Anne Burlak

Anne Burlak Timpson (May 24, 1911 – July 9, 2002) was an American early 20th century leader in labor organizing and leftist political movements. A member of the National Textile Workers Union and Communist Party, Burlak was jailed numerous times for sedition. Based in New England for much of her adult life, Burlak was a candidate for local and state offices in Rhode Island and played a major role in crafting the National Recovery Administration's workplace standards for textile unions during the New Deal era.

Early life Born in Slatington, Pennsylvania, Anne Burlak was the daughter of Harry and Anastasia Smigel Burlak, who came to the United States as immigrants from Tsarist Russia, in the area now comprising Ukraine. The eldest of six children, Burlak left school at the age of 14 to join the workforce and provide financial support to her family. among their number. Burlak and the rest of the Atlanta Six were held in jail for six weeks. and would not be overturned until the Supreme Court's decision in Herndon v. Lowry (1937). Burlak soon began leading strike actions in Pawtucket and Central Falls, and was arrested for alleged violence in a July 1931 strike. on Washington, D.C.

Burlak later unsuccessfully ran for Secretary of State of Rhode Island in 1938.

The New Deal Era and the Red Scare

As the National Secretary of the NWTU, Burlak became involved in crafting aspects of the National Recovery Administration (NRA)'s industrywide codes for minimum working conditions on behalf of textile unions. Poet Muriel Rukeyser penned a tribute to Burlak in her 1939 collection A Turning Wind: Poems.

Burlak was awarded the Wonder Woman Award from the Wonder Woman Foundation in 1982, and the Sacco-Vanzetti Memorial Award for Social Justice from the Community Church of Boston in 1997.

Anne Burlak Timpson donated her papers to the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College from 1998 to 1999. Additional materials were donated by her children and her brother. Her papers date "from 1912 to 2003 and are primarily related to her personal and political life."