Jewish Workers and the Labour Movement

A Comparative Study of Amsterdam, London and Paris 1870-1914

Karin Hofmeester

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351925303
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

During the late nineteenth century, many Jewish workers and intellectuals considered their integration into the general labour movement as a good way to counter the double disadvantage they suffered in society as Jews and workers. Whilst in Amsterdam this process encountered few obstacles, it was more problematical in London and Paris. Through a detailed examination of the collaborative efforts of Jewish labour in these three cities, Jewish Workers and the Labour Movement reveals the multi-layered and unique position of Jewish workers in the labour market. It shows how various factors such as economic change, political upheaval, state intervention and anti-Semitism all affected the pace of integration, and draws conclusions that highlight the similarities as well as the differences between the efforts of Jewish workers to improve their lot in France, Britain and Holland.

PART ONE

Amsterdam

CHAPTER ONE

The Social Status of Jewish Workers in Amsterdam

‘a Jewish provincial city such as our capital’¹

Amsterdam was a provincial city rather than a world capital. An editorial from 1912 attests to this general sentiment in the early twentieth century. The author, Simon Stokvis, took issue with the attitude of the owners of the Trianon restaurant, who made every effort to discourage Jewish patrons. At the restaurant Jews were charged double or triple the regular prices and received poor service or none at all. They were seated apart from the non-Jewish guests and were sometimes discouraged from entering the establishment. These practices elicited a wave of indignation among the press and detracted considerably from the restaurant’s aspired high standing. Moreover, how could the restaurant thrive without Jewish guests? Stokvis wrote:

The owners truly believed that in a typically Jewish city such as Amsterdam, where Jews were the hub of all public life (without Jews this city would have neither a concert hall nor so many large cafes), they could operate and turn a profit solely through the patronage of the Christian aristocracy. This may work in a world capital or in a Christian provincial city. In a Jewish provincial city such as our capital, however, it does not.²

Although the situation does not immediately concern Jewish workers, this statement illustrates the social status of Jews in Amsterdam in the early twentieth century. Jews accounted for a substantial portion of Amsterdam’s population and figured prominently in the city. In some social circles their proportion was so large that these sectors would have been inconceivable without them. Nonetheless, the Jews in Amsterdam remained recognizable and were therefore disliked by some.

Around 1870, the acculturation and integration of the Jewish working class in particular was far less advanced. They were a distinctive group, and their demographics, geographic and occupational distribution, social stratification, philanthropy and culture differed accordingly. The differences derived from their religion and shared heritage, even though these components influenced the identity of the Jewish workers only indirectly in many cases. All these factors determined the position that these Jewish workers would acquire within the labour movement.

Historical Background to an Identity

Jewish workers in Amsterdam were native born. Most were descendants of Ashkenazi families who had settled in the capital at least a century before. The Dutch Republic was the only nation in Western Europe that admitted Jews – even indigent ones – without limitations. The Republic offered immense religious freedom, especially compared with the conditions in surrounding countries. Restrictions did exist, however, as Jews were aliens and were permitted to settle in towns at the discretion of local authorities. Moreover, they were prohibited from joining virtually all guilds and thus had a very narrow range of occupational opportunities. This combination of religious freedom on the one hand and very limited social and geographic mobility on the other hand led a Jewish burgher of Amsterdam to complain in 1795: ‘They are permitted to sing psalms in public and … to starve to death.’³

Since 1796 all Dutch Jews had civil rights. Initially, however, only the upper echelons of the Jewish community had benefited from the emancipation process. They were the first to achieve social equality. Only in the mid-nineteenth century did the affluent Jewish bourgeoisie become emancipated. Thanks to the rise of liberalism, their Jewish identity became less of an obstacle to holding all kinds of social offices. The Jewish lower-, middle- and underclass was the last group within the Jewish community to benefit from the emancipation.

Although Jewish workers spoke Dutch – a series of Royal Decrees had all but banned Yiddish in the first half of the nineteenth century – and were familiar with procedures in Amsterdam, they remained a distinctive group in the 1870s. A very large proportion lived in the Jewish Quarter, which was both their centre for social contacts and the district of employment for selected occupations, frequently with co-religionists. Their Dutch (or rather the Amsterdam vernacular) often had Yiddish overtones. Everyday life in the Jewish Quarter differed visibly from that in the rest of Amsterdam. On Sundays (the first day of the Jewish working week), many people from Amsterdam and the provinces visited the Jewish Quarter with its many street vendors.

The School Act of 1857, which led Jewish children to attend state schools, and the heyday of the diamond industry in the years 1870–1873 (known as the Cape Era) furthered Jewish integration.⁴ The boom in the diamond industry enabled some residents of the Jewish Quarter to move to other, mixed, neighbourhoods and increased social interaction with non-Jews. Occupational opportunities increased, and certain cultural events became more accessible. As a result, the obvious unity of the Jewish underclass faded somewhat, but enough elements of cohesion remained – notwithstanding internal differences – for a common Jewish identity. Religion and common heritage were the foundation for this identity, which largely determined people’s courses of life, such as whom they married, where they settled, where they sought employment, and who their social contacts were.

Demographics

In the period 1880–1914 Jews accounted for about 11 per cent of Amsterdam’s population. Over half of all Dutch Jews lived in Amsterdam during this period.

Table 1.1 Number of Jews in Amsterdam as a proportion of Amsterdam’s total population

Year	Total number of Jews in Amsterdam	Growth index	Total Jewish population in the Netherlands	Total population of Amsterdam	Jewish population of Amsterdam (%)
1849	25 156	100	43.0	224 035	11.2
1859	26 725	106	41.9	243 304	11.1
1869	29 952	119	44.0	264 694	11.3
1879	40 318	160	49.4	317 011	12.7
1889	54 479	201	56.0	408 061	13.3
1899	59 065	235	56.4	510 853	11.6
1909	60 970	242	57.3	566 131	10.8
1920	67 249	267	58.4	647 427	10.4

Sources: E. Boekman, Demografie van de Joden in Nederland, 33; J.H. van Zanten, ‘Eenige demografische gegevens over de Joden te Amsterdam’, 4 and ‘Statistiek der bevolking van Amsterdam’ (Statistische Mededeelingen no 67), 40.

Contrary to frequent assertions, the dramatic growth between 1869 and 1889 is not attributable to the number of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe believed to have settled in Amsterdam.⁵ This group consisted of 1500 to 1800 people.⁶ About 46 per cent of them came from Eastern Europe. The sudden rise in the number of Jews in Amsterdam is more likely to have resulted from natural growth, the rural exodus and probably improved record-keeping practices since 1869.⁷

Residential Life

Economic and demographic growth stagnated in Amsterdam during the first half of the nineteenth century. The situation started to improve around 1865. The economic upturn led the population of Amsterdam to expand dramatically during the second half of the nineteenth century.

All these developments caused rapid changes in the city’s appearance. Canals were filled in and houses constructed. Tram and railway lines were built. The Paleis van Volksvlijt [palace of diligence], a spin-off of London’s Crystal Palace, appeared with the wide avenue of the Sarphatistraat a bit beyond. Elegant mansions were constructed in the Plantage and other neighbourhoods. The less affluent found more modest accommodation in new districts. Developments arose in what came to be known as the Pijp, as well as in the Dapper and Oosterpark neighbourhoods in the east of Amsterdam. The one neighbourhood where virtually nothing changed was the Jewish Quarter, where most Jewish workers still lived in the second half of the nineteenth century.

A substantial proportion of Amsterdam’s Jewish population, including the Jewish workers, preferred to live near people who shared their background and traditions, customs and practices and had the same intonation, gesticulations and humour. These people identified with each other and felt they belonged to the same group. The tendency to live near each other in a certain district was a natural outcome. Initially, the old Jewish Quarter was their only area of concentration. Once the social and economic mobility of the Jewish workers increased their geographic mobility, however, the population on certain streets in the new neighbourhoods became predominantly Jewish as well.⁸

Amsterdam’s traditional Jewish Quarter was situated inside the Prins Hendrikkade, the Oude Schans, the Amstel and the Nieuwe Herengracht. The heart of the Jewish Quarter comprised the Marken islands, Uilenburg, Vlooienburg and Rapenburg, bordered by the Jodenbreestraat. In 1873, 80 to 90 per cent of this neighbourhood’s residents were Jewish (with minor variations on some streets).⁹ The homes in the Jewish Quarter were old and cramped and rarely had running water or other sanitary facilities. The basement and a...