Jonas, Sidney, 1905-

Sidney Jonas, a labor union organizer, began his career by organizing shoe-workers. In 1934, he was appointed as a fieldworker for the United Shoe and Leather Workers Union. In 1936, United Automobile Workers (UAW-CIO) president, Homer Martin, appointed Jonas as his personal representative and director of the Northeast Region for the UAW-CIO. Jonas worked in this capacity until 1938. This small collection of mostly black and white photographs includes shots of a crowd gathered at Cadillac Square, Detroit, in support of the Flint sit-down strikers in 1937 and a similar demonstration in front of Ford Headquarters in New York City that same year.

From the guide to the Sidney Jonas Photographs, Bulk, 1923-1948, circa 1933-1999, (Bulk circa 1933-1938), (Tamiment Library / Wagner Archives)

Sidney Jonas was born in Poland in 1905 and immigrated to the United States in 1922. He began his career as a labor union organizer by organizing shoe-workers. As a member of the Young Workers League (later the Young Communist League), he was affiliated with the Lovestone faction in the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA). When Lovestone was expelled from the CPUSA in 1930, Jonas, along with other Lovestonites, resigned from the Party to form the Communist Oppositionists of the United States.

In 1934, he was appointed as a fieldworker for the United Shoe and Leather Workers Union, with assignments in New York, Massachusetts and the Midwest.

After meeting him at an American Federation of Labor convention in 1936, United Automobile Workers president Homer Martin appointed Jonas as his personal representative and director of the Northeast Region of the UAW-CIO. Jonas worked in this capacity until 1938.

From the guide to the Sidney Jonas Papers, 1934-1938, (Tamiment Library / Wagner Archives)