El Fénix Rojo

Thomas K. | Corresponsal de Red Phoenix | Ohio–

The Bread and Roses Strike of 1912 was one of the most significant labor struggles in U.S. history. Often grossly misunderstood as a spontaneous action, this strike was but one of many at this workplace, and built upon years of depraved exploitation by the mill owners, and years of famine, disease, and death suffered by the workers. What made the strike a success was the workers’ experience in community organizing. Immigrant workers, and more specifically immigrant women workers, were deemed “impossible to organize” by conservative trade unions at the time. Yet with the support of the IWW, they were able to organize 27,000 workers in 50 different languages. 

On Jan. 11, 1912, several hundred immigrant women came into work at the textile mill in Lawrence, MA, and upon noticing they had been short-changed on that week’s pay, they promptly shut off their machines and exited the mill. Allegedly they went from mill to mill shouting “Short pay!” in Polish, their native language. The next day the Lawrence Textile Mill Strike, or the Bread and Roses Strike, began.

Textile mills have a long and infamous history of gruesome working conditions. Adults and children were equally brutalized by the industry. In 1912 an article was printed in the New York Call called “Occupational diseases in the textile industry,” in which the author Elizabeth Shapleigh, M.D. lays out these statistics: 

“Out of the total population of 85,982 approximately one-half of the men and women over the age of 14 years of age are employed in this one industry.”  (42,976 textile workers)

“36 out of every 100 of all the men and women who work in the mill die before, or by the time, they are 25 years of age. That means that out of the long line which enters the mill you may strike out every third person as dying before reaching maturity.”

“Among the foreign population it is the custom for a boy or a girl to go to work in the mill as soon as possible after their 14th birthday. Many of these, when beginning work, suffer from a malaise known as “mill fever,” the symptoms of which are nausea, vomiting, headache, and rise of temperature. Usually the indisposition lasts only two or three days. It is attributed to the inhalation of dust, the stifling atmosphere and the disagreeable odor of the oil. From the mortality statistics we learn that a considerable number of these young boys and girls die within the first two or three years after beginning work. With very few exceptions, death is due to tuberculosis, pneumonia, or typhoid fever.”

With this information, it is clear that the Bread and Roses Strike was not only a demand for better wages, but a fight for survival and a demand for humane working conditions. 

The straw that broke the backs of these fearsome working women was the cutting of their work week from 56 hours down to 54 hours, which may not seem like a significant difference, but when the workers are living off of poverty wages any reduction is an attack on their livelihood. It is also important to understand that the work of the women and children enabled the work for the men later on in the labor process, so a reduction in labor hours for the women meant a reduction in hours down the line for the men.

The strike officially began on Jan. 12, with the demands of a 15% pay increase, double time pay on overtime, and no discrimination against striking workers. After the initial walkout the day before, the streets were lined with furious striking workers. Quickly the numbers amassed to 12,000. Armed with makeshift weapons the striking workers marched into mills destroying machinery and driving scabs out of the mills. By Saturday, Jan. 13, 15,000 workers were on strike. In response the state militia was called in, and local police numbers rose from 84 to 200.

The following Monday, Jan. 15, all available police and state militia were on the scene. The strikers responded with a mass demonstration. The strikers are credited with inventing the “moving picket line,” a tactic used to avoid being arrested for loitering on company property. Eventually a clash between workers and company men broke out. Soldiers used everything from fire hoses to bullets to attack the workers. One striker was bayoneted, but managed to survive their injuries. Keep in mind these are striking families. Adults and children alike were employed by these blood-sucking exploiters. In the interest of protecting private property, hoses, bullets, and bayonets were used on adults and children! After this incident many other clashes took place with the police and a general unrest filled the air. Soldiers and militia took control of the mills, placing sharpshooters on factory towers.

Jan. 29, 1912 another demonstration took place, and windows were smashed on trolley cars taking scabbing mill operators to the mills. And as before, police opened fire, and on this day killed the striker Anna LoPezzi. Police attempted to charge two IWW organizers for the murder but it was reported at a time when both the accused IWW organizers were miles away from the incident, and they would later be acquitted of the charges. 

At this point striking families began to send their children away with union sympathizers.

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) played an integral role after the AFL turned their backs on the textile workers. Before the strike began there were reports of some 20 foreign language chapters of the IWW present in Lawrence alone! Within two days of the strike breaking out they had organized a committee of 50 workers with four representatives from each ethnic group. Using the national resources available to the IWW, they were able to keep a somewhat steady flow of strike funds and aid available to the workers. 

The workers marched and protested, held hands and sang, every day for 10 weeks through a brutal Massachusetts winter. The strike ended on March 14 in favor of the workers — all of their demands were met. The two main organizers for the IWW, Joseph Ettor and Arturo Giovannitti, were held in prison on murder charges until November of that year. The strike also led to a general wage increase of 5%-7% for todo Massachusetts textile workers! 

The significance of this strike can never be downplayed and should never be forgotten. For reasons we well understand, the capitalists dishonestly spin the story of this strike, with bigoted lies, as being rooted in “workers greed.” We cannot accept their false version of labor history. The legacy laid out by these immigrant workers, and most markedly by  the women workers, is one of fierce devotion and loyalty to the working class. 

Demonstrated through the organization of workers’ soup kitchens and daycares for children to help keep them safe, the workers immediately burned away any bourgeois notion of race, ethnicity, or gender, and stood shoulder to shoulder as workers. Adults and children fought not only for better pay but for respect and dignity. Let the ferocity and dedication of these working people forever stand as inspiration and guidance for us, the working masses of today!

As we come 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 come 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!

As we come marching, marching, unnumbered women dead
Go crying through our singing their ancient song of Bread;
Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew–
Yes, bread we fight for–but we fight for Roses, too.

As we come marching, marching, we bring the Greater Days–
The rising of the women means the rising of the race–
No more the drudge and idler–ten that toil where one reposes–
But sharing of life’s glories: Bread and Roses, Bread and Roses!

James Oppenheim, “Bread and Roses,” 1915.