Tag: Session 5

Justin's posts

Bernard Harris, ‘Anti-Alienism, health and social reform in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain’

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‘Anti-Alienism, health and social reform in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain’ is an article written by Bernard Harris. In this article, Harris writes about how British health and social reforms were motivated primarily by racial prejudices regarding the Jewish immigrants. He does this by illustrating the arguments from several anti-alienists who associate any negative issue arising in Britain as coming from the Jewish immigrants. Harris also incorporates the pro-alienist arguments to strike balance in this argument and to show how the anti-alienist’s arguments were most likely ignorant and based primarily on racial stereotypes.

This article begins by showing how anti-alienists created the widely accepted notion that Jews were allegedly ‘physically enfeebled, without marketable trades, and willing to work for pittance’. This view was based mainly on racial prejudices but was reinforced by the likes of Major Williams Evans Gordon, who used the 1903 Royal Commission to study how Jews lived back home. This study was used to justify the British prejudice, as he had chosen the cities were Jewish poverty was rife and how this way of living would be a threat to the British way of living – particularly those who failed to get into America due to health reasons, so would settle in Britain.

These views also stemmed into racism with many Britons forming the opinion that Jews were an inferior race, hence why they were ‘inherently unhealthy’. Again, this view was exemplified by Evans Gordon who accused the Jews of bringing over diseases such as smallpox and scarlet fever. This was an issue of sanitary conditions during travel rather than inherent ailments, however. Although, Jews were likely to live in overcrowded accommodations with little sanitation – keeping the issue of Jewish health and the British population alive.

Harris later uses several medical professionals’ opinions to refute the claims made by the anti-alienists regarding Jewish immigrant’s health. For example, he quotes Dr James Niven to show that the Jewish population was ‘entirely free of both typhus and smallpox’. Many health professionals of the time also agree that the immigrants were used to a lesser standard of living but would get better after a couple of years of living in Britain. These professionals also note that they were more law abiding than the British natives who showed more care towards their children – with infant mortality rates lessening wherever a large Jewish community was present. Harris notes that 45% of non- Jewish children had rickets compared with only 17% from Jewish children. Also, 51% of Non-Jewish children had poor oral health compared to 27% from Jewish children. This evidence showed that the Jewish immigrants were superior to the Brits regarding health and nutrition – a stark contrast from the pseudoscience displayed by the anti-alienist advocates. This resulted in H.W Ward telling the Royal Commission in 1903 that ‘the foreign settlers in the East End… are a great deal preferable to a large number of our own people living in the same district’.

To achieve better analysis between Jewish immigrants and the British native’s health, Harris uses the large Jewish population (1850-1914) in Leeds as a case study. From this, it is not clear to tell if Jewish infant mortality was lesser than a gentile. It was clear however, that Jewish schoolchildren tended to be less dirty with lesser verminous conditions. Harris notes however, that the criteria’s used to measure children’s health tended to be vague and was open to bias, depending on the medical professionals’ personal prejudices.

From this article, there was little to no difference between the health of the Jewish immigrants when compared to the British. The main motivation for anti-immigration from an anti-alien perspective was either racism or irrationality. This became more evident when Harris quoted a decade worth of medical data from Leeds and incorporated medical observations from professionals.

Oliwia's posts

Session 5 – ‘The Anti-Jewish Riots of 1911 in South Wales: A Re-Examination’ W.D Rubinstein

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This blog post will focus on the main aspects of the re-examination of the riots in 1911 which took place in South Wales provided by W.D Rubinstein.

 

Overall, this article is lengthy due to the amount of detail it includes and shows a different perspective into the 1911 riots of South Wales. Rubinstein clearly highlights the aim of this articles in the introductory session which is to question all the popular assumptions about the riots. He does this by arguing that: philo-Semitism* was an important part of Welsh culture and identity, claims of premeditation were false and the anti-Jewish climate and anti-Semitic aspects assumed during these riots were greatly exaggerated.

 

To illustrate the first argument, Rubinstein points out that during the late 19th century when Jews were being persecuted in Russia, the Welsh were especially vocal in support of the victims which is evident through the rallies held in Wales against the persecution, first of which was held in February 1882 – 10 months after the first pogrom.

 

Additionally, the article argues that due to the lack of an organised group in South Wales at the given time, historians tend to exaggerate the importance of minor events around 1911 in order to emphasise a false belief of anti-semitism intensifying in the area. Rubinstein uses an example the ‘blood libel’ which allegedly took place in Pontypridd in 1903 and argues that the allegations were false and in fact were not based on any real evidence. As a matter of fact, the news of this was only published in one source where the information came from an unnamed correspondent.

 

Rubinstein next counter-argues the theory of the riots being fuelled by anti-Antisemitism, particularly ‘rich Jews’ anti-semitism. The article states that although there is evidence of left-wing sources targeting wealth individuals – primarily Jews – there is no evidence that could link such sources to the riots of 1911. Rubinstein also argues that although the riots began by targeting Jewish properties their dynamic changed over the following week as non-Jewish shops were also damaged – which was largely omitted by the press. The initial attacks of the riots – as argued by Rubinstein – were not fuelled by anti-Semitism but indeed rooted in economic reasons. The Jewish shopkeepers and landlords were accused of raising prices of necessities which angered to general public.

 

This articles in thorough and very informative – providing arguments that are not popular with other historians. The author uses a number of sources to form his counter-arguments which majorly focus on the work of Professor Alderman.

 

*philo-Semitism is described as an interest in, respect for and an appreciation of Jewish people.

Gemma's posts

‘The Tredegar riots of 1911: anti Jewish disturbances on south Wales’ by C. Holmes

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‘The Tredegar Riots of 1911’ by Colin Holmes describes the racial and ethnic violence which occurred in south Wales in August 1911 when Welsh locals began to attack and loot Jewish businesses within the town. In this article Holmes uses evidence from the Home Office file containing telegrams that were passed between Tredegar and Abergavenny and the Home Office which outline the level of concern that the riots caused at the time. Additionally, within the article Holmes demonstrates how Britain has a national ego when it comes to discussing racial and ethnic violence, as it flatters itself into believing it is a tolerant country with decency. However, he argues that is an ‘enduring myth’ and his discussion of the Tredegar riots establishes this.

The Tredegar riots began on Saturday 19th August and ended suddenly the following weekend. Jewish shops were wrecked and looted within the town to such an extent that the military were asked to intervene and there was the intention of rioters to precede over the mountains to attack other Jews in different villages. With the population of only 160 Jews in Tredegar, Holmes highlights that this was ‘a clear indication that large numbers of a minority group are not needed to generate violent opposition’.

The view of the presiding magistrate at Tredegar was that at first, the violence was specifically directed against the Jewish community themselves. However, Holmes suggests that by the time of the riots, violence against the Jewish community had become more generalised and joined with other tensions. For instance, he describes how multiple strikes against the coal and railway sectors had raised social tensions and caused personal distress prior to the riots. Therefore, the Jews were made the scapegoats for the problems that the workers had experienced in Tredegar.

Moreover, Holmes discusses how there was already a pattern of violence present in Welsh society regarding race and ethnicity. He gives examples of the Irish and their economic, political and religious differences, the Chinese community with the Cardiff Maritime Review calling them ‘cheap’ and also after the Tredegar riots, in 1912 with the traveller communities in Llanelli and in 1919 there was violence against the black population.

Holmes therefore concludes that such violence did not only occur in Wales and such events have their parallels. He argues that it becomes clear that most ethnic and racial minorities in Britain at different times in a variety of places have found themselves targets of physical attacks and assaults. Overall, Holmes suggests that racial and ethnic violence will be a persistent presence within society.

Siobhan's posts

D. Renshaw ‘Prejudice and paranoia: a comparative study of antisemitism and Sinophobia in turn-of-the century Britain’

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Historian Daniel Renshaw is a lecturer at Brunel University in London. His research is based around the study of Jewish and Irish Catholic Communities with their interaction with radical politics in East London between the years 1889-1912.

The following article primarily discusses prejudice attitudes aimed at the Chinese and Jewish minorities within late 19th and early 20th century Britain.  The article starts off by distinguishing that both Chinese and Jewish minority groups were characterised as “fundamentally alien to British society” to which the author mentions how both minorities were both often portrayed negatively throughout the British press.  The author also establishes throughout this article that anti-semantic and Sinophobia language had been presented by Conservatives, Liberals and the Labour movement within the 1906 general election. It was known that the Liberal Party and the Labour movement claimed that the Boer War had been portrayed as a “Jews war”  motivated by Jewish financial interests in South Africa. The author also illustrated that the conservatives saw the Chinese minority as an economic and social threat to domestic works forces. The author then again emphasized contemporary attitudes towards the Jewish community as he includes an extract of a 1904 Socialist pamphlet that revealed that Jewish tailors should not be welcome in England at all. This itself demonstrates the hostility towards the Jewish minority throughout this period.

The author also establishes that both the Chinese and Jewish minorities often endured an exploitive capitalist system, as they would commonly work greater hours and in worse conditions for less money.  The Chinese were commonly known to be sailors as the majority of them worked as stokers, these jobs were not seen as attractive to Europeans since this trade necessitated men spending long periods away from home. As a result, Chinese people became established in port cities such as London, Liverpool and Cardiff.

Again the author presents how the Chinese and Jews were negatively portrayed throughout Britain as he established that they were often associated as carriers of various foreign diseases, to which Sinophobic and antisemitic propaganda tended to be portrayed immigrants were viewed as dirty with lacking basic hygiene measures. In particular, the author illustrates how the Jewish refugees were seen as violent anarchists, Nihilists and career criminals. He also establishes that the Chinese were represented as being addicted to narcotics both opium and Gambling. Throughout this source, it was also established that Chinese men were often accused of distributing opium-laced sweets to young girls as well as giving alcohol to children and luring women int laundries with flattery and gifts before seducing them.

Lastly, the author establishes the outbreaks of serious physical violence outbreaks against both communities throughout the Edwardian era, to which he comes to the conclusion that it was relatively rare however there was some accounts of sporadic violence occurring throughout East London, Leeds and Manchester as he establishes that this was commonly occurring between gangs of children and youths. The author furthers this argument by establishing that more serious anti-semantic violence occurred throughout Limerick in Ireland within areas of small Jewish communities. Overall the article written by historian Daniel Renshaw aims to provide an insight of how the Jewish and Chinese Communities were negatively portrayed, it also effectively provides detail of how both ethnic groups experienced prejudice attitudes throughout late 19th and early 20th century Britain.

Christy's posts

David Cesarani, “An Alien Concept? The continuity of anti-alienism in British society before 1940” (1993)

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David Cesarani’s chapter “An Alien Concept? The continuity of anti-alienism in British society before 1940” (1993) This chapter discusses, how the construction of the term alien arose, and  How within the nineteenth century a visible shift in the attitudes towards aliens took place in Britain. The link between economic, political, and personal ideas of nationality, as well as the large influx in immigrants numbers are all discussed in the possible answer as to why Britain was dived  between pro, and anti-alienists.

Cesarani discusses how anti-alien feelings were difficult to describe as one select subject, but rather a large mixture of feelings linked to crime, revolutionary politics, anarchism, and was inseparable with the construction of national identity and internal strains, which was expressed through English literature, preaching the importance of “Englishness”. It was hard according to Cesarani to place anti-alienism within a timeline, to avoid it faliing into the margins of history. He wanted to make it clear that anti-alienist views are located centrally in British society as well as its political culture. Bernard Porter a British historian, was quoted explaining that at the time that Britain believed it had, 

                                    “Moral and political superiority over her continental neighbours”

It was clear to Cesarani that Britain was far from innocent of Xenophobia, with evidence of its use of prejudice, stereotypes, and hateful attitudes towards minority groups including Russians, Jewish, Chinese, Germans, and African individuals. Bernard argued that the predominant source of these attitudes in 1870 came from nations who’s way of life and characteristics were different to that of Britain. The mass migrations of the early 1880s saw an influx in opinions and policy-making of the Jewish and eastern European minorities, arguments over housing and employment. The concept of the term alien was used to describe the hostile feelings of those who came from different parts of the world and brought their different cultures, languages, and ways of life. This in turn left many Brits feeling protective over the British nationality, and Cesarani stated that the threat ultimately led to the display of anti-alien attitudes.

By 1992 the first legislation to restrict alien movements appeared, and was linked to the fall of liberal England, as well as the First World War. In 1914 Reginald McKenna put through new aliens restrictions act, which included prohibited areas where aliens could not reside.  spy-mania, the Russian revolution, unemployment rises, and the effects of alleged opium smoking, were all targeted events promoting the normalising of anti alien behaviours.  By 1929 the act continued to evolve, and adopted more restrictions including that all aliens seeking work, had to obtain permits from the ministry of labour. This established a link between economic conditions and the control of immigration. Another example In 1920 was the fact that police could now close restaurants, places of entertainment, gathering points, and even restrain aliens without a warrant.By the 1930s much of the same stereotypes and negative attitudes remained, blaming immigrants  for high unemployment numbers, the spread of diseases, crime rates, and even the damage to property of Englishmen. And lastly by 1940 the press “with column” reported that 64 per cent of the British public deemed laws on aliens as being  “too lenient”. 

Cesarani concludes  that the concept of Anti-Alienism, particularly within the goverments and courts, was directly related to periods of economic struggles, political instabilities and threats from external countries. This was compared to the liberal pro-alienists, who Cesarani links with  public confidence and optimism . Anti-Alienist had been a direct link between British national identity, and the fear of Britain’s instability within the global sphere. The public had started to fear the loss of a British Identity, and a feeling of “Englishness” and as a result they turned to anti-aliens views to restrict their movements.