Matilda Getrude Robbins (1887 – January 9, 1963) was a Russian Empire-born American

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

labor organizer who first connected with the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines general ...

during the 1912

Bread and Roses strike The Lawrence Textile Strike, also known as the Bread and Roses Strike, was a strike of immigrant workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1912 led by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Prompted by a two-hour pay cut corresponding to a n ...

Lawrence, Massachusetts Lawrence is a city located in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, on the Merrimack River. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 89,143. Surrounding communities include Methuen to the north, Andover to the southwest, and Nort ...

Early life

Tatiana Gitel Rabinowitz (According to the ship's manifest where names of entering immigrants are listed, Matilda's original given name was ''Taube'' (Yiddish or German for 'dove'; however, she claimed a Russian given name, ''Tanya''.)was born in

Lityn Lityn (, ) is a town in Vinnytsia Oblast (province), located in the historic region of the Podilia. It was formerly the administrative center of the Lityn Raion, but is now administered within Vinnytsia Raion. Population: Location The town i ...

, Ukraine. She moved to New York with her family at age 13, in 1900. Her name was anglicized to ''Matilda Gertrude Robbins'' in the process of immigration.

Career

Strikers outside of Slovak Hall during the 1912–1913 Little Falls textile strike

Robbins started working as a teenager in a shirtwaist factory, and worked various jobs from age 16 onward. In

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequo ...

she made her first connections to the Socialist Party and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Robbins became a key organizer during a strike in

Little Falls, New York Little Falls is a city in Herkimer County, New York. The population was 4,946 at the time of the 2010 census, which is the second-smallest city population in the state, ahead of only the city of Sherrill. The city is built on both sides of the ...

, running the strike office, organizing a strike kitchen, raising money and legal aid, and fortifying the picket line over the course of fourteen weeks. Robbins and activist

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (August 7, 1890 – September 5, 1964) was a labor leader, activist, and feminist who played a leading role in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Flynn was a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union ...

were then hired by the IWW and spent three years traveling across the United States to assist with labor organizing."Matilda Robbins"
''Jewish Women's Archive'' (2017). She was one of only two women organizers for the IWW during its early years, along with Flynn. She was arrested for her organizing work in

East Liverpool, Ohio East Liverpool is a city in southeastern Columbiana County, Ohio, United States. The population was 9,958 at the 2020 census. It lies along the Ohio River within the Upper Ohio Valley and borders Pennsylvania to the east and West Virginia to t ...

, in

McKeesport, Pennsylvania McKeesport is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is situated at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers and within the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 17,727 as of the 2020 census. ...

, and in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, all in 1913. Later she was active in the IWW's Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Committee. Robbins wrote for the IWW publications for many years after leaving active organizing, and she ran the Socialist Party's Los Angeles office from 1945 to 1947.

Personal life

Robbins had a longtime relationship with another labor organizer, Benjamin J. Legere (1887–1972). They were parents together of a daughter, Vita, born in 1919. Robbins died in 1963, aged 76 years, in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the ...

. Her granddaughter Robbin Légère Henderson, an artist, prepared illustrations for the 2017 publication of Robbins's memoirs, from a manuscript written in the 1950s.Matilda Rabinowitz
''Immigrant Girl, Radical Woman: A Memoir from the Early Twentieth Century''
(Cornell University Press 2017).

References

External links

A photograph of Robbins
probably taken at the time of her arrest in Detroit, Michigan in the 1910s; in the collection of the Walter P. Reuther Library,

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

.
The Ben Legere Papers
are also held in the Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Robbins, Matilda Rabinowitz American socialists Industrial Workers of the World leaders Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States 1887 births 1963 deaths