41. Plan for Cultural Work in the English Speaking Lodges

Description:

Translated Summary: Itche Goldberg Plan for cultural work, first draft. "a. Utilize programs that we have on the Jewish holidays. and b. Add programs on American/Jewish historical events (such as Labor Day; Fourth of July; Washington-Lincoln; May 1st; c. Evenings on Jewish Culture (the 30th anniversary of Sholem Aleichem's death etc.) Note. All the above to be carried out by the lodges on the basis of programs we prepare." Proposes to publish in English: Sholem Asch, Sholem Aleichem, Y. L. Peretz as well as literature on American Jewish historical contributions and a songbook by Ruth Rubin. Also proposes a bowling league in larger cities and a pamphlet about the JPFO (Ordn).

Date:

1945-07-13

Creator:

Goldberg, Itshe (Itche)

Identifier:

International Workers Order (IWO) Records #5276, Box 35, Folder 1

42. Women's Department Newsletter by Clara Lemlich, May 1941

Description:

Translated Summary: Headings include Membership Drive and Campaign for Camp Wo-Chi-Cha. Summer Activities include reading circles and conversations in the parks to be accompanied as needed with the distribution of appropriate literature, some of which is against "militarism." [The brochures were written prior to Operation Barbarossa.]

Date:

1941-05-22

Creator:

Shavelson (Lemlich), Clara, 1886-1982

Identifier:

International Workers Order (IWO) Records #5276, Box 67, Folder 11

43. Louise Thompson "Report on the English Section,” Fifth National Convention, the International Workers Order, June 8-14, 1940

Description:

Grey Folder containing National Secretary Louise Thompson's "Report on the English Section,” Fifth National Convention, IWO, June 8-14, 1940, Riverside Plaza Hotel. The Report, created for the National English Committee to the National Conference of English Lodges,stresses the importance of making English speaking lodges evolve to become the largest Section and to further recruit women and Black members. The Report follows Soviet Molotov-Ribentrop policy in denouncing "war mongers" since it is issued just prior to the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. It discusses whether Black people will benefit from a war: "They know that if there are job opportunities in the armament program they are denied to Negroes." (12) It critiques British rule of non-white peoples in India, the Caribbean and Africa, and passes anti-colonialism resolutions as well as discusses the need for more recruiting and organizing in the Black community. It notes: "The Negro membership reflected in the reports of the lodges is ... not a figure to shout about. Rather it is a reflection of the lack of country-wide attention to the job of winning large sections of the Negro people for our Order." (11) This text uses the term ‘Negro’ and/or 'Negro Labor' to refer to the concerted efforts made primarily in the 1920s-1940s to fight racial discrimination so as to ensure the fair employment of Black people, in union and other jobs including those in the private sector, civil service, as well as advocacy for the full integration of Black people into the armed services. Black unemployment and under employment were extremely high due to racial barriers. While the term ‘Negro’ might be read as pejorative today, the term was then used in a positive regard, including by Black leftists.

Date:

1940-06-08 to 1940-06-14

Creator:

Patterson, Louise Thompson, 1901-1999

Identifier:

International Workers Order (IWO) Records #5276, Box 3, Folder 2

44. Interracial Camps

Description:

List of interracial [integrated] camps in the New York City area. Offers information about location, number of boys and girls, rates, age range, and director. Includes IWO Camp Wo-Chi-Cha, "Workers Children Camp", the I.W.O.'s racially integrated children's camp in Schooley's Mountain, NJ.

Date:

1947

Creator:

Unknown

Identifier:

International Workers Order (IWO) Records #5276, Box 43, Folder 2

45. List of Camp Kinderland Campers

Description:

List of Camp Kinderland campers with notes for dollar amounts (charges? or subsidies?), time spent at camp, and special remarks

Date:

1950-07-11

Creator:

Camp "Kinderland" (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.)

Identifier:

International Workers Order (IWO) Records #5276, Box 43, Folder 2

46. Talk on the Importance of the Schools

Description:

Translated Summary: Text of a talk. Begins with humorous comments about the "donor-dinner". Talk focuses on the importance of the schools for the continuity of the culture and the people. Resistance to enemies from without and culturelessness and assimilation from within. Ends quoting a poem by Yehoash. Addressed to mothers and grandmothers in Detroit, so probably a Women's Club precursor of the Emmas. Interesting language choices and essence of ideology

Date:

1938-05

Creator:

Goldberg, Itshe (Itche)

Identifier:

International Workers Order (IWO) Records #5276, Box 63, Folder 8

47. Ten Years of the Jewish Workers University

Description:

Translated Summary: Opens with printed program of May 15 tenth year celebration, with music, singing, acting and dance. Contents include pictures of students and of faculty (page 3), greetings and congratulations, and essays or speeches related to the history of the Jewish Workers University, pedagogy for workers, adult education, etc. Writers include Opatoshu who was on faculty. Articles are interspersed with poems by Tabatchnik, Seltzer, Shifris.

Date:

1937-05-15

Creator:

Marmor, Kalmon, 1876-1956 Bailin, (Y.B) Israel Ber, 1883-1961 Mandel, A.

Identifier:

International Workers Order (IWO) Records #5276, Box 47, Folder 2

48. Abraham Lincoln School 1945 A.D. Winspear confirmation letter to students

Description:

Confirmation Letter circa July 1945 from A .D. Winspear for IWO members attending the Abraham Lincoln School Summer Institute Madison, Wisconsin program organized by Louise Thompson Patterson and William "Pat" Patterson. Winspear notes that ration books are required; World War II has not yet ended. While union members were invited to the Institute each summer, this was the first program geared for Black workers, specifically for members and families of Chicago's Du Sable Lodge 751 and tailored to support IWO goals in organizing in the Black community. Recreation was built into the IWO subsidized program as was childcare. William Patterson and IWO leaders gave classes and/or spoke at the Institute. With the advent of the Cold War, the Pattersons' and the IWO's politics were attacked as were those of the Abraham Lincoln School; its founders A.D. Winspear and William Patterson, and spouse Louise Thompson Patterson were key Lincoln School figures. The program was brought together by IWO Vice President and President of the Illinois District, Louise Thompson Patterson who organized the Chicago IWO Du Sable Lodge.

Date:

1945-07

Creator:

Winspear, Alban Dewes, 1899-1973

Identifier:

International Workers Order (IWO) Records #5276, Box 16, Folder 1

49. Suppose they were YOURS...

Description:

Fundraising brochure about the Ingram case, and the Ingram boys, Charles and James. "the IWO has established the Ingram Children's Education and Welfare Fund." Brochure calls for Christmas fundraising for the fund whose trustees are Walter B. Garland, June Gordon, Rockwell Kent, Edward Nelson, Louise Thompson Patterson, Eslande Goode Robeson, Estelle Massey Osborne, the Hon. Joseph H. Raisey, Benjamin J. Spaulding, and Pauline Taylor.

Date:

ca. 1949-10

Creator:

Ingram Children's Education and Welfare Fund

Identifier:

International Workers Order (IWO) Records #5276, Box 17, Folder 7

50. Press release Aug 30, 1949 "IWO Condemns Peekskill Pogrom" (first Peekskill riot against Paul Robeson)

Description:

Press release August 30, 1949 from IWO President artist Rockwell Kent who condemns the attack on performer Paul Robeson and on Jews by locals and law enforcement at Robeson's Peekskill concert, describing it as a "pogrom" and "organized lynch mob." The first Peekskill outdoors concert by Paul Robeson on August 27, 1949 was to be held as a benefit for the Civil Rights Congress (CRC). The concert was cancelled after he arrived since his life was threatened and he was lynched in effigy; crosses were burned and anti-Black and antisemitic chants and violence ensued. The press release deals with the aftermath of the cancelled first concert and calls on Governor Dewey to investigate and prosecute those involved with the violence that wasabetted by the lack of law enforcement. The IWO was involved in supporting the CRC, headed by William "Pat" Patterson, spouse of IWO Vice President Louise Thompson Patterson. Kent states: "The outrageous and horrifying attack by an organized lynch mob against the Paul Robeson concert in Peekskill, New York on Saturday night was a danger signal, indicating how far the drive against civil liberties and the freedom to assemble peaceably had advanced. The burning cross of the Ku Klux Klan illuminated the pattern of violence growing out of the "loyalty" drive, the red-baiting hysteria, and the tide of anti-Negro and anti-Semitic racism unleashed by reaction." This text uses the term ‘Negro’ to refer to Black people in the context of the concerted efforts made primarily in the 1920s-1940s to fight racial discrimination. While the term ‘Negro’ might be read as pejorative today, the term was then used in a positive regard, including by Black leftists.

Date:

1949-08-30

Creator:

International Workers Order

Identifier:

International Workers Order (IWO) Records #5276, Box 48, Folder 28