Benjamin Schlesinger was a Lithuanian-born American trade union official and manager. He was also the managing editor of The Jewish Daily Forward.
Background
Benjamin Schlesinger was born December 25, 1876, in Kaidan, Lithuania, which was then part of the Russian empire. He was the son of Nechemiah and Judith Schlesinger. His father's family name is not known to his descendants, since at some time in his life Nechemiah adopted his wife's maiden name, Schlesinger, as his surname.
Born into a rabbinical family, he enjoyed a superior intellectual environment and evidently inherited a superior mental equipment. When transplanted from Krakai to Chicago in 1891, however, like most Jewish immigrant youths irrespective of their background, he was forced to resort to manual labor for a living.
Career
In common with large numbers of Russian Jews, Schlesinger became a needle-trades worker, taking up the occupation of sewing-machine operator on cloaks and suits.
From the age of seventeen, two years after he landed in America, he was a guiding spirit in the Jewish labor movement, either as a union official in the ladies' garment trades, or as manager of the Jewish Daily Forward, the outstanding Jewish socialist and labor organ. Through these positions he played a dominant role in shaping the destinies of both the union and the publication in their rise from poverty to affluence and power.
His first office was that of secretary of the Chicago Cloak Makers' Union, and he had not held this a year when he was elected treasurer of the newly formed International Cloak Makers' Union of America.
In 1903 he was made president of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, which was founded in 1900, one of its chief objects being to eliminate sweatshops from the needlework trades. Because of factional differences he was defeated in 1904, but was selected as general manager of the New York Cloak Makers' Union.
In 1907 he became business manager of the Jewish Daily Forward, which was then experiencing a serious struggle for existence. In this capacity he served from 1907 to 1912. In the meantime, controversies within the Ladies' Garment Workers' Union created a critical situation and Schlesinger was again chosen, in 1914, to guide its fortunes, remaining its president until he resigned in 1923.
Returning to the Forward as business manager of its Chicago affairs, he continued with the paper until 1931, when for the third time he was called to head the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
He died in a sanitarium in Colorado Springs a few weeks after having been reelected, almost unanimously, at the 1932 convention.
Achievements
Benjamin Schlesinger is best remembered as the nine-time President of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Under his presidency the union applied for an injunction against an employers' association that attempted to break a trade agreement in 1921 - one of the first instances wherein a union turned the tables on employers. Since that time many unions have followed the course laid down by the International Ladies' Garment Workers' under Schlesinger's leadership.
In 1967, the junior high school on New York, Jamaica, Queens, was named the Benjamin Schlesinger Junior High School in his honor.
Politics
Schlesinger joined the Socialist Labor Party of America in 1895, remaining in that organization until the party split of 1899. Schlesinger later joined the Socialist Party of America, of which he remained a member until the time of his death.
Personality
In public speeches his style was conversational rather than oratorical. He spoke fluently, directly, and informatively. Because of his ill health, which he attributed to working in sweatshops in his early youth, he displayed an irascibility which accentuated his domineering characteristics.
His strength as a labor leader lay in his extraordinary ability as an organizer and administrator. He was also fearless and independent.
Connections
Schlesinger was married to Rae Schenhause on August 27, 1899 in Chicago. He was survived by his wife, Rae (Schanhouse), two sons, and a daughter.
