Jewish Labor Committee

l-r: Prof. Emeritus Jerome Dancis, University of Maryland (AFT); Gail Malmgreen (New York Labor History Association); Barry Dancis; Frank Silberstein (AFGE); Benjamin Ross; Arieh Lebowitz and Martin Schwartz (Jewish Labor Committee).

August 26th, 2023 - Washington, DC: As many as 50,000 people again gathered at the Lincoln Memorial, at the 60th Anniversary of the 1963 March On Washington. And, again, we were there.

Despite significant progress in the last 60 years, there is a growing wave of intimidation, hate crimes and hate speech. Attacks on Jews, African Americans, Asian-Pacific Americans, Muslims in the U.S., and on people of diverse identities based on race, religion, gender, sexual identity and cultural heritage and affiliation are on the rise. That is why we came to Washington.

Six decades ago, on August 28, 1963, at the first “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom," under the leadership of A. Philip Randolph and with the civil rights leader Bayard Rustin as its principal organizer, we gathered at an historic event, organized by a broad coalition of civil rights, labor, and religious groups. One of the largest political demonstrations for human rights in the history of United States, it was designed to put the political, economic, and social discrimination suffered by African Americans squarely on the national agenda.

Today, in 2023, there is still much work to do. Racism, bigotry and discrimination persist. Our society is fractured, and the result, too often is violence. We see it in the headlines, on the streets, and outside and inside our houses of worship. And that is why we and so many others assembled on a hot Saturday in our nation's capital, coming from the civil and human rights movement, the labor movement, and a range of Jewish and other ethnic and faith-based organizations. We were there to join with others, to reaffirm our shared commitment to freedom, equality, economic and social equity and respect for our common humanity.

Posted by Arieh Lebowitz at 03:30 PM | Permalink

(Jewish Labor Committee collection, Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives / Tamiment Library, New York University)

August 16, 2023 - New York, NY: We mark the anniversary of the World Labor Athletic Carnival, held on August 15th and 16th at New York’s Randall’s Island, to protest the holding of the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany. The two-day event, organized by the Jewish Labor Committee with the active support and cooperation of a number of unions and labor bodies, brought over 400 athletes from across the United States to compete in what became known as the “Counter-Olympics.” Honorary co-chairs of the event included New York Governor Herbert Lehman, NYC Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, American Federation of Labor President William Green and Judge Jeremiah Mahoney, former President of the Amateur Athletics Union of the United States and a leader of the “Move the Olympics” movement, who resigned from the American Olympic Committee to protest holding of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Chairing the Labor Committee of the Carnival was Isidore Nagler, Vice President of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union.

The story of this little-known episode in labor history begins in late 1934, when the newly-formed Jewish Labor Committee (JLC) learned about plans to hold the 1936 in Berlin. Early in 1935, JLC Chairman Baruch Charney (B.C.) Vladeck was invited to join the “Move the Olympics Committee” headed by Samuel K. Maccabee. Soon thereafter, JLC Executive Secretary Isaiah Minkoff and Vladeck began work on organizing a massive anti-Nazi demonstration to take place while the Olympics were taking place in Berlin. The JLC decided to organize a”counter Olympics” in New York City. The public event, held over the August 15th – 16th weekend at the newly-opened Municipal Stadium on Randall’s Island, brought together hundreds of athletes from various sectors in the United States and abroad, and gained the imprimatur of the Amateur Athletic Union, the highest body for such games.

This anti-Nazi protest was widely covered in the general, labor and Jewish press of the time. The event was so successful that another one was held the following year. Although the latter of course had less direct connection with the anti-Berlin Olympics protests of 1936, it nevertheless gave an opportunity during the summer of 1937 to publicly protest the Nazis and their activities.

The World Labor Athletic Carnival was a unique publicity vehicle to support those in New York and around the world who actively opposed holding the Olympics in Berlin and thereby giving prestige and legitimacy to Hitler and his regime. At the same time, it gave visibility to the Jewish Labor Committee and other groups and individuals active in the anti-Nazi struggle.

#Olympics

Posted by Arieh Lebowitz at 10:04 AM | Permalink