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Holland, Rebecca (Goldberg) (audio interview #1 of 3)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This first interview with Rebecca Holland Goldberg, conducted in her home, was part of a UCLA student project. Although Holland was a very confident and serious woman, she spoke very softly and it is sometimes difficult to hear her. TOPICS - family background; immigration; initial work in garment industry; education; health; and organizing experiences;health problems while at the University of Wisconsin; becoming secretary of the Cloak Makers Local; testifying on eight hour day; union activities in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles; and her attitudes toward suffragists and the women's liberation movement; 11/12/1974
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- 2020-04-03
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- SUBJECT BIO - Rebecca Holland (Goldberg) was a long time organizer for the ILGWU, beginning in 1912 in Chicago. She was active in the union later in Los Angeles, and although the details of her organizing activities in Los Angeles are somewhat sparse, her interview is interesting because she and the governing clique in Los Angeles are discussed by Anita Castro in her interview. The interview with Holland (Goldberg) was conducted as a student project at UCLA. INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This first interview with Rebecca Holland Goldberg, conducted in her home, was part of a UCLA student project. Although Holland was a very confident and serious woman, she spoke very softly and it is sometimes difficult to hear her. TOPICS - family background; immigration; initial work in garment industry; education; health; and organizing experiences;health problems while at the University of Wisconsin; becoming secretary of the Cloak Makers Local; testifying on eight hour day; union activities in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles; and her attitudes toward suffragists and the women's liberation movement;
- File: lhgwrholland1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-0:11)... Tape introduction. (0:11-2:53)... [Note: the opening portion of this segment is very faint.] In 1910, at the age of fifteen, Holland immigrated to the United States from a small community in Russia. She is one of six children. Her father worked as a grocer and supplied food to the Russian Army. Her father died when she was nine months old and her mother assumed responsibility for the family business. Her family began immigrating to the United States, beginning with her sister in 1905, followed by two other sisters and a brother. Her brother had been denied entrance to the university in Russia because of the quote for Jewish admissions. (2:53-5:39)... She traveled to the United States by boat. The boats were very crowded and approximately 100 people shared one room. When she arrived at Ellis Island in New York, her mother paid their entrance fee and she received the typical series of medical tests. They then took a freight train to Chicago, where they met Holland's sisters. In Chicago, the family lived in a seven-room apartment and her mother and siblings worked and went to school in the evenings. She went to public school for two years because she was too young to work. (5:39-7:45)... After she finished public school, she worked in a shop from 1912-15, where she learned how to sew. She made $5 a week for the first six weeks. The foreman asked her to make dresses and in one week she made $16. When she left this shop, she went to work at a shop making skirts and cloaks and was the only woman employee. After several months, she decided to leave this shop because she was disgusted by the men's sexual discussions. At the time, she did not know anything about sex, and thought the men were cheap. (7:45-10:44)... While working in the shops, she attended night school. This was exhausting because she worked ten-hour days and often fell asleep in class. On the advice of a friend, she decided to move to Madison, Wisconsin, where she worked with a family and went to high school during the day. Her responsibilities at this home were to make meals and clean the house on the weekends. Her first semester in high school, she was only allowed to take four classes, but once she achieved high marks, she took eight classes a semester. She finished high school in two years and one summer. (10:44-14:20)... After high school, she returned to Chicago for the summer and worked in a garment shop. On the condition that she teach him how to write, the employer allowed her to organize the workers and he agreed to sign a union contract. The women in the shop were very happy when the shop was organized because they received higher wages and worked less hours. The employer did not fight unionization because it made the shop manageable and instead of the workers coming to him with complaints, they went to the business agent. Her familiarity with unionism grew out of her family background. Her brother was a socialist and was very active with the Socialist Party in Chicago; and her brother-in-law was a Business Agent for the Cloak Makers Local. (14:20-17:45)... In the fall of 1917, she returned to Wisconsin and enrolled in the University of Wisconsin. Her course of study centered around economics and she aspired to work with labor unions. After her initial organizing efforts, she continued to organize every shop she worked at. During this period, there was very little union opposition from shop employers. Most of the shops she organized benefited from the union because the workers were happy and the shops ran smoothly. She was a good organizer and did not have any problems with workers. (17:45-22:23)... At the University of Wisconsin, she often disagreed with an economics professor because he taught labor history from a capitalist perspective, which conflicted with her socialist ideals. Among other things, this professor argued that workers did not work properly and took advantage of their employers. She challenged him in front of the students, indicating that without labor, capitalism would not exist. During her sophomore year at the university, she rented a room with one of her sisters, who was also attending the college at that time. They supported themselves by repairing and mending women's clothing. (22:23-26:13)... Politically, she did not support the establishment of political parties because they smothered individual expression. She did assist with Eugene Debs' political campaign when he ran for president. While working with unions in Chicago, she asked Debs to speak to a group of workers during a strike. She neither supported nor opposed WWI. She had great admiration for Franklin D. Roosevelt and believed that if he thought it was necessary to send American soldiers to Europe, she did not oppose his decision. This admiration stemmed from the fact that Eleanor Roosevelt was involved in the Women's Trade Union League. Mrs. Roosevelt was very active in the labor union movement and often came and spoke to workers and participated in labor union strikes. (26:13-28:43)... During her junior year at the University of Wisconsin, she suffered a nervous breakdown because of school, work, and economic stress. At the time, she was very poor and could only afford to eat rolls and water. On her family's suggestion, she switched her major from economics to medicine. Following a medical exam, she suffered the nervous breakdown and her brother was called to the school to pick her up. She was advised not to return to college. end of tape File: lhgwrholland2.mp3 (0:00-4:54)... After she recovered from her nervous breakdown, she went back to work in the garment industry and became the secretary of the Cloak Makers Local. She worked in a shop making skirts and earned $67.50 a week. In 1919, the Cloak Makers Local went on strike. She was also elected as a delegate to attend the Chicago Federation of Labor convention to appear before a joint commission of the house and the senate to discuss the eight-hour day. She went with the manager of the Women's Trade Union League and four other women who worked in the garment industry. During this convention, the women fielded questions by the representatives and she recalls one man in particular who attended law school with her brother. He told her that workers in a southern Illinois factory were happy working eleven-hour days, and she told him that the workers were either scared to tell the truth or insane, which amused the committee. She was at the convention for two days, shortly after which legislation for an eight-hour day was passed. Although she was not involved in the Palmer (??Pullman) strikes in Chicago, it was a very bad strike and several people were shot and killed by the authorities. (4:54-7:23)... In 1920, she became the Chairwoman of Local 100 (Dressmakers), which consisted of more than 4,000 women. She was also a member of the Joint Board, which included dressmakers, cloak makers, pressers, and finishers. In 1921, she went to New York and was involved in the dressmakers strike there. She joined Local 91 (children's dressmakers), which also went on strike. The union gave her a hall and she managed the workers on strike. When the strike ended, the workers' conditions were met by the employers. In 1922, she moved to Brooklyn. (7:23-11:12)... In 1925, the union sent her back to Chicago to attempt to reorganize Local 100 after the Local's strike failed to get a contract with shop employers. After several months, a new Local was organized and brought into the union. At this time, she decided to take a vacation and traveled with two other women to the west coast, settling in Los Angeles. While she was in Los Angeles, she met her husband and they married in 1927. She and her husband returned to Chicago for a few months, but then decided to return to Los Angeles. After she married, she kept her family name because that is what was on her union card. (11:12-15:25)... She believes that women involved in the labor union movement are very different than women fighting in the current women's liberation movement. Holland's generation fought for better wage and working conditions, as well as respect within the work force and in society. The issues for women today seem to center around sex. Labor union women really did not have anything in common with suffragists either. In her opinion, suffragists were "fancy" women who could not relate to the workers. She does not believe that on the whole, upper class women respected the workers. These women placed caring for their animals on the same level as helping the workers. (15:25-17:44)... She was active in the Women's Trade Union League in Chicago and New York. The only woman she related to and respected was Eleanor Roosevelt, who came to the Women's Trade Union League and talked to the workers about their labor conditions. Roosevelt also participated in labor strikes and picketed with the workers. The other women in the Women's Trade Union League were wealthy women with different goals than the workers. Workers wanted equality and respect in their work. Men involved in the labor movement were very supportive of equal wages and assisted the women when they went on strike. End of tape.
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