Audacity by Melanie Crowder, Penguin Group Philomel Books, (c) 20015, 385 pages including glossary, family interview, and selected bibliography, $17.99
By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO — I suppose, if one stuck strictly to the historical facts, Clara Lemlich’s life could be summarized in a few paragraphs. She grew up in an Orthodox home in the Pale of Settlement at the turn of the 20th century when Jewish families thought learning was only for boys, and Russian authorities thought living in peace was not for any Jew, regardless of gender.
After the Kishinev pogrom, her parents made their way to Germany where, in steerage class, they boarded a ship for the United States. At Ellis Island, a family member was briefly detained for health reasons, as the rest of the family settled into a tenement. In order for her father and brothers to study Torah, Lemlich had to work in a garment factory where men routinely molested the women workers; exit doors and fire escapes were locked; use of water fountains and toilets were restricted to specific hours, no matter how much you needed them; time cards were altered in the factory’s favor; “mistakes” in pay checks were also always in the factory’s favor; and despite the flammability of the
garments, male supervisors smoked with abandon.
Of course, workers could always complain about the conditions, provided they didn’t mind being summarily fired, and having the pay they already earned docked.
Lemlich had rebelled against her authoritarian father, and she rebelled against these totalitarian sweat shops. She became an organizer for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, and although she was physically beaten by goons and by police, she persisted, telling her fellow workers in Yiddish that if they stuck together they could put an end to this exploitation. Finally, she was able to persuade the women workers to call a general strike, which became celebrated in the Labor Movement as the “Uprising of the 20,000.” She was a heroine of the labor movement, who in the process gave up her own dreams of becoming a medical doctor.
What makes Melanie Crowder’s book so terrific!–and that’s the word I use advisedly, “terrific!” with an exclamation point–is that it is all told in easy-to-read verse. Each poem captures not only the facts (sometimes embroidered upon, to be sure, because this book is
announced as fiction), but they also capture the fine details of the era, and most especially, the emotions. Anyone with a Jewish heart will root for Lemlich as she struggles for freedom and dignity, and they will be moved by author and poet Crowder’s wonderful command and
appreciation for the rhythm of the English language.
This is a very impressive book. I feel uplifted having read it.
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com