Bread and Roses
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The slogan "Bread and Roses" originated in the strike of women textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1912. The Lawrence textile strike began January 12, 1912. It was unprecedented in two ways: it was led primarily by women and it was the first important strike in the United States to bring together working people of 25 different nationalities in a struggle for better wages and working conditions.
During a protest march, some of the women carried a sign that said, "We Want Bread And Roses Too!" The slogan was generally picked up, and the Lawrence action became known as the Bread and Roses strike.
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 no discrimination against strikers. The strikers are credited with inventing the moving picket line (so that they would not be arrested for loitering).
[edit] Legacy
The strike and slogan have been the inspiration for the names of a diverse collection of organisations and publications.
- The usage of the rose by the Irish Labour Party - and its sister parties around the world - owes it its origins to the strike of 1912 in the factory town of Lawrence, Massachusetts.
- A poem written at the time by James Oppenheim to commemorate the strike was set to music in 1976 by Mimi Fariña and has been recorded by various artists, including Judy Collins, as well as Ani DiFranco and Utah Phillips.
- New Zealand Labour Party Member of Parliament, Union leader, and women's rights campaigner Sonja Davies called her autobiography Bread and Roses, after the poem.
- This autobiography was the basis of a successful New Zealand mini-series directed by Gaylene Preston, which concentrates upon Davies' early life as a single mother organiser of protest action to keep her local railway line open.
- In 2000 British director Ken Loach titled a movie Bread and Roses. The movie is about the struggle of two Mexican labourers in Los Angeles, performed by Pilar Padilla and Elpidia Carrillo, for the right to form a union. It depicts an episode in the ongoing Justice for Janitors campaign, which is run by the SEIU.
- Eben Moglen uses this image when talking about culture in the ditigal age: In the digital age, when all culture can be given to everyone at the same price as it's given to one person, we have enough bread and roses. So it's strange that Rupert Murdoch and Michael Eisner have most of the bread, and all of the roses.
- A quarterly journal produced by the UK section of the Industrial Workers of the World ('Wobblies') [1]
- An anarchist band in the Boston area.
- A Labor Day celebration, Bread and Roses Heritage Festival, in Lawrence, Massachusetts
- A pub in London, run by the Workers Beer Company
- A charitable foundation in Philadelphia.
- A non-profit organization founded by Mimi Farina that brings entertainment to shut-ins in prisons, hospitals and convalescent homes.
- Mount Holyoke College seniors sing a song entitled "Bread and Roses, " during their Laural Parade at graduation. [2]
- Bryn Mawr College seniors sing the same song after three of their annual traditions nights. [3]
