The Forward reported “people streamed in from all parts of New York, till late in the evening” to attend the picnic and described it as “a sea of people, over 30,000 men women and children.” Attendees included members from the Workmen's Circle, from unions, from socialist clubs and radical organizations. “And they all found what they'd come looking for,” the Forward reported, “intellectual and other forms of pleasure.” The atmosphere was convivial: “everywhere it was lively and there was enthusiasm to spare.” The Forward reported “In the afternoon, in a section of the park there was a rich program featuring socialist speakers and celebrity Yiddish theatre artists. Each labor organization grabbed their own section of the park, with the Workmen's Circle forming the largest grouping leaving an impression the entire park was theirs.” Forward reporting showed that the picnic was a who’s who of New York City unions: “You could find there the baker's and furrier's unions, the German branch of the socialist party, the Westchester branch of the socialist party, the shirtmakers union and the wash and novelty unions, capmakers, furniture and bakery teamsters union, sheet metal workers union, waiters union, Brighton Beach branch of the Socialist party, the butchers union, whitegoods workers, cloak and dressmakers unions, waistmakers unions and so on.” The Forward continued to run ads for the picnic in later years. In 1933 it said “25,000 expected for dancing, open air movies, and an all-star soccer game, with a page of the celebrities appearing there to perform!” And in 1934, they showed a Charlie Chaplin film at the picnic.

The Workers Circle -- formerly the Workmen’s Circle -- is a Jewish social justice organization that historically was also a mutual aid society that shared a progressive vision of American and American Jewish life historically with The Forward. It’s name in Yiddish is der arbeter ring, literally meaning worker’s circle as “arbeter,” means “worker,” and “ring” means circle or society. Its current address is 247 W 37th St., just a few doors down from the building pictured above. For over a century, the Forward and the Workmen’s Circle shared co-working spaces, first on the Lower East Side, and then from 1974 on they shared a space in midtown until they parted ways in 2010. Founded three years after the The Forward, in 1900 in New York City, Workers Circle members could be counted on as stalwart Forward readers and frequently as the Forward’s writers, editors and in the Foward’s governance board and association. Workmen’s Circle members organized themselves in branches based on a variety of characteristics including the group’s particular progressive Jewish socialist-leaning ideals or towns of origin in Eastern Europe.

As a sister organization of the Workmen’s Circle, the Forward was heavily involved in these picnics, encouraging readers to attend, publicizing and reporting on the picnic and its writers and administrators even giving speeches.

The picnics brought people from all over New York together for a day of enjoyment and solidarity. The Forward reported on one of these picnics in 1933 as having been ‘epic, admirable and beautiful.” The city was home to numerous delis, the most famous of which are Zabar’s, and Katz’s, which are still in business. Patrons could have bought picnic spreads to go. In the 1930s, Katz’s menu featured potato salad, cole slaw, chopped liver, knishes, liver puffs, roast turkey, and platters of pickled herring, tuna salad, salmon salad and gefilte fish.

Our photo shows the picnic-goers partaking from a large barrel of beer. The Ulmer Park area has a long beer-brewing history. The William Ulmer Brewery was founded in the 19th century in Bushwick, Brooklyn and operated a facility in Ulmer Park until 1920 when it closed due to prohibition. Like other progressive societies of the time, the Workmen’s Circle offered members cultural events, classes, voting drives, vaccinations, information in their own language, help with housing, jobs, and burial as well as health insurance. Mutual aid societies today are a popular response currently helping communities with the COVID-19 pandemic, offering services like food and prescription delivery to those stuck at home and even financial and legal support to families at risk of losing their homes due to the economic recession.

In addition to their Manhattan location the Workers Circle also has a school at 237 Park Place in Brooklyn -- a few blocks away from this building -- that offers Yiddish classes. Ulmer Park has been redeveloped and now houses the Ulmer Park branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.

At the end of their article on the 1931 picnic, the Forward reads "the issue discussed at the picnic this year is the same one as always. Should city government be serving corporate interests or those of the working masses?" While Ulmer Park may have faded into redevelopment you can still grab your comrades, your liver puff, your pastrami or tofu and head over to Surf Avenue the latest outdoor brewery and ponder the issues that seem to still be current.