Holocaust to Resistance, My Journey by Suzanne Berliner Weiss

Author:Suzanne Berliner Weiss
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fernwood Publishing
Published: 2019-03-12T16:00:00+00:00

Part 3

Seeking a New Path

19

Pioneering Women’s Rights

New Orleans, 1975–79

The SWP’s move to New Orleans was among its first attempts since the 1940s to build a branch in the Deep South, where the Black civil rights struggle had been ignited. Unions were weak there, and efforts to defend racial segregation had been fierce and violent. I was attracted by the challenge of expanding the socialist movement into this region and also by the chance to work with Pearl Chertov, a long-time party activist who headed the venture with her partner, Morris. Without authorization from the SWP national office, I took off for New Orleans in Jim’s car, which his step-daughter, Walta, had generously given to me when he died. I took a few of my belongings and my treasured personal documents.

The party was beginning to discuss a shift in focus to union jobs, reasoning that we needed to be in the thick of things when the workers radicalized, which was anticipated as happening very soon. I welcomed this shift. We needed to be among working people and know what they were thinking. Women and African Americans were demanding equal treatment and opportunities, particularly in employment. I thought I would gain from a union job in industry. I had worked as a secretary in a non-union environment, and I had typing and other clerical skills. But I needed to find an industrial job where I could learn a skill or perhaps one where skills were not required.

I accompanied Pearl to union hiring halls in search of job openings for our comrades and took the opportunity to register for a number of industrial jobs. My jump from the white-collar milieu into the world of hardhats was in step with widespread efforts by the women’s equal rights movement at that time for access to non-traditional jobs. Women, like Blacks, were demanding the economic independence that came from jobs with equal pay and recognition as equal partners in society. The union staffers I met, always men, expressed skepticism about women working outside the home. I was asked, for example, “What about women’s household duties?” I countered, “What’s wrong with men sharing the housekeeping?” Union staff reacted with ambivalence and uncertainty. As a petite, white, confident, and seemingly educated young woman, I posed a conundrum for them. Why would I want a physically demanding job when I could “dress up pretty” and work comfortably in an office? In my view, a boss is a boss. I had the same low expectations of men’s behaviour in whatever job I took.

My first opportunity came when Bernie, a union rep from the Shipyard & Marine Shop Laborers Union, called with a broad smile in his voice. “Come in and sign up for shipscaler,” he said. I walked into the union hall with trepidation but acted determined. Rough, tough-looking men spun their heads toward me as I passed. “Hey, sugar,” they called. “Commere, sexy baby.” “Where ya at, little mama?” I nodded at some of their greetings to avoid appearing stuck up, but I didn’t want to seem too friendly.

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