Bread And Roses Strike,1912.

Still on International Women's Day

From Wikipedia:

         "Bread and Roses" is a political slogan as well as the name of an associated poem and song. It originated from a speech given by Rose Schneiderman; a line in that speech ("The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too."^[1]:32) inspired the title of the poem Bread and Roses by James Oppenheim. The poem was first published in The American Magazine in December 1911, with the attribution line "'Bread for all, and Roses, too'—a slogan of the women in the West."^[2] The poem has been translated into other languages and has been set to music by at least three composers.
       It is commonly associated with the successful textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts during January–March 1912, now often known as the "Bread and Roses strike".
        The slogan pairing bread and roses, appealing for both fair wages and dignified conditions, found resonance as transcending "the sometimes tedious struggles for marginal economic advances" in the "light of labor struggles as based on striving for dignity and respect", as Robert J. S. Ross wrote in 2013.^[3]

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!

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Workers Know Your History - 1912.

      Think of it, 1912, women and children had their working hours cut from 56 to 54, but with a pay cut?? It's not that long ago, and the powers that be in the corporate financial Mafia are doing their best to turn the clock back. The system stinks it always has and always will.

This from Anarchist News:

29th Annual Bread and Roses Festival!

Mon, 08/19/2013 - 17:42 -- Anonymous (not verified)

        In 1912, a new state law went into effect reducing the work week of women and children from 56 to 54 hours. But because so many women and children worked in the mills, men’s hours were also reduced. When the first paychecks of the year revealed a cut in pay, thousands of workers, already barely surviving on an average pay of $8.76 a week, walked out of the mills, and the Great Strike had begun.

       The strike united workers from 51 different nationalities. Carried on throughout a brutally cold winter, the strike lasted more than two months, defying the assumptions of conservative trade unions within the American Federation of Labor that immigrant, largely female and ethnically divided workers could not be organized. In late January, when a bystander was killed during a protest, I.W.W. organizers Joseph Ettor and Arturo Giovannitti were arrested on charges of being accessories to the murder. I.W.W. leaders Bill Haywood and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn came to Lawrence to run the strike. Together they masterminded its signature move, sending hundreds of the strikers’ hungry children to sympathetic families in New York, New Jersey, and Vermont. The move drew widespread sympathy, especially after police stopped a further exodus, leading to violence at the Lawrence train station.The IWW raised funds on a nation-wide basis to provide weekly benefits for strikers and dramatized the strikers’ needs by arranging for several hundred children to go to supporters’ homes in New York City for the duration of the strike. The union established an efficient system of relief committees, soup kitchens, and food distribution stations, while volunteer doctors provided medical care.

     Congressional hearings followed, resulting in exposure of shocking conditions in the Lawrence mills and calls for investigation of the “wool trust.” Mill owners soon decided to settle the strike, giving workers in Lawrence and throughout New England raises of up to 20 percent.

         The Boston Industrial Workers of the world see this event as a critical part of our history and fully support The Bread & Roses Heritage Committee. we call to all workers to come out on labor day SEPTEMBER 2, 2013 to recognize, commemorate, inform, and share the labor history and social justice legacy of Lawrence’s 1912 Bread & Roses strike.

an injury to one is an injury to all!

http://www.breadandrosesheritage.org/

http://iwwboston.org/

Some of Glasgow's working class history HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Bread and Roses.

       A poem a day for the month of April. This one was taken from the article Bread and Roses on the Free Your Voice site:

         



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 cry for bread.
Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew.
Yes, it is 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,
Poem by James Oppenheim

ann arky's home.