Bobba, Roberta

These images are mostly of comrades and one-time lovers Carlo Tresca (1879-1943) and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (1890-1964), and their relatives and friends. Tresca, an Italian immigrant anarchist, was active in many radical causes, including the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.)and the anti-fascist movement in the United States. He was assassinated in 1943. Flynn, a key figure in early twentieth-century labor struggles, was an organizer and an orator and served as a leader in a number of labor and radical organizations, including the I.W.W. and the Communist Party of the United States. Flynn and Tresca met in 1912, and had a relationship that lasted for 15 years. Tresca also had a relationship with Flynn's youngest sister, "Bina" (Sabina). Bina Flynn and Tresca had a son, Peter Martin (who grew up to co-found the nationally-known center of beatnik culture, City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco). Bina Flynn later married Romolo Bobba. Bobba was one of the members of the Industrial Workers of the World imprisoned at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, after the major I.W.W. trial of 1918 (in which most of the I.W.W. leadership, as well as a number of rank and file members, were convicted under the Espionage Act).

Sources:

From the guide to the Roberta Bobba and Peter Martin Photographs, circa 1918-1959, (Tamiment Library / Wagner Archives)