Sticking to the Union: An Oral History of the Life and Times of Julia Ruuttila

Palgrave Studies in Oral History

by S. Polishuk, Amy Kesselman (Foreword), Bruce M. Stave (Editor)

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.

Genres: History

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Polishuk does a good job of letting her subject tell her own story while also checking that against other historical records. Despite being a leftist from the Pacific Northwest, I had never heard of Julia Ruutila before buying this book, so it at first made for an inauspicious subject, but I was delighted to learn about the life story of this remarkable woman. Ruutila was involved in every major class and social justice struggle of the twentieth century in my local area, so there are many details about the region I discovered. Although she wasn’t exactly in the background, it is people like her doing the thankless task of going to every protest and attending all the meetings that keep the promise of a future society alive.