In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the struggle between organized labor and the cartel of owners was reaching murderous proportions. Union members were stockpiling dynamite to assassinate “the bosses” and the owners were bringing in the militia and the infamous Pinkerton guards with orders to shoot to kill. The period witnessed bloody wars like the Chicago Haymarket Massacre (May 4, 1886) and the Matewan strike in West Virginia (1921) that lasted months with heavy casualties on both sides. The country was as close to civil war as it had been since 1864.

But I want to talk about a different strike. It occurred in Lawrence, Massachusetts, a company mill town like many others in the region. It was called the “Bread and Roses” strike, and it was organized mostly by the women who ran the looms and the wives of the other workers. The state legislature had recently reduced the maximum work week to 56 hours, and the owners were determined to make up the lost money by running the looms faster, demanding more output, and reducing the pay accordingly.

The strike started immediately and everywhere when the Polish women noticed the pay reduction and left the job chanting “Short pay! Short pay.” Within days, the looms were at a standstill and managers were threatening strikers with termination and eviction from company housing. The I.W.W. labor organization was called in to organize the strike and it immediately because an effective, air-tight labor action.

I won’t go through the ugly details that follow - there were threats of violence on both sides but miraculously the peace held. And eventually the strikers won virtually everything they demanded. But some of the signs the women held read:

“BREAD AND ROSES”

meaning that they weren’t content with improvements in the bare necessity of life and work: they wanted opportunities to enjoy their lives and family, to find beauty in the world, and to be treated with dignity and respect. These demands they won over a period of years as Lawrence opened a series of free libraries, art galleries, concert halls, and parks. The “Bread and Roses March” is one of the most beautiful anthems of the great era of American Labor, and you should find and listen to Judy Collins’ beautiful rendition.

So on this Labor Day, as you’re playing the last softball game of the season and eating the last summer picnic, think about what we’re celebrating and realize that for you, too, work should be a source of pride and joy and fulfillment. Of course it won’t be all the time - you’re going to have miserable days and weeks - but over the long run your job and your career should be an important positive force in our life, not just a drain on your energy that brings in a paycheck.

And if that’s not so, maybe you should have your own “Bread and Roses” rebellion.

Tags: Bread and Roses, labor, strike, march, demands, beauty, mills, Lawrence, looms

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