FIRST READING CIRCLE ESTABLISHED IN THE PALE OF SETTLEMENT

Jewish intelligentsia and workers in the Odessa begin meeting to discuss socialist ideas aimed at political education. These reading circles quickly spread across the Pale of Settlement and thanks to immigration from the region, begin in North America as well.

Exterior snapshot of two teachers reading from a book with view of the river, Jewish People's Schools. c. 1930s. ID: 1255_PR017913

THE MONTEFIORE CLUB IS FORMED IN MONTREAL

The Montefiore Social and Dramatic Club is formed by young men from established Jewish families. By the early 1900s, it is an important social centre and leader for Montreal Jewry. Members establish organizations to build a stronger community, such as the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, the Baron de Hirsch Institute, Mount Sinai Sanatorium, and the Young Men's Hebrew Association.

Page of Presidents: 1880-1955, 1956. ID: Jubilee Book, Montefiore Club Fonds 1264

FOUNDING OF JEWISH LABOR BUND

The Jewish Labour Bund (often simply 'the Bund') is established as a secular, anti-Zionist Jewish socialist party in the Russian Empire.

Interior group portrait of members of the Bund gathered in Montreal. c. 1950s. ID: 1255_0009

FIRST ZIONIST CONGRESS IS HELD IN BASEL, SWITZERLAND

While Zionist ideals had long existed, the birth of modern political Zionism is credited to Theodor Herzl (1860-1904) the year he convened the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland and was elected president of the Zionist Organization.

Group portrait of members of the Zionist Organization of Canada, Official welcome at Windsor Station in Montreal, c. 1930s. ID: 1255_PR007196

THE ILGWU FOUNDED

The International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) is founded in New York. It was at one time the largest labour union in North America. Throughout nearly a century of organizing, they improved workers benefits and conditions, fought for comprehensive fire safety in the workplace, established unemployment insurance funds, as well as created educational programming and health centres for members and their families.

L’Organisation/The Organizer, January 1, 1937, a bilingual publication created by the Montreal Joint Council of the ILGWU. ID: 1266_[1]_1

HARRY HERSHMAN ARRIVES IN CANADA

Hirsch (Harry) Hershman (1876-1955) comes to Montreal from Romania. He soon co-founds the Arbeter Ring and opens a small library in his home (a precursor of the Jewish Public Library). Hershman was active in building the first Peretz School, and was instrumental in bringing orphans to Canada from the pogroms in the Ukraine. Hershman wrote poetry, was a pioneer of the Yiddish press, and published in literary journals.

Exterior group portrait of Harry Hershman and six unidentified Ukrainian orphans; postcard with text on back, July 8, 1921. ID: 1255_PR010355

QUEBEC PASSES THE EDUCATION ACT

With the passage of the Quebec Education Act, Jews, who comprised the largest non-Christian community in Quebec, are designated “honorary Protestants” with privileges to attend primarily English Protestant schools but without the rights of Protestant Christians. (The British North America Act of 1867 only guaranteed confessional school board systems to French-speaking Catholic and English-speaking Protestant communities.) This meant that Jews were refused the right to be school commissioners. In addition, Jewish students were required to attend Christian religious classes, and the school commission refused to hire either Jewish teachers or administrators.

Two male students reading in classroom, Jewish People's Schools. C. 1940s ID: 1255_PR017927

FIRST RUSSIAN REVOLUTION RESULTS IN TSAR NICHOLAS II RETAINING THE THRONE

The first Russian Revolution begins with Bloody Sunday on January 22, and takes place over the next three weeks. It was ultimately unsuccessful and Tsar Nicholas II retained the throne.

Russian Encyclopedia of Jewish History, 1905-1913. Yevreĭskaia ėntsiklopediia : svod znanii o evreistve i ego kulture v proshlom i nastoyashchem, written by īntsburg, Davīd Goratsievīch. JPL Special Collections, Closed Stacks. ML RUSSIAN 296.03 Y48 TOM 1

THE ARBETER RING ESTABLISHES A QUEBEC CHAPTER

The Arbeter Ring (Worker's Circle) establishes a chapter in Montreal.It was an irretrievable part of the radical labour movement, providing education, enlightenment, health benefits, open forums, a library, clubs and cemetery plots for its members. They operated a soup kitchen during the Depression, organizing the Action Committee for Soviet Jewry in the late-1980s and early 1990s to aid immigration, and supported the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation and political candidates such as A.M. Klein, David Lewis and Kalman Kaplansky.

Workmen's Circle Centre Yiddish Souvenir Book, November 15, 1936, ID: 1050_00011

DER KENEDER ADLER DAILY JEWISH NEWSPAPER IS FOUNDED

Montreal's Keneder Adler (The Canadian Eagle) was founded by Zvi Hirsch (Harry) Wolofsky. For the following 80 years the Keneder Adler was the major expression of Yiddish journalism in the world by advocating high standards, mobilizing excellent journalists and promoting the establishment of a network of model Jewish institutions and schools in Canada.

Interior shot, Keneder Adler print shop, date unknown. ID: 1034_PR015340

THE TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FACTORY FIRE

A factory fire in the Greenwich Village, Manhattan takes the lives of 146 garment workers, predominantly young women of Italian and Jewish heritage. It was the deadliest industrial disaster in the city of New York, and was a catalyst for labour rights organizing and the implementation of fire safety standards in North America.

Textile Workers in the Cooper Building St-Laurent, c. 1930s, 1255_PR007390

ABERDEEN SCHOOL STRIKE

When a Protestant teacher at Montreal's Aberdeen school makes disparaging remarks about her Jewish pupils, five students called a strike. Hundreds of Jewish children congregated and appointed strike leaders, established a negotiating committee, and resolved not to return to class until the teacher apologized. Some of them marched to the Baron de Hirsch Institute and the office of the Keneder Adler to demand that action be taken. The situation bold-faced the nascent antisemitism within Anglo-Jewish Montreal and was used as grounds for the creation of Jewish schools separate from the Anglophone Protestant system.

Yiddish educational flash cards, date unknown, JPL Special Collections

OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE JEWISH PUBLIC LIBRARY

The Jewish Public Library opened its doors on St. Urbain Street with a small collection of 500 books. It quickly becomes a meeting place for literary and cultural exchange and a centre for continuing education.

Crowd gathered for laying of cornerstone and dedication ceremony of new Jewish Public Library building at 4499 Esplanade, 1953, ID: 1255_PR000179

BEGINNING OF WORLD WAR I

Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. Within a week, Russia, Belgium, France, Great Britain and Serbia had lined up against Austria-Hungary and Germany, and World War I begins.

Dr. Bernard Illievitz WWI conscription portrait, 1919. ID: 1125_[16]_2

TWO RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONS AND CIVIL WAR

In late winter, a workers strike leads to a general strike, which results in the Duma forming a provisional government and Tsar Nicholas II (1868-1918) abdicating the throne. In the fall, a second revolution takes place which results in Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) and the Bolsheviks gaining power. A civil war breaks out between the Red Army (Lenin's Bolsheviks) and White Army (monarchists, capitalists and supporters of democratic socialism).

Promotional poster for Emma Goldman’s lecture on "Two Communisms: Bolshevism and Anarchism, A Parallel", 1934. ID; 1099_[58]_1

END OF WORLD WAR I

Germany and the Allies reach an armistice, marking the end of four years of horrific fighting and the loss of millions of lives.

German prisoners of war marching down brick street with military vehicles passing by, France. World War II. c. 1940s. ID: 1034_3_PR024006

WINNIPEG GENERAL STRIKE

More than 30,000 workers walk off the job, constituting the largest strike in Canadian history. Factories, shops, transit and city services shut down. The strike results in arrests, injuries and the deaths of two protestors. It did not immediately succeed in empowering workers and improving job conditions, but did help unite the working class in Canada. Some of its participants helped establish what is now the New Democratic Party.

Trilingual (French, English and Yiddish) May Day Poster, 1943, ID: 1099_[058]_17

THE JEWISH IMMIGRANT AID SOCIETY IS ESTABLISHED

In anticipation of renewed Jewish immigration after the war, The Canadian Jewish Congress establishes Jewish Immigrant Aid Society (JIAS). JIAS' mandate was to lobby the government on behalf of potential Jewish immigration. It acted on a national scale to facilitate the legal entry of Jews to Canada and then to help them adapt and integrate into their new home.

Portrait of Jewish Immigrant Aid Services' employee (left) assisting unidentified family (right), Montreal. date unknown. ID: 1255_PR002336

FOUNDING OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CANADA

The CPC is founded under conditions of illegality by labour organizers and anti-war activists. Their goal was to improve living standards and labour rights of working people. They have operated under different names during the years that they were illegal, such as the Workers Party of Canada and the Labour-Progressive Party.

The Communist Manifesto in Yiddish as a Calligram of Karl Marx, Louis Rotblat, 1937. ID: 1297_232

DER FREIHEIT COMMUNIST NEWSPAPER ESTABLISHED

Der Freiheit Yiddish newspaper is established as a communist publication promoting the Jewish labor movement, the defense of the Soviet Union, the advancement of proletarian culture, and the defeat of racism in America.

“Jewish Life in the United States and the role of ‘Morning Freiheit’”, 1957. JPL Special Collections, Ephemera Collection

RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR ENDS

Vladimir Lenin's (1870-1924) Red Army claim victory in the civil war, and the Soviet Union is formed.

“The Truth About the Jews of Russia” by Reuben Brainin in 1926, reprinted in the Jewish Times, date unknown. ID: 1001_[2]

CAMP KINDERLAND FOUNDED

Camp Kinderland is established by Jewish union activists in New York to provide a summer escape from the city for working class families. The founders of Kinderland believed that Jewish culture includes a responsibility to social justice. The camp program continues to focused on the labor movement and other progressive causes.

Group portrait, including Aurica and Berhord Kessler, exterior shot with Jewish Laurentian Fresh Air Camp building in background. August 1956. ID: 1255_PR002606

LEA ROBACK JOINS THE COMMUNIST PARTY

Lea Roback (1903-2000), trailblazing feminist, activist and union organizer, joins the Communist Party while studying in Berlin.

Lea Roback posed with fellow workers, inscribed "Nous Trois!" de la B.A.D., August 18, 1923. ID: 1243_PR015205_a_4

EMMA GOLDMAN SPEAKS IN MONTREAL

Emma Goldman (1869-1940), anarchist revolutionary, political activist, and writer, speaks on the topic of "Two Communisms: Bolshevism and Anarchism, A Parallel" in Montreal. She was a trusted source in Montreal’s Jewish communities for her expertise on the rise of fascism in Europe and the situation in the Soviet Union.

Portrait of Emma Goldman, date unknown. 1255_PR007229

OPENING OF THE MODERN BOOKSHOP

Lea Roback (1903-2000) begins managing the Modern Bookshop on Bleury Street in Montreal. The Modern Bookshop became a hub for those interested in left-wing ideologies. Roback remembers the constant persecution by police faced by the Bookshop.

A collection of over 100 pin-back buttons from the Mark Elliot Zimmerman Collection relating to various political, cultural, social, and local campaigns and movements within Montreal. ID: 1243_00143

THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR BEGINS

A military conflict between Republicans and Nationalists errupts in Spain. More than 1,500 Canadian volunteers join the cause on the Republican side. Beloved Canadian surgeon, advocate for socialized medicine and member of the CPC, Norman Bethune (1890-1939), is among them, offering his medical services. The Spanish Civil War ends when the Nationalist leader, Francisco Franco, enters the capital on April 1st 1939.

"We Remember: A Bulletin dedicated to the Jewish volunteers in concentration camps in France", Published by the Committee of the Friends of the Botwin Battalion,Summer 1939. ID: 1099_[65]

Maurice Duplessis is elected as Quebec's Premier, marking the beginning of the 'Grande Noirceur’

Maurice Duplessis (1890-1959) is elected premier of Quebec. He holds office until 1939, and again from 1944 to 1956. While campaigning in 1944, he leans on xenophobia, including a false antisemitic conspiracy theory which claimed that the liberal government had made a deal with an "International Zionist Brotherhood" to settle Holocaust survivors in exchange for campaign contributions. The period of his time in office is often called the 'Grande Noirceur' because of the corruption and regression of this period.

Playbill for the screening of “Des Lumieres dans la Grande Noirceur”, Quebec, 1991. ID 1243[3]_1

THE PADLOCK LAW TAKES EFFECT

The Act Respecting Communistic Propaganda, or the ‘Padlock Law’ as it was known colloquially, was a Quebec statute brought forth by premier Maurice Duplessis (1890-1959), which empowered the attorney general to close, for one year, any building used for propagating "communism or bolshevism" (undefined). Further, the Act empowered the attorney general to confiscate and destroy any printed matter propagating communism or bolshevism. Anyone printing, publishing or distributing such material could be imprisoned for up to a year, without appeal. The lack of definition of “communism or bolshevism” meant this law could be interpreted by police and was exploited.

The Story of the Padlock Law by Thomas C. Roberts, c.1950s. ID: 1354_[1]_001

THE DRESSMAKERS OR MIDINETTE STRIKE

The ILGWU carried out a successful strike. In three weeks, Rose Pesotta, Lea Roback, and Yvette Charpentier, among others, rallied a primarily female French-Canadian workforce of more than 5,000 into a successful strike and cooperation of Jewish and French-Canadian workers in union setting. Lea Roback's ability to communicate fluently in Yiddish, English and French, and her ability to relate to people from French-Canadian and immigrant communities, is recognized as being a major reason for the strike's success.

International Ladies Garment Workers Union on strike at Amherst and St Catherine Street, March 1937. ID: 1062_PR023011

SECOND WORLD WAR BEGINS

Germany invades Poland, marking the beginning of the Second World War. Great Britain and France respond by declaring war on Germany two days later.

Wall of destroyed building surrounded by rubble, church steeple in background, World War II, France. c. 1940s. ID: 1034_3_PR024032

FRED ROSE ELECTED AS MP OF MONTREAL'S CARTIER RIDING

Fred Rose (1907-1983) wins a by-election in the Cartier riding of Montreal to become the first (and in 2024, still the only) Communist Party MP elected to federal parliament in Canada.

Yiddish and English Fred Rose re-election campaign booklet 1945, ID: 1448_[3]_1

WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising[a] was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany's final effort to transport the remaining ghetto population to the gas chambers of the Majdanek and Treblinka extermination camps. The uprising started on 19 April when the ghetto refused to surrender to the police commander SS-Brigadeführer Jürgen Stroop, who ordered the destruction of the ghetto, block by block, ending on 16 May. A total of 13,000 Jews were killed, about half of them burnt alive or suffocated.

"Look at their Faces" article on the Warsaw Ghetto, The Montreal Star, November 27, 1954. ID: 1099_[65]

JEWISH DELEGATES FROM THE U.S.S.R. TOUR NORTH AMERICA

Soviet Delegates to the United States and Canada and members of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee of the Soviet Republics, Solomon Mikhoels and Itzik Feffer, are dispatched to North America to bolster support for the Soviet war effort against Nazi Germany. However, the masses Mikhoels and Feffer encounter are starting to question whether Stalin has the best interest of Jews in mind, and it is clear that Jews in North America and outside the Soviet Union have a vastly different notion and understanding of what the Communist party stands for. The trip is perceived by some as the decisive point in the dismantling of Jewish progressive support of Soviet Communism. Both men had a front row seat to the atrocities committed by Stalin, and Mikhoels, in particular, refused to be affiliated with the Communist Party--a decision which would later cost him his life. He was assassinated on Stalin's orders in 1948, and Feffer died during the Night of the Murdered Poets in 1952.

Promotional piece for Solomon Michoels and Itzik Feffer's visit to Montreal as part of the Soviet Delegation Tour to strenghen ties between North America and the U.S.S.R. The mass rally in New York boasted 47,000 attendees. September, 1943. ID: 1300_[1]_19

FORMATION OF THE UNITED JEWISH PEOPLE'S ORDER

The Jewish Labour League Mutual Benefit Society and the Canadian Workers Circle merge to form the United Jewish People's Order. The UJPO is a secular socialist Jewish cultural, political and educational fraternal organization in Canada. At its peak in the 1940s and 1950s the UJPO had more than 2,500 members across Canada. In Montreal, the Order's headquarters were at the Morris Winchevsky Cultural Centre on avenue de l'Esplanade.

Promotional poster in Yiddish and English of commemorative evening for the 13th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, UJPO, 1956. ID: 1099_3_[60]_2

SECOND WORLD WAR ENDS

In May, The German Third Reich surrenders after being conquered by the Soviet Union on the East and the Allied forces on the West. In September, Japan surrenders following the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, marking the end of the Second World War.

Correspondence from the Allan Raymond Fonds, congratulating the Raymonds on the return of their sons after WWII, January 3, 1946. ID: 1034_3_39_731

IGOR GOUZENKO CLAIMS EVIDENCE OF A SOVIET SPY RING IN CANADA

Igor Gouzenko (1919-1982) claims to have evidence of a Soviet spy ring in Canada and the United States, and names Fred Rose as one of the accused.

“Notebook: Gouzenko’s Legacy. Write up in Saturday Night by Robert Fulford, October 1982. ID: 1448_2

FRED ROSE IMPRISONED ON SPY ALLEGATIONS

Fred Rose (1907-1983) is imprisoned for allegedly leading a ring of up to 20 Soviet spies. In January 1947 he was formally expelled from the House of Commons, and remained in jail until 1951.

Fred Rose’s campaign office with a smashed window, circa. 1935. ID: 1243_6_[6]_PR014410

START OF COLD WAR

The Cold War began with the announcement of the Truman Doctrine in 1947, an American foreign policy that pledged American "support for democracies against authoritarian threats." The Cold War started a gradual winding down with the Sino-Soviet split between the Soviets and the People's Republic of China in 1961, and ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Bilingual (Yiddish & French) May Day cold war protest Bi-Fold, Canadian Communist Party, 1950. JPL Special Collections, Ephemera Collection

THE STATE OF ISRAEL ESTABLISHED IN PALESTINE

The establishment of the State of Israel is proclaimed by David Ben-Gurion. U.S. President Harry S. Truman recognized the new nation on the same day.

Refugees gathered on deck of ship, surrounded by boxes and bags of their earthly possessions, upon arrival to Israel. c. 1956. ID: 1255_PR009107

PAUL ROBESON PERFORMS AT CAMP KINDERLAND IN UPSTATE NEW YORK

Jewish communities continued to embrace Paul Robeson despite his being blacklisted for his anti-colonial, pro-communist, anti-racist political views. In August 1949 he was scheduled to perform at the communist-affiliated Yiddish summer camp, camp Kinderland. It was a peaceful, joyous event, unlike what transpired for his scheduled performance later that month, which is known as the Peekskill Riots.

Photograph of Itzik Feffer and Solomon Michoels seated beside Paul Robeson at the Soviet consulate, 1943. ID: 1300_[1]_15

WINCHEVSKY CENTRE IS PADLOCKED

The Morris Winchevsky School and headquarters of UJPO is raided, padlocked, and has documents confiscated by police under order of the provincial Padlock Law.

Exterior of the Farband (Labor Zionist organization), formerly the Morris Winchevsky Cultural Centre run by the United Jewish People’s Order, c. 1950s. ID: 1255_PR003036

INTERNATIONAL WORKERS UNION IS LIQUIDATED BY NEW YORK STATE

The International Workers Union (IWO) was an insurance, mutual benefit and fraternal organization founded in 1930 and disbanded in 1954. At its height in th elate 1940s, the IWO reached nearly 200,000 members and provided low-cost health and life insurance, medical and dental clinics, and supported foreign-language newspapers, cultural and educational activities. The IWO was forced to disband as the result of legal action undertaken by the state of New York in 1951 on the grounds that the organization was too closely linked to the Communist Party.

United Electrical, Machine, Radio and Machine Workers, of America pamphlet, p. 12-13, date unknown. ID: 1243_00143

NIGHT OF THE MURDERED POETS

Thirteen Soviet Jews, including notable Yiddish poets and members of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, are executed on false accusations of espionage and treason, among other crimes. This incident is now referred to as the Night of the Murdered Poets.

Pamphlet for Solomon Michoels and Itzik Feffer's visit to Montreal as part of the Soviet Delegation Tour September 6-7, 1943. ID: 1300_[1]_13

DEATH OF JOSEPH STALIN

The regime of Joseph Stalin (1878-1953), the longest-serving leader of the Soviet Union, ends with his death. Many Jews in diasporic communities had admired Soviet Russia for its ideals of Jewish tolerance and acceptance touted in Stalin's early years of leadership, but the truth of his actions was brought to light following his death. News of assassinations, including the Night of the Murdered Poets, shocked many; these revelations caused rifts within communities as people reacted to the reality of antisemitism under Stalin’s regime.

Page 82 of scrapbook, featuring two photographs of Solomon Michaels and Itzik Feffer with dinner guests at Bucharest House., September 1956. ID: 1300_[1]_82

EXECUTION OF THE ROSENBERGS

American Jewish couple Julius (1918-1953) and Ethel (1915-1953) Rosenberg are executed following a conviction of espionage for the U.S.S.R., the first civilians to in the United States to be executed during peacetime. Protests took place internationally to try to stop their executions. Many still maintain that the Rosenbergs were innocent and that they were victims of Cold War paranoia.

“Save the Rosenbergs!” Yiddish and English flyer for a public mass meeting on November 30, 1952, ID: 1354_[10]_1

UJPO BREAKS FROM THE LABOUR PROGRESSIVE PARTY

The UJPO breaks from relations with the Labour Progressive Pary (Canada's Communist party) after J.B. Salsberg returns from a trip to the Soviet Union with reports on the abuse of Jews and supression of Jewish culture. By 1959 thousands of members left the group feeling that UJPO was not vocal enough in their critique of the U.S.S.R.

Alert Service Report of the suspected Communist involvement of various organizations across Canada. September, 1959. ID: 1354_007

FRED ROSE'S CITIZENSHIP IS REVOKED

Fred Rose (1907-1983) has his citizenship revoked while in Poland. The “Fred Rose amendment” was added to Canada’s Citizenship act in 1958 to ensure that revoked citizenships could never happen again.

The Herald, Montreal Newspaper Clipping announcing revocation of Fred Rose's Canadian Citizenship, June 27, 1957. ID: 1448_1

THE PADLOCK LAW DEEMED UNCONSTITUTIONAL

After 30 years and much campaigning by members of Quebec's Jewish communities, the Supreme Court of Canada declares the Padlock Law unconstitutional, an invasion of the federal field of criminal law.

Proceedings of the Special Committee on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms at the Senate of Canada, May 9, 1950, featuring Mr. Morris Biderman of the United Jewish People’s Order. ID: 1354_[2]

QUEBEC PROVINCIAL ELECTIONS MARK THE BEGINNING OF THE QUIET REVOLUTION

Liberal Jean Lesage is elected premier of Quebec, ending the 'Grande Noirceur'. This sparks a time of rapid change and wide-ranging social and economic reform. In the first two years, the Lesage administration carried out and plans many reforms: amongst others, the establishment of a public hospital network, the creation of ministries of cultural affairs and of federal-provincial relations, and the foundation of the Société générale de financement (General Investment Corporation).

“Notre Place dans e futur code civil par la Comité des femmes du S.P.G.Q”, write-up in Le Ballet de la condition feminine, 1981. ID: 1243_[15]