ACKNOWLEDGMENT
WHEN I WENT BACK to work in
a dress factory early in 1942 I set out to write a book on my years afield
as a labor organizer. During that period I had accumulated a great mass
of memoranda÷letters, articles written for the labor press, leaflets, pamphlets,
copies of special publications used in organization drives, statistical
reports, diaries. I had the material and the urge, but soon realized that
I was not equal to the task before me.
Fortunately, at that stage, my friend John Nicholas Beffel came to my
aid. Though he has kept modestly in the background, claiming credit only
as editor on the title page, it was largely his collaboration that made
this book possible. Mere words cannot express my deep appreci... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
FOREWORD
ROSE PESOTTA is many things, but I think of her chiefly as possessing
built-in energy. Her vitality is not induced by regimen, nor summoned by an act
of will. It is in her genes. Talk with her a few minutes as casually as you may, and
strength is poured into you, as when a depleted battery is connected to a generator.
If this is true in a chance meeting with an individual, what do you suppose
happens when she sets out to rouse and direct a throng of her fellow-workers?
You will find out in this book. She draws on rich resources of training, travel, and
experience. What is a crisis to another is to her a gleeful adventure.
But you must not think that she has a permanent elation. A person who is never
fatigued exhausts oth... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
To the memory of my father, who died as he had lived,
unafraid; to my mother, for her infinite loyalty and
patience . . .
To the pioneer builders of our union, whose vision and
idealism inspired me; to the victims of the Triangle fire,
whose martyrdom aroused me; to the shirtwaist makers
and dressmakers, whose unselfish devotion lighted my
path; and to those organized working men and women in
America who battle for a place in the sun for all their
kind --
This book is dedicated (From: Anarchy Archives.)
CHAPTER 1
Flight to the West
MY MOTHER waved farewell as the TWA plane took off from Newark airport. In a moment I lost sight of her. The big winged ship taxied to the
end of the field, and swung around. Another few seconds and the plane had
lifted clear of earth. and was gliding smoothly through space.
Looking eastward as we climbed, I could see the Statue of Liberty, ships
moving in New York Bay, the skyscrapers of Manhattan with their lights
just beginning to stab the gathering dusk. Between were railroad yards and
the smoke-stacks of countless industrial plants. Below, as the plane
straightened its course, was the city of Newark, with a shimmering streak of
illumination recognizable as Broad Street. The sun was gone f... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
CHAPTER 2
California Here We Come!
CONDITIONS IN THE LOS ANGELES dress industry had grown steadily
worse in five months. Manufacturers generally were violating the state minimum
wage of $16 a week for women, and the President's Reemployment
Agreement, more often called the Blanket Code, in effect until a permanent Code
of Fair Competition under the NRA could be agreed upon for the industry. An
appallingly large labor turnover was deliberately fostered by the employers for
their own benefit. Workers who showed any inclination to organize for
selfprotection were promptly fired; and the blacklist operated relentlessly against
those who dared protest.
I got a close-up of this from local union leaders the morning after my
ar... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
CHAPTER 3
Mexican Girls Stand Their Ground
EARLY IN OCTOBER the dress manufacturers were firing workers
right and left, on flimsy pretexts, and especially ousting individuals
known to be active in the union. Several shops locked out their
employes. By Monday, the 9th, hundreds were on the streets with no
jobs. A strike was clearly being forced upon us.
Carrying out the mandate of the dressmakers' mass meeting, the
union leadership agreed upon Thursday, the 12th, as the date for the
walkout, and the organization committee was called to meet after
work Wednesday. Meanwhile the union issued leaflets asking all Los
Angeles dressmakers to "get ready for the general strike," saying we
wanted to make it short and effective thro... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
CHAPTER 4
The Employers Try an Injunction
HIRED THUGS APPEARED in front of the strike-bound garment
factory buildings as another week began. Ostensibly their job was to
protect "non-striking" workers; actually, they were on hand to
foment disturbances. Clashes were provoked by these "guards" as
they led in people who had never worked in the dress industry before,
to replace the striking workers. Girl strikers were arrested and charged
with disturbing the peace.
Representatives of both sides conferred on Monday with Campbell
MacCulloch, executive secretary of the National Recovery
Administration's state board. He proposed a three-month
compromise plan to end the strike. We could see only danger in that
proposal. Early an... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
CHAPTER 5
Our Union on the March
STRIKERS CROWDED THE CORIDOR outside the hearing room in the
Los Angeles City Hall on October 31, opening day of the arbitration
proceedings, ready to testify when called. Vise-President Feinberg and
Harry Sherr, attorney for the ILGWU, presented our case. Feinberg told of a
whispering campaign against the union, by employers who contended it did
not represent the dressmakers for whom it professed to speak.
Arthur Booth, executive secretary of the manufacturers' association,
asserted that "there has been no clash between the employers and employes
in the dress industry on wages, hours, or working conditions."
Our witnesses testified that the employers were operating a blacklist; had
dismi... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
Bread Upon The Waters: Chapter 6
Subterranean Sweatshops in Chinatown
FOOTLOOSE FOR A DAY, Bessie Goren, Bill Busick, and I were gay as we
drove to San Francisco. We sang frivolous songs. Bessie recalled
humorous incidents in Philadelphia, her hometown, and Bill told of
his adventures as campaign manager for Norman Thomas. We were
thrilled by the grandeur of the scenery, save where it was blighted by
Hoovervilles on the edges of towns.
I had received a call from International Vise-President Israel
Feinberg to address a dressmakers' meeting in San Francisco and to
do some intensive organizational work. He met us at our hotel and
took us to dinner.
Negotiations were then in progress with the San Francisco cloak
manufacturers, a... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
Rose Pesotta
Bread upon the Waters
CHAPTER 7
Far Cry from 'Forty-Nine
CONFERENCES WITH EMPLOYERS and
organization meetings now kept the union heads steadily occupied. Meanwhile
our newly enrolled membership busied itself with the educational and recreational
activities I had started. With the cooperation of Brownie Lee Jones, ever
alert industrial secretary of the YWCA on Sutter Street, where I was then
living, we were able to make use of the "Y" classrooms, gym,
cafeteria, and even its mimeograph.
I visited Dr. Alexander Meiklejohn, director of the San Francisco School
of Social Studies, and former president of Amherst College, who expressed
a deep interest in what we were doing. His wife, Helen Meiklejohn, agreed
to condu... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
Rose Pesotta
Bread upon the Waters
CHAPTER 8
Police Guns Bring General Strike to 'Frisco
AFTER PROLONGED NEGOTIATIONS our dress agreement, modified, was accepted
by 15 of the 18 mid-town manufacturers. It provided for a union shop, 35-hour
week, minimum wage scales in line with the NRA Dress Code, two weeks' trial
period, workers to elect a shop chairman and shop committee to handle complaints
and grievances, equal distribution of work during slack season, and impartial
arbitration machinery in case the union and employer could not adjust differences
amicably. It was understood that the workers might join the union without
interference by the employers.
One manufacturer explained that his employes were "conscientious
objector... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
Rose Pesotta
Bread upon the Waters
CHAPTER 9
Some History is Recorded in Chicago
MY MEXICAN co-delegate, Beatrice
Lopez, and I arrived in Chicago early Sunday morning, May 27. The special
train bringing the Eastern delegation to the convention was due at 10 a.m.,
and we joined the official reception committee. I was happy to find many
of my New York friends among the delegates or guests, especially Anna Sosnovsky.
Chums of long standing and classmates at Brookwood Labor College, we had
much to talk about. She had organized several hundred cotton garment workers,
mostly girls and newcomers in the industry, in Newark, New Jersey, and
was now representing their local at the convention.
While we sat at breakfast, several delegates... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
Rose Pesotta
Bread upon the Waters
CHAPTER 10
I Go to Puerto Rico
BACK IN NEW YORK
after the Chicago convention, I explained to President Dubinsky that I
had done everything in Los Angeles that I had promised, and now intended
to go back to work in a dressmaking shop.
"Anything to prevent it?"
"No," he said, "I wish some of our other vise-presidents
would do that. It would be good for them. But I think you'd be wasting
your time. I can give you something better to do."
"What ?"
"You heard William Lopez's speech about Puerto Rico?"
"Yes."
"Would you like to go there?"
Would I? . . . For me the Lopez speech had been one of the high lights
of the convention. Here was a chance for vital missionary work.
"Lopez is in town," ... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
Rose Pesotta
Bread upon the Waters
CHAPTER 11
Island Paradise and Mass Tragedy
IN MAYAGUEZ WE LEARNED that
some manufacturers already had discharged workers in sizable numbers.
These employes had been working for a pittance, and the employers, not
wanting to pay the increased wage provided under the Code minima, had begun
laying them off. The rest of the force refused to start that morning until
the dismissed workers had been reinstated. In certain other factories,
ironers were asked how many handkerchiefs they could iron in a day. When
they replied: "Five dozen," they were advised to double their
output.
The NRA officials there obviously hadn't the slightest idea how to go
about correcting the glaring injustices to labor ... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
Rose Pesotta
Bread upon the Waters
CHAPTER 12
Yet the Puerto Ricans Multiply
DAYE AFTER DAY I continued touring the island, usually
with Teresa Anglero and a committee of girls from the shops, visiting all
the cities and almost every village and hamlet in the hills where the home
workers lived. I talked with all kinds of people, addressed organizational
mass meetings÷and because it was so obviously necessary, conducted workers'
education and social service classes, in which the subjects included child
care, birth control, personal hygiene, and nutrition.*
The great need of personal hygiene among the island's women had made
itself evident soon after my arrival. Staying overnight at Mayaguez we
got two adjoining rooms ... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
Rose Pesotta
Bread upon the Waters
CHAPTER 13
Last Outpost of Civilization
FROM THE TROPICS to the Northwest÷from
Puerto Rico to the State of Washington.... Late in December, 1934, I was
on my way to Seattle at President Dubinsky's request. The International
had chartered a dressmakers' local there, and it needed building up. Crossing
the continent, I had the odd experience of meeting all four seasons of
the year in the course of a single week.
En route I visited Los Angeles, where the dressmakers had elected a new
executive board, which I was called upon to install. The rival union had
been liquidated some lime before. I was proud to note how well our membership
had carried out the program we had charted following th... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
Rose Pesotta
Bread upon the Waters
CHAPTER 14
Early Champions of the Common Man
TRADITION DOMINATED organized
labor in Seattle, which was living largely on its past. The high point
of its history seemed to be the great general strike in February, 1919,
in which 60,000 men and women in 110 unions quit work. The city then had
a population of 315,000. That strike was voted by the Central Labor Council,
a unique body with a revolutionary background unknown in the rest of the
States.
The council was an open forum where any subject could get a hearing
and a vote. Thus the general strike, as a class-war weapon, was discussed
on the CLC floor as early as 1903, and the council had endorsed industrial
unionism in 1909, its delegates b... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
Rose Pesotta
Bread upon the Waters
CHAPTER 15
Employers Double as Vigilantes
A HANDFUL OF CLOAKMAKERS diligently
helped me in my visits to prospective members, yet our progress was snaillike.
Clearly someone was required here who knew the workers in the dress industry.
After a wide search I persuaded Dorothy Enright, a dress operator who had
spoken up pointedly at my first Seattle meeting in 19',4, to come in as
my assistant.
Daughter of a pioneer who crossed the plains and mountains to the Northwest
in a covered wagon, and mother of a grown son (though she looked much younger),
she was worth her weight in gold. She owned a car, knew every nook and
corner of the city and its environs, and having worked long in our industry... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
Rose Pesotta
Bread upon the Waters
CHAPTER 16
Out on a Limb in Seattle
In other cities a small strike
against three minor firms, involving no more than a hundred workers, would
have attracted little attention. But in Seattle it aroused a tempest. The
employers yelled blue murder. I was amazed at the speed with which the
whole anti-union machinery of the city was set in motion against us.
Large advertisements appeared in the daily press, frequently occupying
a full page, attacking the ILGWU and giving false information. Signed
either by 19 employers or by an anonymous "Citizens' Committee of
500," these ads bore arresting headlines, like: Even Dillinger Never
Harmed a Child.... We Are Victims of a Handful of Radicals.... The '... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
Rose Pesotta
Bread upon the Waters
CHAPTER 17
Travail in Atlantic City
ATLANTIC CITY WAS SURCHARGED
with expectation of strife when I arrived on October 11. Most of the other
members of our General Executive Board were there for its quarterly meeting,
and we discussed what was brewing.
The affairs of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, however
important to us, would be overshadowed by a larger issue coming up at the
American Federation of Labor convention÷the question of organizing mass-production
workers into industrial unions. This had caused a six-day battle at the
Federation's 1934 convention in San Francisco. A compromise had sidetracked
the issue for a year. Now, in 1935, it was coming up again, and... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
Rose Pesotta
Bread upon the Waters
CHAPTER 18
Milwaukee and Buffalo are Different
SOMEWHERE IN THE TALMUD there is an ancient Hebrewsaying:
The soldiers fight, the kings are heroes. It comes to mind as I review
the rise of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
To write a truly comprehensive history of the ILGWU and get at the real
source of our organization's phenomenal strength, the historian would have
to visit many an odd corner of these United States in search of original
data. Behind its growth in the face of political and economic vicissitudes
there would be revealed a legion of men and women unheralded and unsung,
rank-and-file people with natural ingenuity, strong working-class loyalty,
readiness to sacrif... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
Rose Pesotta
Bread upon the Waters
CHAPTER 19
Vulnerable Akron: The First Great Sit-Down
AKRON÷rubber manufacturing capital of the world.
A drab Mid-Western industrial city of 255,000. A city with a hum, a throb,
an odor all its own. It made the front pages in February, 1936. A strike
had closed the largest tire factory on the globe, which had 14,000 employes.
On the 25th Frederick Umhey, our International's executive secretary,
wired me from New York: "Goodyear rubber workers in Akron on strike.
A woman organizer requested. Urgently needed. Please proceed to Akron at
once and report to Adolph Germer Portage Hotel."
Leaving Marianne Alfons, our Polish organizer, in charge of the Buffalo
office, I took the first train,... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
CHAPTER 20
'Outside Agitators' Strive for Peace
EDWARD F. MCGRADY, Assistant U. S. Secretary of Labor, had
come to Akron by plane, spent two days in intensive conferences with
company representatives and the strike committee, and departed on
Friday, February 28. He left a recommendation with the committee
that the strikers return to work and let the issues be settled by
arbitration.
A meeting was scheduled for that evening in the strikers' hall.
Around 8 o'clock Sherman Dalrymple, the rubber workers'
international president, Frank Grillo, the secretary, Germer, Hapgood,
and other leaders arrived. The strikers crowded in, anxious to know of
the latest developments. From what I had seen and heard on the
picket-lines, corr... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
CHAPTER 21
Pageant of Victory
PROTESTS AGAINST the picket chanties and tents, which had shut off
street-car traffic in the vicinity of the Goodyear works, brought about a
conference between city officials and the strike committee. As a result, it was
arranged that the city would supply gasoline for automobiles to be used by
the pickets as shelters.
But the promise of gas was not kept, and without warning Mayor Schroy
sent 75 policemen and 30 street cleaners with trucks on the morning of March
7 to tear down the chanties. They didn't get far. After wrecking four shacks,
they were beaten back by massed pickets. At the first telephoned alarm, more
than 300 union workers in the General Tire and Rubber plant stopped work
and ... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
CHAPTER 22
Auto Workers Line Up For Battle
HOMER MARTIN REMINDED ME of my promise in March. He
wired from Detroit asking if I would speak at a series of
mass-meetings. My cooperation, and that of Leo Krzycki,
was especially needed now to round up delegates for the second
convention of the United Automobile Workers, to be held in South
Bend, Indiana, beginning April 27. A sizable number of such delegates
had to be found who were both intelligent and willing to risk losing their
jobs.
So I went to Detroit, where Martin, Ed Hall, secretary-treasurer, and others of the younger, progressive group in the UAW welcomed me
at their offices in the Hoffman Building.
They introduced me to their provisional president, Francis J.
Dil... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
CHAPTER 23
General Motors Capitulates
IN THE STRIKE ZONE the scene was war-like. Naked machine-guns mounted in the
streets commanded every approach to the three plants-Fisher Body No. I and No. 2 and
Chevrolet No. 4. National Guardsmen stood on duty with fixed bayonets, steel helmets on
their heads, mufflers protecting their ears and throats from the bitter winds.
Despite this, most of the people in strike headquarters were relaxing when I arrived that
Saturday afternoon. Earlier there had been speeches, but now they were enjoying
themselves with music and dancing. Outside, a strong guard of union men watched for any
surprise move by the company.
Chevy 4 had been practically isolated, ever since the soldiers came. For 24 h... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
CHAPTER 25
We Win Against Odds in Montreal
SIGNS OF A WIDENING RIFT in the Dress Manufacturers Guild were
evident on Friday. One faction was determined to fight our union to the last
ditch. The other group indicated that if a union was to be organized among
the city's dressmakers, they would "rather have the responsible ILGWU than
a Jew-baiting Catholic 'syndicate."'
Their profits depended upon their taking advantage of changes in seasons.
Soon there would be warm weather; summer dresses must he put on the
market, but none could be shipped because the strikers had essential parts of
them at home in large quantity÷belts, loops, collars, and cuffs. In the past
they had been compelled to do home work at night without ... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
CHAPTER 26
Union Fights Union in Cleveland
THERE WAS A LONG raw scar on Louis Friend's right cheek. It worried
me as he and others met my plane at the Cleveland airport. He had
been slashed with a knife eight days earlier when a
back-to-work flying wedge had forced the reopening of the
Stone Knitting Mills in the face of our strike. This followed a surprise
announcement that the company had signed a "contract" with another
union, led by Coleman Claherty, an A F of L organizer, who, cutting
across our jurisdiction, had formed federal locals in each of the four
struck knit-wear factories.
Riding downtown with Friend in his car, I heard what had been
happening in Cleveland:
"We've been having a tough time," he said. "I'm happy you... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
CHAPTER 27
The Mohawk Valley Formula Pads
OUR KNITWEAR STRIKE was closely linked up in the daily press with two
other CIO strikes one in Republic Steel, and another sponsored by the TWOC
in the industrial Rayon and Cleveland Worsted mills. The principal scene
of conflict in Cleveland was at the steel plants, dominated by Tom Girdler,
arch-enemy of labor unions. Here 6,000 workers had walked out.
July 29, 1937, saw a mass demonstration by the steel strikers in the
Public Square. The speakers included Heywood Broun, then president of the
American Newspaper Guild; Homer Martin of the United Automobile Workers;
Leo Krzycki, Powers Hapgood, and others. This meeting, however, was cut
short by a downpour of rain, which drenched ... (From: Anarchy Archives.)