The Humble and the Heroic: Wartime Italian Americans (Hardcover) ...

small manufacturing operations. The need to work was answered not only by the men of the household, but also by many women who emanated from cultures where women customarily did not work outside of their homes, but were now driven into the workplace by the vicissitudes of a harsh and unforgiving depression. Notwithstanding the view that the underclass was accordingly susceptible to and did experience exploitation, it does not mean they did not respond to efforts to improve their lot. The prevailing perception that Italian Americans were tractable, obedient and subservient, and thus unreceptive to the burgeoning labor movement, was not accurate. Indeed, a closer look finds that there were more than a few instances that demonstrated their increased visibility and willingness to take up the cause of labor including strikes and walkouts. For example, controversial New Yorker Paul Vaccarelli, leader among Italian American longshoreman, utilized these weapons so successfully for years that it came to the attention and appreciation of the White House which called upon him to forego a strike in order to aid the struggle of a country at war, causing President Woodrow Wilson to commend him for not interrupting the war effort. In addition, Vaccarelli remained active as a labor leader in the postwar period.¹¹ By the 1930s, Italian Americans were an unmistakable presence in the garment industry, where under the leadership of people like Luigi Antonini, for example, they played an increasingly important role. Born in Vallata Irpini, Italy, in 1883, Antonini had emigrated in 1908, joined the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) in 1913, became vice-president of the union in 1914, and soon became editor of L’Operaia, an Italian language periodical that trumpeted the cause of unionization among Italian immigrants. By the 1930s, he had become a household byword in many an Italian American home via radio airwaves where his thunderous oratory gave fervid voice to Italian American aspirations. There were also striking instances of promoting the cause of labor by Italian Americans who had moved from the city to small Long Island enclaves where either as union members or on ad hoc basis, they struggled for wage and hour improvements even if it meant resorting to strikes.