19 Facts About Clara Lemlich

Clara Lemlich Shavelson was a leader of the Uprising of 20,000, the massive strike of shirtwaist workers in New York's garment industry in 1909, where she spoke in Yiddish and called for action.

Clara Lemlich immigrated to the United States with her family in 1903, following a pogrom in Kishinev.

Clara Lemlich was able to find a job in the garment industry upon her arrival in New York.

Clara Lemlich became involved in the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and was elected to the executive board of Local 25 of the ILGWU.

Clara Lemlich quickly made a name for herself among her fellow workers, leading several strikes of shirtwaist makers and challenging the mostly male leadership of the union to organize women garment workers.

Clara Lemlich combined boldness with a good deal of charm and personal bravery.

Clara Lemlich came to the attention of the outside world at the mass meeting held at Cooper Union on November 22,1909 to rally support for the striking shirtwaist workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company and Leiserson Company.

Clara Lemlich took a leading role in bringing workers out, speaking at rallies until she lost her voice.

Clara Lemlich searched through the armory where the dead had been taken to search for a missing cousin; a newspaper reporter described her as convulsed by hysterical laughter and tears when she did not find her.

Blacklisted from the industry and at odds with the conservative leadership of the ILGWU, Clara Lemlich devoted herself to the campaign for women's suffrage.

Clara Lemlich continued her suffrage activities, founding the Wage Earner's Suffrage League, a working class alternative to middle class suffrage organizations, along with Schneiderman, Leonora O'Reilly, and two other women garment workers.

Clara Lemlich continued her suffrage activities for the Women's Trade Union League, while Schneiderman, who quit the WTUL at that time, went to work for the ILGWU before returning to the WTUL several years later.

In 1929, after the Communist Party created a Women's Commission, Clara Lemlich launched the United Council of Working-Class Women, which eventually had nearly fifty branches in New York City, as well as affiliates in Philadelphia, Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Detroit.

Clara Lemlich continued to be active in the PWC and was a local leader in it after it affiliated with the International Worker's Order in the 1940s.

Clara Lemlich continued her activities as part of the Emma Lazarus Federation of Jewish Women's Clubs, which raised funds for Red Mogen David, protested nuclear weapons, campaigned for ratification of the United Nations' Convention on Genocide, opposed the War in Vietnam, and forged alliances with Sojourners for Truth, an African-American women's civil rights organization.

Clara Lemlich was active in Unemployed Councils activities and in founding the Emma Lazarus Council, which supported tenant rights.

Clara Lemlich remained an unwavering member of the Communist Party, denouncing the trial and execution of the Rosenbergs.

Clara Lemlich's passport was revoked after a trip to the Soviet Union in 1951.

Clara Lemlich retired from garment work in 1954, then fought a long battle with the ILGWU to obtain a pension.