Rosa Bloch-Bollag (1880 – 13 July 1922) was a Swiss politician and activist. Who, as a member of the

Swiss Socialist Party The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei der Schweiz; SP; rm, Partida Socialdemocrata da la Svizra) or Swiss Socialist Party (french: Parti socialiste suisse, it, Partito Socialista Svizzero; PS), is a polit ...

, led a women's demonstration against increases in food prices in 1918. In 1920, she was one of the founding members of the Swiss Communist Party.

Biography

Born on 30 June 1880 in

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

, Rosa Bloch was the daughter of the

grain merchant The grain trade refers to the local and international trade in cereals and other food grains such as wheat, barley, maize, and rice. Grain is an important trade item because it is easily stored and transported with limited spoilage, unlike other ...

Berthold Bloch and Julie Guggenheim. Brought up in a family of a poor Jewish merchant, once she gained her independence, she worked as a representative of a jewellery shop. Initially an anarchist, she joined the socialist party in 1912 but later became a Marxist. She proved to be a competent editor of the women workers' journal ''Die Vorkämperin'', contributing articles which not only were politically engaging but were remarkably well drafted. She married Siegfried Bollag, director of the Swiss Social Archives. Highly intelligent and a talented orator, in early 1918 she joined the left wing of the Olten Action Committee and became actively involved in the women's socialist movement. That June, she organized an effective women's demonstration against rising food prices, presenting her claims to the

Cantonal Council This is a list of cantonal legislatures of Switzerland. Each canton has a democratically elected cantonal legislature, as well as elected members to the Federal Assembly. The cantonal legislatures are elected for four years, except in Fribour ...

. Also in 1918, she became the first president of the Socialist Party's Women's Committee. In 1921, after the Socialist Party had broken up, together with the other left-wingers she became a founding member of the Communist Party. Rosa Bloch-Bollag died on 13 July 1922 in Zürich after undergoing a goitre operation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloch-Bollag, Rosa 1880 births 1922 deaths Jewish socialists Politicians from Zürich Marxist feminists Swiss socialist feminists Swiss feminists Swiss Marxists Women Marxists Swiss women's rights activists Social Democratic Party of Switzerland politicians Swiss Jews Swiss revolutionaries