less visible role within the CIO, a federation which re-united with the AFL in 1955. The
American Labor Party The American Labor Party (ALP) was a political party in the United States established in 1936 that was active almost exclusively in the state of New York. The organization was founded by labor leaders and former members of the Socialist Party of ...
that Hillman had helped create passed out of existence in that same year. The
Amalgamated Housing Cooperative Amalgamated Housing Cooperative, originally the Amalgamated Cooperative Apartment House, is a pioneering American limited-equity cooperative apartment complex organized under the provisions of the ''Private Housing Finance'' (PVH) law, article IV ( ...
in the Bronx was the first limited equity housing cooperative in the United States. It was funded and inspired by Hillman and
Abraham Kazan Abraham E. Kazan (1889–1971) is considered the "father of U.S. cooperative housing". Biography Abraham Kazan was born in 1889. Growing up as an eyewitness to appalling tenement conditions, Kazan believed that housing was a vital obstacle for ...
. A street in the neighborhood, Hillman Avenue, is named for him. Hillman is also the namesake of the Hillman Housing Corporation, a
housing cooperative A housing cooperative, or housing co-op, is a legal entity, usually a cooperative or a corporation, which owns real estate, consisting of one or more residential buildings; it is one type of housing tenure. Housing cooperatives are a distinc ...
sponsored by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers and part of
Cooperative Village 267px, Hillman Housing buildings on Grand Street as seen from the East River towers. Amalgamated Dwellings is seen between the second and the third tower Cooperative Village is a community of housing cooperatives on the Lower East Side of Ma ...
in
Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...
of
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
.
The Sidney Hillman Foundation The Sidney Hillman Foundation is an American charitable foundation that awards prizes to journalists who investigate issues related to social justice and progressive public policy. The foundation, founded in 1946, is named for Sidney Hillman, who w ...
, established in his honor, gives annual awards to journalists and writers for work that supports social justice and progressive public policy. The first Sidney Hillman Awards were announced in 1950. In addition, from 1949 to 1995 the foundation made annual awards honoring public figures who pursue social justice and public policy for the common good.Sidney Hillman Foundation official website
Hillman Foundation.org


See also

*
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) was a United States labor union known for its support for "social unionism" and progressive political causes. Led by Sidney Hillman for its first thirty years, it helped found the Congress of Ind ...
*
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), whose members were employed in the women's clothing industry, was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States, one of the first U.S. unions to have a primarily female membe ...
*
Congress of Industrial Organizations The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of ...
*
CIO-PAC The first-ever "political action committee" in the United States of America was the Congress of Industrial Organizations – Political Action Committee or CIO-PAC (1943–1955). What distinguished the CIO-PAC from previous political groups (inclu ...
*
Russian-American Industrial Corporation The Russian-American Industrial Corporation (RAIC) (Russian: Русско-американская индустриальная корпорация) was an international economic development venture launched in 1922 by the Amalgamated Clothing Wo ...
*
American Labor Party The American Labor Party (ALP) was a political party in the United States established in 1936 that was active almost exclusively in the state of New York. The organization was founded by labor leaders and former members of the Socialist Party of ...
*
Bessie Abramowitz Hillman Bessie Abramowitz Hillman (born Bas Sheva Abramowitz; May 15, 1889 – December 23, 1970) was a labor activist and founder of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. She led the 1910 Chicago Garment Workers' Strike, which brought about the c ...


References


Further reading

* Epstein, Melech. ''Profiles of Eleven: Profiles of Eleven Men Who Guided the Destiny of an Immigrant Society and Stimulated Social Consciousness among the American People.'' Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1965. * Fraser, Steven. "Sidney Hillman Labor's Machiavelli" in ''Labor Leaders in America'' (1987): 207-233
online
* Fraser, Steven. ''Labor Will Rule: Sidney Hillman and the Rise of American Labor.'' Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993
online
* Josephson, Matthew. ''Sidney Hillman, Statesman of American Labor.'' New York: Doubleday & Company, 1952
online
* Korman, Gerd. "New Jewish politics for an American labor leader: Sidney Hillman, 1942-1946." ''American Jewish History'' (1994) 82:195–213; argues that Hillman became an active Zionist in 1942-1946.
online


External links


Sidney Hillman Foundation


* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hillman, Sidney 1887 births 1946 deaths People from Žagarė People from Shavelsky Uyezd Lithuanian Jews Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Bundists American Labor Party politicians Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America people American democratic socialists American trade union leaders UNITE HERE Writers about the Soviet Union Burials at Westchester Hills Cemetery