Union bread

Bagels, platzels and chollah: the story of the London Jewish Bakers’ Union

Larry Wayne, The Socialist History Society and Jewish Socialists’ Group, 114 pages, paperback, £6.00

This account of the London Jewish Bakers’ Union gives a rare insight into a little known chapter of the trade union movement. The aim of this union was simple: to provide good, cheap, wholesome bread baked in hygienic and humane working conditions by proper union labour.

But this historical account makes clear that this ethnic union and others like it faced many barriers in their attempt to combine social justice while meeting the traditional needs of their cultural and ethnic groups. These unions often found themselves in no-mans land, rejected by both the mainstream Jewish establishment and not taken seriously by the British Left.

But the union managed to forge strong ties with the other so-called immigrant unions such as the Mantlemakers, the Tailors and the Tobacco-cutters and they remained committed to improving the working conditions of their members.

The book describes the appalling conditions faced by bakery workers from the 1840s until World War II, the difficulties in establishing co-operative bakeries and the union’s attempt to produce and distribute bread under a union label: “Union bread for union workers.”

This is a fascinating read for anyone interested in trade union history.