An Ordinary Family

By Sara Susan Raphals

Susie Raphals liked to say the she had to reinvent herself every ten years. By the time she passed away on February 9, 2013, at the age of ninety-two, she had done this many times. Her parents were both immigrants: her father from Poland, her mother from Ukraine. From the age of ten, Susie was an active member of a series of Socialist parties in the U.S. As a member of the Young People's Socialist League, she literally stood on soap boxes to argue in favour of free milk for school children. World War II saw her operating a milling machine making parts for airplane gyroscopes and acting as union shop steward. All this time she was an active member of the Workers Party.After the war, her life changed. She left politics to become a mother. Her husband, Victor Raphals, had spent five years working as a mechanic and ballroom-dancing teacher in the Soviet Union during the 1930s. He later became Executive Director of the American Council for Judaism, a Jewish anti Zionist organization.From the tales of her immigrant forebears to the tumult of the America Socialist movement raising children to teaching in The Bronx, the life of Susie Raphals was rich with friends, politics, and life. It was anything but ordinary!

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1484859677
• ISBN13: 9781484859674
• Release Date: May 2013
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 274 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.6" x 6.0"