A Future Without Hate or Need

Ester Reiter

Description

Driven from their homes in Russia, Poland, and Romania by pogroms and poverty, many Jews who came to Canada in the wave of immigration after the 1905 Russian revolution were committed radicals. A Future Without Hate or Need brings to life the rich and multi-layered lives of a dissident political community, their shared experiences and community-building cultural projects, as they attempted to weave together their ethnic particularity—their identity as Jews—with their internationalist class politics.

Sujets

• Social History
• Histoire
• History

Informations

• Publié par: Between the Lines
• Date de parution: 20 octobre 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781771130172
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 7 Mo

Extrait

A FUTURE WITHOUT HATE OR NEED
Written with the right mix of respect, compassion, and critical reflection, this heartfelt history of the fascinating cultural world of the mostly Yiddish-speaking Jewish left in Canada and the talented and committed women, men, and children who lived it, brims with stories that will sadden, anger, inspire, enlighten, and, above all, stay with you. Through narratives relayed in oral interviews, journals, poems, political and folk songs, plays, women s readings, summer-camp performances, and more, we glimpse the heart and soul of an extraordinary cultural movement for social justice and social change.
- Franca Iacovetta , Department of History, University of Toronto, author of Gatekeepers: Reshaping Immigrant Lives in Cold War Canada
A Future Without Hate or Need offers a deep examination of the culture and personalities of the Toronto Jewish radical left during its efflorescence. The Yiddish material, much of it drawn from Der Kamf , is superb. Passages translated from the original Yiddish are rarely-used sources that add strongly to Reiter s argument that the principal focus of this movement was social/cultural rather than strictly ideological/political. This book is written with warm sympathy and penetrating insight.
- Gerald Tulchinsky , Department of History, Queen s University, author of Taking Root: The Origins of the Canadian Jewish Community
In her tenderly rendered recovery of the history of Canada s secular Jewish left, Ester Reiter excavates the contradictions and complexities that shaped Jewish identities and underpinned the Jewish left s rich cultural life. Her inspiring account of the women, men, and children in the secular Jewish left immerses us in the radical vision of a more beautiful, better world that informed the activities, organizations, and culture of these twentieth-century Jewish radicals. Poetry, music, and theatre went hand in hand with politics in a movement that demonstrably challenges the bifurcated view of left/right divisions and reductive assessments of left movements. This book s nuanced perspective on the Jewish ethnic left and its many contributions to North American society offers valuable insights on our collective past and makes an important contribution to the new scholarship on left history.
- Julie Guard , Departments of History and Labour Studies, University of Manitoba
Warm-hearted, intimate, sometimes critical and always courageous, A Future Without Hate or Need offers twentieth-century Canadians a fresh understanding of the stalwart men, women, and children who championed and lived their own version of sotsyalizm (socialism). In summer camps and orchestras, city councils and schools, left-wing parties and cultural centres, Jewish leftists created a remarkably diverse and successful movement-one that, through personal memoirs, skilful archival digging, and beautiful photographs and cartoons, Ester Reiter lovingly recreates for us-in all its complicated glory.
- Ian McKay , Wilson Chair of Canadian History, McMaster University
Ester Reiter
A FUTURE WITHOUT HATE OR NEED
The Promise of the Jewish Left in Canada
Between the Lines Toronto
A Future without Hate or Need 2016 Ester Reiter
First published in 2016 by Between the Lines 401 Richmond Street West Studio 277 Toronto, Ontario M5V 3A8 Canada 1-800-718-7201 www.btlbooks.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be photocopied, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of Between the Lines, or (for photocopying in Canada only) Access Copyright, 1 Yonge Street, Suite 1900, Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1E5.
Every reasonable effort has been made to identify copyright holders. Between the Lines would be pleased to have any errors or omissions brought to its attention.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Reiter, Ester, author
A future without hate or need: the promise of the Jewish left in Canada / Ester Reiter.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-77113-016-5 (paperback).- ISBN 978-1-77113-017-2 (epub).- ISBN 978-1-77113-018-9 (pdf)
1. Jews-Canada-Politics and government. 2. Judaism and politics-Canada-History-20th century. 3. Socialism and Judaism-Canada-History-20th century. 4. Communism and Judaism-Canada-History-20th century. 5. Jews-Canada-History-20th century. 6. Jews-Canada-Social life and customs. 7. Canada-Emigration and immigration-History-20th century. 8. Jews-Migrations. I. Title.
HX550.J4R45 2016 335.0089 924071 C2015-908225-0 C2015-908226-9
Text and cover design by David Vereschagin/Quadrat Communications Cover art by Avrom, courtesy Anna Yanovsky and UJPO Archives
We acknowledge for their financial support of our publishing activities the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund, the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Arts Council, the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program, and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.
To my family not all of whom are biological relatives and many of whom remain alive only in my heart:
the people I love and who love me back
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
PART I A Revolutionary Diaspora: Jewish Immigrants and What they Brought to Canada
1 Origins: The Making of Jewish Socialists
2 Revolutionary Values and the Jewish Left
3 Cultural Initiatives and the Politics of Everyday Life
PART II Political Struggles and the Jewish Left
4 Fighting Class Exploitation and Fascism
5 Arbeter Froyen Vakht Oyf (Working Women Awake!): The Jewish Women s Labour League and Women Activists
6 Democracy and Dissent
PART III Cultural Forms: The Melodies of the Jewish Soul
7 Language and the Education of a New Generation
8 Cultural Life: Sports, Singing, Dancing, Theatre, Making Music
9 Summer Camps
Conclusion: The Legacy of a Dissident Community
Appendix A: People
Appendix B: The Communist Party and the Jewish Left
Appendix C: Glossary
Appendix D: Abbreviations
Notes
Index
Acknowledgements
The writing of this book has been a long journey, one with an arbitrary, not a clear ending. There is always more to learn. It is also very personal, as this history embodies many of the ideals that I hold dear. Along the way, there have been encounters with people, places, and writings that have enriched me.
This is a work that has relied on many people, contributing in many different ways. Roz Usiskin s pioneering work on the history of Jewish radicalism in Winnipeg established a standard of thorough, thoughtful research that set a very high bar. She has helped in so many ways: advice, materials from her collection, and a contribution to the chapter on Democracy and Dissent, part of which we first presented together at a Canadian Jewish Studies conference. Maxine Hermolin, the executive director of the United Jewish People s Order, supported this research by providing complete access to the extensive UJPO materials in Toronto s Winchevsky Centre. Ruth Grossman, a trained archivist, prepared visual PowerPoint histories of the community for several events we co-presented to the UJPO community. She is also organizing the materials for the UJPO Archives. Shlomit Segal helped with some of the images and made suggestions for the book. A special thanks goes to Drs. May (Lipshitz) Cohen and Gerry Cohen for the donation of May s parents materials to the Clara Thomas Archives at York University. The Cohens also worked with the archivist Michael Moir in organizing the extensive collection of Sam and Manya Lipshitz.
A number of researchers contributed to this project. Michelle Cohen gave me the idea of studying and writing about a community I know well. She interviewed people from Naivelt as a summer project back in 1994. Mel Cederbaum, the executive director of the Workmen s Circle in Toronto, provided materials from the early history of the WC. Amy Katz collected background materials on the Canadian Jewish community from the Globe and Mail. Sylwia Szymanska, who I met at YIVO s Yiddish seminar at Columbia University, helped organize and translate some of the materials in the Lipshitz archives. Sarah Pinder did some interviews in Montreal and transcribed many of the interviews that I had done. Sharon Power did many translations of Der Kamf from Yiddish, which she then arranged by topic and summarized in ways that were most helpful. She is a fine scholar, careful in her research, with outstanding organizational skills. A special thanks to the Ross family, Oscar, Honey, and Lisa, for providing photos of their family s involvement in dance, theatre, and the Naivelt summer camp, and Maiy n for her pride in her grandparents. Some of Olga Eizner Favreau s drawings based on her mother s UJPO activities are included in the book. Esther Podoliak provided pictures and some background on her father, Philip. Anna Yanovksy was very generous in allowing the use of her late husband Avrom s art and family photos. Ruth Howard, the producer of Jumblies Theatre, made the interviews I had collected come alive in her play Oy di Velt , in ways that brought the history of this community home in an accessible, beautiful way, involving many of the Naivelt community of all ages.
Gerry Tulchinksy offered to read the manuscript when it was still in pretty rough shape. His generosity was a tremendous encouragement in actually completing the work. That also gave me the notion of approaching Ian McKay, and he