7. Great Yiddish Parade

Question 1

Key dates

Answer 1

• 1889, Jewish tailors went on strike
• 1905, The Aliens Act restricted immigration for the first time
• 1936, Fascist Blackshirts were stopped from marching through the East End

Question 2

The British Brothers League

Answer 2

• Founded in East London in 1900
• Accused Jewish immigrants of putting up rents, taking jobs and forcing down wages
• Recruited members from the local Irish community and their rally on Mile End Road in January 1902 attracted 4,000 marchers

Question 3

Describe the divide between the Anglo-Jews and the new Jewish arrivals

Answer 3

• There were deep divided between the new arrivals and some settled Anglo-Jews who were uncomfortable about the influx and wanted to restrict the numbers arriving
• There were also fundamental religious and political divisions
• Socialist and Communist ideas, often led by Jews, were spreading in Russia in opposition to the monarchy, and many Jews arrived from there already politically active

Question 4

Berner Street radicals’

Answer 4

Aimed to end the social injustice affecting all the London working class

Question 5

The Great Yiddish Parade

Answer 5

• In March 1889, unemployed workers and ‘sweaters’ victims’ marched to the Great Synagogue in Aldgate
• To demand that the Chief Rabbi speak against the employers’ treatment of workers
• When they arrived the Chief Rabbi was not there and he denied that he had ever agreed to speak on that day
• The Chief Rabbi refused to denounce the employers

Question 6

Why did the Chief Rabbi refuse to make a speech at the Great Yiddish Parade?

Answer 6

• Anglo-Jews did not want another wave of anti-immigrant feeling
• They also did not want to annoy the English establishment

Question 7

Why did the dockers agree to help the Jewish strikers?

Answer 7

Although they did not like them, they understood that working as a collective to demand better conditions and pay for workers was beneficial to everyone

Question 8

What were the demands of the striking Jewish garment workers?

Answer 8

• That the hours be reduced to twelve, with an interval of one hour for dinner and half and hour for tea
• All meals to be had off the premises
• Government contractors to pay wages at trade union rates
• Government contractors and sweaters not to give work home at night after working hours