# Matilda Robbins

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Matilda_Robbins
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Matilda_Robbins.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matilda_Robbins
> Source revision: 1352404522
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Russian-born American socialist labor organizer (1887–1963)

Matilda G. Robbins Born Tatiana Gitel Rabinowitz 1887 (1887) Lityn, Russian Empire Died January 9, 1963(1963-01-09) (aged 75–76) Oakland, California Partner Ben Legere

**Matilda Getrude Robbins** (1887 – January 9, 1963) was a Russian-born American [socialist](/source/Socialism) labor organizer who first connected with the [Industrial Workers of the World](/source/Industrial_Workers_of_the_World) during the 1912 [Bread and Roses strike](/source/1912_Lawrence_textile_strike) in [Lawrence, Massachusetts](/source/Lawrence%2C_Massachusetts).

## Early life

Tatiana Gitel Rabinowitz (According to the ship's manifest where names of entering immigrants are listed, Matilda's original given name was *Taube* (Yiddish or German for 'dove'; however, she claimed a Russian given name, *Tanya*.)[1] was born in [Lityn](/source/Lityn), Ukraine.[2] She moved to New York with her family at age 13, in 1900. Her name was anglicized to *Matilda Gertrude Robbins* in the process of immigration.[3]

## Career

Rabinowitz, front row, fourth from left, during the [1912 Little Falls textile strike](/source/1912_Little_Falls_textile_strike)

Robbins started working as a teenager in a shirtwaist factory, and worked various jobs from age 16 onward. In [Bridgeport, Connecticut](/source/Bridgeport%2C_Connecticut) she made her first connections to the Socialist Party and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Robbins became a key organizer [during a strike in Little Falls, New York](/source/1912%E2%80%931913_Little_Falls_textile_strike), running the strike office, organizing a strike kitchen, raising money and legal aid, and fortifying the picket line over the course of fourteen weeks. Robbins and activist [Elizabeth Gurley Flynn](/source/Elizabeth_Gurley_Flynn) were then hired by the [IWW](/source/Industrial_Workers_of_the_World) and spent three years traveling across the United States to assist with labor organizing.

Likely taken after her arrest in Detroit, Michigan. Photograph back reads: "Rabinowitz on the way to the workhouse - Patrol Kindley (illeg.) by police department"

[4][5] She was one of only two women organizers for the IWW during its early years, along with Flynn.[6][3] She was arrested for her organizing work in [East Liverpool, Ohio](/source/East_Liverpool%2C_Ohio),[7] in [McKeesport, Pennsylvania](/source/McKeesport%2C_Pennsylvania),[8] and in [Detroit, Michigan](/source/Detroit), all in 1913.[9] Later she was active in the IWW's Sacco-Vanzetti Defense Committee.[10]

Robbins wrote for the IWW publications for many years after leaving active organizing, and she ran the Socialist Party's Los Angeles office from 1945 to 1947.[5]

## Personal life

Robbins had a longtime relationship with another labor organizer, [Benjamin J. Legere](/source/Ben_Legere) (1887–1972).[11] They were parents together of a daughter, Vita, born in 1919.[12] Robbins died in 1963, aged 76 years, in [Oakland, California](/source/Oakland%2C_California).[13][5] Her granddaughter Robbin Légère Henderson, an artist, prepared illustrations for the 2017 publication of Robbins's memoirs, from a manuscript written in the 1950s.[14]

According to a 2020 *[Industrial Worker](/source/Industrial_Worker)* article, Legere was abusive and sometimes violent towards Robbins.[15] They divorced in 1926.[16]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Rabinowitz, Matilda "Immigrant Girl, Radical Woman," Cornell University Press

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Lawrence Bush, ["July 8: Matilda Robbins and the IWW"](http://jewishcurrents.org/july-8-matilda-robbins-and-the-iww/) *Jewish Currents* (July 7, 2013).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Peterson_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Peterson_3-1) Peterson, Joyce Shaw (1993). "Matilda Robbins: A Woman's Life in the Labor Movement, 1900–1920". *Labor History*. **34** (1): 33–56. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1080/00236569300890021](https://doi.org/10.1080%2F00236569300890021).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** "Revolt, They Said". www.andreageyer.info. Retrieved 2017-07-13.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-JWA_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-JWA_5-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-JWA_5-2) ["Matilda Robbins"](https://jwa.org/teach/livingthelegacy/biographies/robbins-matilda) *Jewish Women's Archive* (2017).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Meredith Tax, [*The Rising of the Women: Feminist Solidarity and Class Conflict, 1880–1917*](https://books.google.com/books?id=sIJ6FHla0doC&pg=PA132) (University of Illinois Press 1980): 132. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780252070075](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780252070075)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Miss Rabinowitz Gets into Trouble"](https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13238352/matilda_rabinowitz_1913/) *Akron Beacon Journal* (March 22, 1913): 1. via [Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["I. W. W. Speaker Arrested"](https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13238389/matilda_rabinowitz_1913/) *The Gazette Times* (Pittsburgh) (August 9, 1913): 2. via [Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Steve Babson, [*Working Detroit: The Making of a Union Town*](https://books.google.com/books?id=_2J3YzdEgOAC&pg=PA33) (Wayne State University Press 1986): 33. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780814318195](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780814318195)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Bennett Murashkin, ["The Jewish Role in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)"](https://www.lawcha.org/labor-history-for-the-classroom-and-public/jews-labor-movement-past-present-future/jewish-role-industrial-workers-world-iww/) *LAWCHA*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Steve Thornton, ["A Labor of Love"](http://bportlibrary.org/hc/labor/a-labor-of-love/) *Bridgeport Library/Bridgeport History Center*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** Joyce Shaw Peterson, ["Choosing Motherhood: Matilda Robbins' Story"](https://www.proquest.com/news/docview/1323074346/D0B4F2EE98684812PQ/1) *Women's Studies* 42(3)(2013): 271.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** ["Mrs. Matilda Robbins"](https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102187921/matilda-robbins-1887-1963/). *The Fresno Bee*. Fresno, CA. January 11, 1963. p. 28. Retrieved May 20, 2022 – via [Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** Matilda Rabinowitz, [*Immigrant Girl, Radical Woman: A Memoir from the Early Twentieth Century*](https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100474940) (Cornell University Press 2017). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781501709845](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781501709845)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** Dunn, Brendan Maslauskas (June 17, 2020). ["Immigrant Girl, Radical Woman: Matilda Rabinowitz's Wobbly Memoir"](https://archive.org/details/industrial_worker_2020.06.17/page/n10/mode/1up). *[Industrial Worker](/source/Industrial_Worker)* (1790): 11–12. Retrieved May 3, 2026.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** ["'Inferior to Rattler' Charge Wins Woman Divorce From S. F. Man"](https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ucbk.ark:/28722/h2280511h&seq=360&view=1up). *[The San Francisco Daily News](/source/The_Daily_News_(San_Francisco))*. San Francisco. September 17, 1926. Retrieved May 3, 2026.

This article incorporates text from a [free content](/source/Free_content) work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Text taken from [*Revolt They Said​*](http://www.andreageyer.info/revolttheysaid/s.html), Andrea Geyer.

## External links

- [A photograph of Robbins](http://reuther.wayne.edu/node/12906) probably taken at the time of her arrest in Detroit, Michigan in the 1910s; in the collection of the Walter P. Reuther Library, [Wayne State University](/source/Wayne_State_University).

- [The Ben Legere Papers](http://reuther.wayne.edu/node/2691) are also held in the Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.

v t e Industrial Workers of the World History 1900s First Convention of the IWW 1907 Skowhegan textile strike Pressed Steel Car strike of 1909 1910s 1912 Lawrence textile strike 1912 New York City waiters' strike San Diego free speech fight Grabow riot Wheatland hop riot 1912–1913 Little Falls textile strike 1913 El Paso smelters' strike 1913 Paterson silk strike Paterson pageant Hopedale strike 1913 Ipswich Mills strike 1913 Studebaker strike Tucker strike Bayonne refinery strikes of 1915–1916 Everett massacre 1916–1917 northern Minnesota lumber strike Bisbee Deportation Green Corn Rebellion Tulsa Outrage Seattle General Strike Centralia massacre Bisbee Riot 1920s & 1930s Anaconda Road massacre 1922 New England Textile Strike 1923 San Pedro maritime strike 1927–1928 Colorado Coal Strike 1933 Yakima Valley strike Stockton cannery strike of 1937 After 1940 1964 Mount Isa Mines strike Redwood Summer 2011 Wisconsin protests 2018–2019 Education strikes Lyft and Uber strikes 2021 Frito-Lay strike People List of General Secretary-Treasurers Eugene V. Debs Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Bill Haywood Joe Hill Frank Little Lucy Parsons Matilda Robbins Carlo Tresca Ben Legere Philosophy Dual unionism Industrial democracy Industrial unionism One Big Union Solidarity unionism Sections Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union Burgerville Workers Union Education Workers Industrial Union Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee Marine Transport Workers Industrial Union Starbucks Workers Union United Campaign Workers Extinct Agricultural Workers Organization Lumber Workers Industrial Union Metal and Machinery Workers Industrial Union Related topics Free speech fights Glossary of Wobbly terms Little Red Songbook Western Federation of Miners Workers' International Industrial Union Organized Labour portal

Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND WorldCat National United States France BnF data Israel Other Open Library Yale LUX

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Matilda Robbins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matilda_Robbins) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matilda_Robbins?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.