I Have a Story to Tell You is about Eastern European Jewish immigrants living in Montreal, Toronto, and Winnipeg in the early twentieth century. The stories encompass their travels and travails on leaving home and their struggles in the sweatshops and factories of the garment industry in Canada. Basing her work on extensive interviews, Seemah Berson recreates these immigrants' stories about their lives in the Old Country and the hardship of finding work in Canada, and she tells how many of these newcomers ended up in the needle trades. Revealing a fervent sense of socialist ideology acquired in the crucible of the Russian Revolution, the stories tell of the influence of Jewish culture and traditions, of personal-and organized-fights against exploitation, and of struggles to establish unions for better working conditions.

This book is a wonderful resource for teachers of Canadian, Jewish, and social history, as well as auto/biography and cultural studies. The simplicity of the language, transcribed from oral reports, makes this work accessible to anyone who enjoys a good story.

Table of Contents for
I Have a Story To Tell You, edited by Seemah C. Berson

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Rose Kaplan Barkusky

Rose Gordon

Haskell (Harry) Ullman

Muriel Grad

Fanny (Baba) Osipov

Abe Smith

David Shaya Kirman

Rose Smith

Nina Dolgoy Ullman

Sidney Sarkin

Mr. Shano

Sam Greenberg

Pauline Chudnovsky

Bluma Kogan

Norman Massey

Albert Abramowitz

Lil Abramowitz

Max Dolgoy

James (Jimmy) Blugerman

Samuel Nemetz

Sylvia Grafstein Klein

Molly Klein Goldsman

Rose Esterson

Joshua (Joe) Gershman

Jennie Zelda Litvak

Hyman Leibovitch

Ena Ship

Masha Goldkind

Mary Kevalko

Max Povitz

Art Browner

Bertha Dolgoy Guberman

Max Yellen

Dave Ship

Ben Abrams

Abraham Taylor

Simon Harris

Conclusion

Notes

Glossary

Photographs follow page 112.