Bread and Roses

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For other uses, see Bread and Roses (disambiguation).
Massachusetts National Guardsmen with fixed bayonets surround a parade of peaceful strikers

The slogan "Bread and Roses" originated in a speech given by Rose Schneiderman; a line in that speech ("The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too."[1]) inspired the title of the poem Bread and Roses by James Oppenheim, published in The American Magazine in December 1911, which attributed it to "the women in the West." It is commonly associated with a textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts during January–March 1912, now often known as the "Bread and Roses strike".

The slogan appeals for both fair wages and dignified conditions.

Contents

History[edit]

The 1912 Lawrence Textile Strike, which united dozens of immigrant communities under the leadership of the Industrial Workers of the World, was led to a large extent by women. The popular mythology of the strike includes signs being carried by women reading "We want bread, but we want roses, too!", though the image is probably ahistorical.[2][3] A 1915 labor anthology, The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest by Upton Sinclair, is the first known source to attribute the phrase to the Lawrence strikers. A republication of Oppenheim's poem in 1912, following the strike, attributed it to "Chicago Women Trade Unionists". To circumvent an injunction against loitering in front of the mills, the strikers formed the first moving picket line in the US.[4][5]

The strike was settled on March 14, 1912 on terms generally favorable to the workers. The workers won pay increases, time-and-a-quarter pay for overtime, and a promise of no discrimination against strikers.[citation needed]

Legacy[edit]

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The strike and slogan have been the inspiration for the names of a diverse collection of organisations and publications.

Poem and song lyrics[edit]

Poem

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,
But a sharing of life's glories: Bread and roses! Bread and roses!

Song lyrics

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.
As we go marching, marching, unnumbered women dead
Go crying through our singing their ancient call 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 go 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 a sharing of life's glories: Bread and roses, bread and roses.
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;
Hearts starve as well as bodies; bread and roses, bread and roses.

See also[edit]

Portal icon Organized labour portal

References[edit]

  • Bruce Watson, Bread and Roses: Mills, Migrants, and the Struggle for the American Dream (New York: Viking, 2005), ISBN 0-670-03397-9.
  1. ^ Eisenstein, Sarah, Give us bread but give us roses. Working women's consciousness in the United States, 1890 to the First World War, Routledge, London 1983, p. 32, ISBN 0-7100-9479-5
  2. ^ Sider, Gerald M. (1997). Between history and histories: the making of silences and commemorations. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-7883-4. 
  3. ^ Watson, Bruce (2006 (reprint)). Bread and Roses: Mills, Migrants, and the Struggle for the American Dream. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-303735-4. 
  4. ^ Gabaccia, Donna R.; Fraser M. Ottanelli (2001). Italian workers of the world: labor migration and the formation of multiethnic states. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-02659-1. 
  5. ^ Moran, William (2004 (reprint)). The Belles of New England: The Women of the Textile Mills and the Families Whose Wealth They Wove. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-312-32600-5. 
  6. ^ http://www.iww.org.uk/bar
  7. ^ http://www.breadandrosesheritage.org/
  8. ^ http://www.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/reunions/songs1.php
  9. ^ http://www.brynmawr.edu/activities/traditions.shtml
  10. ^ http://kboo.fm/BreadandRoses
  11. ^ http://www.breadandrosesfoodcoop.com/

External links[edit]

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