Rose Pesotta
Encyclopedia
Rose Pesotta was an anarchist, feminist labor organizer and vice president within the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union
.
, Ukraine
in 1896 to a family of grain merchants, Pesotta was well educated during her childhood and, influenced by the Narodnaya Volya
(People's Will), would eventually adopt anarchist
views. In 1913, at the age of 17, Pesotta emigrated to New York City and found employment in a shirtwaist factory, quickly joining the ILGWU, a union representing the mostly Jewish and Latina female garment workers. Working hard to educate her fellow workers, Pesotta was elected to the all male executive board of ILGWU Local 25 in 1920. She spent two years at Brookwood Labor College
in the 1920s.
The union sent her to Los Angeles in 1933 to organize garment workers, her success there leading to an appointment as vice-president of the union in 1934. One of her biggest accomplishments in Los Angeles, California
was the leading role she would play in the garment industry wide strike of 1933, as strikes were a rarity in this notoriously "open shop" city.
Pesotta also contributed occasional articles to the anarchist newspaper Road to Freedom
(the successor to Emma Goldman
's Mother Earth
), where she found herself on more than one occasion debating other anarchists on the merits of working within traditional union structures, and was heavily criticised for such activities by Marcus Graham.
Pesotta played a key role, together with Lea Roback, in the unionization of Montreal's women's garment workers, in the ILGWU, in April 1937.
In 1944 Pesotta resigned from the executive board of the union in protest of the fact that, despite 85% of the union's membership were women, she was the sole female executive member. She had repeatedly complained to David Dubinsky
, then president of the union, that she felt uncomfortable being the token women on the board but the union continued to not allow other women to rise to leadership positions, despite the fact that Dubinsky had voiced a similar protest years earlier about being the only Jew on the executive board. Rose Pesotta died in 1965.
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union
The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States, one of the first U.S. unions to have a primarily female membership, and a key player in the labor history of the 1920s and 1930s...
.
Biography
Born Rakhel Peisoty in DerazhniaDerazhnia
Derazhnia is a city and railway station in the Khmelnytskyi Oblast of western Ukraine. Derazhnia is situated along the banks of the Vovk River , 42 km east from the regional center Khmelnytskyi. An important railway junction on the line Lviv-Khmelnytskyi-Zhmerynka. Derazhnia has 10,500...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
in 1896 to a family of grain merchants, Pesotta was well educated during her childhood and, influenced by the Narodnaya Volya
Narodnaya Volya
Narodnaya Volya was aRussian left-wing terrorist organization, best known for the successful assassination of Tsar Alexander II of Russia. It created a centralized and well disguised organization in a time of diverse liberation movements in Russia...
(People's Will), would eventually adopt anarchist
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
views. In 1913, at the age of 17, Pesotta emigrated to New York City and found employment in a shirtwaist factory, quickly joining the ILGWU, a union representing the mostly Jewish and Latina female garment workers. Working hard to educate her fellow workers, Pesotta was elected to the all male executive board of ILGWU Local 25 in 1920. She spent two years at Brookwood Labor College
Brookwood Labor College
Brookwood Labor College was the first residential labor college in the United States. The school was established in 1921 near Katonah, New York. The school was closely supported by affiliate unions of the American Federation of Labor until 1928, when pressure began to be exerted by the AF of L's...
in the 1920s.
The union sent her to Los Angeles in 1933 to organize garment workers, her success there leading to an appointment as vice-president of the union in 1934. One of her biggest accomplishments in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
was the leading role she would play in the garment industry wide strike of 1933, as strikes were a rarity in this notoriously "open shop" city.
Pesotta also contributed occasional articles to the anarchist newspaper Road to Freedom
Road to Freedom
Road to Freedom was a monthly anarchist political journal published by Hippolyte Havel, between 1927 and 1931, and is known as the successor to Emma Goldman's Mother Earth. Its contributors included Rose Pesotta, Joseph Spivak, Hippolyte Havel and S Van Valkenburgh.- References :*-See also:*List of...
(the successor to Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
's Mother Earth
Mother Earth (magazine)
Mother Earth was an anarchist journal that described itself as "A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Social Science and Literature," edited by Emma Goldman. Alexander Berkman, another well-known anarchist, was the magazine's editor from 1907 to 1915...
), where she found herself on more than one occasion debating other anarchists on the merits of working within traditional union structures, and was heavily criticised for such activities by Marcus Graham.
Pesotta played a key role, together with Lea Roback, in the unionization of Montreal's women's garment workers, in the ILGWU, in April 1937.
In 1944 Pesotta resigned from the executive board of the union in protest of the fact that, despite 85% of the union's membership were women, she was the sole female executive member. She had repeatedly complained to David Dubinsky
David Dubinsky
David Dubinsky was an American labor leader...
, then president of the union, that she felt uncomfortable being the token women on the board but the union continued to not allow other women to rise to leadership positions, despite the fact that Dubinsky had voiced a similar protest years earlier about being the only Jew on the executive board. Rose Pesotta died in 1965.