People Australia

Roth, Elizabeth Jane, née Goble (1859-1931) Socialist and IWW supporter 

Birth: 1859 at Port Fairy, Victoria, daughter of English-born Joseph Goble, miller, and Maria Ann, née Ballantyne (1836-1915), a former domestic servant, born in Belfast, Anrim, Northern Ireland. Marriage: 1884 at South Melbourne to William Roth (1858-1932), Socialist bookshop owner. They had one son (Arthur). Death: 29 October 1931 at Alfred Hospital, Prahran; usual residence Flinders Street, Melbourne. 

• Her father arrived.in Belfast, Victoria, in the 1850s, prospered as a mill engineer and flour-miller, and was a borough councillor in 1883-1889 Her mother disembarked at Geelong in 1856 as a domestic servant. Her brother was the noted Baptist pastor Joseph Hunter Goble (1863-1932).
• Elizabeth became active in the women's movement in the 1890s. She was a member of the Women's Political & Social Crusade (established 1898), being active in the organising committee and working closely with Vida Goldstein. Agitated against Federation Bill.
• In 1900, with Goldstein, she helped to form the Labor-aligned Women's Progressive League. Ended her association with women's organisations following a dispute over Goldstein's candidature for the Senate (1903) on feminist rather than Labor platform.
• Joined Socialist Labor Party in 1906, becoming a prominent member of the Melbourne branch and switching emphasis in her writing from gender relations to issues of class. Opposed employment of women in industry as destructive of family life and endorsed the view that women's proper sphere was the home.
• A critic of both Labor reformism and bourgeois feminism, she advocated revolutionary change as the only means to the attainment of gender equality.
• One of few women whose involvement in the SLP went beyond performing auxiliary tasks. She organised street campaigns and was a trustee of the Victorian branch.
• Was an active member of Melbourne Industrial Workers of the World Club. Treasurer of action group organised to protest against the gaoling of Broken Hill activists during 1909 strike.
• Activities during and after World War I are uncertain.
• Cause of death: myocarditis and heart failure.
• She was the mother of the Baptist minister and Socialist Arthur George Roth and seems to have adopted her orphaned nephew Reginald Charles Goble (1880-1947) who served in the Australian Imperial Force at Gallipoli and in France.

Sources
J. Damousi, Socialist Women in Australia, c.1890-c.1918, Ph.D. thesis, ANU, 1987.