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Rozner, Sarah (audio interview #2 of 20)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the first interview with Sarah Rozner conducted in her home. Rozner manages by herself fairly well, using a cane to walk, but has some breathing difficulties after exertion. She seemed rather vigorous and her voice and manner of speaking was very strong and rather tough. Rozner still has a heavy accent; additionally, she has a habit of taking long pauses in between sentences and a tendency to jump from one subject to another with very little chronology to her activities. TOPICS - family background; immigration; work; union activities; treatment of women in the union; Chicago strikes of 1910 and 1915;activities as a Business Agent; feminist consciousness; development of political consciousness; Brookwood Labor College; factional struggle in ACWA; 3/27/1973
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- 2020-04-03
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- File: lhgwsrozner1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-2:39)... Tape introduction. (2:39-6:02)... Rozner was born in a small town in Hungary in 1892. Her mother gave birth to twelve children and nine survived. When she was five years old, her family moved to the capital city of their country. Her father was a rabbi. (6:02-11:12)... When she moved to the capital city, she went to elementary school for approximately four years and then left because she did not have the proper school clothes. Both her mother and father came from a religious and aristocratic background. When she was eleven, her mother instructed her to either go back to school or learn another skill. Rozner decided to learn how to use a needle and operate a sewing machine. Three of her siblings were already in the United States when Rozner's parents decided to immigrate there. Three months later, Rozner, her older brother, and a younger sister emigrated. After arriving in Chicago on April 1, 1908, she went to her sister's house, which was located in a poor neighborhood in Chicago. (11:12-13:25)... When she arrived in Chicago, she went to work as a domestic servant for a Jewish butcher. The butcher's wife attempted to Americanize Rozner by giving her an American name; however, Rozner refused to accept this. She communicated with her employer in Yiddish. She describes herself as a very clumsy employee. (13:25-17:32)... She described an incident in which she became lost on her way home. She was assisted by an older woman, who helped Rozner get home. Rozner kissed this woman's hand in appreciation, which amused several Jewish men sitting outside her home. However, she characterizes herself as a rebel who did not care what other people thought of her actions. (17:32-20:54)... After working as a domestic servant, she went to work in a corset factory. Initially, she sewed tags on corsets and then operated a sewing machine. She earned $5 a week and worked more than ten hours a day, five days a week. She did not work at the factory on Saturdays, but earned money by scrubbing floors on that day. She worked at the factory for approximately eight months and left because of a conflict with the floorwoman. Apparently, Rozner did not contribute to a collection for the floorwoman, who, in turn, began harassing Rozner. Rozner's parents were worried when she left this job because they depended on her weekly income to support the family. (20:54-24:57)... When she left the corset factory, she went to work for Hart, Schaffner and Marx, a coat and suit manufacturer. This was a large factory with several shops, and as her skill level increased, she transferred into other shops within the company. In 1921, she became the Business Agent for the workers employed at Hart, Schaffner and Marx. At the time, she was the first woman Business Agent in the coat making industry. Ironically, the women did not elect her and many women opposed her position within the union. She recounts that during her campaign a woman stood up and said, "Why don't you go home and wash the dishes? Why do you want to take a man's job away?" (24:57-30:19)... In 1920, seven women were nominated as delegates to the national convention in Boston, all whom were defeated. This event gave Rozner the impetus to initiate a Women's Local. Two hundred women attended the first meeting for Local 275 and several women were sent as delegates to the labor convention in Boston. At this time, Rozner was an officer on the Board of Directors for Local 39 and the union provided her with funds to represent that Local at the labor convention, which she believes was an attempt to persuade her from forming the women's Local. Her main goal in working as a Business Agent was to open the door for other women. However, she believes that very few women were elected to this position after she left Chicago and the Women's Local (275) eventually expired. She also attempted to establish a Woman's Bureau within the union. (30:19-32:25)... During the 1910 strike in Chicago, she marched as a picketer. At the time, she did not spare the scab's feelings even though she argued against violence many years later while attending Brookwood Labor College. She explains that she often lost herself when picketing. (32:25-33:19)... In an unrelated subject, she explains her smoking habits, admitting that she has smoked since the age of five. She recalls that her father did not reprimand her for smoking. She describes her father as a very intellectual man, who taught Rozner about labor unions and strike activities. (33:19-38:26)... After the 1910 strike, she left Hart, Schaffner and Marx, but was unable to find work because she was blacklisted. She ultimately obtained a job at another factory, where she worked as the floorlady [sic]. When the employer informed Rozner that he was going to decrease wages, she organized the workers and the shop went on strike. While working at this shop, she fell in love with the foreman. After the strike was over, this man established his own shop and asked Rozner to work for him. She recalls that her previous employer came to the shop and told the foreman that he was employing an "Emma Goodman." At this time, Rozner was developing her social consciousness and reading and attending meetings and lectures held by radicals, including Goodman. Whenever she wanted to find out if there were union people in a shop, she whistled the "Internationale" and waited for a response. (38:26-42:07)... She worked at a shop at which she was the floorlady (sic) until the 1915 strike, at which time she went to work in the shop opened by the foreman with whom she was in love. Even though she did not become romantically involved with this man, she says that he was the only man she ever loved in her life. They dated, but she never allowed him to kiss her because she was very religious. Until the age of twenty, she observed all of the Jewish holy days and lived by the religion to the letter. When she organized workers she spoke to them in English. However, she had difficulty writing because she thought in Hungarian. Initially, she did not want to come to US, but when she arrived she decided to do whatever she could to live like an American. (42:07-45:06)... During the 1915 strike, she became chairlady of the strike hall. She worked at the hall day and night preparing food for the picketers and organizing the strike efforts. end of tape File: lhgwsrozner2.mp3 (0:00-1:21)... The tape begins with a discussion of a campaign in which she ran against a minister in the 1930s. Although she lost, she gave a campaign speech presenting her views. Sometime in the 1930s she was awarded "Mother of the Year" for the Mt. Sinai Clinic even though she was not married, nor had any children. She was awarded this honor because of her efforts to help children; however, it is unclear what these activities entailed. (1:21-5:08)... When she was active in the ACWA, it was very progressive. To the public, the union exhibited equal rights, but if a woman "lifted her head, they knocked the hell out of her." When she became Business Agent, the men in the union did not understand her enthusiasm to help women, nor did they realize the special skills these women possessed. (5:08-7:57)... During her campaign for Business Agent, a woman told her to go home and do the dishes instead of taking a man's job. After this meeting, Rozner confronted this woman about the fact that a woman's job was just as important as a man's and deserved a similar wage. Some women were opposed to Rozner's activities and often called her names, such as whore. Rozner believes that women have a long way to go to get rights and must stop thinking individually if they want to further their cause. (7:57-9:11)... During the 1914 meeting in Tennessee when many workers walked out of the ACWA, she was working for the foreman with whom she was in love. At this time, she was very naive about romantic relationships and was not sure what she was feeling for him. She is very hesitant to speak of her personal life, indicating that her activities with the union are more important than personal details about her life. (9:11-11:09)... The development of her socialist consciousness was directly related to her union activities. The local in Chicago was socialist. Her father also taught her about labor unions and strikes during the 1910 strike. Upon reflection, she does not have any regrets about her life. Although she did struggle at times, she believes she led a fairly interesting life. (11:09-18:56)... In 1924-26, she attended Brookwood Labor College, which she described as two of the most interesting years of her life. She expresses dissatisfaction with the union for moving away from this type of education, and catering to the more established universities. In 1926-27, she was also on the Board of Directors of the Bryn Mawr Summer School for Workers. She believes that subjects such as science, do not equip people with the skills to organize workers. A.J. Muste was interested in Rozner attending Brookwood Labor College because of her labor background and experience with the ACWA. Polly Colby, an English professor at Brookwood Labor College suggested that students be denied acceptance if they did not have a high school education. Rozner vehemently disagreed with this because she did not have a high school education herself. She later regretted her decision because Colby was one of the only women at Brookwood Labor College and needed Rozner's support. The two women later became close friends and many of the students were envious of Rozner because of her relationship with Colby. (18:56-21:06)... Dorothy Bellanca, an Executive Board member and prominent figure in the ACWA, never received credit for her accomplishments. Men treated women like window dressing. There was a general belief among the male leaders of the union that once a woman got married, she would leave the organization, which was, in turn, used as an excuse not to hire women. (21:06-25:01)... She was mistreated in the union and encountered obstacles because of her gender. She also did not receive an overwhelming amount of support from women. However, this did not discourage her from expressing her views even though she probably would have accomplished more if women supported her. Women were used by both their employers and union officials. However, she describes herself as a "roughneck," and refers to an incident that occurred in 1918-19 when the chairman at a local meeting refused to give her the floor, at which time she began pounding her chair against the floor. (25:01-28:46)... In 1938, she left Chicago and moved to Los Angeles because of health problems. When she arrived in Los Angeles, finding work was very difficult. She ultimately got a job with the ACWA in the Organization Department. As a union organizer, she worked very long hours and earned $25 a week. Although it was difficult to organize workers in Los Angeles, she organized the laundry workers, which included cleaners, dyers, and tailors. In 1939-40, the manager of her Local was arrested during the Red Scare. She stopped organizing at this time and recalls dodging the Red Squad by going into a saloon. It was very difficult to locate work after she left her organizing job. She ultimately found work in a shop that she organized on a previous occasion. The manufacturer complained that she was going to put him out of business because she demanded a decent wage. (28:46-30:50)... While working as a Business Agent in Chicago, a manufacturer there also told her that she was going to put him out of business. She recalls being called into the union office for her attempts to get a presser better wages. As a Business Agent, her philosophy was to shut down the plant and give the employer a chance to make up for the poor wages, rather than cause the manufacturer to go out of business. She recalls that manufacturers often called her a communist, even though she is a socialist. (30:50-33:17)... During the 1924 internal struggle between the communists and the anti-Communists, she was involved in the fight with the union administration. She asked the communists to ally themselves with her. Half of the communists went with her and the other half went with the leader of the Communist Party who was expelled from the union. He later appealed his case at the next labor convention and pleaded with Rozner to help him, but she refused. She believes that the communists were a detriment to the labor movement. (33:17-34:58)... Although she was not active in the Women's Trade Union League, she occasionally attended their meetings and knew several of the members quite well. She often visited Hull House, where she had tea with Eleanor Roosevelt and Frances Perkins. The Women's Trade Union League was very helpful during the strikes that took place in Chicago. Most of the women were middle-class social workers or "do-gooders." (34:58-38:49)... The 1910 strike was aided by the Socialist Party. Although Sidney Hillman was not a socialist, Frank Rosenblum was a member of the Socialist Party. She believes that Rosenblum was a rebel in his day, but did not respect women. Hillman agreed with the general male attitude that women were simply window dressing. Although they were friends, Bessie Abramovitz Hillman did not support Rozner's efforts to form the Women's Local. Rozner believes that she was simply envious of her position as Business Agent. Many of the women within the union feared losing their jobs and did not want to take chances. Whenever a woman became publicly active, she was "hit over the head" by the male leadership within the union. This mentality was similar to when "Negroes" tried to get their rights. Whenever they came into power, everything they did was under a microscope. (38:49-39:45)... In general, she fought to provide workers with an opportunity to get an education. She believes that a person should get an education first and then go to work or begin a career. Perhaps these feelings stem from the fact that her education was very limited. (39:45-40:39)... She retired from the union in 1958. She continued to remain active after her retirement by participating in strikes and attending retiree meetings. Occasionally, she also wrote an article for the union. However, at this time, her union activities are very limited. (40:39-44:18)... During the 1910 strike in Chicago, her family was living in a small flat and paying $8 rent. Her parents did not have any credit at the stores and their electricity was scheduled to be turned off. The strike lasted for sixteen weeks, during which time she convinced her mother to attend a union meeting. After this meeting, Rozner's mother asked her not to return to work until after the strike was over. She describes her mother's personality. (44:18-45:46)... The family depended on her income and they were quite poor until she began earning more money. In general, she earned more money than the average man because of her skill and work ethic. Before she joined the union, she earned $10 a week. She believes that she did not need the union because she was making a higher wage than most of the workers around her. She also scrubbed floors and did other odd jobs to earn extra money. End of tape
- SUBJECT BIO - Sarah Rozner joined the ranks of the labor movement the minute she set foot on US soil and began working in men's clothing in Chicago just prior to the 1910 strike. She organized practically every shop in which she worked - unless she was fired first - and was particularly interested in mobilizing women and helping them to assert their rights. Her woman/feminist consciousness led her to work on the establishment of a Woman's Local of the ACWA in Chicago (Local 275). She worked with other women in the ACWA to establish a Woman's Bureau, but did not succeed. She became one of the first women Business Agents in tailoring in Chicago in 1921, and held various positions in the shops and in the union. When she moved to Los Angeles in 1938, she continued to organize at the shop level, establishing education programs for workers at Louart. She continued to advocate for women, and when she retired in 1959, she established a scholarship for women. Even after her retirement, Rozner remained involved with the union, became a member of CLUW (Coalition of Labor Women) after its formation, and remained outspoken on women's issues, particularly in the labor movement. The interviews with Rozner totaled almost hours, divided fairly evenly between her activities in Chicago and in Los Angeles. She was interviewed as part of the Feminist History Research Project labor series, referred by the ACWA. INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the first interview with Sarah Rozner conducted in her home. Rozner manages by herself fairly well, using a cane to walk, but has some breathing difficulties after exertion. She seemed rather vigorous and her voice and manner of speaking was very strong and rather tough. Rozner still has a heavy accent; additionally, she has a habit of taking long pauses in between sentences and a tendency to jump from one subject to another with very little chronology to her activities. TOPICS - family background; immigration; work; union activities; treatment of women in the union; Chicago strikes of 1910 and 1915;activities as a Business Agent; feminist consciousness; development of political consciousness; Brookwood Labor College; factional struggle in ACWA;
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