Rage at the murder of striker Ida Breiman (Brayman), a teenage Jewish immigrant from Zhytomyr, Ukraine shot during the 1913 Rochester garment strike, and whose life was dismissed by the plutes and the press because she was a ‘foreigner.’

‘Six Thousand Workers March at Funeral of Murdered Girl Striker’ from The Buffalo Socialist. Vol. 1 No. 39. Match 1, 1913.

Shot Dead by Employer–Capitalist Grand Jury Approves of Deed–Violence Applauded When Committed by Capitalist Class or Police–Murderer Flees from Rochester by First Train.

And what did the “plutes” think of that big procession! What did the tread of those six thousand marchers mean to them? Nothing!

Only another “dog” dead, perhaps. Only another “foreigner,” another objectionable Anarchist from abroad! It was only a striker that had been shot! Had it been anybody who amounted to something, why that would have been different, you know! But, as it was, it was only one of those Agitators who cluster beneath the “RED FLAG,” and despise our sacred institutions, and preach the downfall of private property, and so forth!

Yes, it was a “foreigner.” How well Comrade Lunn showed up these fool “Americans” who keep on with their silly twaddle about “the foreigners.” He gave them to understand that all but the Indians are foreigners in this country. Did you ever think of it? Where did these smug people come from who persist in sticking up their bigoted noses at “the foreign element” in America? Where did their forefathers live? Were they Indians?

But we were talking about that funeral. What a change from the old way! Here was a Jewish girl being carried to her burial, but all caste and sectarian religious rites were set aside, and everybody at all interested in this dead striker was marching behind her bier. All were equally mourners. A great wrong had been done to the working class, and all felt it deeply. There was no violence, no thought of violence, yet deep in the heart of every marcher was an unquenchable hatred for the barbarous and unfeeling system whose baleful existence in this world had ruthlessly taken this young life, another victim to the relentless struggle of the classes.

Have you noted what the Capitalists have done to her murderer? Nothing! A Capitalistic Grand Jury has failed to find an indictment against him, and he and his family (probably on the advice of that class) have fled from the city. They found that he intended no murder. It was only an accident. That was all. Reader, ask yourself this question: Would it have been only an accident if a striker had murdered an employer? What would the Grand Jury have done with the shooter then? Oh, no, there are no classes in this fair land! All people are on a level! All are treated equally! All have the same opportunity and the same chance before the law! That’s what the Employers tell us. Why not believe it? Do they not always tell the truth?

Ida Brayman is dead, and her body is at rest in the old Jewish Cemetery on the Stone Road down toward the village of Charlotte. She lived her life as best she could with the murderous restrictions laid and forced upon it by the hellish system of anarchy under which she had to live her few years, and in an attempt to show her interest in the cause of striking humanity by being present with her fellows in misery before the shop of one of the employing class, whose slaves the workers would help to see the light as they (the workers) should see it, she was shot down like a dog. But it was only an accident. An employer can do no wrong. Strikers do wrong every time they wink, you know. But a manufacturer–he’s a “different breed of cats,” so to speak. He owns property–sacred property, and property, private property, is far above. humanity in value, you know! Anybody with half an eye could see that. Shoot a human being down. That’s all right–provided she belongs to the class that ought to be shot down. (You see the point, of course). But don’t lay your dirty working-class hands on a manufacturer’s private property! That’s different.

Yes, the Grand Jury let the murderer go scot free this time. When it gets hold of a striker it will take a different course. Listen. The foreman of this particular Grand Jury was one of Rochester’s best known rich bankers. Does this fact mean anything to you, reader? Has it any bearing on the class struggle? Or didn’t it have any peculiar significance that the disposal of Ida Brayman’s murderer lay within the power of such persons as that? There may have been men on that jury who understand the working class and believe in it, and love it. I am sure there were a few. But the majority must have been of another color. The result proves it.

What that jury would have done to a striker, if, for example, he or she had killed one of Rochester’s big clothing manufacturers! The electric chair as sure as your name is what it is. No talk of accident in that case. No palliation of any sort. It would have been. a straight open, clear-cut case of assassination. You know that as well as I do. Oh, no, sir, there is no class government here in this land. How lovely it all is. Just perfect. So nicely and fairly arranged! Everybody treated with equal respect and equal justice. Sure thing! Why a dead man could see that. You foolish foreigners, how insanely you do talk! You are a disgrace to this country. Why don’t you go back home? Who wants you here anyway? But this article is waxing too serious. The death of Ida Brayman makes a fellow think–that is a fellow with brains enough in his head to put two and two together, and a heart that is capable of feeling and sympathy! Between you and me and the fence-post, it isn’t going to matter very long what the others think anyhow! They have almost had their day. Pretty soon the world’s real producers are going to have theirs. We don’t intend to harm those nice gentlemen and ladies, but we do propose to throw them off our backs, no matter how it may jolt them. Then Ida Brayman shall not have died in vain.

The Buffalo Socialist was a weekly published in Buffalo New York by the Buffalo Socialist Publishing Company from 1911-1915 and aligned with the Socialist Party of America. Edited by Max Sherover, the company also produced a weekly women’s newspaper, New Age, from 1915.

For PDF of issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/buffalo-socialist/v1n39-mar-01-1913-Buf-Soc.pdf