Anna Rochester

Who is Anna Rochester?

Anna Rochester was an American labor reformer, journalist, and political activist. Although for several years an editor of the liberal monthly The World Tomorrow, Rochester is best remembered as a co-founder of the Labor Research Association, a bureau which collected and interpreted labor statistics in close coordination with the Communist Party USA.

In the 21st Century Rochester became the subject of academic interest for the duality of her public political activity with successful maintenance of a long-term same-sex affectionate relationship with Grace Hutchins, a relationship considered taboo according to the social mores of the day. Although the pair lived as partners for over 40 years, Rochester never self-identified as a lesbian and the question of whether the pair were sexually intimate remains unresolved.