this is clara, named after clara goodman fraser (1923-1998), the daughter of jewish immigrants and a socialist feminist labor organizer who co-founded the freedom socialist party and radical women. her latvian father was a teamster and anarchist and her russian mother was a garment worker and unionist. clara attended ucla and joined the socialist workers party during the 1940s. an intersectionalist through and through, she devoted her life to agitating for women, people of color, union workers, gays, and prisoners. the fight for black liberation was one of the reasons clara and others left swp and founded the freedom socialist party. one of the pillars of fsp at its founding was “revolutionary integration” – a position that the interdependence of the struggles for socialism and black liberation and that black leadership within the working class was essential. staunchly a-Z, clara stood with palestinians and denounced the u.s. backing of the state of isr**l.
clara was involved in a high-profile lawsuit that she brought against seattle city light in 1975, where she had been hired to implement a program to hire and train women electrical workers. she was fired a year later, supposedly due to budget cuts but she was known for her prominent involvement in labor organizing to secure more rights for seattle city lights workers. she fired back with a discrimination lawsuit that detailed political bias and sexism at seattle city light. ironically, she (a known radical) had been hired to bring credibility to seattle city light in the hopes that they could avoid lawsuits from workers. on the stand clara stated:
“I am a socialist feminist. I believe we live in a corrupt, ugIy, vicious and doomed society, a society that cannot last in its present form because it will go up in nuclear holocaust, if not in annihilation of people in some other horrendous form. And i believe that the source of sexism, racism, despair, and the wanton destruction of the earth is to be found in the nature of the system, which is based on the production of goods and services for profit and not human needs. I believe we need a socialist system to replace capitalism – we need an economic and a political democracy.”
it was a seven-year battle that clara won, and she was able to return to work and continue organizing at seattle city light. this was just one of two high-profile cases, but you can do your own research about the other one (which started as a silly case that became a first amendment battle). clara mothered two sons with two well-known socialists (both of whom she divorced). the marxists internet archive houses a digital collection of her writings spanning 1955-1997. i’m just starting to dive into that, but she writes with a directness and acerbic humor that i really appreciate.
clara is part of the matriarch series and is made from white stoneware clay. she measures 9 x 7.5 x 5.75 inches and was completed in 2025.