Rose Wortis
1895 - 1958
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Rose Wortis was born in Ukraine but moved to New York City at the age of 8. To help support her family, she worked in the needle trades for over 15 years while also attending night school. She joined the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and served as an elected official of the complaints department. She was also a member of the Socialist Party until the Bolshevik Revolution fragmented the party, after which she became a communist activist. She was elected secretary of the Trade Union Unity League in 1929 and also served as secretary to the Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union. She became a well-known speaker and writer on labor issues. In the 1930s, she became more open about her communist affiliations, declaring her position as the New York District Communist Party’s secretary. However, she spent much of the 1940s and early 1950s defending herself against anticommunist attack, until her death in 1958.
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Works:
1922: Shop Delegate League in Needle Trades
1922: Program of the Needle Trades [Program for clothing worker activists, adopted at the First National Conference of the Trade Union Educational League, Aug. 26-27, 1922]
1923: The Needle Workers International
1923: Through the Russian Clothing Factories
1924: The Needle Trades Alliance is Dead; "Rest in Peace", Daily Worker, May 1, 1924
1924: ILGWU Convention Denies Rose Wortis Delegate Status, 17th ILGWU Convention Proceedings, May 1924
1927: Woman as a Factor in the Trade Union Movement, Daily Worker, March 8, 1927
1927: Struggle in Ladies Garment Union Is Reaching Climax, Labor Unity, October 1, 1927
1927: Needle Trade Bosses Amalgamate While Unions Disintegrate
1928: Sigman's New Plan to Save Dressmakers, Daily Worker, January 27, 1928
1928: Both Miners and Needle Trades Workers Are Facing the Same Enemy, Daily Worker, February 10, 1928
1928: Treachery in the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, Daily Worker, March 29, 1928
1928: The A.F.L. Officialdom Sanctions Government by Injunction, Labor Unity, April 1928
1928: Needle Trades and Red Drive, Daily Worker, September 25, 1928
1928: Garment Workers Endorse Working Women Delegate Conference Next Thursday. Rose Wortis in Call for Full Co-Operation
1929: The Dressmakers' Strike, Labor Defender, March 1929
1929: Women Needle Trades Workers Among the Most Militant Fighters
1929: May Day Finds Women in Thick of Struggle, The Working Woman, May 1929
1929: The Working Woman Takes Her Place in the Class Struggle, Daily Worker, November 8, 1929
1930: Big Battles for Needle Workers, Daily Worker, January 18, 1930
1930: Convention Problems of the Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union, Daily Worker, June 6, 1930
1930: Working Women and the Present Election Drive, Daily Worker, September 23, 1930
1930: Women Workers C.P. Candidates, The Working Woman, November 1930
1931: Lovestoneites - Strikebreakers, Daily Worker, May 11, 1931
1931: Fighting Needle Workers Support the Red Election Program and Its Candidates, Daily Worker, November 3, 1931
1932: Strikes Can Be Won Even in Crisis; Here's Proof, Daily Worker, May 27, 1932
1932: Mr. Zimmerman - Actions Speak Louder Than Words, Daily Worker, May 31, 1932
1933: Modern A.F.L. Judas Gets His Pieces of Silver, Daily Worker, May 2, 1933
1933: Menace of Piece Work, Daily Worker, June 19, 1933
1933: The Minimum Wage Fraud, The Working Woman, August 1933
1934: Women: Protect the Union of Your Choice, The Working Woman, January 1934
1934: How We Can Improve the Work of Party Fractions in the Trade Unions, Daily Worker, March 20, 1934
1934: The S.P. Celebrates May Day to Cover Betrayals of Workers Entire Year, Daily Worker, April 28, 1934
1934: What Happened in the N.Y. Taxi Strike, Daily Worker, May 7, 1934
1934: Some Shortcomings of the Recent N.Y. Taxi Strike, Daily Worker, May 12, 1934
1934: Problems Confronting the Convention of the ILGWU, Daily Worker, May 28, 1934
1934: The Revolutionary Unions in the New York District, Party Organizer, May-June 1934
1934: Attitude of ILGWU Leadership Toward Negro Workers in Words and Deed, Daily Worker, June 18, 1934
1934: Sidelights of I.L.G.W.U. Convention Held in Chicago, Daily Worker, June 23, 1934
1934: Lovestoneites Back ILGWU Chiefs' Betrayal Policy , Daily Worker, June 26, 1934
1934: Miss Schneiderman of the NRA, The Working Woman, July 1934
1934: Home Work, The Working Woman, December 1934
1935: Capitalist Offensive Can Be Beaten Back, Daily Worker, June 3, 1935
1936: Ninth Party Convention Discussion: Forces Working for Formation of Farmer-Labor Party, Daily Worker, January 20, 1936
1936: Ninth Party Convention Discussion: Failure to Utilize Issues Retards New York Labor Party Drive, Daily Worker, January 21, 1936
1936: Building Service Strike Bitter Lesson to Workers, Daily Worker, April 1, 1936
1936: Role of the Trade Unionis in Building Service Strike, Daily Worker, April 2, 1936
1936: Rank and File Action Can Overcome Defeat of Building Strike, Daily Worker, April 3, 1936
1936: Make the Industrial Units Vital Organizations, Party Organizer, December 1936
1937: May 1, 1937, Finds Labor in New York Is On the March, Daily Worker, April 21, 1937
1937: Organization Brings Results, [Remarks to the Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, U.S.A., held June 17-20, 1937] Party Organizer, August 1937
1938: Tenth Communist Party Convention Discussion: American Labor Faces New Problems in Struggle for Trade Union Unity, Daily Worker, April 25, 1938
1938: Tenth Communist Party Convention Discussion: Problems of Work in Mass Organizations, Daily Worker, May 21, 1938
1938: Problems of Trade Union Work and the Struggle for Unity, Proceedings, 10th Convention, Communist Party New York State, May 20-23, 1938
1940: The ILGWU Elections: Their Significance for the Progressive Labor Movement, Daily Worker, April 25, 1940
1940: Correction to: "The ILGWU Elections: Their Significance for the Progressive Labor Movement", Daily Worker, April 25, 1940
1942: The I.L.G.W.U.: Its Strengths and Some of its Weaknesses, Daily Worker, July 6, 1942
1942: Harmful Influences Slow Up Garment Union's War Effort, Daily Worker, July 7, 1942
1942: Trends in the A.F. of L., The Communist, November 1942
1942: The N.Y. State AFL and Political Action, Daily Worker, December 4, 1942
1942: Tobin Fails to Understand Full Danger of Jim Crow, Daily Worker, December 11, 1942
1942: U.S. Labor and Soviet Trade Unions, Daily Worker, December 18, 1942
1942: Lessons of 3 N.Y. Union Polls, Daily Worker, December 30, 1942
1942: Union Election Lessons: Some Reasons for the Local 302 Result, Daily Worker, December 31, 1942
1943: Union Election Lessons: Teamsters', Musicians Grievances Piled Up, Daily Worker, January 2, 1943
1943: ILGWU Leadership Still Harbors Dangerous Anti-Soviet Prejudices, Daily Worker, January 18, 1943
1943: ILGWU Membership Will Fight to Make 1943 a Victory Year, Daily Worker, January 19, 1943
1943: Blocking of F.D.R.'s Anti-Inflationary Plan Provides Ammunition for Defeatists, Daily Worker, February 16, 1943
1943: Wartime Problems of Trade Unions, Daily Worker, February 17, 1943
1943: Labor Day 1943, The Communist, September 1943
1943: New York's AFL in the War Front, Part I; Part II, Daily Worker, September 21 and 22, 1943
1943: Woll's Anti-Soviet Line Shames AFL, Daily Worker, October 27, 1943
1943: World Labor Unity and the A.F. of L., Daily Worker, October 28, 1943
1943: Woll, Pal of Hoover, Fears Allied Labor, Daily Worker, October 29, 1943
1943: Shameful Spectacle - Nagler Role at AFL, Daily Worker, October 30, 1943
1943: International Labor Moving Toward Unity, The Communist, November 1943
1944: The I.L.G.W.U. at the Crossroads, The Communist, March 1944
1944: Spirit of Boruchowitz Inspires ILG Rank-File, Daily Worker, March 24, 1944
1944: Dubinsky Series: What ILG Workers Think of Dubinsky Anti-Allied Policy, Daily Worker, April 27, 1944
1944: Dubinsky Series: Double Talk Made a Fine Art, Daily Worker, April 28, 1944
1944: Dubinsky Series: AFL Rank and Filers Must Expose Social Democrat and GOP Clique, Daily Worker, May 1, 1944
1944: State AFL United on Roosevelt Victory, Daily Worker, August 31, 1944
1945: A Perversion of I.L.G.W.U. History, [review of Benjamin Stolberg's Tailor's Progress] Political Affairs, January 1945
1945: Practical Effect of Opportunist Policies [on Browder's opportunism and revisionism]
1945: Dubinsky Puts ILGWU Label on Goldstein, Daily Worker, October 24, 1945
1945: Woll Clique Rewards Dubinsky, Daily Worker, October 26, 1945
1946: Presto Pie-card to Bosses' Stooge, Daily Worker, June 26, 1946
1946: 2 Labor Conventions - A Contrast, Daily Worker, July 5, 1946
1946: ILG Thrifty - With Members' Vacation Pay, Daily Worker, July 16, 1946
1946: The State AFL Convention, Part I; Part II, Daily Worker, July 31 and August 1, 1946
1946: Zimmerman Shows True Color, Daily Worker, November 18, 1946
1947: Crucial Issues Facing the I.L.G.W.U., Political Affairs, May 1947
1948: Lovestone's Career, Daily Worker, August 20, 1948
1948: Social Democracy and the Elections, Jewish Life, October 1948
1951: [William Z.] Foster's Leadership to the Needle Trades Workers, Political Affairs, March 1951
1951: L.A. Garment Workers Give Dubinsky Frosty Reception, Daily Worker, April 20, 1951
1951: The 'Forward" Glorifies Era of Czarist Pogroms, Daily Worker, June 6, 1951
1951: The Conspiracy of Silence in Social Democrats' Press, Daily Worker, June 28, 1951
1953: Irving Weissburg: Labor Leader, Jewish Life, January 1953
1953: Dubinsky Out of Tune with Labor on McCarthy, Daily Worker, June 5, 1953
1955: Women Who Made America: Rose Wortis, Garment Leader
1955: Labor's Stake in [Steve] Nelson Fight, Daily Worker, November 7, 1955
1956: Errors in Unions Due to Running Too Far Ahead, 16th National Convention Discussion Bulletin, No. 1, November 1, 1956