Post by Mitch on Aug 17, 2004 22:22:25 GMT
GERTIE ROCHE (1912-1997)
“I had my feelings awakened because of my experience”1.
Gertie Roche watched her mother get up at 5.30 am every morning to walk into Leeds town centre to clean municipal offices. Gertie, in describing her mother, said that she managed money well and was a good nurse who, if people were sick, was always helping out. Gertie’s older sister developed Tuberculosis (TB) and could not work – this was part of the reason why her mother had to work early in the morning, returning at 9.30 am. Watching the injustice of seeing her mother have to work so hard was the beginnings of Gertie’s consciousness of injustice and exploitation of workers and the need to fight against this,
“My father was on unemployment and I was probably earning as much as anybody in the household …. My mother had to get up at five-thirty in the morning and be out of the house by six. I felt, ‘It’s not right. Why should my mother who’s obviously got enough to do in her own home … have to go out in order to bring in a little bit extra money in order to eat? Because in those days it was just providing money for eating”.2
The second youngest of seven, Gertie was determined to contribute to the family wage and at 14 started work in a clothing factory. She hated her first job in which she had to operate a pressing machine which pressed the edges of garments – Gertie remembered being ‘almost frightened of this machine’1. The ‘devastating noise’ was a shock – she hated this job and left it to begin work, at the age of sixteen, at Montague Burton’s, the largest clothing factory in England not just in Leeds. She described Montague Burton’s in the 1930s as ‘like a town’ full of ‘lots of intelligent people’.1 The whole factory was alive with union activity,
“We were having strikes every other week at that time, strikes in order to unionise the place, protesting against harsh instructions that were coming to us, and people just refused to be bullied and treated in this way. The experience of seeing how other people reacted within that factory was an education. I became very vociferous against any attempt to reduce our wages or increase our workload and I very quickly became a shop stewardess and a member of the factory committee”.(quote in 3, taken from 4)
Gertie became a shop stewardess at 20 – ‘I was spotted immediately by management as a voice’1. She was married at 19, and had one child, David. At this time there was a slump at Burton’s and in clothing, so Gertie, like other married women, was laid off. By 22 her marriage had fallen apart and she came back to live with her mother who cared for the child whilst Gertie returned to Burton’s to work when business picked up.
After that marriage breakdown Gertie really became active in union activity1. The three week ‘lightening’ strike in 1936 at Burton’s, in which Gertie played a key role, had a real politicising effect on her.
“The strike helped to crystallize my ideas about the injustice in society … I joined the Communist Party and started attending meetings … I became very involved in political work…”2
Gertie and other machinists, including Rosie Cantor, formed a sectional committee involved in the 1936 Burton’s strike. This strike began as a protest against a reduction of wages for fitters, but grew to encompass many other grievances felt by the workers as not being dealt with by local union officials. Such grievances included the fact that factory-committee members, as opposed to Branch officials, were not being recognised as the voice and representation of the workers.
The fight against fascism in the 1930s also influenced Gertie politically. Gertie describes the influence of her involvement in organising food parcels and collections from the workforce to send to Spain to assist the fight against fascism as being a key trigger to her politicisation and her joining the Communist Party at the end of 1937. She eventually became a full-time Yorkshire women’s organiser for the Communist Party, as well as a market researcher for the government.
“At the time the big campaigning issue was the Spanish Civil War …[in the factories] we collected tons of food for the Spanish refugees……… And we were really involved in trying to get the refugees out of Spain … There was a fantastic amount of political activity …. One continuous campaign … It was really wonderful to belong to it”.2
During the war Gertie helped Jewish refugees settle in England. She later remarried to Jim Roche, the Yorkshire men’s organiser for the Communist Party and one of the main organisers of the 1936 strike. During the 1950s Gertie and Jim became disillusioned with the manipulative tactics of leaders in the Communist Party and appalled by evidence of atrocities in Russia. The Communist Party split in 1956 after revelations about Stalin were exposed and Russia invaded Hungary. Jim left the party in 1956 but Gertie remained to try and fight it out. She was eventually expelled for ‘factionalism’, and became involved with Dorothy Thompson and others in New Left groups in Yorkshire.
Gertie continued to work in clothing at Simon’s in Leeds (Burton’s knew of her union activities and refused to take her back). Gertie always took her lead from the rank and file women workers, and at Simons they soon nominated her as stewardess. In this role Gertie became instrumental in the clothing workers’ strike of 1970. Unions had struck a deal with management for pay without consulting workers who thought the deal much to low. Men and women in their thousands downed tools, walking through the streets of Leeds and calling in at other clothing factories encouraging other workers to join them. In the words of the chairman of the Leeds and Northern Clothing Manufacturers’ Association, this industrial action was on a scale not seen before – the clothing bosses were dumbfounded!
Gertie was involved in the Women’s Liberation Movement in the 1970s, encouraging young women in Leeds. She also had a habit of sitting at the back of union meetings quietly knitting. When those knitting needles stopped clickin, everyone knew that Gertie was about to speak and that they had better watch out!
She died on 3 June 1997. Many in Leeds, Yorkshire and beyond will remember how hard she fought for social justice. She fought hard and she continues to inspire others into action.
References:-
1. Gertie Roche – oral history tape, record no:18, Iden 2000.0815
2. Diane Gold, ‘Gertie Roche Obituary’, History Workship Journal Issue 45, pp.313-318)
3. Sheila Rowbotham (1997) ‘A Century of women. The History of Women in Britain and the United States’, Penguin Books
4. Ursula Huws (1992), ‘Gertie Roche, Policy Research Unit, Leeds Polytechnic, Leeds, p.3.
“I had my feelings awakened because of my experience”1.
Gertie Roche watched her mother get up at 5.30 am every morning to walk into Leeds town centre to clean municipal offices. Gertie, in describing her mother, said that she managed money well and was a good nurse who, if people were sick, was always helping out. Gertie’s older sister developed Tuberculosis (TB) and could not work – this was part of the reason why her mother had to work early in the morning, returning at 9.30 am. Watching the injustice of seeing her mother have to work so hard was the beginnings of Gertie’s consciousness of injustice and exploitation of workers and the need to fight against this,
“My father was on unemployment and I was probably earning as much as anybody in the household …. My mother had to get up at five-thirty in the morning and be out of the house by six. I felt, ‘It’s not right. Why should my mother who’s obviously got enough to do in her own home … have to go out in order to bring in a little bit extra money in order to eat? Because in those days it was just providing money for eating”.2
The second youngest of seven, Gertie was determined to contribute to the family wage and at 14 started work in a clothing factory. She hated her first job in which she had to operate a pressing machine which pressed the edges of garments – Gertie remembered being ‘almost frightened of this machine’1. The ‘devastating noise’ was a shock – she hated this job and left it to begin work, at the age of sixteen, at Montague Burton’s, the largest clothing factory in England not just in Leeds. She described Montague Burton’s in the 1930s as ‘like a town’ full of ‘lots of intelligent people’.1 The whole factory was alive with union activity,
“We were having strikes every other week at that time, strikes in order to unionise the place, protesting against harsh instructions that were coming to us, and people just refused to be bullied and treated in this way. The experience of seeing how other people reacted within that factory was an education. I became very vociferous against any attempt to reduce our wages or increase our workload and I very quickly became a shop stewardess and a member of the factory committee”.(quote in 3, taken from 4)
Gertie became a shop stewardess at 20 – ‘I was spotted immediately by management as a voice’1. She was married at 19, and had one child, David. At this time there was a slump at Burton’s and in clothing, so Gertie, like other married women, was laid off. By 22 her marriage had fallen apart and she came back to live with her mother who cared for the child whilst Gertie returned to Burton’s to work when business picked up.
After that marriage breakdown Gertie really became active in union activity1. The three week ‘lightening’ strike in 1936 at Burton’s, in which Gertie played a key role, had a real politicising effect on her.
“The strike helped to crystallize my ideas about the injustice in society … I joined the Communist Party and started attending meetings … I became very involved in political work…”2
Gertie and other machinists, including Rosie Cantor, formed a sectional committee involved in the 1936 Burton’s strike. This strike began as a protest against a reduction of wages for fitters, but grew to encompass many other grievances felt by the workers as not being dealt with by local union officials. Such grievances included the fact that factory-committee members, as opposed to Branch officials, were not being recognised as the voice and representation of the workers.
The fight against fascism in the 1930s also influenced Gertie politically. Gertie describes the influence of her involvement in organising food parcels and collections from the workforce to send to Spain to assist the fight against fascism as being a key trigger to her politicisation and her joining the Communist Party at the end of 1937. She eventually became a full-time Yorkshire women’s organiser for the Communist Party, as well as a market researcher for the government.
“At the time the big campaigning issue was the Spanish Civil War …[in the factories] we collected tons of food for the Spanish refugees……… And we were really involved in trying to get the refugees out of Spain … There was a fantastic amount of political activity …. One continuous campaign … It was really wonderful to belong to it”.2
During the war Gertie helped Jewish refugees settle in England. She later remarried to Jim Roche, the Yorkshire men’s organiser for the Communist Party and one of the main organisers of the 1936 strike. During the 1950s Gertie and Jim became disillusioned with the manipulative tactics of leaders in the Communist Party and appalled by evidence of atrocities in Russia. The Communist Party split in 1956 after revelations about Stalin were exposed and Russia invaded Hungary. Jim left the party in 1956 but Gertie remained to try and fight it out. She was eventually expelled for ‘factionalism’, and became involved with Dorothy Thompson and others in New Left groups in Yorkshire.
Gertie continued to work in clothing at Simon’s in Leeds (Burton’s knew of her union activities and refused to take her back). Gertie always took her lead from the rank and file women workers, and at Simons they soon nominated her as stewardess. In this role Gertie became instrumental in the clothing workers’ strike of 1970. Unions had struck a deal with management for pay without consulting workers who thought the deal much to low. Men and women in their thousands downed tools, walking through the streets of Leeds and calling in at other clothing factories encouraging other workers to join them. In the words of the chairman of the Leeds and Northern Clothing Manufacturers’ Association, this industrial action was on a scale not seen before – the clothing bosses were dumbfounded!
Gertie was involved in the Women’s Liberation Movement in the 1970s, encouraging young women in Leeds. She also had a habit of sitting at the back of union meetings quietly knitting. When those knitting needles stopped clickin, everyone knew that Gertie was about to speak and that they had better watch out!
She died on 3 June 1997. Many in Leeds, Yorkshire and beyond will remember how hard she fought for social justice. She fought hard and she continues to inspire others into action.
References:-
1. Gertie Roche – oral history tape, record no:18, Iden 2000.0815
2. Diane Gold, ‘Gertie Roche Obituary’, History Workship Journal Issue 45, pp.313-318)
3. Sheila Rowbotham (1997) ‘A Century of women. The History of Women in Britain and the United States’, Penguin Books
4. Ursula Huws (1992), ‘Gertie Roche, Policy Research Unit, Leeds Polytechnic, Leeds, p.3.
