Joseph Barondess was a labor leader and political figure in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

's Lower East Side

Lower East Side

The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....

 Jewish community in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Known as the "King of the Cloakmakers", whose union he led, he carried himself like an actor, a career he had tried but failed at before he became a garment worker and union leader. In his heyday he was in great demand at public celebrations of all sorts; as one observer of the time noted, "It was almost a pleasure to die, knowing that Barondess would arrange the rites."

He was born in Bar

Bar, Ukraine

Bar is a city located on the Rov River in the Vinnytsia Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Barskyi Raion , and is part of the historic region of Podolia. The current estimated population is 17,200 .-History:The city was a small trade outpost named Row...

 near Kamenetz Podolsk, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

son of Rabbi Judah Samuel Barondess. He was a relative of Supreme Court

Supreme court

A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, high court, or apex court...

 Justice Louis Brandeis

Louis Brandeis

Louis Dembitz Brandeis ; November 13, 1856 – October 5, 1941) was an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1916 to 1939.He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, to Jewish immigrant parents who raised him in a secular mode...

http://jondreyer.org/genealog/barondess-barbara.html. Joseph Barondess may have spent time in Medzhibozh or perhaps he felt affiliated with the town because his wife came from there. Regardless, he was a lifelong member of the Medzhibozh landsmanshaftn society and helped support various members. He immigrated to England in 1885 where he met his wife Anna Zifels and came to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in 1888. After trying out with the Romanian Opera Company in New York, he went to work in the garment trade. Three years later Barondess helped found the Cloakmakers' Union. He also studied law for a time at New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

, but never finished his studies.

Barondess feuded with the Socialist Labor Party

Socialist Labor Party of America

The Socialist Labor Party of America , established in 1876 as the Workingmen's Party, is the oldest socialist political party in the United States and the second oldest socialist party in the world. Originally known as the Workingmen's Party of America, the party changed its name in 1877 and has...

, which criticized him relentlessly. He formed a brief alliance with anarchists

Anarchism

Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...

 in the labor movement, but fell out with them as well. He eventually forged warmer relations with those socialists

Socialism

Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

 who left the SLP to form the Socialist Party

Socialist Party of America

The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...

.

His star faded somewhat after his conviction for extortion in connection with a cloakmakers' strike in 1891, in which he was accused of accepting a check for one hundred dollars from an employer who had violated his collective bargaining agreement with the union. The accusation was probably false; the union did not have its own checking account at the time, so any payment would have had to go through the account of an individual who did. After being convicted, Barondess jumped bail to flee to Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, returning to serve a shortened sentence only after union leaders pleaded for him to do so.

He eventually recovered his former popularity, however, presiding at the conference at which the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union

International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union

The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States, one of the first U.S. unions to have a primarily female membership, and a key player in the labor history of the 1920s and 1930s...

 was founded in 1900, helping to organize the Hebrew Actors' Union

Hebrew Actors' Union

The Hebrew Actors' Union , formed in 1899 as a craft union for actors in Yiddish theater in the United States , was the first actors' union in the United States. Until it was decertified by the umbrella organization of theatrical unions in October 2005, it remained as one of the seven branches of...

 (1899; this union of actors from the Yiddish theater was the country's first performing arts union), running unsuccessfully for Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

 as a socialist in 1904, later becoming a Zionist

Zionism

Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...

, then serving on New York City's Board of Education in 1911. He counted among his friends Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

, having close ties with him long before he became president.

Barondess was one of the founders of the American Jewish Congress

American Jewish Congress

The American Jewish Congress describes itself as an association of Jewish Americans organized to defend Jewish interests at home and abroad through public policy advocacy, using diplomacy, legislation, and the courts....

 and in 1919, he participated in the AJC's delegation to the Paris Peace Conference leading to the Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...

. He became active in Jewish relief efforts in the wake pogroms in the Ukrainian civil war

Russian Civil War

The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...

 of 1919-21.

Even when he held no particular office later in his life, Barondess served as the advocate for whoever sought his help, whether petitioning for small favors or protesting mistreatment by the authorities. Even though English was his second language (Yiddish was his first), he was a brilliant orator and elegant writer. In his later years his calendar was full with speaking engagements.

By the time of his death in 1928, however, he no longer had any active role in either the labor movement or politics. He was remembered fondly as a pioneer in the union movement and for his gifted speaking and writing skills; even the Communist

Communist Party USA

The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....

paper Freiheit gave him a respectful obituary. One of the mourners in attendance at his funeral reportedly stated that it would have been a more impressive service if Barondess had been there to deliver the eulogy.

Sources

• Howe, Irving, World of Our Fathers, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976. ISBN 0-15-146353-0.

• Epstein, Melech, Profiles of eleven; profiles of eleven men who guided the destiny of an immigrant society and stimulated social consciousness among the American people, Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1965.

• Chapin, David A. and Weinstock, Ben, The Road from Letichev: The history and culture of a forgotten Jewish community in Eastern Europe, Volume 2. ISBN 0-595-00667-1 iUniverse, Lincoln, NE, 2000, p. 538-545.

• American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, microfilms 2004-2019, contain Barondess' correspondence files.