SCHLESINGER, BENJAMIN

SCHLESINGER, BENJAMIN (1876–1932), U.S. trade union leader and journalist. Born in Krakai, Lithuania, Schlesinger immigrated to Chicago in 1891, working in a sweatshop as a sewing-machine operator. At the end of the 1890s he moved to New York City. In 1903 Schlesinger was elected president of the infant International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ilgwu), but within a year a coalition of more conservative trade unionists defeated his bid for reelection. He then managed the New York Cloakmakers' Joint Board of the ilgwu but left in 1907 to become managing editor of New York's Jewish Daily Forward. During his seven years with the Yiddish daily, Schlesinger maintained his interest in the ilgwu, influenced union affairs, and prepared himself to return to union office at a more opportune time.

From 1910 to 1914, the radical socialist New York cloak-makers clashed with the more conservative and moderate leaders on the ilgwu's general executive board. The cloak-makers were defeated, but at the 1914 ilgwu convention they succeeded in removing the officeholders and elected Schlesinger president. Though committed to class warfare, he attempted to persuade socialists to abide by contractual agreements with employers. During the 1916 strike in the cloak trade, Schlesinger commanded the loyalty of both union radicals and conservatives, made himself acceptable to employers as a negotiator, and gained the support of local reformers and city officials. With the help of New York City's reform mayor, John Purroy Mitchell, he wrung from the cloak manufacturers an exceptionally favorable agreement, which relieved the union from resorting to independent arbitration and placed greater power in the hands of the trade unionists themselves.

From 1914 to 1923 Schlesinger guided the ilgwu with firmness and perception, until it became one of the largest and most progressive trade unions in the nation. But in 1923, worn down by years of poor health and depressed by the intra-union struggle between communists and anti-communists, Schlesinger resigned and returned to serve the Forward. In 1928, with the anti-communists in control, the ilgwu, its treasury depleted and its ranks decimated, turned to Schlesinger. He strove to revive internal unity, but the task, aggravated by the advent of the Depression, proved too much for him. He died shortly after his reelection in 1932.

[Melvyn Dubofsky]