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Kushner, Florence (audio interview #1 of 4)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the first of four interviews conducted with Flo Kushner as part of a project for a women's oral history class at CSULB.
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- 2021-02-01
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- *** File: reffkushner1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-2:28)... Kushner's parents met in Russia, where both were members of the BUND, a socialist organization formed by Jews in opposition to the Czar. They immigrated to the US following the 1905 Revolution in order to escape pogroms. She does not know exactly when they arrived in New York or the accuracy of her birth date because her parents did not keep any records. They initially settled in upper Harlem and were living in the Bronx when she was born. (2:28-3:48)... Kushner and her family lived in poor conditions in the tenements of New York alongside other Jewish, Italian and Irish immigrants. When she was eleven or twelve years old, her family moved into middle Bronx and their living conditions improved. (3:48-5:34)... Kushner's parents both worked in order to provide for their family; for her mother, the goal was to ensure that her children would get a good education. She had a stable work history in the needle trades. Kushner's father, however, did not know a trade and held jobs wherever he could find work. Her grandmother lived with them during Kushner's childhood and took care of her while her parents worked. Other than occasional odd jobs, Kushner and her siblings did not work because her mother insisted they focus on their studies. (5:34-8:14)... Kushner was the youngest of three children. Her parents, siblings, grandmother and aunt and uncle all lived under the same roof. She describes one of their tenement homes as a "railroad flat" which consisted of six rooms. Typically, there was a bed in each room. A coal and wood burning stove was used for heating and cooking. (8:14-10:13)... Kushner started school when she was five years old. She enjoyed school and excelled in her studies, graduating from high school when she was fifteen. She was expected to go to college and her mother was willing to "sacrifice everything and work so that [her] children could be professionals." Although her parents were radicals and encouraged them to participate in demonstrations and other types of activities, they were expected to focus on their education in preparation for a professional career. (10:13-14:18)... Kushner's mother was a member of the ILGWU and discussions about unionism and politics were common in their household. She notes that her parents "came here socialist minded and they were leaders in the community... and they knew how to gather the people together and sit on the doorsteps for rent and welfare issues." She clearly recalls the protests that took place before Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed. Her parents were not involved in the suffrage movement because they focused mainly on issues affecting the Jewish community. Her maternal grandfather was a teacher in Russia and taught the women in his household how to read and write because he believed in women's rights. While her grandmother supported her parents political activities, they differed on their religious views. (14:18-15:03)... Kushner could not recall experiencing anti-Semitism when she was a young girl. She was insulated from these prejudices because she grew up in a Jewish community where "we sort of stayed within our own." (15:03-17:05)... Kushner notes that her school was overcrowded; and that the building was not heated. Communication with classmates was difficult because of language barriers. Her classmates were poorly fed and clothed. The school was not equipped with a cafeteria and it was not until she moved out of the community that efforts were made to provide hot lunches and milk for school-aged children. She recalls that it was difficult to play during recess because of the overcrowded conditions. However, she enjoyed school and was a straight A student. (17:05-19:11)... Kushner was in junior high school when her parents moved from the lower Bronx to the middle Bronx. At that time, she enrolled in Walton Junior and Senior High School where she remained until she graduated. Like her previous school, the facilities were overcrowded. She took "general" coursework in preparation for college, which included science, foreign language, geography, history, and math. (19:11-20:52)... Kushner's social life expanded in junior high school, with most activities revolving around after-school clubs. After participating in these activities, she went home and completed her household chores and her homework. If there was still time afterwards, she played outside on the street with her friends. Their childhood games included stickball, skating, touch tackle, jump rope, jacks and marbles. Occasionally, her family went to the park on the weekend. (20:52-23:24)... After Kushner graduated from high school in 1932, she attended Hunter College, where she became involved in the student movement. She also continued her activities in the Young Pioneers, which she joined while in high school. In high school, her activities with the Young Pioneers included being absent on May Day and participating in the March 6th demonstration for better wages and unemployment insurance. The Young Pioneers developed cultural programs which portrayed the struggles of the working class through songs and performances, and also helped organize children in support of a hot lunch campaign and challenged the overcrowded conditions of classrooms. (23:24-25:06)... The Depression did not much change the standard of living of Kushner's family since they were already accustomed to economic struggles. Although her mother managed to stay steadily employed as a seamstress through the Depression, her father's work was intermittent until he went to work for a steam laundry company whose main clients were hotels and restaurants. He worked long hours for very little pay and Kushner often did not see her father until the dinner hour on Friday evenings. (25:06-26:53)... Kushner's family was physically demonstrative and she grew up in a very loving household. Their home was always filled with music and song and their home was a gathering place for family. She was not aware of any marital problems between her parents when she was a young girl, but she later learned otherwise. (26:53-28:16)... Due to his work schedule, Kushner's father was rarely able to do housework. When he did have time, he took care of the children and they went on family outings. For the most part, however, her mother and grandmother were the primary caretakers of their home and the children. Kushner recalls arguing with her mother about having to sit up and wait for her father and brother to get home from work. End of tape. *** File: reffkushner2.mp3 (0:00-2:12)... Kushner's sister joined the YCL when she was a young girl and participated in their activities to improve working conditions in the factories. She got her first job in a factory at the age of thirteen, telling the shop owner she was sixteen. Then, in high school, she took a commercial course and went to work in an office after she graduated. Kushner's mother did not lower her expectation that her children pursue professional careers even after her sister went into clerical work. When her brother chose to pursue a different field as well, the pressure remained on Kushner to live up to her mother's expectations. (2:12-4:17)... Because of the pressure she felt from her mother to get a good education, Kushner could only work at odd jobs, including giving English and piano lessons after school and on the weekends. After she joined the YCL, she decided that she "belonged in the factories and not in school." This decision caused conflict at home and she moved out when she was seventeen. At that time, she moved to Chicago to live with her sister and continue her factory work. (4:17-7:15)... Kushner's first factory job was with Armour & Company canning beef on a work relief order. She was laid off once the work order was fulfilled. She returned to the plant when the company began rehiring workers, but was turned away when the floorlady recognized her as the sister of a YCL organizer. She describes how YCL cells operated within the factories to organize workers. (7:15-9:39)... Kushner began menstruating when she was thirteen years old. Although her mother did not prepare her, she did explain it to her once it occurred. Until she could afford sanitary napkins, Kushner wore rags for protection. She did not talk to her older sister about menstruation because she was busy with her own life and left home early in order to continue her organizing activities with the YCL. Kushner did not learn about sex and reproduction from her sister or her mother, but from her own investigation and reading. (9:39-13:50)... Kushner was blacklisted from the meatpacking industry in Chicago once her relationship to a YCL organizer (her sister) was uncovered. Her sister and brother-in-law encouraged her to pursue opportunities in the radio and television manufacturing industry in anticipation of organizing the women in the work force there. [Editor's note: this was too early for the production of television sets.] They helped her prepare a phony work history and she assumed an Irish surname because "they were not hiring Jews." This was the second time she changed her name; to conceal her relation to her sister, she had earlier changed it when she went to work at a meatpacking plant. Openings in the radio and television industry were ample at that time because of the development of the "moving line." She was hired to wire and solder parts of radio sets. (13:50-15:58)... Kushner claimed that she knew how to solder when she applied for work. She became acquainted with a woman in the waiting room and managed to get assigned next to her when they were hired. This woman taught her how to solder and assemble the parts into the radio. Kushner left the shop two weeks later when the work ran out and she was laid off. The assemblers in the radio factory were not unionized at the time she began working in that industry. She helped organize the workers and was a charter member of the United Electrical and Radio Workers Union in Chicago (presently the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers Union). (15:58-17:29)... Kushner dropped out of college when she left New York and moved to Chicago. Her mother was disappointed and tried to convince her to stay in school. Kushner notes that is was "a real obsession with Jewish mothers that their children must get an education and not drop back into the working class [to] get out of what they went through." However, her mother had no choice but to accept Kushner's decision. They corresponded regularly while Kushner was in Chicago. (17:29-19:02)... Kushner applied to as many as six factories at a time in search of work. Her decision to accept a position hinged on the type of work she would be expected to do and how long the job would last. She typically was paid .37 to .40/hour and worked forty hours a week. There were no job benefits at that time. (19:02-22:42)... As Hitler geared up for war, the CP publicized its opposition to his leadership. During those early years, however, the party was inundated with domestic problems that centered around unemployment, wages, and working conditions. The party's opposition to Hitler's regime escalated during the Spanish Civil War when it launched an anti-fascist/anti-war campaign. (22:42-26:37)... Kushner did not work on any WPA projects during the Depression. The CP viewed WPA as a solution to unemployment and hoped the projects would establish better public agencies, such as hospitals, schools, and cultural centers, as well as improve living conditions via new housing. They supported the government in this venture because it was moving in the direction of a people's movement and they felt that capitalists would never have initiated those types of programs on their own. To a certain extent, WPA alleviated unemployment. However, the country did not fully recover from the Depression until war production began. (26:37-28:40)... Kushner continued to work outside the home after she married in 1934. She began working as an assembler in the radio manufacturing industry on the "moving line" [assembly line] around 1935-36 and was able to hold jobs for longer periods of time. She describes the "moving line" as a "horror for any worker." She worked for the duration of her first pregnancy, in 1938 but took some time off after her child was born. When she returned to the work force, jobs were more abundant because of the war buildup. End of tape.
- SUBJECT BIO - Flo Kushner was a communist organizer starting with her teen years when she joined the Young Pioneers and later in YCL and CP. She was the youngest of three children born into a family of socialist believers. Despite their beliefs, they fled Russia following the 1905 revolution as a result of the ensuing pogroms. Although Kushner recalled living in pretty squalid conditions in the tenements of New York as a child, by the time she was a little older, the family had moved to the Bronx. This is where she received her radical political education - from the street meetings in the neighborhood and from joining her mother on the ILGWU picket lines. She joined the Young Pioneers when she was twelve. Despite her mother's aspirations for her to attend college, after two years Kushner dropped out of Hunter College and joined her sister in Chicago. Following in her sister's footsteps, she went to work at Armour Packing Company to organize the workers, and later began to work in radio manufacturing. Kushner married in 1934 when she was seventeen. Her husband was also active in YCL/CP and both worked in radio manufacturing. She continued to work on an off until after the birth of her second child in 1942, when she stayed home for two years. After her husband went into the military, she went to work in a war manufacturing plant and became an active organizer for the UE. In the late 1940s/early 1950, Kushner became the CP organizational secretary for the the Illinois district until she was sent underground by the party in 1950-1951. After her divorce in 1958, she moved to Los Angeles with her new husband, Sam Kushner, who worked for the People's World. She gave up on trying to get factory jobs and instead went into white collar work. Although she scaled back her activities in the CP, Kushner was active in the peace and freedom movement, farm workers and Chicano movements in the 1970s. The interview with Kushner was conducted as a student project for a women's oral history class at CSULB. TOPICS - family background; family life; parent's political and radical activities; parent's work history; socioeconomic status; housing and living conditions; protests to Sacco-Vanzetti execution; education; mother's expectations for her children; conditions of school facilities; neighborhood demographics; childhood play activities; and activities with the Young Pioneers;YCL activities; mother's aspirations for her education and career; move to Chicago; work in meatpacking industry; organizing for YCL/CP; blacklisting; menstruation; work in radio assembly; job market during the Depression; organizing for UE; wages and hours; CP campaigns during WWII; views of WPA;
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