We also had to fight in altogether other ways against the immorality and lawlessness that was growing ever stronger under the influence of the FRACs.
One time, during a meeting of the Executive Board of our Transport Workers Union, the door opened and, slowly and somewhat shyly, a bearded Jew dressed in traditional Hasidic garb walked in and asked if he could speak to us. “Certainly, of course,” we answered. “Say what you have to say.”
He had a leather store on Franciszkańska Street, he said, and a few days ago he received a shipment of leather. While he was standing in his store reciting the afternoon prayer, the back porters, who had delivered the leather to his store, stole two bundles of his leather. He was ruined by this theft because he was not an independent merchant, but a middleman. He asked the union whether it could help him get his goods back, because if not, he was simply ruined. We promised to do all we could.
The next morning I went off to the station where the porters stood who carried the leather goods and sternly demanded they immediately make good the theft. They swore up and down they knew nothing about it. Secondly, they said, let the merchant swear we are the ones who stole his goods, and we will return them. So I went back to the merchant and told him, they deny stealing your goods, but if you swear you saw them take your two bundles of leather, they will pay the cost of the merchandise. The pious Jew answered, “How can I swear that I saw them take it? If I had seen it, I wouldn’t have let them. While they were unloading the merchandise I turned to face the wall to say the 18 benedictions of the afternoon prayer, and during that time they stole the two bundles of leather. Who else could have done it? They were the ones who brought the leather into the store, and no one else came in after them. Even if I were to lose everything I own, I would not swear I saw them take the leather, when I didn’t.”
It was clear to me he was right. So I went back to the porters and demanded they return the leather goods or their value. I warned them that if they didn’t return the goods, or their value, to the shopkeeper, then we would remove them from their work places. I told them, “If you didn’t take it, then you must know who did. You must find the stolen goods and return them!” After a short while they did in fact locate the stolen leather and return it to the shopkeeper.
That same evening, however, they came to our union offices and threw down their work permits, declaring they were quitting our union and were joining the rival FRAC union. “We don’t want to belong to a union that takes care of the shopkeepers instead of us. How is it your business to return stolen goods?” they shouted. “We will belong to a union that cares about us, not about shopkeepers.”
But the impression this story had on the broader public, and among the workers, clerks, and shopkeepers on Franciszkańska Street, the Nalewki, Gęsia, and surrounding areas was extraordinary. The image of the Bund, and of the Bund unions, was greatly enhanced.