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Bread and Roses Strikes of 1912
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Salem Commons

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

While the trials of Ettor, Giovannitti, and Caruso took place, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn brought the demonstrations here to Salem. Known as “the strike’s leading lady,” she wanted to make the presence of the people known, and make it clear how many people were in support of the men on trial. She gave speeches right here on the Common. She is quoted as saying that in her speeches, she “pleaded that [Salem’s] shameful history should not be repeated,” referring to the hangings that took place during the Salem Witch Trials (Flynn, 1973, pp. 149).

Images

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn in a pose suggesting she is ready to give a speech.

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn in a pose suggesting she is ready to give a speech.

Ettor, Giovannitti, and Caruso after they were acquitted by the judge in Salem, Ma.

Ettor, Giovannitti, and Caruso after they were acquitted by the judge in Salem, Ma.

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

All three defendants, Ettor, Giovannitti, and Caruso, were acquitted on November 26, 1912, marking the end of the Bread and Roses riots. In the end, about 27,000 workers were positively affected, gaining a 5-25% wage increase, overtime pay, and a modification of the “premium system.”

The phrase "bread and roses" preceded the strike, appearing in a poem by James Oppenheim published in 1911. It reads,

"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!"

The total casualties in the Bread and Roses strikes were 3 deaths (Anna LoPizzo, John Ramey, and Jonas Smolskas), countless injuries, and 296 arrests. Soon after the riots were deemed a success and the workers were given their raises, the IWW left Lawrence and moved on to assist other strikes, taking the pressure off the mills. In the next few years, the strikers lost nearly all the gains they had won. However, the strikes were not a failure: they established that workers could organize and stand up for themselves, and set a precedent for workers in the future. The Bread and Roses strike leaves a heritage as being one of the most successful strikes in American history. By its example, others were inspired to change their situations by standing up for their rights and what they believed. The strike’s legacy is the knowledge that it is possible for workers to improve their working and living conditions and for their efforts to have a far-reaching effect, benefitting American labor in general. Today, the Bread and Roses Heritage Festival is still celebrated in Lawrence each Labor Day.

Sources

1912 Lawrence textile strike. (2020, September 10). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1912_Lawrence_textile_strike

Bread and Roses Strike of 1912: Two Months in Lawrence, Massachusetts, that Changed Labor History. (n.d.). Digital Public Library of America. https://dp.la/exhibitions/breadandroses/lawrence

Bread and Roses Strike: One of the Great Silences in the School Curriculum. (2013, March 12). Zinn Education Project. https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/bread-and-roses-strike-great-silences-in-curriculum/

Chomsky, A. (2008). Linked Labor Histories: New England, Colombia, and the Making of a Global Working Class (American Encounters/Global Interactions) (Illustrated ed.). Duke University Press Books.

Communist Party Oral Histories · Anne Burlak-Timpson · Digital Tamiment. (2016, July 25). [Video]. Vimeo. http://digitaltamiment.hosting.nyu.edu/s/cpoh/item/3672?fbclid=IwAR2gHzlGgw1E23oouYEd4Jpcf4lCXGMc75fVBa41jrVFslAhQOjnOiavLyI

Fiorillo, M. (2010, September 7). Ivy League Union Busters, Then and Now. NYC Educator. http://nyceducator.com/2010/09/ivy-league-union-busters-then-and-now.html

Flynn, E. G. (1973). The Rebel Girl: An Autobiography, My First Life (1906-1926). Intl Pub Co Inc.

Forrant, R. (2013). The Real Bread and Roses Strike Story Missing from Textbooks. Zinn Education Project. https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/bread-and-roses-strike-story/?fbclid=IwAR25V1DLahl7ptfIISiC-QZA9pbEG1k28XVLO9zm05cc6osTYU9A1FlvJ3U

Harney, K. & State University of New York at Binghamton. (1999). Bread and Roses in the United States History: The Power of Constructed Memory. Women and Social Movements in the United States 1830-1930. http://www.nzdl.org/cgi-bin/library.cgi?e=d-00000-00---off-0whist--00-0----0-10-0---0---0direct-10---4-------0-1l--11-en-50---20-about---00-0-1-00-0-0-11-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&f=1&c=whist&cl=CL1.19&d=HASH013432f9fd02cb7f734dd466

Joseph F. Quinn. (2020, September 8). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_F._Quinn

Kornbluh, J. L., Gross, D., Thompson, F., & Rosemont, F. (2011). Chapter 6: Bread and Roses: The 1912 Lawrence Textile Strike. In Rebel Voices: A IWW Anthology (pp. 158–196). PM Press.

Mattina, A. F., & Ciavattone, D. (n.d.). Striking Women: Massachusetts Mill Workers in the Wake of Bread and Roses, 1912-1913. Chapter 9. http://www.hope1842.com/strike1913mattina.html

One Hundred Years After the Singing Strike. (2012, February 1). Zinn Education Project. https://www.zinnedproject.org/if-we-knew-our-history/one-hundred-years-after-the-singing-strike/

San Francisco Call 30 September 1912 — California Digital Newspaper Collection. (1912, September 30). Rioting Feared At The Trial of Joseph Ettor. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19120930.2.19&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1

Workandworkingblog, A. (2018, November 2). Sermon on the Common. WordPress.Com. https://workandworkingblog.wordpress.com/2016/09/05/sermon-on-the-common/

Image Sources(Click to expand)

https://images.app.goo.gl/vZBbSpZoXcB3h3z39

https://images.app.goo.gl/iz4LExkFApmZgnkk6

Additional Information