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(Kaplan) Spitzer, Lottie (audio interview #3 of 9)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is one of eight interviews with Lottie Kaplan Spitzer conducted over the course of four months as part of a Senior Honors project in collaboration with the Feminist History Research Project. Spitzer was very cooperative, but also a bit guarded, since she thought the interviewer was affiliated with the union (ACWA). The interviews were conducted at the ACWA Retirees Center, which probably helped Spitzer to remember and focus on her union experiences. On the other hand, it might have reinforced only positive sentiments about the union, particularly since at the time of the interview visits there constituted Spitzer's main social excursion. There is a great deal of overlap and repetitiousness between the interviews, partially because of Spitzer's tendency to go off into different directions in response to the interviewer's question. Clearly, certain events and people represent more salient memories and these are the ones she tends to repeat. Despite some of the repetitiousness, however, the interviews provide a nice picture of the kind of grass roots union organizing that women like her carried out, especially in the 1910s. TOPICS - 1915 strike; August Bellanca; Frank Rosenblum; Sam Rissman; Sam Levine; organizing strategies at CB Shane; hardship during strike; Bessie Hillman; blacklist status; Hart, Schaffner & Marx; job responsibilities; organizing for ACWA between 1915-18, 1918 strike; joining SP and campaigning on behalf of socialist candidates; and role of Hull House and society women, 1915 strike;arbitrary terminations in non-union shops; section work and coupon system; physical setting of garment shop; organizing workers at CB Shane & Company; blacklisted status; Manufacturer's Association; and position at Hart, Schaffner & Marx between 1915-18; 8/19/1974
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- 2020-03-27
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- File: lhgwlspitzer6.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-3:13)... Spitzer decided to organize CB Shane & Company because she wanted a union shop. Workers at Hart, Schaffner & Marx were partly organized and she was told that union shops had far better working conditions, hours, and wages and that management and shop foremen treated workers better. During the strike, she attended ACWA meetings and heard people like Clarence Darrow, Sam Levine, and Frank Rosenblum speak about the benefits of unionization. (3:13-5:24)... Most of the men she met in front of Hart, Schaffner & Marx were cutters and were considered the leaders of the 1915 strike. They were interested in helping her organize CB Shane & Company. Men like Frank Rosenblum and Sam Rissman agreed to help her organize her shop and spoke at ACWA meetings on behalf of the workers at CB Shane & Company. (5:24-10:20)... It took Spitzer about a week before picketers signaled them to join the strike. An Italian co-worker talked to the Italian workers and she spoke to the Polish and Jewish workers. The foremen never learned of their efforts to organize the shop because they spoke to workers before and after work. All of the people she spoke with were receptive. The workers walked out of the shop in phases during the strike. She picketed in three shifts and was arrested each time she rejoined the picket line. (10:20-14:45)... Hart, Schaffner & Marx was the only garment factory organized when the strike started. Although she received no compensation from the ACWA, they did reimburse her for a new pair of glasses when hers broke during a confrontation with a scab. She was told that the union served sandwiches to strikers, but she never saw any food being distributed on the picket line. Occasionally, she got a sweet roll and a cup of coffee at the ACWA headquarters or August Bellanca took her out for meals. With no money coming in, she was supported by her aunt who frequently had to borrow money just to put food on the table. (14:45-16:50)... Spitzer's aunt and uncle did not criticize her for participating in the strike. Because her uncle was unemployed during the strike, they had to borrow money to pay for food and living expenses. Although she comments that she was willing to do almost anything to make a few dollars, she wanted to stick it out and see what was going to happen. During the strike, she spent a lot of time with a girlfriend whose family invited her over for dinner on many occasions. (16:50-19:08)... Spitzer recalls the day that Bessie Hillman informed workers they had lost the strike. Although the mood was solemn, the workers were prepared to tackle them again. After the strike, she and two of her close friends were blacklisted from the non-union shops in the garment district. Eventually, the union placed them at Hart, Schaffner & Marx. She was assigned to the factory on 19th and Halstead where the shop steward, Morris Spitzer, (her second husband) taught her how to work on cuffs and operate a bottom felling machine. She worked there between 1915-18. (19:08-21:26)... Between 1915-18, Spitzer continued to organize workers for the ACWA. She was a "trustee" during this period. It is unclear what duties this entailed. Another strike was called in 1918, but it was brief because the shops signed union contracts right away. After the strike, ACWA organizers went to New York to organize the garment industry there. (21:26-23:35)... In 1915-16, Spitzer distributed leaflets for Socialist party candidates running for public office. She also spoke to people on the street and went door-to-door. She comments that the ACWA was socialist inclined; many of its members were socialists or anarchists. She also met a few Wobblies on the picket line during the strike in 1915. (23:35-24:45)... In general, the city of Chicago was opposed to the labor movement and newspapers like the Examiner and The American expressed engaged in anti-union rhetoric. Before joining the union, Spitzer read these papers in order to learn what was happening during the strike. (24:45-26:16)... The women of Hull House were helpful during the 1915 strike and many influential and wealthy people walked the picket line with the workers. End of tape. File: lhgwlspitzer7.mp3 (0:00-3:57)... There was a difference between shop owners and foremen, even though the foremen were often referred to as "bosses/" The foremen and the assistant foremen were not considered workers, but were responsible for training workers and overseeing production. She talks about the differences between a nice foreman and a mean one. Her foreman at Scotch Woolen Mills was a bad foreman because he treated workers poorly and was a "woman chaser." (3:57-5:29)... Foremen's in non-union shops were free to fire workers at will. Her foremen at Scotch Woolen Mills fired workers if he did not like them even if they did good work. Workers could also be fired for spending too much time in the restroom or not meeting production standards. (5:29-7:30)... Spitzer was ashamed to tell her parents she was employed in the garment industry because tailoring and shoemaking were considered the lowest professions in the Russian community where she was raised. She was the first person in her family to go to work in the clothing industry. She described how work was organized in men's clothing. Operators were considered better positions than finishers or handwork's. Although people could make more money than operators, she thought operating a machine was easier than handwork. (7:30-9:19)... Factory owners would post job opportunities on cardboard signs outside garment shops as well as advertising in the newspaper. She was shy when she first went to look for work in the garment district. When she applied for a job she told the foreman that besides sleeve and armhole basting she could do whatever they wanted her to do. As a result, many people referred to her as a "mechanic" because she could do various operations. (9:19-15:18)... Spitzer illustrates the layout of the shop and describes the work process. Each section of a garment was distributed to workers in bundles. After a section was completed, the foremen placed the bundle in a box and took it to another area of the factory for the next operation. There was a coupon attached to each section denoting its name, such sleeve lining, armhole basting, finishing, etc. Workers placed these coupons in a book that they turned in at the end of the week so that they could be paid. [She describes an operation being done in a photograph that she displays.] (15:18-17:05)... When Spitzer came to the US she wanted to be independent, work and educate herself since she didn't have a chance when she was younger. She believed that if she was independent and educated she could do anything she wanted. Her priority was to get a job so that she could make money and improve her conditions as well as help her family. (17:05-19:25)... When Spitzer was organizing CB Shane & Company with an Italian co-worker (Louie), he told her to avoid certain people because they were not sympathetic to the union. She approached these workers anyway because she was determined to have a union shop, and recounts how she was successful in organizing a man about whom Louie had warned her. (19:25-20:20)... During the strike, Spitzer talked to scabs and was frequently successful in convincing them to join her on the picket line. There were very few people left at CB Shane & Company by the end of the strike. (20:20-23:30)... The owners of non-union shops organized the Manufacturer's Association and kept lists of workers who were active in the union. Whenever Spitzer applied for a job following the 1915 strike, she was blacklisted. [Editor's note: she uses the term "blackmailed." ] She and two of her friends were unemployed for two months before they asked the ACWA to help them find a job. She comments that the three of them "were the worst ones [during the strike]," and were arrested so many times a day. The ACWA sent them to Hart, Schaffner & Marx, and she was hired at the shop on 19th and Halstead, where she worked for the next three years (to 1918). The shop steward, Morris Spitzer (who became her second husband much later), taught her how to operate a bottom felling machine. End of tape.
- SUBJECT BIO - Lottie Kaplan Spitzer was an ardent union activist, who organized the shop where she was working in Chicago during the 1915 strike. Born in Kobrin, Russia, the oldest of six children in a relatively affluent family, she emigrated to the US with a friend when she was almost thirteen years old. A cousin in Fall River, Massachusetts, who hoped to marry her, sent her a boat ticket. She worked in his jewelry store briefly and then decided to go to work in an overall factory, to the dismay of her class conscious family. Unhappy in Fall River, once she found a wife for her cousin, she moved to Chicago at the invitation of an aunt. She went to work almost immediately in the garment industry and began organizing the non-union shop where she worked. She continued to organize and advocate for the union for the next three years. From 1918-1935 she was out of the waged labor force, working with her husband, Saul Zeiman, in the several different ventures they tried running a fur coat shop. She returned to the garment industry and union organizing activities, including leafleting for the CIO, in 1935 and continued working until her retirement in 1963. In 1948, she switched from her mixed-gender Local of the ACWA to the Women's Local (275). She particularly enjoyed the companionship of the women and the educational programs. Before retirement in 1963, she married the man who had been her foreman many years earlier and worked with him on establishing a Retirees Center. The interviews with Spitzer were conducted as part of a Senior Honors project by Kris Feichtinger, in collaboration with the Feminist History Research Project. INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is one of eight interviews with Lottie Kaplan Spitzer conducted over the course of four months as part of a Senior Honors project in collaboration with the Feminist History Research Project. Spitzer was very cooperative, but also a bit guarded, since she thought the interviewer was affiliated with the union (ACWA). The interviews were conducted at the ACWA Retirees Center, which probably helped Spitzer to remember and focus on her union experiences. On the other hand, it might have reinforced only positive sentiments about the union, particularly since at the time of the interview visits there constituted Spitzer's main social excursion. There is a great deal of overlap and repetitiousness between the interviews, partially because of Spitzer's tendency to go off into different directions in response to the interviewer's question. Clearly, certain events and people represent more salient memories and these are the ones she tends to repeat. Despite some of the repetitiousness, however, the interviews provide a nice picture of the kind of grass roots union organizing that women like her carried out, especially in the 1910s. TOPICS - 1915 strike; August Bellanca; Frank Rosenblum; Sam Rissman; Sam Levine; organizing strategies at CB Shane; hardship during strike; Bessie Hillman; blacklist status; Hart, Schaffner & Marx; job responsibilities; organizing for ACWA between 1915-18, 1918 strike; joining SP and campaigning on behalf of socialist candidates; and role of Hull House and society women, 1915 strike;arbitrary terminations in non-union shops; section work and coupon system; physical setting of garment shop; organizing workers at CB Shane & Company; blacklisted status; Manufacturer's Association; and position at Hart, Schaffner & Marx between 1915-18;
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