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Dollinger, Genora (Johnson) (audio interview #7 of 8)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This seventh interview conducted, as usual, in the sunny den room of Dollinger's home was very difficult for her. She seems to have blocked her memory of the accident that killed her two children, and became very upset in discussing this period of her life. However, when the focus turned to her political work in Los Angeles, particularly her work in supporting the teachers strike in the late 1960s, she became more spirited. 4/19/1977
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- SUBJECT BIO - Genora Johnson Dollinger is best known for her role in forming the Women's Emergency Brigade (of the UAW) during the Flint strike, 1936-7. Born to a relatively prominent and affluent family in Flint, Dollinger developed a heightened sense of women's subjugation as a result of her father's treatment of both his wife and daughters. She became interested in socialism through discussions with Carl Johnson, the father of her future husband, auto worker Kermit Johnson. She married Kermit Johnson over her parents objections, and they had two sons, both of whom were later killed in a car accident. Together with her husband and father-in-law, Dolliinger helped to build the Socialist Party (SP) in Flint, which became one of the organizing avenues for the 1936 strike. After the strike began, frustrated with the traditional roles to which she was initially relegated, Dollinger formed the Women's Emergency Brigade, a militant group of women popularized in the documentary, With Babies and Banners. Dollinger remained active in the UAW following the strike. Later, during the war, and after her marriage to Sol Dollinger, she went to work in Detroit at Briggs Manufacturing. She was badly beaten later, in the postwar years, during the vicious anti-union campaign organized by the manufacturers. While still in Michigan, she became active in the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), worked for the ACLU, and continued to be involved in the UAW. The Dollingers moved to Los Angeles in 1967, when her third son was fourteen years old. Despite her growing health problems, she remained active in a host of liberal and progressive causes and heaped to form the Community Advisory Councils of the LA Unified School District. In 1977, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Flint strike, Dollinger returned to Michigan and, despite her health problems, led a protest against the slighting of women's role in the strike. After her death in 1995, Sol Dollinger published their jointly authored book, Not Automatic: Women and the Left in the Forging of the Auto Workers Union (Monthly Review Press, 2000), which includes an oral history of Genora by Susan Rosenthal. TOPICS - Michigan Commonwealth Federation; postwar layoffs of women; status of UAW during postwar period; distancing herself from the union and moving towards community groups; chauvinism and sexism in the UAW; NAACP activism; NAACP Saturday night socials; SWP and NAACP cooperation; developing current events class in Unitarian Church; senatorial campaign in 1948; and attitude towards SWP leadership;senatorial campaign; SWP responsibilities; expulsion from SWP; Sol Dollinger's health problems and work history; work in real estate sales; job at Chevrolet local credit union; American Socialist; decision to have another child; move to Detroit; activities and work with ACLU; Women for Peace; Alice Herz's self-immolation protest of Vietnam War; disillusionment with ACLU; and decision to move to Los Angeles;Sol Dollinger's transfer to Los Angeles; activities with Wilshire chapter of ACLU; development of Community Advisory Council at Los Angeles High School; 1968 teachers strike; son's high-school activities and participation in student march during teachers strike; organizing ecology club and ecology course at Los Angeles High School; Crenshaw Women's Center; SWP at Crenshaw Women's Center; views on ERA, women's rights, and women's accomplishments; working with BSEIU and AFSCME workers; typing Mexican American newsletter for county workers in Flint; work with Mexican American community in Los Angeles; reflections about her life and union activities; and gender discrimination;
- *** File: lhgdollinger21.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:01-5:00)... The Michigan Commonwealth Federation was modeled after the Canadian Commonwealth Federation, representing a labor party for the working class. She joined the federation while she was with Briggs Local 212. In addition to running labor candidates, the goal was that other sections of the labor movement would establish their own labor parties. The group held several intensive meetings for the purposes of developing a formal structure, but the federation did not last longer than six months. There were only four other people from the SWP in Detroit who joined the federation. At the time, the SWP supported its own labor candidates and did not play an active role in the federation. (5:00-6:47)... In 1946, Dollinger and her husband, Sol, returned to Flint. During this period, "the factories threw the women out without ceremony..." and they were glad to get rid of the problems because in some of the Local's women were militant and maintained the Locals, especially Briggs Local 212. Once the militants left the union, there were attempts by the corporations to break the union and gain control of it before the veterans returned to the plants. (6:47-7:36)... After she was laid off from Briggs Manufacturing, Dollinger went to work in an car seat upholstery factory. The job was physically demanding and not good for her health. Her husband returned to Flint to look for work and to organize the SWP branch, and she remained in Detroit until he found work and got settled. (7:36-12:19)... When she resettled in Flint, she became involved with the American Committee for European Workers Relief, a group organized to send food and supplies to radicals in postwar Europe. Her group was assigned two families, but was only able to contact one of them. It turned out to be the daughter of a radical who had been known as the "Eugene V. Debs of Holland." He was killed by the Nazis for organizing a demonstration against the deportation of Dutch Jews, and his family was sent to concentration camps and exterminated. The activities of the committee were mainly handled by women because men were consumed with work and/or union activities. (12:19-15:22)... Dollinger did not bother to seek a factory job after the war both because women were not being rehired in the plants and because she was blacklisted in both Detroit and Flint. Had some of the militant union leaders been able to take control of the union, they might have had some influence in changing her status. On the other hand, she notes that even the most militant men in the union were not concerned about women's rights. The union's main concern was to resolve problems affecting the male work force, not fighting to place women in factory jobs. She did not attempt to work with a Local in an educational capacity because the rank and file was scared of anyone labeled a "red" and considered a woman radical abnormal. (15:22-18:20)... Three weeks after Dollinger moved back to Flint in 1946, her sons were involved in an accident that killed her youngest and left her oldest with serious health problems until his death four years later. During this period, she focused on organizing an NAACP chapter in Flint. When she became discouraged with the leadership of the NAACP, she started her own caucus and nominated Edgar Holt for president of the Flint chapter. She claims that after Holt was elected, everything changed with regard to civil rights. The other five or six Whites in the Flint NAACP were all associated with the CP. (18:20-21:15)... The goal of the Flint NAACP was to end segregation in public places, beginning with restaurants and a skating rink. They also focused on police brutality and organized a picket line in front of the new city hall. The NAACP chapter was fairly new and the police tried to intimidate members by reminding them that they had communists and other radicals in their ranks. As a result, she felt it was best that she not participate in the picketing efforts, and instead wrote daily bulletins and organized coffee and donuts for picketers. When Richard M. Nixon was scheduled to dedicate the city hall, the postmaster general persuaded Flint to negotiate with the NAACP and the city agreed to initiate a public investigation of police brutality. The picket line was disbanded, but the city did not fulfill its end of the resolution. (21:15-23:51)... When the Flint NAACP organized a demonstration in support of a new city ordinance for fair employment practices, they staged it as a funeral, with a procession of 300-400 NAACP members who followed a hearse from the north end of Flint to the center of the city. A mock minister gave a sermon and the casket, which was filled with the city's existing fair employment practices ordinance, was dumped into the river. Until these types of demonstrations began in the 1950s, Dollinger's had only attended NAACP meetings. Their activities were limited because of ineffective leadership, but picked up after Edgar Holt was elected president. Dollinger was one of three Whites on the board of the NAACP. (23:51-27:36)... The NAACP Flint held its meetings at a hall located in the Black section of a neighborhood across the street from the White section. There was a small room in the back of the hall with a bar. While they were not permitted to sell alcohol, alcohol and other beverages were donated by members and it was served during their socials on Saturday evenings. The entertainment was usually provided by Black entertainers and people danced, socialized, and played games in an interracial setting. The NAACP always worried about being raided by the police and losing their hall for assorted reasons. Dollinger recalls an incident when a "plant" reported that the NAACP was selling alcohol. Black residents in the neighborhood peacefully gathered at the steps of the hall, which proved intimidating enough to the police that they did not take any action. (27:36-30:33)... Although members of the SWP attended NAACP socials, most of the NAACP members were from a labor union background. Dollinger believes that the socializing solidified the relationship with the SWP people. She recounts the reaction of the NAACP members to the speech of someone she identified as an "Uncle Tom." Prior to opening an NAACP hall, meetings were held in the Black churches of the community. (30:33-33:45)... Although Dollinger abandoned religion when she became a socialist and started working in the labor movement, she accepted an invitation by the Unitarian Church to attend one of their services. After hearing a sermon by the Reverend John Morgan, she struck up a friendship with him. After she felt comfortable that he understood she was an atheist, she agreed to volunteer her time to the church. (33:45-39:30)... Initially, her work with the Unitarian Church involved developing a relationship with professors in Flint who were working for the University of Michigan extension program and the community college. She became acquainted with Black professor, Delbert Rogers (?) when he joined the board of the Unitarian Church. He supported her NAACP caucus to elect Edgar Holt president of the Flint chapter, and also helped her develop a current events class in the church. She frequently scheduled guest speakers for the class, after which the class discussed the topics covered. As the attendance increased at these classes, contributors to the church threatened to leave if Dollinger was not thrown out. When the minister refused to disassociate himself from her, he lost those contributors. (39:30-42:43)... In 1948, the SWP chapter in Flint asked her to run for Senate. The only campaigning that she recalls besides speaking to various groups in Flint, was appearing on radio and tv in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She was not passionate about running for Senate because she was more interested in broader community efforts. The SWP nominated her because she was a visible and respected leader in Flint. Responding to a question about her nomination, she states: "I hated being used by men in the movement for jobs which they could not do and very often they acted as though I was a puppet of theirs and they were the big political leaders." Nevertheless, she claims that she was not resentful, knowing that it was necessary to choose the best person for the job in every organization. End of tape. *** File: lhgdollinger22.mp3 (0:00-3:02)... It took a great deal of effort for the SWP to obtain the required number of registered voters to nominate Dollinger for Senate. She fulfilled her campaign responsibilities, but wasn't thrilled about it. Broad-based community efforts appealed to her much more. In addition to participating in study groups, the SWP had various auto fractions, or caucuses, the leaders of which were responsible for informing members about party activities, educating them on union and labor issues, and socialism and Marxism. In addition, weekly lectures in Marxism were given at the SWP's regular meetings. (3:02-4:14)... In the late 1940s, there were thirty to thirty-five members in the Flint chapter of the SWP. Dollinger was writing much of the literature for the militant groups in Flint and was probably one of the most active members in the SWP outside the party. While some members in the party were also involved with the UAW, she was involved with community groups, the SWP, and UAW caucus meetings. By this time, however, the Chevrolet local was so well organized and self-sufficient that she was able to focus on her activities outside the union. (4:14-8:45)... In 1953, the SWP chapters in Michigan were unable to resist a final effort by the SWP to expel them from the party. Prior to her expulsion, Dollinger and her husband Sol issued statements were successful in gaining the support of about one-third of the membership. The conflict with the SWP was over the shift from recruiting workers because of red baiting in the union to recruiting students and intellectuals. Dollinger and her supporters also were involved in discussions about a proletarian revolution in China. The people who were expelled from the party remained in contact and carried on with their activities. Her expulsion did not affect her reputation or activities in the UAW local in Flint. (8:45-11:54)... After her husband was released from a tuberculosis sanitarium, he went back to work in an automobile plant. A short time later, he decided to quit and give up his seniority in the UAW because his health could no longer handle the strain of factory work. He tried to support the family by selling encyclopedias and health juices without much success. They both obtained a real estate license and survived on their commissions until the market dropped when a recession hit Flint. At that time, a friend got her a job at the credit union affiliated with the Chevrolet local and she joined the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU). She describes it as reactionary outfit, which didn't need any "wild-eyed radicals" like her. (11:54-12:53)... From 1953-56, Dollinger was involved in the publication of American Socialist, which was meant to appeal to intellectuals in the movement. Publication ended when they began having problems with distribution and finances. She also continued her involvement with the NAACP and the Unitarian Church. (12:53-17:17)... Her third son, Ron, was born in 1952. She believes she went to work at the credit union when he was about a year old because she was working there while her husband was receiving treatment in a tuberculosis sanitarium in 1953. She placed her son in a WPA nursery while she was at work. Having another child was therapeutic after losing her first two sons in an accident. I (17:17-21:04)... In 1960, Dollinger's husband moved to Detroit in search of work. She joined him three months later and spent the first six months settling into their new home. During this period, Macey (Ernie?) asked her to volunteer with the ACLU. She did some typing for him and then agreed to work as his secretary, initially organizing the chapter and responding to the numerous appeals for assistance that inundated their office. She also helped him elect a board of directors. After he was elected executive director, they organized seven ACLU branches in Michigan. By the time they outgrew their location and moved into an office building in downtown Detroit, Dollinger was doing fund raising and recruiting members to the ACLU. (21:04-23:17)... Even though she considered Ernie Macey (?) an outstanding supporter of civil liberties, E Dollinger comments that he was a male chauvinist and excluded her from certain ACLU activities. She doesn't think that he ever viewed her as an equal, although he told her on more than one occasion that she was the only woman he respected. Dollinger comments that she had to deal with chauvinism her entire life, reflecting back on her experiences with her boss at the credit union in Flint. (23:17-26:55)... Dollinger's official title in the ACLU was Development Director for all the branches in Michigan. She occasionally traveled to other branches, but most of her contact with them was done via correspondence, which proved to be a very effective method of communication. During this period, Dollinger also joined Women for Peace. and helped the Detroit branch establish branches in Ann Arbor and Lansing. Although their original name was Women's Strike for Peace, they dropped the word "strike" because it connoted that their function was to go on strike. Other than occasional conflicts with communists in the organization, the members readily accepted her and eventually elected her as their chair. (26:55-32:03)... Women for Peace focused their early efforts on the Ban the Bomb Movement, and coordinated demonstrations with other peace organizations in Detroit. They held regular meetings, listening to lectures, reviewing books, and discussing issues related to war and peace. They also started a weekly Saturday vigil in downtown Detroit. Dollinger comments on Alice Herz's admiration for the protests of Buddhist monks during the Vietnam War In fact, she copied them when she immolated herself at Wayne State University. Even though most people were shocked, the Unitarian Church honored her actions in a funeral service. (32:03-33:39)... The Detroit branch of Women for Peace comprised approximately fifty women. While it was difficult to get regular attendance at meetings, the women always participated in demonstrations and maintained a consistent writing campaign. WILPF belonged to the peace coalition that gathered for demonstrations. Although some women belonged to both organizations, WILPF and Women for Peace operated independently. (33:39-36:45)... During the Vietnam War, every Women for Peace branch in the nation took turns going to Washington, DC to picket the White House. A large contingent of the Michigan branches traveled to Washington by way of a private airplane chartered by one of its members. (36:45-38:00)... The chronology of the Women for Peace demonstrations is discussed and Dollinger reads the note written by Alice Herz, who immolated herself in a protest against the war. Dollinger does not believe that Herz left a note for her daughter or anyone in Women for Peace. She died ten days after she set herself on fire. (38:00-43:31)... When Dollinger worked for the ACLU, several women who worked as secretaries in the neighborhood of the office volunteered their time. They often discussed feminism and civil liberties while they worked and they were a very tight-knit and loyal group of women. Dollinger ultimately decided to leave the ACLU because of issues she had about Macey's leadership and the lack of administrative support for her position. When her husband found a job opening with his company in Los Angeles, she encouraged him to apply. Before this, she had applied for a position at Wayne State University, but Macey convinced the members of the hiring board not to consider her because he didn't want her to leave the ACLU. End of tape. *** File: lhgdollinger23.mp3 (0:00-2:57)... Dollinger was devastated when Ernie Macey (?) persuaded the hiring board at Wayne State University not to consider her for a position, viewing this much like the way she was blacklisted from factories as a result of her union activities. Macey also tried to block Sol Dollinger's transfer to Los Angeles. After Sol moved to California, she spent three months preparing to leave Detroit during which time Macey refused to hire anyone to replace her. After she left, he attempted to take over her responsibilities and things went downhill. (2:57-5:32)... After Dollinger moved to Los Angeles, she became involved in the Wilshire chapter of the ACLU. Although she noticed they needed assistance organizationally, she was hesitant to implement her ideas. All of her suggestions became bogged down. She started working as a secretary for two ACLU attorneys located in a separate office, but left when her physician suggested she take a break due to an inner ear problem. (5:32-7:45)... When her son was in high school, Dollinger joined with a group of parents to form a Community Advisory Council under the guidelines of the Board of Education. Their purpose was to help Black students establish a student club and a Black history course. She also helped students organize an ecology club on campus. (7:45-12:48)... The Community Advisory Council at Los Angeles High School played an active role during the 1968 teachers strike, along with students from Fairfax, Belmont, and Los Angeles high schools. In addition to picketing, the Council provided sustenance on the picket line and sponsored daily luncheons. When historian Carlton Lynn came to Los Angeles for an AHA convention, he asked her to give a lecture about her activities in the 1937 sit-down strike. When he learned that the teachers were on strike, he helped her paint picket signs and marched on the picket line for one morning. At the end of her lecture, she encouraged the audience to picket the Board of Education on their lunch hour in support the teachers on strike. (12:48-16:41)... Dollinger helped organize a main Advisory Council to manage all of the Community Advisory Councils in the city and was elected secretary of the group, which disbanded after a year. The Advisory Councils based their work on their rights outlined in the Board of Education guidelines, particularly those related to budget and curriculum. She discusses some of the issues the Council was dealing with at the time of the interview After her initial involvement with the ACLU in Los Angeles, Dollinger's activities shifted to the Council, and while she was not a member of any anti-war groups after she moved to Los Angeles, she participated in demonstrations. Dollinger notes that her son was a leader in organizing 150 students to march to the superintendent's office and then to the office of strike negotiators in downtown Los Angeles. (16:41-18:43)... Once the ecology club was formed, one of their main concerns was pollution. Dollinger helped students organize a demonstration protesting about smog. They attempted to get a proposition on the ballot and succeeded in gathering 30,000 signatures. They encountered problems with their ecology teacher because she wanted them to do things like collect trash from beaches and plant seeds, which Dollinger thought " was good for kindergartners." The teacher was not pleased with Dollinger's role in helping students fight for an anti-smog proposition. (18:43-21:36)... When Dollinger visited the Crenshaw Women's Center, she noticed problems with factionalism. According to her, the SWP faction wanted to focus all of their activities on the issue of homosexuality. She believed that this was not an appealing introduction to feminism for the housewives who came to the center and would just push them back home to their male chauvinist husbands. She spoke with Toni Carabillo of NOW and asked her to do what she could to get the center in order. At the time, however, Dollinger was having physical difficulties and was inundated with other activities. She did attend a few meetings at the Women's Center, but was turned off by the approach. (21:36-26:47)... Although people often assumed that she would naturally be opposed to the ERA because of her affiliation with the union, Dollinger supported the ERA from its inception. Many unionists felt that the ERA was a threat to women and that the union afforded women more protection. When she visited Detroit in the late 1960s, her friends organized a welcoming party, at which a group of women, including a leader in the restaurant workers union, looked to Dollinger for support of their anti-ERA position. They were surprised to learn that her views were quite the opposite. She encountered similar incidents with associates who believed that she would support their anti-ERA ideals. (26:47-29:55)... In the early 1950s, while doing secretarial work for county road workers and hospital workers in AFSCME and BSEIU, she was approached by two Mexican workers and asked to type a Spanish newsletter for their organization. At that time, she became acquainted with the small Mexican American community in Flint and became more interested in the problems facing illegal immigrants in Michigan. When she moved to Los Angeles, she immediately took an interest in bilingual education. In addition to donating money to La Raza, she asked the Brown Berets to speak at ACLU forums at the Wilshire chapter. (29:55-30:54)... Dollinger's artistic pursuits began when she was placed on medical disability. In addition to inner ear and lung problems, she was in traction for several months following the beating she received while working with the union in Detroit. (30:54-32:07)... In addition to union activities and broad-based community efforts, Dollinger notes that the thread that runs through her entire life is the fight for women's rights. Another important interest in her life was racial issues. She comments that she was an internationalist or humanist her entire life, but never put a label on it. (32:07-34:43)... When asked about the most exciting time in her life, Dollinger comments that her involvement in the GM strike was "the most influential event in her life." She notes that the women's movement gave her a source of pride and satisfaction, and that she never thought she would see the day when women's problems were beginning to be solved. She recalls frequently hearing her mother or maternal grandmother saying that it was much easier to go through life as a man. It gives her great pleasure to see the gains that women are making everyday, particularly with issues once considered private like child and spousal abuse. (34:43-36:26)... Given the chance to do things over, she does not believe that she would have married and had children at such a young age. Perhaps, she would have gone to college and served a more useful role, but she adds: "I probably would not have been involved in the union movement and I think that is an education that no university can give you." (36:26-39:44)... Dollinger felt that the most difficult facet of her union activities was the criticism she received because she was a woman. While women resented her for associating with their husbands, men did not want their wives around her for fear she would unduly influence them. She reflects that perhaps the most frustrating aspect of her life was not being able to do all the things she wanted to do because she was a woman. On the other hand, the most satisfying part of her activities was discovering the potential in women. She witnessed the greatest metamorphosis in women when she worked at Briggs Manufacturing. As a result, she was disappointed when they returned to their homes in the postwar period, particularly women with some vestige of intellectual and political consciousness. End of tape.
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