Sticking to the Union: An Oral History of the Life and Times of Julia Ruuttila (Palgrave Studies in Oral History)

Annotation Although married four times, Julia Ruuttila claimed that the love of her life was not a man but a union. From her Industrial Workers of the World origins to the CIO, the International Woodworkers of America, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, she stuck to unions throughout her long and vibrant life. A well known labor activist and journalist in the Pacific Northwest, Ruuttila chose the picket sign and the typewriter as her chief weapons. She possessed a tireless passion for workers and their struggles, whether founding a committee to free the last Wobbly prisoner from the Centralia Tragedy, leading the Ladies' Auxiliary of the IWA during an eight-and-a-half month lockout, or coming before the House Un-American Activities Committee. At the same time, her everyday hardships were not unlike many other working class women of her era: abusive husbands, illegal abortions, poverty, and single motherhood. In the premier title of Palgrave Macmillan's new oral history series, Ruuttila's remarkable story unfolds in her own words, with author Sandy Polishuk skillfully placing the narrative in its historical context and pointing out where other sources conflict with Ruuttila's account. Sticking to the Union provides a much needed woman's perspective on American labor history of the twentieth century

Sandy Polishuk's Sticking to the Union is the best kind of oral history, bringing to life a person and an era quickly passing out of reach. A grassroots tour through twentieth-century radical history, western history, and women's history, it is supported by extensive research amplifying and at times challenging Julia Ruutilla's own reflections. The interplay between the voices of the older and the younger woman is one of the most satisfying features of the book. — Elinor Langer, Author of A Hundred Little Hitlers

Sandy Polishuk offers two gifts-the biography of a fierce local activist, whose life bears witness to the fact that ordinary people can effect social justice, and a scholar's journey into the complicated workings of memory. Sticking to the Union is a fabulous oral history, Julia Ruuttila a compelling subject, and Sandy Polishuk, a thoughtful scholar who allows Ruuttila's voice to drive the narrative, but who also probes the intersections of ego and memory to present the many truths of Ruuttila's life story.— Mary Murphy, History Department, Montana State University

This is a gem. Julia Ruuttila gives an imaginative, vivid account of herhard times and struggles as a labor radical, feminist, anti-racist, and internationalist peace advocate in the Pacific Northwest. Sandy Polishuk sets Julia's "lessons of life" into a clear historical context, and helps us see how her life is imagined as well as lived. Together, they show how an ordinary person can live an extraordinary life by fighting for a better world. - Michael Honey, Harry Bridges Chair of Labor Studies, University of Washington

Sandy Polishuk deftly explores the challenges of history and memory in this fascinating oral history biography of Julia Ruuttila: consummate union, civil rights, and peace activist of the Pacific Northwest. Although haunted by failed relationships, poverty, McCarthyite persecution, and a frustrated writing career, Ruuttila embraced every waking moment of her eighty-four years to struggle for social and economic justice. The story of this extraordinary woman should inspire a new generation of activists. — Laurie Mercier, author of Anaconda: Labor, Community, and Culture in Montana's Smelter City (Univ. Illinois, 2001) and Associate Professor of History, Washington State University Vancouver.

Publishers Weekly

Julia Ruuttila (1907-1991) was a lifelong political activist-she was cradled in the Industrial Workers of the World, matured in the CIO, tested in the red-baiting '50s and fully at ease ("too old to get beat up") in popular struggles of the late 20th century. A self-educated free-thinker, Ruuttila supported herself and a variety of family members on the small income she earned working for the ILWU (the longshoremen's union) and reporting for various leftist newspapers. While Ruuttila was active in many important causes-the right to unionize, voter registration, protection of the rights of the foreign-born, the Civil Rights movement, the antiwar movement and a myriad of poor peoples' struggles-her story might have been buried with her had she not caught the attention of Polishuk, a Portland State University women's studies professor. Moved by a photo of Ruuttila being dragged off by police at an antiwar demonstration in 1966, Polishuk started researching this feisty woman's life and times. From extensive interviews with Ruuttila, Polishuk assembled a first-person autobiography, intercut with amendments from family and friends. To make this account more useful for a variety of readers, Polishuk summarizes the relevant history (e.g., the rise of the AFL, splits within the CIO, the Vietnam War, etc.) at the beginning of each chapter. Fortunately, she leavens the weight of all this history with the occasional salty tale (e.g., Ruuttila's mom extorting money at gunpoint from the abortionist who'd done a bad job on Julia's abortion) and Ruuttila's openness to self-criticism. Mistakes were made, sure, but what a life! 13 b&w photos. (Dec.) Forecast: Polishuk's book should be of interest to labor historians and scholars of women's studies. But it's also a good model of how to publish an oral history (e.g., how to verify and correct a subject's memories while remaining respectful) and could be useful to journalism students. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Cover 1 Contents 10 Series Editors’ Foreword 12 Foreword 14 Acknowledgments 18 Abbreviations in Text 22 List of Illustrations 24 Introduction 28 1 That’s Where I Heard About Sabotage 44 2 The Valiant Never Taste of Death but Once 54 3 I Shed My Youth 64 4 A Baking Powder in the Masses 72 5 I Had a Typewriter 84 6 Free Ray Becker 104 7 You Can’t Tell About People 116 8 They Were Paranoid in Those Days 122 9 My Bad Reputation Caught Up with Me 130 10 White Trade Only 142 11 It’s Work That Interests Me 150 12 You Find Friends in Improbable Places 162 13 I Mean to Be Your Friend 170 14 The Lives of Working People Are Full of Desperation 186 15 You Sure Met Some Wonderful People 194 16 I Shall Not Come This Way Again 212 17 I Look Around 222 18 Vietnam 230 19 Too Old to Get Beat Up 240 20 The Trials of Parenthood 246 21 Do Not Look Backward When You Latch the Gate 250 Afterword 258 Abbreviations in Notes 264 Notes 266 Bibliography and Sources 282 Index 292 A 292 B 292 C 293 D 293 E 294 F 294 G 294 H 295 I 295 J 295 K 296 L 296 M 296 N 296 O 297 P 297 R 297 S 299 T 300 U 300 V 300 W 300 Y 300 Sticking to the Union relates the vibrant life of Julia Ruuttila (1907-1991), a political radical and labor journalist in the Pacific Northwest. Ruuttila's life of activism provides a much-needed woman's voice in the history of labor and social activism in the twentieth century. Ruuttila worked for civil liberties, civil rights, and peace organizations throughout her life, supporting striking workers, taking part in lunch-counter protests against businesses that discriminated against African Americans, and demonstrating against the Vietnam War. Polishuk provides insightful historical context for Ruuttila's own lively words. A unique and important perspective on American struggles of the twentieth century emerges in this engaging story of an irrepressible, hard-nosed woman.