1 10 14 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/71642/archive/files/a600e348ac5cd60f1d38c8759988634c.pdf?Expires=1773878400&Signature=bbKLx2gpo7d501FIvZ0ju8cNc4Wl849HgwWZhRQC2yME-oIWi2NYMQUF-VOmJNoTRDtKNJ8Y0qv2ePy9g4yHGXSBn0uXsLrPMx9eo6wD1feSrOttpo8SITIBUlOeaQgaCAKaViw0LMporZV62-Yo69Fpe0BWDRKjT378l7b5WJJymGNae2Y41JPGaNQrY0h8iSb2lPagc9lkL3CHveXryF9KfNZHAj0hu7xEvLHOulT7ESnRBjIiAi-DYRlcIgK0u1piHrtcoBDHNP2VyaXutBHWx1qPIzbFExzTeXZrer7%7EgI%7EZ-FN0nkS%7EwjA%7EvocgHmhH3y%7EsLsh6JPfh7bvyGQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 15e823ab7007ad947cb30d2868ca028a Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Numbered memoirs Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document # 26 IRVING HOWE (On June 8, 1993, the Boston Democratic Socialists of America held a memorial for Irving Howe who had died the month before at the age of 72. I think it was chutspadik that Fran and I spoke at this event along with Rose and Lewis Coser and George Scialabba and George Packer. Fran, at least, had Howe as a teacher at Brandeis. I drew on some coincidences and my admiration for his writings, his politics and his brilliance. The following are my remarks.) I feel that I have known Irving Howe all my life, although I may have been in the same room with him five times and exchanged no more than a few sentences with him each time. He was not easily approachable. And I was in awe of him. Of his knowledge and his insights into those areas if interest that I shared with him: Socialism, Yiddish culture, and labor. I sought reflected glory in the fact that Irving Howe and I lived in the same neighborhood in the East Bronx. The fact is he was eight years older, and there was no contact until many years later. In his autobiography, Howe described the East Bronx as a self-contained little world where Yiddish was spoken everywhere. And he quoted his father after the family was forced to move from the West Bronx as saying "at least we are not on Fox Street." I lived on Fox Street. He later explained that he really didn’t see much difference between Fox Street and Jennings Street where he lived. I also got a kick when I read about his childhood visits to Yankee Stadium sitting behind Babe Ruth, since I also went to Yankee Stadium as a kid, sat in the bleachers, but in my time it was Joe DiMaggio in center field. I shared a similar pattern of summer jobs, and the dream of parents that their child should become a high school teacher, and the challenge for those of us preparing to teach in the New York schools to pronounce Long Island without a hard g. His Workmen’s Circle Shule was on Wilkins Avenue; mine was on Beck Street. His father wouldn’t let him go there. My mother sent me to the Beck St. Shule and then to Hebrew school. The YPSL to which he belonged met at the Wilkins Avenue Shule Sunday nights. There was no YPSL in my immediate neighborhood. I was not recruited and I missed out on the political ferment that was a part of Irving Howe’s growing up: the street corner oratory and the debates in the City College cafeteria. In the early fifties, I was working as an organizer for the custom tailors and alteration workers of the ILGWU. It was then that I met Ann Draper who was organizing for the hat workers. Her husband, Hal Draper, was the editor of Labor Action, the publication of the Independent Socialist League, the position Irving Howe held ten years before. Irving’s first contact with Max Schachtman was in 1937 at City College. I was invited to a meeting of the ISL by Ann and Hal to hear Schachtman. And he was impressive. (During the question period, an imposing figure arose, announced "my name is Maxwell Bodenheim" and proceeded to read a poem he had written.) No, I didn’t join ISL, but I did buy a sub to Labor Action. In 1956 I went to work for the Jewish Labor Committee and found myself surrounded by YPSLs, both Thomasites and Schachtmanites: Manny Muravchik, Phil Heller, Don Slaiman, Irving Panken, Harry Fleischman, Iz Kugler, Harry Gersh, and Julie Bernstein. I bought my first subscription to Dissent, I joined The Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy, I read "The UAW and Walter Reuther," and when Mike Harrington split with the SP-SDF over Vietnam, and DSOC was founded at the Hotel McAlpin in 1973, I was there, and saw and heard Irving Howe in action. Over the years, I collected his books as well as Mike’s, and was excited about the Yiddish anthologies he was producing, confirming for me our similarity of interests. So many Jewish radicals and intellectuals were, as Irving noted, quoting Isaac Deutcher, "non-Jewish Jews." The fact is, so was Irving, up to his meeting with Eliezer Greenberg, and his translating and editing of Yiddish writers. Isaac Bashevis Singer might have remained unknown to the non-Yiddish reading public if Irving didn’t get Saul Bellow to translate Gimpel the Fool. Irving saw himself as a "partial Jew" –a man without contemporaries, since he felt that all that remained for Jewish identity was religion or nationalism, and he supported neither. Secular Jewishness was, to him, a period between faith and assimilation, like Alinsky’s description of an integrated neighborhood: the moment between all-white and all-black. To Howe, it was another lost cause. But Irving did more to popularize Jewish Socialism than any other writer. He was unrivaled as a serious scholar, yet this 714 page book "World of Our Fathers" made the best-seller list, and gave him, as he described it, "his 15 minutes of fame." He viewed its success as American Jewry’s readiness to say farewell to that world, and move on. My son Lewis gave me the book in 1976 for my birthday, and my wife Fran gave me Irving’s autobiography "Margin of Hope" for my birthday in 1982. My family knows who (and what) I like. Our sector, the Jewish Socialist and labor movement, represented by the Workmen’s Circle and the Jewish Labor Committee, is forever in his debt. We at the Boston Workmen’s Circle wanted to invite Irving for a fund-raiser, but that’s out. We have lost another giant. Julie Bernstein in 1977, Michael Harrington in 1989, and now Irving Howe. Irving called Michael "Our voice, our hope, our pride." Leon Wieseltier called Irving "This skeptic, secularist and socialist; this great-souled man." Irving Howe ends "World of Our Fathers" with the Hasidic tale of Rabbi Zusia, who said before his death: "In the coming world they will not ask me Why were you not Moses? They will ask me Why were you not Zusia?" Irving Howe was always Irving Howe. June 8, 1993 Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data application/msword Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource #26 Irving Howe Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jacob Schlitt Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-06-08 Language A language of the resource en Type The nature or genre of the resource text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context IRVING_HOWE Description An account of the resource "I feel that I have known Irving Howe all my life, although I may have been in the same room with him five times and exchanged no more than a few sentences with him each time." Bronx Friends Jewish Identity Socialism Yiddish YPSL https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/71642/archive/files/0f1c052325b9453ceb90261e40caf62b.pdf?Expires=1773878400&Signature=MLHKC9xX4m0a239NQ7Hoi70VOdfc61UgMKdSv6TlrPxNT9stbQk6wx9yjo1hN%7E1gAwsRelaPZ1k1B-qQ2jBLCtlGKkBeOs4r9AbkmQFEq4ceV1FqOjtVLyWGOjqm3lnsc2StJJX9Ix0R6aF5muANYLumVLWodNn3osfvaOGFsr2uwjbARXVL0LcUTzXHAVRdyDzw621FrgG9WOx9cW%7EBtWD2vH5KFNsQMJ3ON3PA-T%7EZE75genbZu-DdNP1gQBratLgCgUgRqPpA9nBTK4RdCw9tDU7OkycgNf66UwLnXmMHr8pxQxeaFNjijBsKS%7ErNbT-FVUjHafVAt2tBnLrOCQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 48230c8f91b322ee91c42ab0c42f2663 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Autobiographical writing Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document A Young Person’s View of The Class Struggle From my earliest days, I was convinced that we were caught up in the class struggle. I had not yet heard of Karl Marx or Das Kapital. I knew nothing about communism, socialism. anarchism, or capitalism. But wherever I looked, the class struggle was taking place. In grade school, it was the students versus the teachers. Though I shouldn’t have, I viewed the teachers as the enemy, the ruling class. We students were powerless. Teachers were supposed to impart knowledge, but most did it through a divide and conquer approach to the student class. Ours was not a classless society. Throughout our school life, we were moved from class to class by the state. We were the oppressed class. The teachers, the ruling class, pitted student against student. They opposed and undermined any form of solidarity among students. They gave tests, and divided the students. They praised those who received the highest marks, and demeaned those who did not do as well. Teachers would even try to get students to report on each other. In every class, there were the snitchers who turned on their class, who sold out their fellow students. Teacher’s pets! It took me many years to change my view, and see teachers in a different light: As people with whom you could have a friendly relationship. I had to overcome the idea that it would be consorting with the enemy class. The class struggle existed wherever I looked in my neighborhood. It was certainly the case with regard to the capitalist property owner of our living quarters. The landlord (or landowner) charged us $25 a month rent for our two room apartment. If we did not pay it, he would evict us. We would be out in the street, with no place to live. Fortunately, my mother always managed to pay the rent, but it was no question that we would have been at the mercy of the heartless Mr. Gordon if we missed a payment. During the depression, many apartments were vacant, and landlords would entice tenants by offering them the first month rent-free. Some tenants would take advantage of the offer, pay the second and third month’s rent, and then got back at the capitalist exploiter by no longer paying rent. A hollow victory for the poor renter. After several months, the eviction would come. The capitalist triumphs again. The relationship between the storekeeper and the customer was another aspect of the class struggle. Mr. Rosenbaum, Mr. Margolis, and Mr. Sheinman were our neighborhood grocer, butcher and druggist. They were the capitalists. They owned their stores, or so I believed, and they stocked them with merchandise, which they sold to their struggling customers, to make a profit. I was aware that the way you make a lot of money is to buy low and sell high. (I had to admit that they didn’t make a lot of money from their stores on Longwood Avenue.) I did not feel animosity, but I was aware that we belonged to two different classes. They were businessmen, and my mother was a poor (unemployed) worker, and therefore I was part of the working class. By the time I grew up and moved away from the neighborhood, Mr. Rosenbaum, Mr. Margolis and Mr. Sheinman, were no longer the local storekeepers. Messrs. Rosenbaum and Margolis were wiped out by supermarkets like the A and P, and Mr. Sheinman, by the likes of CVS. The big capitalists gobbled up the small capitalists. They were able to buy much lower, and by selling at a price lower than the smaller storekeeper could charge, they drove them out of business. By the time I started high school, I entered the working class. Almost every student at Stuyvesant High School had a part-time job. I considered my employment as close to socialism as we could get at the time. I worked for the New York Public Library (NYPL), which meant I worked for the city, not for a capitalist institution. The NYPL was not privately owned; it was collectively owned by all the citizens of New York. I did have a supervisor, who was my boss, but he was not making a profit from my labor. I saw him as a petty bureaucrat, and if I had chosen to stay with the NYPL, I could have become a supervisor. My friends worked for small businesses: garment factories, printers, bookbinders, wholesalers, retailers. Our work was not very different: menial labor, nor were our salaries. But I spoke with pride about working for the library, a non-profit, cultural institution. We provided an important intellectual service. We did not exploit anybody. We did not cheat anybody. My salary was paid out of the taxes of the citizens of New York. My friends’ salaries were paid by the capitalist owners of the businesses, from the profits they squeezed out of the labor of their exploited workers. I recognized that their businesses performed a service, but I also recognized the great disparity in the money the workers and the bosses took home. Thinking about the disparity and the class struggle, I concluded that one way to correct the disparity was for the workers to organize. My mother had been a member of a union, but they could not do much for her when there was no work. During the depression, neither the bosses nor the workers can make a living, but most bosses have the resources to sustain them until times get better. When things get better, and work resumes, workers will be scrambling for jobs. If there is a union contract, a procedure would be in place for workers to return by seniority; wages would be established so bosses would not be able to hire workers at the lowest wages. I figured that the most practical way to deal with the class struggle is for workers to form unions. By this time, I was a teen-ager, I was learning something about history and economics, and the world around me. I learned that my mother considered herself a socialist, that there were several political parties that called themselves socialist, and that they all talked about “my” class struggle. They talked about the workers as being the “vanguard,” and the dictatorship of the proletariat. I wasn’t sure what they were talking about. When I learned more about “my solution—unions,” I learned that there were lots of different kinds of unions, with different approaches to the class struggle: craft unions, industrial unions. Labor leaders became my heroes, especially Walter Reuther. I also concluded that the teachers, local storekeepers and even my old landlord, Mr. Gordon, were not the enemy. By the time I entered college, I had a very different view of the class struggle. I learned a little more about socialism and communism (but not much about anarchism.) I felt indebted to FDR and the New Deal. I believed a progressive government can make life better for all Americans: that if the government supported the creation of unions, created jobs, Social Security, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, health insurance, minimum wages etc, life wouldn’t be such a struggle for the working class. There may no longer be such great disparity. I concluded that one way to bring this about was to organize workers. I was not ready to advocate that the workers own the means of production. I felt that a strong union with a strong union contract would be sufficient. A strong, politically active union would see to it that progressive legislation was passed, and workers were protected on the job. I was no longer a “young person.” I was in college, and on the verge of making a career choice. I thought about teaching. I chose the labor movement as my way to deal with the class struggle. 12-29-11 Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data application/msword Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A Young Person's View of the Class Struggle Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jacob Schlitt Description An account of the resource "From my earliest days, I was convinced that we were caught up in the class struggle." Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011-12-29 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource text Language A language of the resource en Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context A_Young_Person's_View_of_the_Class_Struggle Childhood Labor Movement Politics Poverty Socialism https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/71642/archive/files/15586d3b910f243baa21fd0655caaba4.pdf?Expires=1773878400&Signature=tEW6unFvh4Kbaz6jFewwBast3QxoKVzDW1S1OmuycZNzNccrvOwyRyDRKSbsuOQ%7EBzH-32S8Y%7EfGe2OCN1ctFW6cUZuRoNKEEC48JL-ZwJnatROzSdU%7EIYC1rRchNa0uSNcxowrRy4KP0TAgz7fenjHT%7EDrxtb0py95PSxUHAHfY6BfiBvrYhDN8WUURlW50DSReeEr6RQLvFwYWLGvqefesEvyq19SE7ghyYaJyS5rXgJGkoBDsGKs%7EarYSECNveCG6knwzpa5fJZ4oD9fVPo-RnOAOss6sh2rQ2H5AEQlOO6%7EwK1e6ywDrG2vbpnKHI0UqyyAv2nFYRW7wGWITag__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 153e37c0ee71b19c4756f0e134b19ce6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Autobiographical writing Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document ANOTHER ROL (Revolutionary Organization of Labor) Many groups and organizations have spoken out in favor of the public workers of Wisconsin when Gov. Scott Walker announced his plan that substantially cuts the benefits and eliminates nearly all collective bargaining rights for state workers. At one of the demonstrations supporting the Wisconsin public employees, at the Boston State House, I was handed a leaflet that stated, “Capitalists always try to maximize profits, and unions are an obstacle to this end…The “union busters” new divide and conquer “big lie” is to blame state budget shortfalls on unionized government workers: that public sector workers (our teachers, sanitation workers and public health workers etc.) are “fat cats” at taxpayers’ expense...” It concluded, “The Revolutionary Organization of Labor, USA, supports the just struggle of the Wisconsin workers. No more cutbacks or concessions! Make the rich pay!” I don’t disagree, but what caught my eye was the name of the organization: the Revolutionary Organization of Labor.” There was something familiar about that name. At first, I couldn’t put my finger on it. Then I realized: it is not the name, but the initials: ROL. Do members of the Revolutionary Organization of Labor call themselves ROL? Will they be confused with our ROL? Can we prevent them from using ROL, since we called ourselves ROL first? Perhaps we can call ourselves ROL #1, and they can be ROL #2. There may be a group called the Royal Order of Lemmings, or Russian Opera Lovers. If there are, they can be ROL #3 and ROL #4. Time out. I just Googled ROL and found 21 other ROLs. The Revolutionary Organization of Labor was not among them. There were Rule of Law, Rock of Love, Rotate Left, Rise of Legends, Review of Literature, Retired Officers Luncheon, etc. The closest to us was a band called Rock Out Loud. The source for this information was the Free Online Dictionary (FOD) and it asked readers to submit a new definition. I submitted Reading Out Loud. Hopefully, we will be the 22nd listing. I did not give them the Revolutionary Organization of Labor. If they want to be listed in FOD, let them submit their name themselves. 8-18-11 Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data application/msword Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Another ROL (Revolutionary Organization of Labor) Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jacob Schlitt Description An account of the resource "Many groups and organizations have spoken out in favor of the public workers of Wisconsin when Gov. Scott Walker announced his plan that substantially cuts the benefits and eliminates nearly all collective bargaining rights for state workers." Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011-08-18 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource text Language A language of the resource en Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Another_ROL Labor Movement Observations Reading Out Loud (R.O.L.) Socialism https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/71642/archive/files/b50838273538909f479460dc27a7c402.pdf?Expires=1773878400&Signature=eWIJlBbDOBxxn%7EzhuRZMKSX0-fj9a3q5WhgahspNVIUXi9P3K5Iw4BrrATb%7EmrUVHbRY5dpMxPRimOx56yDTgaGndh%7Efh81Zfz-WOBuipjIG8nF77oLAp68CDb4hhMBzEfkymJMHSYTvFSiUTeYowzDm9gAo6sqOmcRvoNCjpwc5Jcv-dbMRyhoKIxh0dbgcNW5wxmNPHqWWD0Sv6EAXs-cmkhd7noywQRITqrJ6n9KKRtnQMJajC-3wHqwSSvzkbS2sOpn6aIJYnp5GBNe%7EA92YFGsgitK8nfCwZrXuhDd4PvUvvXqd77A5kDhLYH7TvVRMaGKcfteRFR4y591fnA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 18361e3bcbbd5faade60b222efccb043 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Autobiographical writing Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Stan Weir (and a brief snapshot of left wing politics) One evening, toward the end of August in 1968, I received a call from someone named Stan Weir, explaining that he had just arrived in Washington from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, and that a mutual friend gave him my name. He will be spending the year in Washington, doing research on a union democracy study. Could he meet with me? Absolutely. Union democracy was one of my favorite subjects. I invited him to come to dinner the next day. When he showed up, I was greeted by a tall, muscular red head, carrying flowers for Sylvia, and a note book in which to record my immortal words. We began talking about our involvement with the labor movement. I summarized my few years with the ILGWU, the laundry workers and AFSCME. Stan’s involvement was a lot longer, and as a worker, not as a union staffer. When he told me about his work in California, I asked him if he knew some of the union people I had worked with when I was at the Jewish Labor Committee. I didn’t realize it, but most of the people I asked him about had been members of the Independent Socialist League (ISL)—followers of Max Schachtman, an early follower of Leon Trotsky. Stan smiled and said, “you found me out.” Yes, he knew them, and he had been an active member of the ISL. Trying to figure out 20th century left wing politics can drive you crazy. There had been utopian socialists and Marxian scientific socialists through most of the second half of the 19th century. However, the official Socialist Party was formed in 1901 from the merger of the Social Democratic Party and the Socialist Labor Party. And after the Russian Revolution, the Communist Party was established, and in the ‘20s, there were several different factions with different faction leaders: James B. Cannon and William Z. Foster and Jay Lovestone. What the various left wing parties wanted was to change our economic system from capitalism to socialism-- to put the means of production into the hands of the workers-- but they had different ways of going about it. When, in 1928, Stalin denounced Trotsky, and when Cannon, who was there, read what Trotsky wrote, he concluded that Trotsky was right. Cannon converted Max Schachtman who had been the leader of the Young Workers’ League, and they formed the Socialist Workers Party, but they split, and after World War II the ISL was formed with Schachtman as its leader. I had gotten to know the ISL within months after I started organizing for Local 38, in 1951. I had met Anne Draper who was an organizer for the hatters union. I was trying to organize workers in the Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue custom tailoring and dressmaking shops; Anne was trying to organize workers in custom millinery shops in the same area. Anne was the wife of Hal Draper who was the editor of Labor Action, the ISL newspaper. Some time after our meeting, Anne tried to get me to join the ISL. She invited Sylvia and me for dinner, and we had a lovely evening. I did not join ISL, but I did buy a subscription to Labor Action. Some months later, Anne invited us to attend an ISL meeting at which Max Schachtman was to speak. We accepted; we met Schachtman, and were duly impressed by his oratory. (One incident stands out. During the question and answer period, a disheveled man stood up and announced, “My name is Maxwell Bodenheim. I have written a poem.” And he proceeded to read his poem, and Schachtman listened politely.) Subsequently, in 1957, the ISL merged with the Socialist Party (SP), which had previously merged with the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), calling itself the SP-SDF. As I said, trying to make sense of left wing politics can drive you crazy. Stan knew everybody in the ISL I knew them casually; he knew them intimately. He had been fighting the good fight since the early ‘40s: As a merchant seaman and a member of the Seaman’s Union of the Pacific during World War II. After the war, he had worked in an auto plant and was active in the United Auto Workers. He moved on to work as a longshoreman and was a member of the International Longshore and Warehousemen’s Union. It was in that capacity that he took on ILWU President Harry Bridges, and a union practice that he considered unfair. The union had created a B category, a second class category of longshoremen. There were 700 men in the B category, and they were supposed to be promoted to A in a year, but they weren’t. Stan objected, and he and a large group of B workers were fired. He brought a lawsuit which dragged on for 17 years. He lost. In 1968, most of that was behind him. He had been hired by the University of Illinois a few years earlier, to teach in its labor education program, and he was having a great time. Stan, his wife Mary and his two daughters, Kim and Laurie, had moved from California to Champaign-Urbana, and now looked forward to the year in Washington, where Stan would be doing research. They rented a house near us in the Takoma section, and Carol and Laurie went to school together and became good friends. The research work he did for the study was a labor of love. Stan was committed to fighting for workers’ rights and for union democracy. He was against the bosses, whether they were management bosses or labor bosses. Stan’s contribution to the study, “Comparative Union Democracy,” dealt with the limitations of democracy in several American unions, including the Steel Workers, the Electrical Workers and the Auto Workers. I had been at the US Civil Rights Commission for three years, and suggested to my supervisor, Sam Simmons, and staff director, Bill Taylor, that I could play a useful role for the Commission. I knew most of the labor leaders who supported civil rights and I offered to do for the Commission what I did at the JLC: attend union conventions, distribute Commission publications and discuss the work of the Commission with union officials. I offered to attend the upcoming UAW Convention in Atlantic City, and received approval. As the date for the convention approached, I thought it would be a great idea to invite Stan. I was driving a rental car, and had reserved a room at the Convention hotel. Stan could come along at no cost. When I suggested it, he refused. Why? No reason. I used all my powers of persuasion, and suggested that he think about it. I called him the next day and explained that we would have a terrific time in Atlantic City. He reluctantly agreed. We arrived at the Convention Hall just as the first day’s morning session was ending. The delegates were leaving for lunch. As we picked up our guest badges, we spotted a group of people whom we knew: Several UAW delegates and guests, and at the center of the group, Max Schachtman. We headed over. Schachtman spotted Stan and waved to him, calling out: “Hello Red! When are you going to make the revolution?” This was not said with affection. It was said with derision. Max Schachtman was ridiculing Stan. All these former radicals had moved dramatically to the right. Schachtman actually was the head of the right wing caucus within the merged SP-SDF. He was an outspoken supporter of LBJ and the Vietnam War. Stan was the only one of them who still had his socialist principles, who still believed. I now realized why Stan did not want to be there. 2-5-11 Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data application/msword Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Stan Weir (and a brief snapshot of left-wing politics) Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jacob Schlitt Description An account of the resource "One evening, toward the end of August in 1968, I received a call from someone named Stan Weir, explaining that he had just arrived in Washington from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, and that a mutual friend gave him my name." Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011-02-05 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource text Language A language of the resource en Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1951/1970 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AutoRecovery_save_of_Stan_Weir Activism Civil Rights Friends Independent Socialist League (ISL) Labor Movement Politics Socialism https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/71642/archive/files/4b906b3b2a4e1201d4be38054d18b5ac.pdf?Expires=1773878400&Signature=Nj6XdJJDr%7EXpxPwiEmzv40WBLanYWYPqLEOi3pUxIAwdaHgzFRJl4OBAgFyvUMHGO6F%7EUIRensrWYkdhA7bJs2bjMTSrC3r-YgASvO6j3FR73w-OXNN-LgSzNIEqq8IDrYyTjWlJqDxCUbruo7cMDvv6%7EwuCyQ1-k0DOkVC0O1V4oCC8AAmWuPHEkcmkpT4%7EzRtZnaRDYBdV3F14VsBFZ3fYXzakQ1NWv2M0eRBudk40XU7G5B-ggSjgH1C-RANVfE7Hvp22zkIkquWnITtf4kVKAQxghS4M2%7EtVJXY3kpxnW1zxCD%7EBf5Q4TruwUR0MpiZOo7I41B2UzlmxdjWIIw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM b38f7f669db9dce2a35920017bd64258 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Autobiographical writing Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document MAY DAY And Related History Since 1889, May 1 has been the official workers’ holiday throughout the industrial world. It was so designated by the Second International, meeting on the 100th Anniversary of the French Revolution, which brought together union and socialist organizations. And why was May 1 chosen? Because after years of struggle for the 8 hour day, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions on May 1, 1886, decided to call a general strike to demonstrate their commitment to this demand. Through most of the 19th century, American workers toiled from sunup to sundown, 11 to 14 hours a day, for less than $2 a day. In 1866, in Baltimore, the National Labor Union was formed, calling on all workers “to rise in the majesty of their strength” and challenge employers to acknowledge their rights. It called for legislation creating an 8 hour day. Six states passed such laws ”where there is no special contract or agreement to the contrary.” The Knights of Labor in 1869 called for the abolition of child and convict labor. Eight Hour Leagues were formed. People were singing: “Whether you work by the piece or work by the day/ Decreasing the hours increases the pay.” (In 1872, the National Labor Union became the National Labor Reform Party.) In the 1880s, unions gave up the attempt to secure an 8 hour day by political action, and returned to economic pressure. May 1, 1886. 400,000 workers participated, 40,000 in Chicago, center of the 8 hour day movement. May 3. Police killed striker at McCormick Reaper Works. 1,400 men had been locked out for months. Anarchists called a meeting for Haymarket Sq. for next evening, May 4, to protest killing. Meeting peaceful. Police Captain led a large force to disperse the crowd. A bomb was thrown killing 7 policemen. The fight for shorter hours: 1791—Philadelphia carpenters struck for a 10 hour day. 1840—Pres. Van Buren Executive Order granting Navy Yard workers a 10 hour day. 1842—Mass. Established a 10 hour day for children under 12. 1847—New Hampshire adoped a 10 hour day 1853—New York public workers granted a 10 hour day 1859—Philadelphia Machinists called for 8 hour day 1867—Conn, Ill, Wisconsin, NY, Miss, Calif granted 8 hour day 1868—Federal law: 8 hour day for US laborers. 1870 –NY 8 hour day for State and Municipal employees 1888—General Post Office 8 hour day 1892—US and DC public workers, 8 hour day 1936—Walsh-Healey 40 hour week for govt contracts over $10,000 1938—FLSA 40 hour week for workers in interstate commerce History of the American Labor Movement Late 1700s—artisans organized benevolent societies to help re sickness or death 1790s—skilled workers in Phila, NY and Boston organized to resist wage reductions Early 1800s—unions prosecuted as conspiracies in restraint of trade 1830s—unions turn to political action, press for 10 hour day, restrict child labor, abolish convict labor, abolish home and factory sweatshops, public education 1840s—utopianism, coops. Unions seek control over apprenticeship, minimum wages, closed shop 1850s—National unions formed: printers, stonecutters, hatters, machinists, RR workers 1860s—demand for higher wages, shorter hours. Unions grew 1870s—membership dropped: 1872-300,000; 1878-50,000. Strikes lost, lockouts 1880s- back to 300,000. Kof L formed in 1869. Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in 1881. AFL in 1886. 1848—Communist Manifesto 1864—1st International founded in London to further world socialism 1876—Dissolved in Philadelphia 1889—2nd International founded in Paris to celebrate the 100th anniv. of the French Rev. Established May Day as the official International Workers Holiday. 1917—March 8. Russian Revolution begins in Petrograd March 12, New provincial govt. headed by Prince Lvov March 15. Czar Nicholas abdicates July 20. Kerensky replaces Lvov November 6,7. Bolsheviks seize power 1918—July 16. Czar Nicholas and family shot I suspect I wrote this around May 1, 2010, with the help of Google. This is not the kind of memoir I usually write. If I tried to remember May Days when I was a kid, what would come to mind are the Communist dominated May Day parades to Union Square. Marching would be the left wing unions—the furriers, UE, NMU and segments of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers and even the ILGWU. Also the IWO and its Jewish contingent, the JPFO, and members of the CP and fellow travelers. They turned out a crowd in the ‘30s and through the Popular Front period of the war, but during the post war period, the crowds thinned, b ooed the marchers, and people laughed at newsreels showing the marchers ducking into the subway at 14 St. to ride uptown to rejoin the march. The “official” labor movement marched on Labor Day. I resented the fact that the Communists had “captured” May Day, because I had learned in high school that it commemorated the struggle for the 8 hour day, and that its origin was in Chicago, not in Moscow. But everybody associated May Day with the big parades in Red Square with Stalin and the Comintern standing on Lenin’s tomb, reviewing the Red Army as it marched by. I also found it amusing that in England May Day is about little girls dancing around the May Pole. 3-1-11 Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data application/msword Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource May Day And Related History Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jacob Schlitt Description An account of the resource "Since 1889, May 1 has been the official workers’ holiday throughout the industrial world." Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2010/2011 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource text Language A language of the resource en Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MAY_DAY History Labor Movement Politics Socialism https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/71642/archive/files/39f1f8d035e570598c303cdc1ab15639.pdf?Expires=1773878400&Signature=mJQwqFyO4Nf0HSMA2XN3fBwehfrcvqJorth0uW4dwuefeSSCxyZQQ%7EloJwoZxQykwDRuSXIMR3gRsQgMM8rGkhIxb4FIAIUVyjndT-dmx%7Ez5MinIjT7UydZDfNv2T9fVQkGwwQnhRi%7Ei8GI5KWsPIeHB%7E6%7EDHw1BkKGVZi90IP%7E1KaXbiOmBK%7EFazMfstrTwkw2XgcyjSnqfIPHSxCTKVTX4VY9X8yFcC3OyJVGPrArA1OchAOC5nwrbU2p72FvBdIb4%7EWn5DUB8dNtcVNxnuJnsAubrlW4hwZ4uBvNLbF3%7EHYp6KSVAgSu106oHVXGaLIjLUxDTDpUP2SrJZf2OYQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 1f5c7d06bfed364e89c415cd5fa7fc82 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Autobiographical writing Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document HATS Recently, David and I were going to participate in a labor demonstration at Walmart, and I asked David if he wanted to wear a cap with the name of a union on it. He said no. He was wearing his union (GEO) tee shirt and he felt that was sufficient. I kept looking for my “UNITE” cap, but then I realized I had given it to David, and he had left it in Ann Arbor. So I put on my UFCW tee shirt and we left without hats. Which got me to thinking about hats and caps. First, the full name of the hatmakers union was “United Hatters, Cap, and Millinery Workers International Union.” It was one of the three “Jewish” needle trades unions. (The other two were the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.) The “Hatters” had a long and distinguished history. They go back to 1885, when they were not a Jewish union. That came in 1934 when the United Hatters merged with the Cloth Hat, Cap and Millinery Workers, which was Jewish, and was founded in 1901, about the same time as the ILGWU. One of the classic strikes in labor history was that of the Danbury Hatters in 1902. It ranks alongside the Lawrence Textile Strike, and the Dressmakers and Cloakmakers Strikes of 1909-10. About 240 hatters working for a large hat manufacturer in Danbury struck, and the employer brought in scabs. The union initiated a boycott of their hats, and the employer took to the union to court, charging it with conspiracy in restraint of trade, under the Sherman anti-trust act. After several years, the US Supreme Court ruled against the strikers, and awarded the company triple damages. To conclude the history lesson: The Hatters merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union in 1983, and they merged with the ILGWU in 1995 to form UNITE. Where the garment unions were divided by sex (men’s clothing workers represented by the Amalgamated, and women’s clothing workers by the ILGWU), the workers who produced men’s and women’s hats (millinery) were represented by one union. In my day—the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s—there was a close political relationship between the hatters union and the ILGWU. Their leaders were democratic socialists (David Dubinsky and Alex Rose), and they came together in 1936 to form the American Labor Party (ALP). When the Communists captured the ALP in the early ‘40s, the ILGWU and the Hatters left and formed the Liberal Party. I realize this has nothing to do with the subject of hats, but I find it interesting. Also, my first job was as a delivery boy for a small millinery shop on 38th Street off Fifth Avenue. It was the summer of 1942, I was 14 years old, and I was paid $8 a week. I assume the workers were union members. They made lovely felt hats with interesting trim—feathers, bows etc. I packed them in cardboard boxes with lots of tissue, and delivered them to nearby retail stores. This also has very little to do with the subject. While I am at it, in the early ‘50s, I was organizing custom tailors and alteration workers in the 57th Street and Madison Av. areas, and met Anne Draper who was organizing hat workers in the same area. Small world. There was a time when no one, male or female, left their house without a head covering. Outdoor crowd pictures, from the turn of the century into the ‘30s and ‘40s, showed everyone with a hat. Even before my Bar Mitzvah in 1940, my mother demanded that, when I go to Shul, I wear a hat. And it had to be a felt fedora (which she called a “kupelich”), not a cap or a yarmulke. Somehow, hats have fallen out of fashion. The only person wearing a fedora these days is Paul Solmon reporting economic news on Public TV. I have two great fedoras but I don’t wear them. Hasidim and some other Orthodox Jews wear big black fedoras. They are cooler than the big fur hats, “shtreimels,” which Hasidim wear on special occasions. Orthodox women also wear hats. When it is cold, I wear a cap. I have a brown cap, and two gray caps. I recently gave the brown cap to David. I used to buy caps in Filene’s basement, but it doesn’t exist any more. Many years ago, I was visiting my friend Sol in Phoenix, wearing a gray cap, which he admired, so I gave it to him. In return, he gave me a really neat cowboy hat. When I was in London, I bought one of the gray caps. The other gray cap, I bought on sale at the Gap. Of course it was made in China. I never wore wool knitted hats, although I always bought them for my kids. Seeing grownups wear them, made me think that their mothers dressed them, insisting that they put on their mufflers and mittens and button up. They make sense if you are hiking or skiing or working outdoors, but not for office workers walking around town. Finally, I have a closet shelf full of baseball caps. The only ones with union labels are the ones with union names on them. My Boston Red Sox caps are all knock-offs. They sell for $5 outside Fenway Park. The official Major League Baseball (MLB) caps, sold at the official MLB store cost five times as much, and there quality isn’t five times as good. I wear Red Sox caps when going to a ballgame or when I am on vacation and want people to know I am from Boston. Though I am sure it is not required, professional golfers wear a variety of hats and caps, and many professional tennis players wear caps as well. Unfortunately, they tend to advertise different products. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data application/msword Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Hats Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jacob Schlitt Description An account of the resource "Recently, David and I were going to participate in a labor demonstration at Walmart, and I asked David if he wanted to wear a cap with the name of a union on it." Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2012/2013 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource text Language A language of the resource en Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context HATS American Labor Party (ALP) Clothing David ILGWU Labor Movement Socialism https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/71642/archive/files/c810f9e1a33c1c21d4d66ea9ee7811d7.pdf?Expires=1773878400&Signature=jw-D4Wx4RBTuiVvnh3YGqpGxbmCRLBRMuEaVAZXlitqhomPkUulh3y-U%7ET22erSfbIQF7jfD3JEI4ZI0pkSWE2dyhU0kWPv4J0Eh2c1lbePY8sqf3gTS7rNzas0NvjsupK1LnFrF0cfLx38G2yi%7E9HQOVp-D8ERrWASJ3udC8BLdPEG90aAeqJ9NuCxTlMk0JEr2kl5OvSZQxgUKe9Tzty9NQX7OGDDdM%7EXJOUES9FA4MqHOVm2YPCUecfXdQxYVt5EH8%7Ep97Q9TX44XAx-PnAOl7%7EdFYpuyIm78oZIrZWlwErbp6gmwmEi31XMBrvwSA9ohkF8vaO8AU9KjzTZ18A__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM ac7ad951a31eaaece7eb35bf04b23896 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Autobiographical writing Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document THE BOSTON WORKMEN’S CIRCLE 1979-2015 I came to Boston from DC in 1979, when I was appointed Director of the NE Region of the US Civil Rights Commission. I had been a member of a NY branch of the WC since 1956, transferred to the DC branch in 1965, and then to Boston Branch 711. There were three or four branches—700, 711, 716 and 687 (?). The WC had moved from Blue Hill Av. to Beacon St. in 1962. The activists that I remember included Gladys Klitzman Heitin, Evelyn Bernstein, Israel Neiman, Jack Rottenberg and Ed Gutoff. Staff included Esther Ritchie, office manager, and Herman Brown, half-time director. Through the 1980’s, the older members became less active, and Herman did his best to recruit new members. There was an ill-fated effort to create a Russian branch. The undertaking that revived the WC was the creation of branch 2001, a group of young people that wanted to be involved with “their” kind of Jewish organization—secular, progressive, culturally Yiddish. I switched my affiliation to 2001. Most activities were branch-centered. There were WC events: lectures, Yiddish programs, musical programs, annual meetings. There was a Shule and adult Yiddish classes. Soon after I came to Boston, I took an intermediate Yiddish class with Hinda Gutoff as teacher. The Shule had fewer and fewer enrollees and was abandoned. However, with the growing activity of 2001, the Shule was revived, and membership increased. I played an active role, eventually becoming president, and did what I could to help the organization grow. We were involved in the Jewish Community Relations Council, worked with member Michal Goldman in the establishment of the Boston Jewish Film Festival, and with Hankus Netsky in the early days of the New England Klezmer Conservatory Band, The day-to-day operation was in the hands of Herman Brown, the half-time director, who also was the half-time director of the Jewish Labor Committee. His salary was paid by National WC. The structure of the Boston Workmen’s Circle was divided (for tax or CJP purposes?) between the BWC and the I.L. Peretz Shule of the BWC. We followed the by-laws which had been in effect from before the BWC moved from Blue Hill Av.to Beacon Street in 1962. With the coming of the 21st century, there were a great many changes. A new director: Lisa Gallatin, a new dues structure, the disappearance of the branches, with the exception of branch 716, the growth of both the Shule and the WC Yiddish chorus, A Besere Velt, and a more involved lay leadership, and a growing membershijp. The Boston Workmen’s Circle was one of the few districts that was active and growing. I can’t remember how often I was greeted with surprise when I mentioned I was a member of the Workmen’s Circle. “Does the Workmen’s Circle still exist? My grandfather was a member.” (Barney Frank proudly told me his father was a member of the “Arbeiter Ring.) I would then be regaled with stories about the Workmen’s Circle doctor, the meetings at the Labor Lyceum addressed by Norman Thomas, the family’s subscription to the Forward and the Workmen’s Circle Call, the fundraising for Jewish refugees and survivors of the Holocaust. But that was then. The Workmen’s Circle fulfilled a very important role for tens of thousands of first generation American Jewish workers. Mutual help---medical care, life insurance, cemetery plot, extension and absorption of the role of “landsmanshaftn.” Education---lectures, discussion groups, shules, Jewish cultural identification---holiday celebrations Political involvement---social democratic, anti-fascist, anti-communist Today: Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data application/msword Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Boston Workmen's Circle 1979-2015 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jacob Schlitt Description An account of the resource "I came to Boston from DC in 1979, when I was appointed Director of the NE Region of the US Civil Rights Commission." Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014/2015 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource text Language A language of the resource en Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1979/2015 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context THE_BOSTON_WORKMEN'S_CIRCLE Activism Boston Fragment Jewish Identity Politics Socialism Worker's Circle Yiddish https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/71642/archive/files/a90f6053b1cd9f5871094d3dfff2f5f9.pdf?Expires=1773878400&Signature=aorPgjEUO1XwDLb7LEU1Wm9F0yrJcMtMFSzbwfrAThczOMS4WjqVkSHauO9m8KYvGNYbduhQTgbFk8411%7EkkYWh43Yuj%7ER1erW1ap57wVtt7jzH1yyjsz8BxgQclu-AZa5EMDAuQYdikCmfS7buYVM0-yIGnTBofsV7ibz5jU6X2Bj3b1cq255rdD3ds2BSHU6jW9zzUu4zTOTFdyqZ6ibREHcUN9rp48c3YWOlK7Vwu9Wp-eB-9idmKSamQ8B1yVWm3aJ1d26XMvMBaqAZTyx97ic%7E-0yyMo1oLEQDkGjV0skUYGuBo9dt0rxWDLavNcZ8zxjVgcT49IZp3rOz3QQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM d14b15f6a599b30bdaff101bba19435f Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Autobiographical writing Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document THE STORY OF MY AWARD It was a quiet evening toward the end of March, 2014. I received a call from Mike Pattberg, the president of Boston Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). I was surprised to hear from him. My involvement with DSA these days consists of my paying my dues, and sadly observing how few members we have. “Hi, Mike. What can I do for you?” He said that Boston DSA would like to honor me with the “Debs-Thomas-Bernstein Award” at their Annual Awards Event in June. I laughed, and said they must be scraping the bottom of the barrel. Not at all, Mike responded. They had been thinking about me as a recipient for some time. He told me there would be two awardees this year, and the second awardee would be Cecily McMillan, a 23 year old activist in Occupy Wall Street, who had been arrested. He forwarded to me a piece about Cecily, which had been written by Maurice Isserman. Mike explained they liked the idea of youth and age. I said, if I accept, I suspect I will be getting the award as much for longevity as for activity. I told him I would think about it, talk to Fran, and would call him the next day. Fran thought it was great. I called Mike, said yes, and he asked me for a brief biography. I had been writing my memoirs for the past 15 years, so it was not a problem for me to whip something out. When he received it, he e-mailed me back, “Wow!” A nice response. I am aware that I have had a busy life, and came up with two observations: “I have done well by doing good,” and “Am I now considered an elder statesman, or a has-been.” Having worked non-stop from 1942 to 1997, and having been involved in all kinds of good causes, it might be fun to have that recognized. Mike and I discussed the details. They would give me the Debs-Thomas-Bernstein Award. (They also have a Randolph-Harrington Award.) He will make a pitch for DSA. After all, it is a fund-raiser. Then someone of my choice will introduce me and give me the award, and I will make a speech. I thought for a moment, and concluded the most impressive introducer I can think of is Barney Frank. I asked Mike if I can have two introducers. He said, sure. I felt my son David would be perfect. The date chosen was Sunday afternoon, June 8. The place I recommended was the Workmen’s Circle, and the WC generously said yes. Having the date and place, I called Barney. He does what so many are now doing: Not answering. I left a message, explaining why I called. He called back the next day. The first time I met Barney was at the JCRC soon after I came to Boston in 1979. I was the new Regional Director of the US Civil Rights Commission. He was a State Representative. The following year, he decided to run for the Congressional seat being vacated by Father Robert Drinan. I sent him a small contribution. Passing him a few weeks later, at the ILGWU office, he nodded and said, “Thanks Jake, for the check.” I was surprised that he remembered my name. Over the years I saw him at scores of meetings. I extended the invitation to him to address the 95th Anniversary celebration of the Workmen’s Circle, and he accepted. David worked for him at both his Newton and Washington offices. On the strength of this relationship, I asked, and he said yes, but explained that he did not have his calendar in front of him. He also liked the venue, explaining that his father was a member of the “Arbeiter Ring.” The following week, he called me very apologetically, saying he could not do it because he had two long-term commitments that day. I said I understood, and subsequently asked if he could send a message to be read at the event, and be listed as an honorary chair. He said yes to both. Next came identifying other honorary chairs. I asked several “titled” friends—president, director, chair, and they all agreed. I told David about the award, and he was very excited, and said he would be honored to introduce me: A reunion of Barney and David. After I learned that Barney couldn’t make it, I learned that David couldn’t make it either, because his summer employment at the Yiddish Book Center started June 6. I turned to Workmen’s Circle former president Mike Felsen, and my daughter Carol. (Both came through big time.) Mike Pattberg asked me to send him a few photos for the flyer, which I did. He chose the picture of me with Elizabeth Warren at the Succah the JLC and JALSA erected at Occupy Boston, but he cut out Sen. Warren. The flyer featured the photos of Cecily and me, and our biographies, as well as the time and place of the event. DSA distributed the flyers by e-mail and regular mail; I distributed the flyers at meetings I attended, and by e-mail, a new skill I learned. I started thinking about what I wanted to say. I listed issues that I am concerned about. I listed issues that the Socialist movement has been concerned about over the years. I looked through Mike Harrington’s books, I looked through biographies of Debs and Thomas, and reviewed what I knew about Julie Bernstein. I jotted down ideas, and came up with a great many clever phrases like, “comforting the afflicted, and afflicting the comfortable,” and a quote from Henry Frick: “I can always hire half the working class to kill the other half.” And a description of corporate boards as, “male, stale and pale.” And Harrington’s, “left wing of the possible.” I compiled statistics about increasing income inequality, and the increasing power of the corporations, about the weakened labor movement, and voter intimidation. I thought about women’s rights, gay rights, the environment, health care, gun control; exploitation of factory workers, agricultural workers, domestic workers; war, brutality, violence. And then decided that is not what I will talk about. It would be, to use another cliché, “preaching to the choir.” I would thank DSA, thank my introducers, thank those who came, thank my co-honoree, and describe my connection with the three Socialist leaders whose names are on the award: my mother’s link to Debs and Thomas, and my link to Julie Bernstein. And that is what I did. As June 8 drew near, I asked DSA about the response. Not much. A couple of my friends sent contributions, and I began receiving calls and e-mails, congratulating me, and then explaining that they won’t be able to make it. On June 7, I received a copy of Boston DSA’s “Yankee Radical” by e-mail, headed “All Out for Jake and Cecily!” but it was too late for anyone to receive it. Yet, better late than never. June 8 was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. Unfortunately, the Workmen’s Circle does not have air conditioning. Carol was taking a bus up from New York, and then the T to the event. I assured several friends that there was plenty of parking around the building. The “social” was to begin at 3 pm, and the “program” at 4 pm. I arrived there at 2:30 pm. The only one there was Mike Katz who was the designated WC welcomer. Where were the DSA people, the refreshments, the leaflets, the contribution-taker? Thankfully, they came about 2:50 pm, as Mike K and I were setting up the chairs. It occurred to me that there are parallels between this event and a Bar Mitzvah, and a funeral. With regard to the former, the gift goes to the organization, not the honoree. But speeches are expected from both. No speech is expected from the latter, but speeches (called eulogies) are expected, either from a designated speechmaker, or friends and/or family, describing the late honoree. It also occurred to me that neither the award, a Bar Mitzvah nor a funeral could be considered a success without a lot of people. Friends and family have to come through. I low-keyed the DSA award, and did not want my old friends to shlep up to Boston. I was touched that they made contributions in my honor. But I hoped that local friends would attend, and thankfully they did. There were close personal friends, friends from the WC and the WC Book Group, the Senior Center’s writing group and discussion group, the Jewish community, including Schechter, the Newton Center Minyan, the JLC and JALSA. And friends who are also DSAers. By 3:45, the room was filled, and I could not have been happier. Most organizations running fundraisers usually pick honorees who have a following, who have business or organizational connections where there is money, and where there would be a payoff to be seen, or listed. This obviously was not my case. However, there were more than enough people to consider it a success. When I worked for a union, we received scores of requests from charitable, political, and social justice organizations. Unions had money earmarked for such contributions. The Executive Board would approve the contribution, which usually consisted of buying a table to a fundraising dinner. Attendees were jokingly designated “the eating team.” There were first, second and third eating teams. Usually, the first eating team consisted of the manager and staff. The second eating team was made up of Executive Board members, and the third eating team were the elected shop chairs. Those were the days: Fancy hotel dining rooms, prime rib, endless speeches. There was no one in the WC hall that day who had his or her way paid for. Everyone made a contribution to DSA on my behalf. They were my friends honoring me. I was thrilled and humbled. Sadly, my co-honoree was in jail, and being from New York, there was no one who turned out for her. She was represented by Lucy Parks, a young woman heading her defense committee. The program got under way. Julie Johnson, the moderator, introduced Mike Katz who welcomed everyone to Workmen’s Circle, and said nice things about me. Lucy was introduced and she spoke passionately about Cecily’s arrest, trial and 90 day sentence. The hat was passed, and more than $500 was collected. Messages from Senator Bernie Sanders was read, and then from Barney Frank, and Rep.Ruth Balser congratulating me and expressing regret at not being here. This was followed by two wonderful introductions—from my daughter Carol and from Mike Felsen, both saying nice things about me. They then presented me with the Debs-Thomas-Bernstein Award: “To Jacob Schlitt for his lifetime of work in the struggle for social justice.” When I arose to accept it, I received a standing ovation—my first. I have already shared the text of my remarks. I made some changes, felt I was going on too long, found myself getting emotional talking about my mother and my friend Julie Bernstein, and for someone who cannot carry a tune, I was pleased with the response to my two union musical selections: “The Cloakmakers Union,” and “Talking Union.” Looking out at the crowd, I saw people I loved, and I felt a deep gratitude to DSA for making this happen. I have no idea if DSA raised what they hoped they would. All I know is that I had a ball. 6-22-14 Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data application/msword Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Story of My Award Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jacob Schlitt Description An account of the resource "It was a quiet evening toward the end of March, 2014." Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2014-06-22 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource text Language A language of the resource en Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 2014 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context THE_STORY_OF_MY_AWARD Activism Boston DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) Socialism Worker's Circle https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/71642/archive/files/b70b731a4377d6fe6e5f23a2b1734882.pdf?Expires=1773878400&Signature=O-o77SAtV0uYNPy7QL4f6NFe6U5JbKqEsjvCHTtD0UazjKCgBAHJX960sVU3CU-nvk%7E1MYNiPOHYKjJQs4i6yEa3fDZCbSVD899PzbU3Tp5QycG3Nbk9PLW17cy5EXB6DwHkxImdlusp1QbZ2FUtKF1r0LEwHqXImXjZWoFCCm5Lkxg-lied6f3JGiELCf9vgjtE8cWGo8lUhouT00yJhx0xFvq8G93NilenihKwDhDbc7Zz70nYuzJC67K4x9K2E4BwvKYcEdA85H--CQeqjMPgQz-WLp%7EPVvgSuFcD4v7BBdd4Yn2GgVCvrF8korW6LnAwNhZ0dqkgzMYuxgHj0g__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 259b5f6fbf10b54e5d420020b4daad4b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Autobiographical writing Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document I’M FOR BERNIE It is December, 2015, eleven months before the presidential election. Candidates for the Democratic and Republican nominations have already been campaigning for close to a year. The GOP had about 16 candidates and is now down to half that number. The Democrats started with five and are down to three. Actually there are only two—Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders—and I suspect many Sanders supporters doubt that Bernie can get the nomination. 2016 is supposed to be Hillary’s coronation. If Bernie’s people are like me, they are excited that a democratic socialist is getting the kind of coverage, crowds and contributions that he is getting. What Bernie is doing is educating America, and pushing Hillary to the left. Nobody has done anything like that before. Bernie is giving Hillary a run for her money. And she has big money behind her. It was supposed to be a shoo-in. The DNC is for Hillary, and they stacked the debates for her. Still, Bernie might even take New Hampshire. In 2008, we elected a black president. In 2016, we are supposed to elect a woman. Why not a Jewish socialist? I should note that Bernie made it clear from the start that he is in this race to win, not to educate America or push Hillary to the left. When he started, the polls gave Hillary over 60% to Bernie’s less than 5%. By July, Hillary was still over 6o% and Bernie at 12%. As of this writing, it is 56% to 34%. And 43% of Democratic voters say that Bernie shares their values. Bernie has raised real issues, and the crowds are coming out to cheer him. He is talking about what many of us have been talking about most of our lives: Income and wealth inequality, decent paying jobs, a living wage, free public higher education, getting big money out of politics, civil rights, women’s rights, single payer health care. And he has an impressive resume: Mayor, Congressman, Senator. Come on. Did we ever, in the furthest stretch of our imagination, envision a nice Jewish boy from Brooklyn, and a democratic socialist, running for the Democratic presidential nomination, and having a chance of getting it and being elected? In 1932, and I assume in 1928, my mother voted for the Socialist Party candidate, Norman Thomas. After FDR was elected in 1932, Socialists accused him of stealing the Socialist Party platform. Almost everything that FDR did to get America out of the depression had been originally proposed by Thomas. In 1936, my mother’s union, the ILGWU, together with several other “socialist” unions, formed the American Labor Party in New York to enable workers to vote for FDR without having to vote the capitalist Tammany star. Dubinsky was a practical man. America wasn’t going to elect Thomas. Support Roosevelt, and we will have a president who will support organized labor. Many of us used to accuse our parents of voting for any candidate who is Jewish. What is wrong with that if the Jewish candidate is concerned with advancing Jewish concerns and protecting Jewish interests in a period of racism and anti-Semitism? They emphasized Rabbi Hillel’s “If I am not for myself, who will be for me…” The next generation emphasizes “But if I am only for myself, what am I?” A good democratic socialist position. Bernie is fighting for Tikkun Olam, to repair the world; for a Shenere un Besere Velt, a more beautiful and better world. I regret that the two democratic socialist thinkers and writers who best articulated the position that Bernie holds, my heroes Michael Harrington and Irving Howe, are not around to enjoy Bernie’s success. Thanks to Bernie, socialism is no longer a dirty word, and no longer equated with communism. And people are finally getting the message that America’s millionaires and billionaires are really calling the shots, ands it does not have to be that way. For years, we have been voting for the lesser of two evils. We went to the polls and held our nose and voted. We had to be practical. With Bernie, we have someone who is everything we could want in a candidate. And if he gets the nomination, he won’t be a third party candidate. He will be running as a Democrat. A Democratic Socialist! I’m for Bernie. 12-28-15 Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data application/msword Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource I'm for Bernie Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jacob Schlitt Description An account of the resource "It is December, 2015, eleven months before the presidential election." Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-12-28 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource text Language A language of the resource en Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context I'M_FOR_BERNIE DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) ILGWU Observations Politics Socialism https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/71642/archive/files/54034b3aa17c44a4fa635b5ce3b63a5f.pdf?Expires=1773878400&Signature=LMvzVkFG2krmLIe61mraowCsTZM3JySJ3RXQI-NJZV1qOMCyQn%7ELh5IBSSr5hNrmNc1vUnYJOCNZMV0zVAFsYLGUKs5q8rltPClCig3jE1kp4U5JW3f2hPUCdCCnptZkZZL-6RWBBikPNKsRzCIRoge9lIuZpLBaQqPtzJgtTjqhl5UTGPZxDE4JjOmWjglgevEYDMVb-faywPDUnwNj-j8EufVdXwKeqzuny0uL9EuUq4C82zabKroWgHKFjbYq-SJR3%7ELzuwz1pdj3TVGbYmUSsl-LmJTkBwape5HNO7z1V5LLly5X8H9dc9iyVktDCapgUBMlx%7E8BAYHTPxgs0Q__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 3a632c6b1038504573749b12f071fa92 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document MIKE KATZ Was it 25 years ago, or maybe closer to 30, when I first met Mike and Linda? I can’t remember. I came to Boston in 1979, and had transferred my membership from the Washington DC branch of the Workmen’s Circle to one of the Boston branches. I think it was branch 700. Some time in the early ‘80s, we hired Herman Brown as half-time director, and he did his best to expand the Workmen’s Circle, and to develop exciting programs and activities. I remember he reached out to the newly arrived Russian-Jewish community, and established a Russian branch but it didn’t catch on. Most of those who joined thought of it as a place from which to take, not to give, or be a part. Very few of our new Russian members felt comfortable as part of the Workmen’s Circle. But soon after, Herman struck gold. Several young people, led by Mike Katz, worked with Herman to create a home for secular, progressive, socially concerned young Jews, who were also interested in Yiddish. A new branch was created—branch 2001. And our shule, which was on its last legs, became transformed, and was reborn. And Mike played an important part in that as well, as did his kids, Perele, and Ben. It actually was a reaffirmation of the formation of the Arbeter Ring by Veltlikhe Yidn. I shook my head and said to myself, this boychik is the answer to our prayers. I was so excited by this new presence, I switched my membership to branch 2001. I felt certain that if the Arbeter Ring, which I have been a part of since I attended a shule on Beck Street in the Bronx in 1935, is to survive., it is going to take the youth, the energy, the dedication and the innovation of people like Mike. A few years later, he led the way to our creating a New England Yiddish Culture Festival, complete with T shirts. He and Linda established the first Yiddish Vinkl in their home in Somerville. They created the monthly Yiddish Sing (which is what Mike assumed was taking place here tonight) and Mike did the schlepping of the song books and helping Linda in leading the singing. I suspect Mike was a major factor in creating our remarkable Yiddish chorus, A Besere Velt, For several years, Mike and I alternated as the Boston Workmen’s Circle delegate to the NEB. I have retired, but thankfully Mike is still going strong. And we have a new crop of leaders of what is now called BWC, who are now trying to lead National by example. I cannot talk about my tayere khaver Mike without talking about our politics. It is also a part of who we are, and we are both proud of our heritage. Times have certainly changed, and the struggle between the two factions within the Jewish left is now history. The Sotsialistn and the Communistn. The Forverts and the Freiheit. Camp Kinder Ring and Camp Kinderland. Not exactly a NY Yankees--Boston Red Sox rivalry. It was a historic coming together when the national Workmen’s Circle, recognizing that the Call wasn’t doing its job, made Jewish Currents its official organ for a time. The fact is, to me, the marriage of Mike and Linda represents the successful merging of the two factions: Linda’s Arbeter Ring and Mike’s IWO-JPFO. Today, WC is the only game is town, and no one is working harder to make it successful and meaningful. Personally, I am crazy about Mike’s T shirts, his beard, his “Good Morning,” his energy, his family. I was delighted when his folks moved into the neighborhood, and Mike’s father Leiber joined our Brookline Yiddish Vinkl. He was a charming, knowledgeable man, his Yiddish was certainly better than most of ours, and he had wonderful stories. His passing was a loss to all of us. Last summer, I was honored to be honored by the Boston Democratic Socialists of America, in this very room, and it was Mike who welcomed everyone and said nice things about me and my dedication to democratic socialism, and civil rights. I was touched and grateful, and tonight I am happy to reciprocate, to say nice things about him, and to wish him a very happy, healthy birthday. Tsu Dayn Gebortstog. Biz a hundertsvantsig. Jake Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data application/msword Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mike Katz Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jacob Schlitt Description An account of the resource Remarks given in honor of Mike Katz's birthday. "Was it 25 years ago, or maybe closer to 30, when I first met Mike and Linda? I can’t remember." Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-03-26 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource text Language A language of the resource en Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context MIKE_KATZ Birthdays Boston Friends Socialism Worker's Circle