Rose Pesotta
Rose Pesotta (1896–1965) was an anarchist, feminist labor organizer and vice president within the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Background Pesotta was born Rakhel Peisoty in Derazhnia, Ukraine on Nov. 20, 1896, to a family of Jewish grain merchants. Pesotta was educated in both formal and informal settings during her childhood. She was exposed to the works of anarchists like Bakunin through both her father's library and in a local anarchist underground, and she would eventually adopt anarchist views. Her parents arranged a marriage for her, but she did not approve, so in 1913 she emigrated to New York City and became a seamstress in a shirtwaist factory. Career ILGWU In 1914, Pesotta joined ILGWU Local 25, which (influenced by the 1909 shirtwaist strike) was led by women and was heavily involved in activism and education of seamstresses. On behalf of the local, she researched the Sacco and Vanzetti case, becoming a friend of Bartolomeo Vanzetti. Pesotta regularly wrote for union and anarchist publications in Yiddish and English. Along with Anna Sosnovsky, Fanny Breslaw and Clara Rothberg Larsen, she published Der Yunyon Arbeter ("The Union Worker") between 1923 and 1927. From 1924 to 1928, Pesotta also contributed occasional articles to