I do not
believe it is hyperbole to state that manufacturing clothing was the single
most important industry to the Jewish community of Montreal in the twentieth
century. Yes, it is true that Jewish people have been active in a variety
businesses including scrap metal, real estate, retail, and dry goods to name
only a few. But no other industry employed a larger number of people, generated
more wealth and afforded more opportunity, particularly to the Jews emigrating
from Eastern Europe in the two great waves of immigration at the end of the 19th
century and early 20th century, and the next wave after the
Holocaust in the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was also critical for the third
wave of immigration from North Africa in the 1960s and early 1970s.
When I’ve spoken to Jewish audiences in the past I sometimes
ask a show of hands on the question how many people in the room have had
immediate relatives ie. parents or grandparents, who worked in the garment
industry. Invariably it is almost unanimous: No matter who we are today, what
businesses or professions this generation we works in, the origins can be
traced back to shmatas. The doctors, lawyers, accountants, MBAs, financial
analysts, university professors, school teachers, architects, engineers and software
developers of today are the progeny of cutters, sewers, shippers,
patternmakers, designers, fabric salesmen, knitters and manufacturers. We often talk about the importance of the
Bronfman family to the establishment of the institutional Montreal Jewish
community. But I think it is more accurate to say that, at street level,
the Montreal Jewish community was built on rags.
In the area where I work along Chabanel and the surrounding
streets, giant buildings were built during the industry’s heyday in the 60s,
70s and 80s, almost 7 million square feet in all. There were between 50 and
100,000 employees working in almost 1000 garment companies in these buildings.
Chabanel was reportedly the second most important generator of wealth on the
island of Montreal on a per square foot basis after downtown.
So,
if for more than a century there is no other industry more important to the
creation of the Montreal Jewish community; if a portrait of our community, our
history, our character, our mentality, our families, our culture and way of
thinking, is impossible without an understanding of the shmata industry, why
have there not been more books written about it? More films made? More
exhibitions? More academic study?
Shmatas, or rather the people who built the industry, have been given short shrift.
When Mordecai Richler started writing about life in the 1940s
on the Main, Jews were initially either doubtful or incensed at his portrayal.
Richler’s portrait, as truthful as it might have been, was considered
unflattering and many Jews didn't like it being publicized. There was a sense
of embarrassment and shame.
Have shmatas been given short shrift for a similar reason?
I remember as a child in the early seventies driving with my
dad to his office at 9320 Saint-Laurent corner Chabanel on Saturday mornings.
Those giant white brick structures loomed above the street filling me with a
combination of awe, fear and loathing all at the same time. I won’t end up
here, I told myself. I’m going to be better than this, better than a dress
manufacturer. Is this sense of shame our dirty little secret? Why we don’t talk
about the shmatta business? There is no Nobel prize given out for dress
manufacturing.
I wonder if a sense of wanting to redress an injustice is the reason why
people like me and Johnny and Arleen are writing about what we experience in an
industry that is so important to all of us. One thing is for sure, it's necessary.
2 comments:
THe shmata trade has indeed been given short shrift in popular culture. Shmata is a pejorative, meaning 'rag' rather than 'cloth' or better yet, 'fashion' industry. The latter is in the hands of our Sephardi community, and is capital, rather than labor intensive. So there aren't as many people to tell the stories.
Nice post.
Thanks for the post. Goods points. I hold myself responsible for imbibing that pejorative demeaning connotation. And the ramifications of the bad PR were more far-reaching than many realize. For example the government basically abandoned the industry, using trade policy ie. the dropping of duties and quotas on manufactured goods and fabrics, as a bargaining chip to gain access for industries they considered less 'Third World' and more 21st century. Nowadays, the bias against the industry continues with the government unjustly targeting the manufacturers to repay millions of dollars of unpaid taxes from sewing contractors. The manufacturers did not do themselves any favours either. Hopefully one day the book will be written to tell the secret (and not so secret) history of an industry that cannibalized itself with practices that were less than upstanding at times. I mention one such episode in my 'Halbman' novel.
Post a Comment