William Green

They were alarmed about the news coming from Germany since Adolf Hitler had taken over as chancellor that January.

The day after the boycott decision, American Federation of Labor President William Green spoke with a reporter saying, "We found fresh justification for our action yesterday in today's announcement of Germany's withdrawal from the League of Nations and Disarmament Conference." In the months that followed the boycott, Jewish labor leaders continued to organize.

In 1934, they formed the Jewish Labor Committee, a new organization headquartered in New York City.

That year, the head of the Jewish Labor Committee, Baruch Charney Vellecek, addressed the convention of the American Federation of Labor in San Francisco.

In 1936, the AFL's chairman of the Labor Chest, Matthew Woll, declared that the events in Germany, quote, "Concern us as deeply as the cause of labor, and that we shall spare no effort to help the victims of this regime." That same year, the Jewish Labor Committee organized a World Labor Athletic Carnival in New York City.

The aim was to draw attention away from the Olympics that were being held in Nazi Germany.

American Federation of Labor President William Green served as one of the honorary chairpersons for those games.

Labor: History in Two brought to you by the Illinois Labor History Society and The Rick Smith Show.