Jewish Labor Committee, Chicago Records and Photographs

Founded in 1934, the Jewish Labor Committee (JLC) originated in an effort to link the forces of Jewish unions and other labor and Jewish fraternal organizations in the fight against fascism. Baruch Charney Vladeck, general manager of the Jewish Daily Forward, organized the founding meeting of the JLC on February 25, 1934 in New York City. In an immediate response to the successful organization of the JLC in New York, a Chicago chapter was established. The activities of the JLC were national in scope and thus the Chicago office participated in campaigns and activities inaugurated by the New York headquarters, as well as undertaking locally-based programs. Jacob Siegel, managing editor of the Chicago edition of the Jewish Daily Forward and a leader of the Workmen's Circle, became the first chairman of the Chicago JLC and led the Chicago JLC until his death in 1965. As did Siegel, executive members and field representatives of the Chicago JLC arose from the ranks of trade unions and the Jewish press. Leading members of the Chicago JLC during Siegel s tenure and in the years following included: Morris Bialis (ILGWU), David Schacter (SEIU), and Aaron ("Archie") Aronin (Chicago Forward.)

Efforts to aid Jews and other victims of Nazi domination, as well as to publicize their plight, were the chief activities of the JLC in its early years. To this end, the JLC joined with the American Jewish Congress to organize a boycott of Nazi goods. During the 1930s the JLC made every effort to aid victims of Nazism in Europe, through collections of money, food and clothing drives, and other forms of assistance to refugees and exiles. Following the Allied victory, the JLC contributed to the rehabilitation of war-torn Europe by creating schools, clinics and homes for destitute children, and by providing services for Holocaust survivors in displaced persons camps.

The JLC s aim to "impress upon the Jewish masses that they must fight hand in hand with the general forces of democracy" remained the guiding principle of the JLC after the War. During the decades following the War, the JLC worked toward ensuring democratic rights for workers and minorities in the United States.

An interesting period of the Chicago JLC s activity is documented in the correspondence of the 1950s and 1960s. It was during this time that Chicago initiated their efforts in support of civil rights. Notable among the materials from this time period are the reports detailing the annual Labor Conferences on Civil Rights. Sponsored by the Chicago JLC, these conferences brought civil rights leaders and union officials together in a discussion of how equality could be attained. Inaugurated in 1955, the conferences continued to be held until 1982. In the collection is material concerning the Labor Conferences for 1956, 1965, 1967-1974, 1976-1981, and 1986.

Beginning in the 1970s, much of the JLC s activity was directed in support of Israel and Soviet Jewry. Numerous letters of protest regarding the American government's position with regard to these two areas reflect the JLC s lobbying efforts.

During the 1980s the Chicago JLC attempted to spark revitalization in their labor-oriented activities. Faced by a threatened dismantling of labor rights under the Reagan administration, the JLC sought to strengthen its connections to trade unions. An outgrowth of this effort was the Ethnic Labor Coalition, a coalition created by the Jewish Labor Committee in conjunction with the A. Philip Randolph Institute. The other agencies which formed this coalition were: Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Coalition of Labor Working Women, Hispanic American Labor Council, Italian-American Labor Council, Labor for Latin American Advancement, and Polish-American Labor Council.

Sources:

· Malmgreen, Gail. "Labor and the Holocaust: The Jewish Labor Committee and the Anti-Nazi Struggle." Labor's Heritage, October 1991.

· Weiler, N. Sue "Freedom-Equality-Human Dignity-For All: Conferences on Civil Rights, Jewish Labor Committee." Typescript, n.d. 32pp. (Copy available at the Wagner Labor Archives.)