Child of the Sit-Downs_ The Revolutionary Life of Genora Dollinger - Carlton Jackson [88]
Sol wrote to Peet that he had “not only opened up a hidden page of history for England, but I am sure that . . . it will have its reverberations to the far distant shores of the United States.”46 “The Great Sit-Down” aired first on BBC on Monday, October 4, 1976, and became standard fare at labor rallies and a major part of both film and labor history.
In the meantime, Genora worried about the chumminess that had developed between the UAW leadership and the executives at GM. She was not the only one with such forebodings. Her old friend Larry Jones wrote to her about the negotiations that took place in the summer of 1976 between UAW and GM. Some eight hundred UAW retirees formed a picket line. Jones expected GM officials to ignore them, but not their own president, Leonard Woodcock, and his aides, who “sneaked into the building via the private General Motors . . . entrance.” Jones could not resist telling Genora that “had I been a UAW official I would have joined the picket line for a few minutes at least.”47 Genora, becoming increasingly familiar with this situation, referred to it as “tuxedo unionism,” a painful reminder of the company unions that had been created in 1937 to combat the strikers. She confined her anger to a few private letters to friends, but the fortieth anniversary of the union victory over GM (February 1977) created a flashpoint for her sense of outrage. The anniversary meetings in Detroit and Flint were to be real celebrations with numerous special events. Genora received an invitation to attend a jointly sponsored UAW–General Motors cocktail party and dinner to be held at Detroit’s St. Regis Hotel on the night before the general union meeting the next day in Flint (February 12). Mortified by this invitation, she quickly let Leonard Woodcock know that she would not sup with the enemy. She could not, in good conscience, “participate in a celebration under the hegemony of the very corporation which fought us at every step.”48 Many GM plants were being moved South in an effort to avoid union activities, and she wondered how Mr. UAW Woodcock could consort with the very people who would destroy him in a minute, if they had the chance. Many old-time labor leaders refused to attend. Emil Mazey wanted no part of the evening’s activities, he told a newspaper reporter. Few women were present. The only participant in the sit-down to accept the invitation at the St. Regis was Victor Reuther. Nonetheless, some 200 people did attend the event and after dinner saw some newsreels of the 1937 strike, which of course had plenty of shots of Genora. “Perhaps Mrs. Dollinger did make an unknowing appearance,” one reported quipped.49
Though avoiding Detroit, Genora did attend the annual observances in Flint. By mid-February 1977, she had committed herself to another documentary in which she played a major role, With Babies and Banners, released in 1978. A night before the general union conference, producer Lorraine Gray set up a surprise party for Genora. While the cameras rolled, Genora walked into the home of Delia Parrish and was astonished to see Sybil “Teeter” Walker, one of her lieutenants from the Emergency Brigade, whom she had not seen in forty years. Nellie Besson, whom she had seen on numerous occasions since the sit-down, was also present. Genora was, however, disturbed by the presence of several women who had not participated in the events of 1937, though viewers of the documentary would probably think they had. According to Gray, an African American woman was present to show that “blacks had been involved,” although only one black had taken part in the sit-downs. Genora thought this and other matters misled viewers and felt Ms. Gray should have consulted her first. “I was surprised,” she wrote to Gray, “when I walked into the filming [and saw] women who were never involved in the Emergency Brigade.”50 And, sure enough, according to the Guardian