ABSTRACT
The objections from the English labour movement to the arrival of the immigrants led the political branch of the Jewish labour movement to defend specifically Jewish interests in Jewish organizations. The anti-alien disposition of the English trade unions was largely the outcome of the aforementioned coincidence of an economic recession with the rising immigration. The Trades Union Congress proposals for an Act restricting immigration were received from Inskip, the general secretary of the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives. The London Trades Council established in 1860 mediated between the different unions and defended labour interests both in parliament and outside. Trade union federations repeatedly demanded an Aliens Act during this period. In the political movement ideological differences of opinion caused a rift that split the Jewish labour movement into an anarchist and a socialist section in 1891. The anti-alien sentiment that festered during this period kept the Jewish workers away and heightened their political awareness.
