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The Jewish Labor Committee (JLC) is an American secular Jewish organization dedicated to promoting labor union interests in Jewish communities, and Jewish interests within unions. The organization is headquartered in
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, with local/regional offices in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...
,
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
,
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
,
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
and
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, and volunteer-led affiliated groups in other U.S. communities. It was founded in 1934 in response to the rise of
Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
in Europe. Today, it works to maintain and strengthen the historically strong relationship between the American Jewish community and the trade union movement, and to promote what they see as the shared
social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...
agenda of both communities. The JLC was also active in Canada from 1936 until the 1970s.


History

The Jewish Labor Committee was formed in February 1934 in response to the rise of Nazism in Germany by Yiddish-speaking immigrant trade union leaders, including leaders of established groups such as
The Workmen's Circle The Workers Circle or Der Arbeter Ring ( yi, דער אַרבעטער־רינג), formerly The Workmen's Circle, is an American Jewish nonprofit organization that promotes social and economic justice, Jewish community and education, including Yid ...
, the Jewish Labor Bund, and the United Hebrew Trades. Representatives assembled at a conference on New York's
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 ...
, electing its first president, Baruch Charney Vladeck, and charging it with the following tasks: * support of Jewish labor institutions in European countries; * assistance to the anti-Hitler underground movement; * aid to the victims of Nazism; * cooperation with American organized labor in fighting anti-democratic forces; and * combating
antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
and other effects of Fascism and Nazism upon American life. At the urging of B.C. Vladeck and Jewish union leaders, the
American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutua ...
(AFL) came out in favor of a boycott of Nazi goods at its 1933 convention. At the 1934 convention of the AFL, Vladeck argued that the Nazi persecution of Jews was part of a general assault on labor rights and political liberty. The AFL agreed and in response it created the "Labor Chest" to aid victims of fascism; in the following years, the Chest funded a host of JLC-inspired educational and aid projects. During the first five years of its existence, the Jewish Labor Committee concentrated mainly on supporting anti-Nazi labor forces in Europe and sending relief to Jewish labor institutions there, especially those maintained by the Jewish Labor and the left-wing Labor Zionist movement (the right-wing Labor Zionists organized their own relief and rehabilitation committee), and encouraging and strengthening U.S. and Canadian opposition to the Nazis, in the labor and democratic left, as well as in the community-at-large. At the same time it organized mass anti-Nazi demonstrations; in 1936, with the
American Jewish Congress The American Jewish Congress (AJCongress or AJC) is an association of American Jews organized to defend Jewish interests at home and abroad through public policy advocacy, using diplomacy, legislation, and the courts. History The AJCongress was ...
, through the Joint Boycott Council, it conducted a boycott on German goods and services. After the outbreak of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, the emphasis focused on efforts to save Jewish cultural and political figures, as well as Jewish and non-Jewish labor and socialist leaders facing certain death at the hands of the Nazis. With powerful help from the
American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutua ...
, the Committee succeeded in bringing over a thousand of such individuals to the United States, or to temporary shelter elsewhere. The JLC's main focus was unified action, but also took independent action for their anti-Nazi campaign. When the American Olympics Committee declined to boycott the Berlin Olympics of 1936, the JLC held a World Labor Athletic Carnival (also known as the Counter-Olympics) at Randall's Island in New York City. Dozens of teams representing New York union locals competed, and featured amateur athletes from across the country. NY Governor Herbert Lehman presented the awards. The Carnival received extensive nationwide press coverage, and the JLC repeated the event in the summer of 1937. After the war, the JLC organized a Child Adoption Program. The program was not meant to provide adoption in the usual sense, but rather to provide a mechanism by which Americans could contribute to the care of children living in Europe or Israel. At a cost of $300 per year, a union shop or local, fraternal society, Workmen's Circle branch, women's club, or any other group or individual could "adopt" a child. Thousands of children were supported through this program into the 1950s. Beginning in the late 1930s, the Committee became increasingly concerned with Jewish defense work and community relations in the United States. It was one of the four founders of the short-lived General Jewish Council and helped organize the National Community Relations Advisory Council (renamed the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) in the 1990s), of which it is still an active member. Adolph Held was president for 30 years.
Stuart Appelbaum Stuart Harris Appelbaum (born 1953) is an American trade union leader. Appelbaum has been the president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) since May 1, 1998. He is also president of the Jewish Labor Committee. In February 20 ...
is the current president.


Activities

Unlike other community relations agencies, the JLC has its sphere of action clearly delineated: it strives to represent Jewish communal interests in the labor movement, and labor interests in the organized Jewish community. Working with the
AFL–CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO) is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 12 million ac ...
since its formation in 1956, and the Change to Win federation since the CtW's formation in 2005, and their affiliated trade unions, the JLC works with and has the support of a wide range of unions and their associated organizations, locally, nationally and internationally. With diverse organizations as affiliates representing a variety of ideological groups, the Committee has been guided in its work by pragmatic policies rather than by a specific philosophy. While Bundist influence was significant in the organization, particularly in the early period, JLC been critically supportive of the State of Israel since 1948. Both Ameinu (formerly known as the Labor Zionist Alliance and Partners for Progressive Israel (formerly known as
Meretz USA Partners for Progressive Israel is an American non-governmental organization and registered 501(c)3 dedicated to the achievement of a durable, secure, and just peace between Israel and its neighbors, including a two-state solution to the Israeli� ...
) are affiliates of the JLC, as is
The Workmen's Circle The Workers Circle or Der Arbeter Ring ( yi, דער אַרבעטער־רינג), formerly The Workmen's Circle, is an American Jewish nonprofit organization that promotes social and economic justice, Jewish community and education, including Yid ...
. The JLC can broadly speaking be considered part of what is sometimes called the Jewish left in America. In 2000, the JLC began an annual tradition of holding local "Labor Seders" in communities throughout the U.S. These "Labor Seders" are often held in conjunction with local Central Labor Councils and local Jewish Community Relations Councils, and serve as a way for local Jewish and labor leaders to come together and share an engaging experience, and relate the traditional Passover exodus from Egypt story to more recent examples of the struggle for basic worker's rights. Emulating these "Labor Seders," a similar "Union Seder" was organized in Sydney, Australia in 2006. In addition to the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the JLC is a founding member of a number of other U.S. and international Jewish communal agencies, including the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the
Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...
, the
Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, or Claims Conference, represents the world's Jews in negotiating for compensation and restitution for victims of Nazi persecution and their heirs. According to Section 2(1)(3) of the Proper ...
, and the National Conference on Soviet Jewry. The New England Region of the JLC is a partner organization of the Boston-based JOIN for Justice (formerly known as the Jewish Organizing Initiative), which was formed in 1994 as a mechanism for young adults to enter the field of community organizing through an explicitly Jewish channel. Through it, the JLC's field office in Boston secured a number of regional directors and interns. The JLC's funding comes from independent campaigns, contributions from trade unions, allocations from Jewish community federations, grants from foundations, individual members and organizational affiliates. (Originally a body of organizations and unions, the Committee has also had individual members since the mid-1960s.)


Civil rights

The JLC founded an Anti-Discrimination Division immediately after World War II which agitated and lobbied in favor of Fair Employment Practices legislation, equal opportunities in education and integrated housing. In Canada, in the 1940s and 1950s, the Jewish Labour Committee played a leading role in opposing racial discrimination legislation and supporting human rights. Executive Director Kalmen Kaplansky believed that it was necessary to extend the JLC's mandate beyond fighting
antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
to combat discrimination against all minorities and involve non-Jews, and the broader labor movement, in the JLC's civil rights work.Kalmen Kaplansky Scholarship in Economic and Social Rights, Douglas-Coldwell Foundation
/ref>
, Canada's Rights Movement: A History, accessed February 2, 2008
Under his leadership, the JLC spearheaded the formation of Joint Labour Committees to Combat Racial Discrimination in Toronto, Windsor, Montreal, Vancouver and Winnipeg, which advocated the adoption of human rights codes by provincial governments and which launched challenges against segregation and discriminatory employment and business practices. The JLC also publicly recognized labor leaders and pro-labor politicians who advanced the cause of Civil Rights with testimonial dinners held in their honor. Recipients include AFL President William Green (1951), Illinois AFL–CIO President Reuben Soderstrom (1953), Minnesota Senator (and future Vice President
Hubert Humphrey Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was an American pharmacist and politician who served as the 38th vice president of the United States from 1965 to 1969. He twice served in the United States Senate, representing M ...
(1954), and AFL–CIO President George Meany (1967). The JLC also formed approximately two dozen local committees in the United States to combat racial intolerance. These committees were the genesis of the American Federation of Labor's Civil Rights Department as well as the civil rights departments of several unions in the 1940s and 1950s. The JLC distributed literature and educational material combatting racism and played a role in state and national campaigns for civil rights legislation. The JLC played a role in the Leadership Conference for Civil Rights and participated in and helped organize civil rights marches and protests in the 1950s and 1960s co-ordinating many local campaigns. The JLC helped found the United Farm Workers, campaigned for the passage of the ''Fair Employment Practices Act'' in California and provided staffing and support for the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom led by Martin Luther King Jr.''70 Years Strong: The Jewish Labor Committee Story''
Jewish Labor Committee, 2004


Allegations of defending discriminatory practices of unions

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
labor director Herbert Hill alleged that, during the 1940s through the 1960s, the JLC had defended anti-black and anti-Hispanic discriminatory practices of unions in the garment industry and building industry.Hill, Herbert, "Black-Jewish Conflict in the Labor Context", in ''African Americans and Jews in the twentieth century: studies in convergence and conflict'', Franklin, Vincent P. (Ed.), 1998., p. 10, 265-279Greenberg, Cheryl, ''Troubling the waters: Black-Jewish relations in the American century'', 2006, p. 216 Hill claimed that the JLC changed "a black white conflict into a Black-Jewish conflict".


See also

*'' They Were Not Silent'' - a documentary about the Jewish Labor Committee's response to Hitler and World War II


Notes


References

* * *(1960) ''Finf un Tsvantsik Yor...'' * * * * *


External links


Jewish Labor and the Holocaust


ttp://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/wag_025_002/ Part II Holocaust Era Filesbr>Part III Post-war Administrative Files and Anti-Discrimination Department Files

Finding aid of the archives of the Jewish Labour Committee of Canada

Finding aid of the Jewish Labor Committee collection
American Jewish Historical Society at the Center for Jewish History
Narrative description of the finding aid of the archives of the Jewish Labour Committee of Canada

Finding aid of the archives of the Joint Boycott Council
{{Authority control Jewish-American history Trade unions in the United States Jewish-American political organizations Secular Jewish culture in Canada Secular Jewish culture in the United States Labor relations in the United States Trade unions established in 1934 AFL–CIO Canadian Labour Congress Jewish Canadian history Organizations established in 1934 1934 establishments in New York City