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Wexler, Mollie (audio interview #1 of 4)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the first formal interview with Mollie Wexler, conducted in her home. A previous interview was conducted for the purpose of gaining a broad scope of her experiences in life, but that interview was not recorded. TOPICS - family background, early education; apprenticeship in Russia; work in Poland; involvement in labor movement in Poland; labor organizing in Russia; immigration to US; and her first job in New York;immigration to US; initial work experiences in New York; labor movement in New York; organizing in Cleveland; and the evolution of her political consciousness in Europe; 11/22/1972
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- File: lhgwmwexler1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-2:14)... Tape introduction (2:14-4:28)... Born in Russia, she is one of nine children. Her father was an orthodox rabbi and an understanding person. Her mother did part-time dressmaking in the home and taught Wexler how to sew and operate a foot-pedal sewing machine when she was only six years old. By the time she was eight, Wexler was operating sewing machines on her own and went to work in the needle industry. Her brothers worked as carpenters. She explains that all of the healthy children in her home went to work at a very early age, while the ill children stayed home because they were incapable of working. She does not have any surviving family members today. (4:28-8:32)... Her parents could not afford to send her to school. A Jewish family in her community hired a Gentile teacher to educate a group of children in their home, and Wexler was among the group of eight children who received lessons in reading and writing twice a week. At this time, she was also working as an apprentice. After approximately a year of these lessons, the teacher took her and two other students to the city school in an attempt to enroll them in classes there. They were not admitted because the school's quota for admitting Jews was already reached. She learned that the only Jews admitted were the children of wealthy merchants. She believes that this incident was the catalyst for the development of her revolutionary ideals. The teacher continued teaching her without charge. She learned Russian and her father taught her Yiddish. She lived in a Jewish community (shtetl) where everyone spoke Yiddish. (8:32-13:09)... At the age of eight, Wexler became an apprentice for a Russian woman who taught her the skill of dressmaking, for which she received room and board and also completed domestic chores. There were three other girls apprenticing for this woman at the time, and five women also worked there during certain hours. She was not paid any wages until after approximately three or four months when she worked all evening preparing garments for the Easter holiday. At that time she received approximately .30 cents a week, which she gave to her parents. At times, she was envious of the children she saw going to school, but believed her work was typical for most children in her situation. (13:09-15:28)... As an apprentice, her work consisted of hand work, such as sewing the hems or beading onto dresses. She did not do any stitching work, which was completed by the older women who worked there. Wexler was the youngest apprentice there. She explains that this was the typical age for apprentice work, but that Jewish boys did not begin their apprenticeships until after their bar mitzvahs. (15:28-17:46)... During her apprenticeship, she was permitted to attend her weekly education lessons. She went home on the week-ends to stay with her family, where she practiced the dressmaking skills she learned as an apprentice. She did not work on Saturdays because of Shabas. She apprenticed for two years, during which time she learned dressmaking and how to operate a machine. By the end of her apprentice, she was paid approximately $1.50 per week, which was good money and allowed her to occasionally buy a pair of shoes and a coat. (17:46-21:59)... A woman in her community moved to Warsaw, Poland and invited Wexler to work for her. Wexler went to Poland with two friends and made dresses out of this woman's home. In Poland, she attended a meeting organized by students, where they discussed working conditions. Although she had difficulty understanding the students because they spoke Polish, she volunteered her efforts to help the labor movement. The woman she worked for knew about these organizing efforts and provided better pay and working conditions. (21:59-24:12)... In Poland, the workers were attending meetings, but organizing in the factories and shops was very rudimentary. When she attended the meeting organized by the university students, there were approximately 45-50 workers there from the dressmaking industry. Most of the workers were women. All of the leaders of the movement were men and when workers made demands, the male leaders were at the head of the group. The women did not question this authority. (24:12-25:41)... In Poland, the workers were organized according to their industry. When demands were made, the workers from each industry coordinated their efforts. At the time, she was not scared to associate herself with this movement because she did not have anything to lose. The university students assisted the workers in teaching them how to organize and how to make pamphlets. (25:41-27:46)... The police often arrested people who attended the labor meetings. Young people were not arrested, but were taken into custody until their parents picked them up from the police house. In an attempt to conceal the meetings, some were held across the river, requiring workers to travel by boat. However, the police did not question two or three people taking a boat ride. If a meeting was discovered, the police broke it up and were very brutal to the workers. (27:46-29:51)... She did not begin attending the labor meetings until the end of her almost two year stay in Poland. At that time, she was earning $2 a week and the woman she worked for provided lunch. Wexler was responsible for purchasing the rest of her meals. She lived in a boarding house with three girls with whom she worked. In Poland, she operated a sewing machine and learned how to work with difficult materials, such as silks, chiffon, etc. She did not do any cutting or finishing. (29:51-32:31)... In 1913, she returned to Russia to find work and participate in the revolutionary movement taking place there. She participated in some strikes held in the city. Her activities were very dangerous because of police brutality. While participating in these events, she met some people who encouraged her to immigrate to the United States. She left for the United States in November 1913. (32:31-36:17)... In Russia, she began organizing people for unionization. At this time, people were mainly working in small shops or in someone's home. She went to the populated areas within the city where youths congregated for social activities and talked to the women about joining the union. Although the dressmakers did not organize while she was in Russia, other industries organized and went on strike, including a bakery. She picketed outside and was taken into police custody. At the time, teen-agers could not be arrested and go to jail, which was why they predominantly picketed, while the adult workers stood on the sidelines and watched. It was very difficult to get out of jail and many adults feared arrest. When she was taken into police custody, there was no telephone to call to her family and the police picked her father up and brought him to the station to get her. (36:17-38:18)... In addition to picketing in Russia, she also participated in labor strikes in Poland when attempts were made to organize the dressmakers. She recalls picketing in an area in Warsaw on a main street for factories and shops. There were approximately 30-35 women picketing with her at that time and several people were arrested. (38:18-44:01)... While in Russia, she met a young man active in the revolutionary movement who fled to the US to avoid conscription into the Russia army. When he arrived in the US, he sent her a ticket. She took a train to Poland and then crossed the German border, where she boarded a boat. She had a third class ticket and slept in one cabin with five other women. The trip took approximately 11-12 days. She had only $25, which was required for the trip. When she arrived at Ellis Island, she went through the typical inspections and examinations and was then met by a Jewish organization with which she made arrangements prior to leaving Europe. This organization housed her and helped her find work in New York. After a few months, she moved out of this home and got an apartment with a couple of girls. (44:01-46:07)... The first job she got in New York was with a French woman who made exclusive clothing for wealthy people and clothing stores. At the time, Wexler could only speak Yiddish, but was able to communicate with her employer who understood some Yiddish. There were approximately 10-12 other women working at this woman's shop. Wexler made $4 a week, which covered her room at board at the Jewish home where she lived for approximately five months. end of tape File: lhgwmwexler2.mp3 (0:00-1:30)... Tape begins abruptly with a discussion of her work in the United States. When she arrived in the United States, she worked for a French dressmaker for seven or eight months. She worked ten hours a day from 8:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. The other women in the shop discussed unionization, but Wexler learned that the unions were only organizing factory workers. As a result, she left this shop and went to work for a factory so that she could join the union and receive better wages and other benefits. (1:30-3:53)... She worked as an operator in the first factory where she worked; working on specific parts of the article of clothing. The factory was large with approximately twenty-five machines and included both women and men, although the men worked as mainly cutters and pressers. In 1914, this shop went on strike along with the other Dress Making workers in Local 22. (3:53-6:07)... She was in New York for approximately a year and a half until she moved to Cleveland to live with her brother. While in New York, she attempted to organize the workers in the factories where she worked. She was fired at one factory because the employer found out she was a union organizer. She typically met workers during their lunch break and talked to them about the benefits of the union and encouraged them to attend union meetings. (6:07-8:59)... When she moved to Cleveland, she worked in an organized factory, where she became acquainted with workers active in the union. She left this shop and went to work for another factory in an attempt to organize the workers there. Although she was not a paid organizer, she moved from union shops to non-union shops on several occasions to help organize the workers for the union. However, her major union activities did not occur until she moved to Chicago, where her other brother lived. (8:59-13:33)... Although she had a little difficulty adjusting to a new shop, she worked in several factories in Cleveland and did not encounter any problems organizing workers. While workers in New York ranged in age from fifteen to twenty, the workers in Cleveland were a bit older, ranging in age from eighteen and up. Her wages increased from $4 a week in New York to $8-10 a week in Cleveland. She began doing piecework when she moved to Cleveland. She describes the differences between piecework and section work. (13:33-15:26)... It was typically more difficult to organize workers who worked on an exclusive line of clothing because they were paid better and treated well by employers. However, while in Cleveland, Wexler was able to organize workers within this industry. In general, once a factory was organized and unionized, their demands included higher wages, vacation pay, sick benefits, and better working conditions. (15:26-19:29)... Most of the workers in the factories were immigrants. Often times, it was difficult to organize immigrant workers because joining the union initially compromised their job security. Many of these workers took work home to earn extra money. Union organizers usually visited these workers in their homes and explained that taking work home took jobs away from other workers and kept wages low. Wexler mainly organized Jewish workers because she spoke Yiddish, while the other organizers talked to workers in their native languages. When she went to a new shop, she usually lied about her previous employment because she feared that if the employer found out she was organizing workers for the union she would not be hired. (19:29-21:11)... Most of the union organizers were also radicals or revolutionaries; however, Wexler was not involved in any revolutionary movements in the United States. The organizers comprised different ethnicities and religious backgrounds. When organizing workers, Wexler occasionally encountered anti-Semitic people who tried to make her feel like she was not accepted, or believed that she was trying to replace them with Jewish workers. (21:11-26:11)... Note: there is a long pause in the tape as Wexler contemplates events in her life. After she left Russia, she never saw her parents again. The only family members in the US were two brothers, who came in 1908 and 1910. During the pogroms in Russia, her family went into hiding and she was working. She also became involved with the revolutionary movement. She recalls that during the 1917 revolution, her father sent her a letter, which was the last time she heard from her family. At that time, the residents were thrown out of the city and it was burned. Her family returned to the city during WW II. (26:11-30:09)... If she stayed in Russia, she would have been involved in the revolution. As a child, she vaguely recalls the events surrounding the 1905 revolution. In general, she is disappointed by political and philosophical ideologies because the resulting movements are usually unsuccessful. Although she wanted to return to Russia after the 1917 revolution, her father discouraged her. She did not return to Europe until several years later, at which time she spent thirty-two days in Russia. (30:09-30:46)... When she came to the United States, she was active in the union, but did not associate with any other movements or political ideologies. She participated in social activities for enjoyment, such as music and singing groups. End of tape
- SUBJECT BIO - Mollie Wexler became active in the labor movement when she first moved to Chicago, two years after her emigration to the US. When Local 100 of the ILGWU was formed, she was elected the first "chairlady" of her shop. From the time she moved to Los Angeles in 1934 until 1953, she remained active in the ILGWU and helped to organize the shops in which she worked. During the McCarthy period, she had difficulty finding employment in union shops and was forced to find employment in department stores, instead. Despite this, she remained a member of the union until 1957 and was even called on by them to organize the Helen Ross shop in 1960. After the loss of that strike, she ended her full-time working career and union involvement. The interview with Wexler was conducted as part of the Feminist History Research Project labor series. INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the first formal interview with Mollie Wexler, conducted in her home. A previous interview was conducted for the purpose of gaining a broad scope of her experiences in life, but that interview was not recorded. TOPICS - family background, early education; apprenticeship in Russia; work in Poland; involvement in labor movement in Poland; labor organizing in Russia; immigration to US; and her first job in New York;immigration to US; initial work experiences in New York; labor movement in New York; organizing in Cleveland; and the evolution of her political consciousness in Europe;
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