- Rose Pesotta (1896-1965). Russian-Jewish labor organizer and anarchist. Born in the Ukraine, she was involved there in radical underground circles. After coming to the U.S. in 1913, she became a dressmaker. She was active in Local 25 of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union and soon became a paid organizer. In 1934, her organizing abilities were recognized when she was elected vice president of the union, the third woman to ever be a vice president of ILGWU. In 1936, she was a CIO organizer for the Akron and Flint rubber workers’ strikes. Pesotta was a flamboyant and articulate speaker Page 317 →as well as a tireless activist, none of which spared her from harassment, beatings, and arrests. She worked for the Sacco and Vanzetti defense committee and tried to gain entry to the U.S. for her friend Emma Goldman. After a long and colorful career as a labor organizer, she returned to the sewing machine. She also wrote two autobiographies, Bread Upon the Waters (1945) and Days of Our Lives (1958). Combining her labor organization with factory work reflects her belief that all officers “should stay closely connected to the conditions under which the rank and file were working.”
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