ABSTRACT
In 1894 and thereafter, Jewish workers started to join general labour organizations and became a significant proportion of their support base. Within these new organizations, Jewish and non-Jewish workers joined forces and coordinated their interests. The summer of 1894 brought an end to the crisis that had prevailed in the diamond industry since 1889 and had caused unemployment, low wages and abuse of workers at the factories. In addition to determining the organizational structure of the union, the participants at the establishing meeting decided that the new organization would publish a periodical. The influx of Jewish diamond workers into the Social-democratic workers' party in and after 1897 was largely attributable to the substantial influence of the Algemeene Nederlandsche Diamantbewerkersbond (ANDB) and its social-democratic leaders on the Jewish diamond workers. The New Course rates were thus introduced despite some difficulty, and the strike increased the internal strength of the ANDB enormously. Some conflicts persisted between Jewish and non-Jewish members.
