Ruth Bullock

Ruth Bullock (nee Fraser) was born 1909 in Trout Lake, West Kootenay District, B.C. She attended school until age 10 when her father was killed in a mining explosion leaving her mother as the single support of five small children. the family later moved to a sheep ranch on Salt Spring Island. Ruth left the farm at age 17 to work as a domestic in Hatsic for $15-month. Ruth was a feminist dedicated to reproductive rights education and advocated for legal abortion. In 1934, she joined the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) a social democratic party. She met her husband, Reginald Walter Bullock (trade unionist, CCF member, boilermaker) in 1938. The Bullocks left the CCF and Communist Party during WWII in protest of the organizations’ support for the war effort, subsequently joining the Canadian Trotskyist movement in Vancouver until the branch disbanded in 1985. When Socialist Challenge/Gauche socialiste was recognized by the Fourth International Ruth declared her support and remained an active supporter. In her later years, she managed Vanguard Bookstore, a distributor of radical literature. Ruth died 1994 in North Vancouver.

Audio Interview [1979]

Description

Ruth describes the hardships of early life; her mother’s struggles to raise her five children alone; working as a domestic when there was no union and they were not protected by government legislation; how the difficult birth of her daughter inspired an interest in birth control; meeting Vivian Dowding of the Parents’ Information Service through the CCF (1932-1933); how the Spanish Civil War further radicalized her; supporting the struggles of the unemployed and the Longshore strike; her interest in the Trotskyists; the Labour Progressive Party’s no-strike policy in the war industries; working in a canning factory in WWII; resisting speed-ups and distribution of poor quality food to rank and file soldiers; membership in the IWA’s Women’s Auxiliary; organizing clerical workers at Burrard Drydocks (1950’s).

Transcription

Full transcription: Bullock, Ruth

Title: [Ruth Bullock- 1/4]

Creator: Diamond, Sara

Contributor: Bullock, Ruth

Subject: Women–Employment–British Columbia ; Women labor union members–British Columbia ; Women–Employment–British Columbia–History–20th century

Date Created: 1979

Type: Audio recording

Genre: Interviews

Extent: 1 audio cassette

Format: audio/mp3

Language: English

Identifier: OBJ_619_sideA_01

Is Part Of: Sara Diamond fonds

Series: Women’s Labour History Project

Source: Original Format: Simon Fraser University Archives. Sara Diamond fonds

Rights: Media provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy or otherwise use of this media must be obtained from the Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives.

Title: [Ruth Bullock – 2/4]

Creator: Diamond, Sara

Contributor: Bullock, Ruth

Subject: Women–Employment–British Columbia ; Women labor union members–British Columbia ; Women–Employment–British Columbia–History–20th century

Date Created: 1979

Type: Audio recording

Genre: Interviews

Extent: 1 audio cassette

Format: audio/mp3

Language: English

Identifier: OBJ_619_sideB_01

Is Part Of: Sara Diamond fonds

Series: Women’s Labour History Project

Source: Original Format: Simon Fraser University Archives. Sara Diamond fonds

Rights: Media provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy or otherwise use of this media must be obtained from the Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives.

Title: [Ruth Bullock – 3/4]

Creator: Diamond, Sara

Contributor: Bullock, Ruth

Subject: Women–Employment–British Columbia ; Women labor union members–British Columbia ; Women–Employment–British Columbia–History–20th century

Date Created: 1979

Type: Audio recording

Genre: Interviews

Extent: 1 audio cassette

Format: audio/mp3

Language: English

Identifier: OBJ_620_sideA_01

Is Part Of: Sara Diamond fonds

Series: Women’s Labour History Project

Source: Original Format: Simon Fraser University Archives. Sara Diamond fonds

Rights: Media provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy or otherwise use of this media must be obtained from the Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives.

Title: [Ruth Bullock – 4/4]

Creator: Diamond, Sara

Contributor: Bullock, Ruth

Subject: Women–Employment–British Columbia ; Women labor union members–British Columbia ; Women–Employment–British Columbia–History–20th century

Date Created: 1979

Type: Audio recording

Genre: Interviews

Extent: 1 audio cassette

Format: audio/mp3

Language: English

Identifier: OBJ_620_sideB_01

Is Part Of: Sara Diamond fonds

Series: Women’s Labour History Project

Source: Original Format: Simon Fraser University Archives. Sara Diamond fonds

Rights: Media provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy or otherwise use of this media must be obtained from the Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives.

Video Interview

Description: Ruth Bullock discusses her early life on Saltspring Island, and the injustices faced by girls. She also discusses her first job as a housekeeper in New Westminster, including wages and daily duties. Finally, she talks about her first marriage, enduring the Great Depression, the difficulties of pregnancy and childbirth at the time, and her fears that her newborn baby girl would face the same injustices she did.

Title: [Ruth Bullock – 1/4]

Creator: Diamond, Sara

Contributor: Bullock, Ruth

Subject: Women–Employment–British Columbia ; Women labor union members–British Columbia ; Women–Employment–British Columbia–History–20th century

Date Created: [Unknown]

Type: Moving Image

Genre: Interviews

Extent: 1 Betacam videocassette

Format: video/mp4

Language: English

Identifier: SD_WLHP_340

Is Part Of: Sara Diamond fonds

Series: Women’s Labour History Project

Source: Original Format: The VIVO Media Arts Centre. Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives. Sara Diamond fonds.

Rights: Videos provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy or otherwise use these videos must be obtained from the Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives.

Description: Ruth Bullock continues discussing abortion, the difficulties of pregnancy and childbirth, and her involvement in the birth control movement. She discusses her increased involvement in politics, and her joining of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in 1933, and the position of women inside the party. Finally, she discusses changes within politics and the women’s movement with the advent of World War II, and her work in the canning industry in the Mission area.

Title: [Ruth Bullock – 2/4]

Creator: Diamond, Sara

Contributor: Bullock, Ruth

Subject: Women–Employment–British Columbia ; Women labor union members–British Columbia ; Women–Employment–British Columbia–History–20th century

Date Created: [Unknown]

Type: Moving Image

Genre: Interviews

Extent: 1 Betacam videocassette

Format: video/mp4

Language: English

Identifier: SD_WLHP_341

Is Part Of: Sara Diamond fonds

Series: Women’s Labour History Project

Source: Original Format: The VIVO Media Arts Centre. Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives. Sara Diamond fonds.

Rights: Videos provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy or otherwise use these videos must be obtained from the Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives.

Description: Ruth Bullock continues talking about her first industrial job, working in canneries. She touches upon her knowledge of the union movement at the time, Communist currents within the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), tensions between Stalinists and Trotskyites, and her raised understanding of class action. Bullock also discusses her daily duties on the assembly line, the liberation that came from employment for women, and the ways in which women were driven back into the home after World War II.

Title: [Ruth Bullock – 3/4]

Creator: Diamond, Sara

Contributor: Bullock, Ruth.

Subject: Women–Employment–British Columbia ; Women labor union members–British Columbia ; Women–Employment–British Columbia–History–20th century

Date Created: [Unknown]

Type: Moving Image

Genre: Interviews

Extent: 1 Betacam videocassette

Format: video/mp4

Language: English

Identifier: SD_WLHP_342

Is Part Of: Sara Diamond fonds

Series: Women’s Labour History Project

Source: Original Format: The VIVO Media Arts Centre. Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives. Sara Diamond fonds.

Rights: Videos provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy or otherwise use these videos must be obtained from the Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives.

Description: Ruth Bullock discusses factionalization within leftist parties and labour organizations, particularly as such factionalization affected attitudes towards the war. She also discusses how women were politicized during the war, and her experiences within women’s auxiliaries.

Title: [Ruth Bullock – 4/4]

Creator: Diamond, Sara

Contributor: Bullock, Ruth

Subject: Women–Employment–British Columbia ; Women labor union members–British Columbia ; Women–Employment–British Columbia–History–20th century

Date Created: [Unknown]

Type: Moving Image

Genre: Interviews

Extent: 1 3/4 inch videotape: U-matic

Format: video/mp4

Language: English

Identifier: SD_WLHP_093

Is Part Of: Sara Diamond fonds

Series: Women’s Labour History Project

Source: Original Format: The VIVO Media Arts Centre. Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives. Sara Diamond fonds.

Rights: Videos provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy or otherwise use these videos must be obtained from the Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives.