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August, Rebecca Beck (audio interview #1 of 3)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This first interview with Rebecca August took place in her room at the Jewish Home for the Aged in Boyle Heights. Because of the proximity to the freeway, the audio quality of the interview is only fair. Throughout the interview, August repeatedly returns to a discussion of her more recent activities, frequently referring to the honors and recognitions she received. TOPICS - family background; immigration to the US; experiences in shops in Chicago; Jane Addams; Hull House; involvement in strikes in New York; move to Seattle; organizing in Seattle; political beliefs; feminism;women's status; activities in the union; post-retirement life; and reactions to her activism; 1/29/1973
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- File: lhgwraugust1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-2:18)... Tape introduction. (2:18-4:50)... Born in 1883, she moved to London when she was seven years old and started school at the kindergarten level when she was nine years old. She stayed for three years, until the third grade, when her father petitioned the court and swore she was fourteen so that she could work. Her father was a tailor and he taught her the trade. She worked in small tailor shops for very long hours. In 1904, she immigrated to the United States. (4:50-8:33)... When she immigrated to the US, she settled in Chicago and went to work for Hart, Schaffner, and Marx. The working conditions in the shop were poor and she worked long hours for very little money. People talked about organizing workers for the union and she recalls that Jane Addams was very instrumental in this process. In 1905, August became involved with Addams and Hull House, volunteering her time during the evenings and on the week-ends. Addams sent her out to organize Jewish women, bakers, and the cigarmakers. Initially, the workers were hesitant to go on strike because they believed that earning a dollar was better than nothing; however, Addams instructed August to tell these women that "behind every great man was a great woman," and that the women were strong enough to strike for better working conditions. She recalls a strike in which the police hosed down the strikers. This occurred before both the ACWU and the ILGWU were formed. As a result of her activities, she was blacklisted from the other shops. (8:33-13:50)... In 1912, she moved to Seattle and became involved with efforts to establish a 48-hour law for men, which was already in place for women. After receiving very little support from the Labor Temple, she went to the IWW for assistance. At this time, she was arrested a second time for her activities and charged for violating immigration policies. She spent six weeks in jail and was released. The first time she was arrested occurred when she approached a scab, who hit August on the head with a purse. August was taken to the county jail and received several stitches for her injuries. (13:50-15:32)... The State of Washington recognized common law marriages, which applied to the relationship she established in 1906. Her husband was also involved with the labor movement. In 1911, they moved to Alaska because she was pregnant and they wanted to raise their son there. They opened a restaurant, but she returned to Seattle in 1912. She married her second husband in 1916. She remained in Seattle until 1918, working in the needle trade there until she moved to Los Angeles. Interruption in tape (15:32-20:08)... In Seattle, the needle trades industry was organized into the United Garment Workers, which later became the ACWA. She was involved with the IWW in Seattle and the lumber industry. She typically organized independently and was not paid for her activities. When employers found out she was organizing, generally she was fired. She recalls that while working in Chicago, she was fired from Hart, Schaffner, and Marx for talking to workers about protesting wage cuts. Her father also worked at this shop as a tailor and he was fired because she was considered a union organizer. (20:08-26:50)... Her parents were orthodox Jews and were not radical or active in the labor movement. Neither of them were educated and did not know how to write. As a young child, she taught her mother how to read numbers so that she could use the transportation system in London. Although August was not raised in a socially conscious household, she believes that she inherited some philosophical values from her mother. When she came to the US and saw the working conditions, her consciousness began to develop and she realized that something had to be done to improve conditions. After she was fired from Hart, Schaffner and Marx, she was blacklisted, but eventually found work in small shops that allowed her to take work home. She, her father, and brother lived with a friend in three rooms. Every morning she made breakfast and lunch for her family and in the evenings she also made dinner after working all day. (26:50-32:26)... When she began organizing workers in Chicago, she spoke to them in both English and Yiddish. She did not consider herself an orthodox Jew when she immigrated to the United States. She defined herself as an anarchist when she was in Chicago, and knew the leading anarchists of the time, including Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, and Voltarine deCleyre. She asked de'Cleyre to move to Seattle, but she refused to move at the expense of the workers. August eventually left the anarchists and became a socialist. (32:26-38:00)... She left Seattle around 1917-18 and was remarried by this time. Her husband's brother was an anarchist and involved in the Russian Revolution. He sent for her husband, who went to Russia to obtain diamonds from the Russian crown and sell them in the US. He remained in the USSR for approximately eight months, but then returned because he was disgusted with the events that transpired there. She describes her husband as more of a humanist than an anarchist. When he returned from USSR, they moved to New York and she worked there for a short time, and then they returned to Seattle. She digresses into a discussion on more recent activities, including the 1960 centennial celebration for Addams, where she was the only woman there who actually knew Addams. At this time, August joined the Woman's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). (38:00-42:36)... In 1919, around the time her second son was born, she was active in organizing the Seattle general strike. She and her husband helped organize a cooperative store. His main work was as a junk peddler, but he was a writer and was sympathetic to the labor movement and wrote some of the literature for the movement. She left him in 1931. She was somewhat involved in the suffrage struggle during the period that she was associated with Addams in the early 1900s. After she married, she became very busy with raising her children and organizing workers. (42:36-45:01)... After the general strike in Seattle in 1919, she moved to San Francisco for a short time and then to Los Angeles. In the 1920s, she was living with her husband in Los Angeles and raising her children. She left her husband in 1931 when they were living in Oakland, California. At this time, she returned to Seattle and lived in the Home Colony. She made a living by operating a small sewing business out of her home. She lived in a small home on the beach, paying $2 a month in rent. end of tape File: lhgwraugust2.mp3 (0:00-3:20)... During the 1920s, she was not active with the union, but remained sympathetic. She was helping her husband with his business. She digresses into a discussion of recent honors she received from the Jewish Labor Committee and the Woman's International League of Peace and Freedom. (3:20-10:20)... Although she was not involved in the internal conflict between the left and right during the 1920s, she was opposed to communism. She was not working in the union at the time. [She digresses, talking about more recent events related to the ACWA, including the 50th anniversary of the ACWA in 1964, to which she was invited by Frank Rosenblum. When she retired from the ACWA, she organized the Retired Members Club and became the Chairwoman of the group.] During her involvement with the ACWA, she was a member of several union committees, including the Joint Board and the Executive Board. (10:20-16:07)... She moved to the Jewish Home for the Aged in 1969. She recalls that the home wanted her to give them some money, but she did not have any. The manager of the home at the time contacted Leonard Levy, the vice president of the ACWA and asked where all the money was that she earned while working for the union; however, she was not paid for her activities. All of the income she receives today goes to the home where she lives. She discusses her dissatisfaction with the way the home manages the money for the residents. She is involved in actions to get a $3.00 raise for the people living in the home. (16:07-19:03)... She is presently not connected to any political parties. She believes that most people are humanitarians today and are concerned with the welfare of the human race. [She digresses to discuss her current activities and her interest in drawing and painting. She recalls that one of the pictures she painted was sent to a women's organization and she received recognition for it. ] (19:03-30:02)... The majority of her activities throughout her life were with the unions, the Workmen's Circle, and the Jewish Labor Committee. She believed in equal treatment for both men and women, which is why she fought for the 48-hour law to be extended to men in Seattle. She contends that she was always indirectly fighting for equal rights. When she organized the Retiree's Club in the ACWA, she was the Chairwoman for the first three years. The men in the group did not like this and wanted a man to take this position. However, every time a man was hired for the position, she took over when he died. In general, the union and other organizations resented women in power. There were only a few women in the union and she often wondered why there were not more. She believes that a lot of women in the union were jealous of her because of all the positions she occupied. During the 1919 organization effort in Seattle, she was criticized by a woman for speaking on a platform when she was pregnant. In general, however, the IWWs supported women and their organizing efforts in the lumber yards. (30:02-34:26)... Upon reflecting on her life, she believes that her activities with the union were worth it. However, she believes that her work often interfered with her children because she left the house very early in the morning and returned home very late. She believes that women are much more active than they were in the past. There are several photographs discussed in the interview. In many of these photographs, August is the only woman present. End of tape
- SUBJECT BIO - Rebecca August was a lifelong labor activist, beginning with her years in Chicago in 1906-1910. She worked closely with Jane Addams and helped to organize the Hebrew Trade Council. She was involved with the Workmen's Circle, and was instrumental in the formation of a Women's Branch (Ladies Branch #3). When she moved to Seattle in 1910, she became active in the IWW and continued to help organize workers in various industries. She eventually became active in the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) when she moved to Los Angeles in the 1930s. Later, on her retirement, she was instrumental in founding the Retired Members Club. At the time of the interviews, August was living in the Jewish Home for the Aged in Boyle Heights and was still busy organizing, fighting for an increase in the monthly allowance of the residents there. Although she walked with a cane and was somewhat bent over, she seemed quite healthy and her spirits were very good. It was apparent that what kept her going was her own sense of the role she played in various events throughout her life and frequently referred to the honors and recognition she received. Because her room was on the second floor, almost parallel with the freeway, the sound of traffic on the freeway some four blocks away is ever present. INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This first interview with Rebecca August took place in her room at the Jewish Home for the Aged in Boyle Heights. Because of the proximity to the freeway, the audio quality of the interview is only fair. Throughout the interview, August repeatedly returns to a discussion of her more recent activities, frequently referring to the honors and recognitions she received. TOPICS - family background; immigration to the US; experiences in shops in Chicago; Jane Addams; Hull House; involvement in strikes in New York; move to Seattle; organizing in Seattle; political beliefs; feminism;women's status; activities in the union; post-retirement life; and reactions to her activism;
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