the bread and roses strike

Bread and Roses

The Lawrence Strike,1912

Lawrence milled wool, and cotton from the South

Over half of the workers were women and children

Unskilled workers

Immigrants

Paid starvation wages

Poor housing conditions

Unhealthy work conditions

Elizabeth Shapleigh, a Lawrence Physician:

"A considerable number of the boys and girls die within the first two or three years after beginning work . . . thirty-six out of every 100 of all the men and women who work in the mill die before or by the time they are twenty-five years of age.

Faced with a pay cut, they went on strike.

Nonviolent protests

It lasted for 10 weeks.

The children were sent away to friends and family.

There was no food.

The city feared the bad publicity, banned them

from leaving

Some mothers brought their children to the rail station, defying the law

On February 24;

A group of mothers and their children were brutally clubbed by police

30 women were put in jail.

A public outcry

Solidarity means success

On March 12, 1912, the company could no longer face the negative publicity. They agreed to a 15% pay raise and overtime, and granted amnesty to all strikers.

What were the differences these workers had to

overcome ?

GenderAgeEthnicityReligionCultureLanguageClass (skilled vs unskilled)

Why were those in power afraid of the workers?

"It was the spirit of the workers that was dangerous," wrote labor reporter Mary Heaton Vorse. "They are always marching and singing. The tired, gray crowds ebbing and flowing perpetually into the mills had waked and opened their months to sing.”

Kornbluh

“Bread and Roses”was their marching song

As we go marching, marching, in the beauty of the day,A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts gray,Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses,For the people hear us singing: Bread and Roses! Bread and

Roses!

As we go marching, marching, we battle too for men,For they are women's children, and we mother them again.Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us

roses.

References

Web Wikipedia, Bread and Roses Lyrics

Images Library of Congress Digital Online Catalog, Marxists.org

,

PrintKornbluh, J. (1988). Rebel Voices: An IWW Anthology.

Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing.

Watson, B. (2005). Bread and Roses: Mills, Migrants, and the Struggle for the American Dream. New York: Viking.