This exhibit comes from the back cover of a naturalization instructional pamphlet distributed by Citizen’s Union, a then political party, to Yiddish speaking immigrants from 1897-1906.
The following is a line by line translation of the exhibit.
1: Citizen’s Union
2: The city for the [common] people!
3: By them (the federal government), street cleaning is not given its gold question [status]!
4: The silver question has nothing to do with the
5: administration of smaller parks!
6: The national questions have nothing to do with
7: honest and progressive city management!
8: Sign yourself up for
9: Citizen’s Union
10: And elect officials who will honorably administrate the
11: City for the citizens and not in the interests of one
12: self-proclaimed boss or party.
13: Headquarters, 39 East 23rd Street.
Background and Analysis:
This page was part of a pamphlet titled “Amerikaner birger tsu verden” or “Becoming an America citizen” and, despite its Yiddish text, published by a non-Jewish, non-Yiddish political party, Citizen’s Union. Their goal was and is (the organization still exists as a non-government organization) “reforming New York City and State government by fostering transparency, accountability, accessibility, honesty and the highest ethical standards” as well as “holding local government accountable and enfranchising all New Yorkers” (citizensunion.org).
From 1897-1906 party provided pamphlets like this one, explaining how to become an American citizen and including specific practice questions in English and Yiddish from the citizenship test, to new immigrants (Museum of the City of New York). Citizen’s Union, fighting a tough battle for membership against political machines like Tammany Hall (Britannica). These machines would pay poor citizens with bribes and work to vote their ticket, often against their own interests (Stone), and Citizen’s Union arose as their foil. In this case, the pamphlet’s back cover became advertising space for the party itself.
Advocating a “city for the [common] people,” this charged propaganda highlights issues pertinent to those very people, like street cleaning and local parks. By contrast, it notes that national questions are of little concern compared to the importance of progressive local government. In the final paragraph, the pamphlet explicitly urges new citizens to register with Citizen’s Union and vote for honest city officials, rather than the political Boss’ puppets.
Perhaps most interesting, pamphlets of this type were not necessarily unique to Yiddish voters. In fact, that such pamphlets were published in Yiddish along with other languages credits the size of the Yiddish immigrant community as well as their voting power in New York City. Ironically, the Yiddish speaking community holds significant power in municipal New York elections today as well, and are similarly courted by political parties more than a hundred years after Citizen’s Union published this pamphlet.
Note on the text itself: The language is representative of an older, non-standardized Yiddish heavily influenced by German. As such, the letter “ה” can be found following breathy vowels, “and” is spelled “אונד” rather than “אין,” “not” is spelled “ניכט” rather than “נישט,” and extraneous “ע” are found in certain irregular verbs, such as “גיעבט.”
Works Cited:
Image Source: Museum of the City of New York (https://collections.mcny.org)
Citizen’s Union (https://citizensunion.org/about/)
Encyclopedia Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tammany-Hall)
Stone, Clarence N. “Urban Political Machines: Taking Stock.” PS: Political Science and Politics, vol. 29, no. 3, 1996, pp. 446–450. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/420821.
