- Museum of Jewish Montreal
- Hebrew Consumer's League (and Kosher Bread Boycott)
Hebrew Consumer's League (and Kosher Bread Boycott)
collection1924-1925
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4 images · displayed from Museum of Jewish Montreal's own server
Autocollant du BCWIU (Bread and Confectionary Workers International Union / Syndicat international des travailleurs du pain et des confiseries) certifiant que…
La grève a été déclarée le 19 janvier 1925 et les détails ont été publiés dans l’édition du 21 janvier 1925 du journal yiddish Keneder Adler
Réponse en yiddish rédigée par la Consumers League of Montreal (Ligue des consommateurs de Montréal) dans le journal Keneder Adler, le 25 janvier 1925
Annonce publicitaire de la « Union Maid », autour des années 1920 ou 1930. Une générosité d’Eva Lerner
Where
Not on the map yet.
- Held by
- Museum of Jewish Montreal via Museum of Jewish Montreal — map of Jewish Montreal
- Creator
- Sarah Woolf
- Dates
- 1924-1925 (indexed as 1924–1925)
- Level
- collection (source: Story)
- Extent
- 3 places
- Scope & content
- A very public struggle within Montreal’s Jewish community, the kosher bread boycott of January 1925 grabbed headlines in the mainstream newspapers of Quebec and Ontario. The boycott occurred on the heels of the “Kosher Meat Wars”, which exposed class and religious tensions within the Jewish community. The eventful week began on January 19, when working-class Jewish women in Montreal called a meeting in Prince Arthur Hall to discuss the projected three-cent increase in the price of bread. As bread was a staple in the diet of the working class, there was a silent contract between Jewish bakeries and their customers, who were predominantly housewives: union bakeries would strive to keep bread prices low, and the community would be loyal to them. At the end of 1924, the owners claimed that increasing prices were inevitable; the price of flour had doubled that year in the aftermath of an economic recession in Montreal. Unsatisfied, the Hebrew Consumers’ League – as they were called – instructed their fellow housewives to protest the steep prices by buying bread from non-Jewish bakers or by baking their own. Their demonstrations did not stop with boycotts and pickets: one picketing woman was even arrested, though not charged, for assault. Rachel Gold attacked Louis Tichtin – who had just purchased bread from Richstone’s Bakery – allegedly scratching at his face and pulling him by the hair. Newspapers eagerly reported this incident, and also exposed the general strife between men and women in the Jewish community, printing memorable anecdotes describing women smashing newly purchased loaves over the heads of boycott scabs. The local union was sympathetic to the position of both sides and so did not formally resolve to strike. However, following an evening meeting at the Arbeiter Ring offices, the workers and drivers of all six Jewish bakeries elected to walk out on the job on January 24, effectively bringing Montreal’s Jewish bread industry to a halt. Three days of work stoppages, in addition to the preceding day of picketing, was enough for the bakery owners to seek a process of arbitration with the Hebrew Consumers’ League. A committee of owners, protestors, and independent negotiators was formed, and the bakeries reopened. It was agreed that the owners would sell bread at 11 cents until the existing flour stocks were depleted; thereafter, the cost rose to meet the owners’ initial projection of 12 cents per loaf. Though the outcome signalled defeat for the Hebrew Consumers’ League, the women importantly secured a place at the bargaining table and gained a consultative role in the setting of prices for an essential food item. Compiled by Sarah Woolf Sources: Lerner, Eve. Making and Breaking Bread in Jewish Montreal, 1920-1940. Montreal: M.A. Thesis, Concordia University, 2002. Rome, David, and Congress Canadian Jewish. On Our Forerunners - at Work. Canadian Jewish Archives. New Series, no. 9; no. 10. Montreal: National Archives, Canadian Jewish Congress, 1978. The Montreal Star. "Jewish Housewives Buy Christian Bread to Spite Own Dealers." News. The Montreal Star. Monday, 26 January 1925: p. 3. *Images courtesy of Eve Lerner.
- Location
No place found in this description yet.
- Subjects
- Business; Communal; Editor; Events; Political
- Language
- English
- Harvested
- 2026-10-17T06:33:27Z · source datestamp n/a · mjm