International Workers Order Records Bulk, 1945-1951 1930-1956, (Bulk 1940-1951)

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International Workers Order Records Bulk, 1945-1951 1930-1956, (Bulk 1940-1951)

The International Workers Order (IWO), a Communist-affiliated, ethnically organized fraternal order, was founded in 1930 following a split from the Workmen's Circle. At its peak, shortly after World War II, the IWO had almost 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 put on the Attorney General's list of subversive organizations in 1947 which ultimately led to the liquidation of the IWO in 1954. The material documents the political activities of the IWO and several of its constituent groups, notably the Jewish Peoples Fraternal Order (including Yiddish-language material), the New York State Department of Insurance case against the IWO, and the Ingram Case, a 1940's court case in which a black woman and her two sons were sentenced to death for the murder of a white man.

1.0 linear feet; (1 box)

Related Entities

There are 8 Entities related to this resource.

Workmen's Circle/Arbeter Ring

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pd3stk (corporateBody)

The Workmen’s Circle (Arbeiter Ring), founded in 1892, became a national order in 1900. It was established as a social and cultural Jewish labor fraternal order. Its purpose was to provide members with mutual aid and health and death benefits and to support the labor and socialist movements of the world. Historically, the Workmen’s Circle was closely tied to Jewish unions, the Yiddish labor press, and the Socialist Party. The Circle was highly dedicated to raising the education levels of members...

Kent, Rockwell, 1882-1971

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6td9w2g (person)

Painter; New York, N.Y. From the description of Rockwell Kent interview, 1957 Sept. 12. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 80242441 Painter, illustrator, writer, lecturer; Ausable Forks, New York. From the description of Rockwell Kent letters to Robert T. Hatt, 1935-1936. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122553040 In addition to being a successful painter, printmaker, illustrator, designer, and commercial artist, Kent pursued careers as a writer, professional ...

Jewish Peoples Fraternal Order of the I.W.O. (U.S.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cs30t2 (corporateBody)

Ernest Rymer (1908-1986) was born in Ukraine in 1908. He came to the United States when he was still a boy, and his family resided in New York City. Rymer was a union organizer in the 1930s, and during World War II he served in the Navy. After the war, Rymer (according to his daughter) worked as the "junior director" of the Jewish People's Fraternal Order (JPFO), part of the International Workers Order (I.W.O.). (This title may indicate that he served as director of the ...

International Workers Order

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68d3x6f (corporateBody)

The International Workers Order (IWO), a Communist-affiliated, ethnically organized fraternal order, was founded in 1930 following a split from the Workmen's Circle, the Jewish labor fraternal order. Max Bedacht, the IWO general secretary from 1932-1946, also served on the Communist Party's Political Bureau. At its peak, shortly after World War II, the IWO had almost 200,000 members, including 50,000 in the Jewish Peoples Fraternal Order. The IWO provided low-cost health and life insurance, medi...

Garland, Walter B.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6wv4r4x (person)

Dawidowicz, Lucy S.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dg9jbw (person)

Lucy S. Dawidowicz was born June 16, 1915 in New York City, to Max and Dora (Ofnaem) Schildkret. Her parents were secular Jews who were not affiliated with a synagogue. In fact, the first time that Lucy S. Dawidowicz went to a Jewish service was in 1938 in Vilna. Dawidowicz attended Hunter College and received her B.A. in 1936. She continued her studies as a Masters student in English Literature at Columbia University. Although she enjoyed poetry and literature, the events taking pl...

Milgrom, Sam.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6t02b5d (person)

Bedacht, Max, 1883-1972

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6x06nr6 (person)

Max Bedacht was a communist activist and theoretician. After an impoverished childhood and career as a journeyman barber and trade union leader in Germany and Switzerland, he immigrated to the United States in 1908 where he supported himself as a barber and German language newspaper editor. Bedacht became an early leader of the German Federation of the Socialist Party in California, while continuing to edit German language and labor newspapers in Detroit, San Francisco and South Dakota. From Wor...