Benjamin Gold (September 8, 1898 – July 24, 1985) was a Russian-born Jewish American labor leader and Communist Party member who was president of the International Fur and Leather Workers Union (IFLWU) from 1937 to 1955.
Early life Ben Gold was born September 8, 1898, to Israel and Sarah (Droll) Gold, Jews living in Bessarabia, a province of the Russian Empire. His father was a jeweler, active in the revolutionary movement and a member of the local Jewish self-defense corps, institutions which existed in many towns as a precaution against pogroms launched by anti-semitic Black Hundreds groups.
The Golds emigrated to the United States in 1910, where 12-year-old Ben took a variety of jobs to help support his family, working in box factories, making pocketbooks, and working in millinery shops. He eventually became an operatorAn "operator" removes the coarse long outer hair with a knife, leaving only the soft under-fur, applies steam heat to the skin to soften it, and then shaves it in preparation for curing and tanning. The process is both tedious and delicate. See: "The Fur Trade," in Depew, Chauncey Mitchell. 1795-1895: One Hundred Years of American Commerce. New York: D.O. Haynes, 1895. in a fur shop. In 1912, the 14-year-old joined the Furriers Union of the United States and Canada, which changed its name a year later to the International Fur Workers Union of the United States and Canada (IFWU). He attended Manhattan Preparatory School at night to complete his education, intending to go to law school.
The same year he joined the Furriers Union, the 14-year-old Gold was elected assistant shop chairman by his local union during the first furriers' strike in the United States.His election at such a young age was not uncommon in the American labor movement. He was probably the only individual in his workplace who could read and write, or had any education whatsoever.
Politically active, Gold joined the Socialist Party of America in 1916.
In 1919, at the age of 21, Gold was elected to the New York Furriers' Joint Board, a council of furriers' unions whose jurisdiction covered all of New York City. In September of that year, he joined a group which broke away from the Socialist Party to form the Communist Labor Party of America.
Communism and early trade union career
Gold's adherence to Communism and trade unionism intertwined to shape much of his career as a labor leader. He was an occasional political candidate of the Communist movement, running for Congress in New York's 23rd district in 1928.
In 1924, Gold was suspended from the Furriers for engaging in dual unionism because of his activities on behalf of the Communist Party of America (with which the Communist Labor Party had merged in 1921). He was reinstated in 1925, and appointed manager of the New York Furriers' Joint Board.
1926 strike In 1926, Gold led a massive furriers' strike in New York City. The Joint Board's contract with the city's furriers expired on January 31, 1926. Among the union's demands were a reduction in working hours to the five-day, 40-hour work week; union inspection of shops; a 25 percent wage increase; an employer contribution of 3 percent of each workers' salary to an unemployment insurance fund; a single paid holiday; and equal division of work among employees (to eliminate favoritism). The employer's association refused to negotiate over the work week, unemployment fund or equal division of work, but agreed to seek a settlement on the other terms if the union would withdraw the other three demands. Led by Gold, the Joint Board was on the verge of doing so when IFWU President Oizer Shachtman accused the Joint Board of being infiltrated by communists. The Joint Board made its recommendation to the employers all the same, who—aware of Shachtman's opposition—promptly rejected it. The employers then instituted a lockout of 8,500 workers on February 11, 1926. The union responded by calling a general strike of all 12,000 fur workers in the city on February 16, 1926."Fur Workers Quit Jobs This Morning." New York Times. February 16, 1926.
The strike quickly turned violent. On February 19, New York City police attacked a picket line of striking workers and arrested 200 workers. On March 8, Gold called out 10,000 workers for mass picketing throughout the furriers' district. Police used clubs to beat hundreds of strikers, and then drove cars at high speed into the crowd to try to break up the pickets. Only when Gold ordered the picket to break up were law enforcement authorities able to regain control; 125 workers arrested. The police response was so brutal that a city magistrate later excoriated the police department for "undue coercion" against the striking workers.
As the strike commenced, President Shachtman went into hiding, leaving Vice President Isidor Winnick to take over as Acting President. Shachtman's disappearance significantly hindered the Joint Board's ability to stop furriers outside New York City from engaging in strikebreaking.
Certain developments seemed to indicate an early end to the strike. On March 13, a New York state judge refused to grant the employers an injunction which would force an end to the strike. In mid-April, the Eitingon Schild Company, the wealthiest fur importer in the United States, broke with the employers' association to settle with the union. The company agreed to a five-day, 40-hour work week; equal division of work; no subcontracting; and a 10 percent wage increase.
But the strike continued despite this agreement. In early April, Hugh Frayne, an organizer with the American Federation of Labor (AFL), met with a moderate faction within the Joint Board. Frayne and the moderate furriers asked AFL President William Green to personally intervene in the strike. Green and Shachtman (who had reappeared in Washington, D.C.) drew up an agreement establishing a 42-hour work week and a 10 percent wage increase. But when the proposal was presented to the membership on April 15, they overwhelmingly rejected it. The AFL barred Gold from the meeting, but the membership chanted his name and nearly rioted until he was admitted to the hall. In part, the workers rejected the proposal because they had had no hand in making it. But they also rejected the proposal because it did nothing to help Jewish workers, who needed the five-day work week provision in order to protect their Shabbat observances. Shachtman accused "radicals" of leading the near-riot and coercing the workers into rejecting the settlement. Shachtman and Green tried to get the membership to adopt the proposal a second time on May 2, but it was again turned down.
In retaliation for Shachtman and Green's attempt to end-run the local leadership, and to increase pressure on the employers, Gold asked the Joint Board to initiate a drive for the 40-hour work week which would involve every union in the city. The Board agreed, and soon the New York State Federation of Labor, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, the Teachers Union, the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, and a number of other unions agreed to join the effort."Fur Strikers Stand On A 40-Hour Week." New York Times. May 4, 1926; "Finish Fight Is Seen In Furriers' Strike." New York Times. May 11, 1926; "Fur Union to Start 40-Hour Week Drive." New York Times. May 14, 1926; "9,000 Fur Strikers Demand Short Week." New York Times. May 20, 1926. On May 22, 1926, a mass rally filled the newly built Madison Square Garden, making it the largest labor meeting held in the city up to that time. Gold denounced labor leaders who did not attend, and declared that winning the 40-hour work week in New York City would lead to a nationwide movement which would gain the limitation throughout the nation.
The Joint Board faced a crisis, however. By May 27, only $70 remained in the Joint Board's strike fund. Gold spoke at every union hall in the city within four days of the revelation of the fiscal crisis. The union asked workers and other unions to buy "40-Hour Liberty Loan Bonds" which would be redeemable in six months. By May 31, more than $100,000 had been raised."Fur Strikers Ask Aid of All Other Unions." New York Times. May 19, 1926. Even though strike relief funds were paid on June 1, the Joint Board kept up the bond drive to maintain the pressure on the employers."Seek to Finance Fur Strike By an Issue of Bonds." New York Times. June 3, 1926.
The fund-raising success of the union and the pressure from the 40-hour work week drive pushed the employers to agree to a new collective bargaining agreement. The manufacturers signaled their willingness to talk on May 26, but the union kept up its demand for the 40-hour week."Fur Peace Offer By Manufacturers." New York Times. May 27, 1926; "Strikers Reject Fur Peace Terms." New York Times. May 28, 1926. A mediator was called in, and a new contract reached on June 11, 1926. The contract provided for the 40-hour, five-day work week; an end to overtime from December through August; time-and-a-half overtime pay for half-days from September to November; a 10 percent wage increase; 10 paid holidays; and a ban on subcontracting."Fur Strikers Accept New Mediation Plan." New York Times. May 29, 1926; "Agreement Reached to End Fur Strike." New York Times. June 11, 1926; "Fur Peace Treaty Believed Accepted." New York Times. June 15, 1926; "Celebrate End of Fur Strike." New York Times. June 16, 1926; "Fur Workers Returning to Shops." New York Times. June 17, 1926.
AFL investigation Gold's success in leading the 1926 furrier workers' strike was short-lived. On July 19, 1926, President Green sent a letter to Gold demanding that the Joint Board turn over all books, papers, ledgers and materials related to the conduct of the strike. In a secret letter, Hugh Frayne assured IFWU President Shachtman that the International Union was not under investigation, and that the AFL intended only to purge the Joint Board of "radicals" and "communists." Despite his reservations, Gold turned over the Joint Board's books, and the AFL conducted its investigation throughout August and September. The goal of the investigation soon became clear: The AFL accused Gold and the other strike leaders of debauchery, wasting union money, bribery, forcing workers to join the Communist Party, coercing workers to participate in the strike, prolonging the strike on the orders of the Communist Party, and lying to the AFL investigating committee. On January 13, 1927, the AFL's final report was issued, in which the AFL demanded that the IFWU purge the Joint Board of all communists or expel the locals in question. On February 17, the New York City Central Labor Council expelled the Joint Board and its member locals; the IFWU expelled Gold and 36 other local leaders from the union on March 2.