tlp_10_rdagostino

Robert D'Agostino Teacher Lesson Page (Student-Side)
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will be updated to include Activity 5 -- in the meantime click here for Activity 5

Grade Level: 7-8 grade

Industrial era.
 * Standard**:
 * US2-5** Explain the formation and goals of unions as well as the rise of radical political parties during the
 * d.the Knights of Labor
 * e. the American Federation of Labor headed by Samuel Gompers
 * f. the Populist Party
 * g. the Socialist Party headed by Eugene Debs


 * Guiding Question**:
 * In the United States we assume everyone has the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. How do we interpret the reasons for the "Bread and Roses Strike of 1912 " according to these principles?**
 * Would the strike have been successful without the involvement of women or the union?**


 * Title: "Because I was unable to make a living for my family": The role of women and unions in the Lawrence "Bread and Roses" Textile Mill Strike of 1912**

On January 12, 1912 female Polish textile workers in the Everett Mills walked away from their machines in the mill to protest the lack of pay in their envelopes. This began Lawrence (MA) Textile Strike that lasted until March 12, 1912. The strike involved textile workers from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, many of them recent immigrants and many of them women. A majority of the workers were not members of labor unions, but all of the major unions of the day, including the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), had representatives present. Although the AFL and the Catholic Church opposed the strike, the IWW strongly supported and help provide for the workers. These union representatives tried to organize the workers and the IWW in particular assumed the role of leadership as the "Strike Committee." But who really led the strike -- the unions, or the masses of unskilled non-union workers, many of whom were women and who wanted something better for themselves and their families? In the United States we assume everyone has the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. How do we interpret the reasons for the "Bread and Roses Strike of 1912 " according to these principles?
 * Introduction:**


 * Task:**

You are newspaper reporter. You have been investigating the Lawrence Strike of 1912. You have been listening to the Congressional testimony and you want to know answers your questions: Why did the workers strike? What role did unions play in this strike? What role did women play in the strike? In order to understand the Lawrence Strike, we need to know something about the conditions about which the strikers were protesting, the role of unions in American labor and in this strike in particular, and the role women workers played in this strike. After you have examined the evidence, you will write an editorial about this strike. What conclusion and opinions should your readers know about the Lawrence Strike of 1912, the "Bread and Roses" Strike? How could such a thing happen in the United States of America?


 * Lesson Process:**

Prelude Listen to the song "Bread and Roses" (click on the play arrow to hear the song). //What is this song about? What does "Bread and Roses" mean? Who would have sung it? And why it is "the song" of the 1912 Lawrence Textile Strike? Let's find out more...//

Background of Strike In order to explain to your readers the leadership of the strike, you need to be able to give them the context, or, what were the conditions of life and work for the employees of the textile mills and their families.

What was life like in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1912?

First, let's learn a little about this town and the factories in it.

Look at the maps of Lawrence from 1844 to 1905. Map of Lawrence over time from Lawrence History Center Then look at information from the Lawrence History Center on the "Background and Early Development of Lawrence." What you can you tell about the establishment of Lawrence and its growth to 1911? If a town can have a purpose, what was Lawrence's?

Now let's look at where and how people lived in Lawrence. Note that almost all of the people who lived in Lawrence were the textile mill workers-- the owners and managers usually lived in other towns nearby, such as Andover, MA. Use the Maps and Pictures of tenements in Lawrence in **The Report of the Lawrence survey; studies in relation to Lawrence, Massachusetts, made in 1911** Look between pages 32 and 35 at the numbers of apartments in new homes. What were the conditions under which people in Lawrence lived? [see documents below]

Let's get a sense of life and the cost of living in the United States in 1912. Look at this website to find out the 1912 population, cost of food products, average annual income, new products, cost of a car -- the numbers that show what it cost to live in the United States. Now compare these to what you know about costs today. (Use this Inflation calculator to help you.) What is the difference between 1912 and today in what things cost?

Now look at what workers at the Lawrence Mills were paid and what they usually bought. Look at the //Report on strike of textile workers at Lawrence, Mass. pp. 19-22// [excerpt below] to see what they were paid. What was the average weekly wage? Then look at the average spending on food (Senate Hearings, page 184 and page 185) [documents below]. What did Lawrence mill workers spend for food on average?

Also note that the Massachusetts Assembly had mandated fewer hours of work by women and children effective January 1, 1912, in an effort to protect these members of society. Many women and children worked in the mills. Why did they work? What did fewer hours mean to them and their families? Did they feel protected?

//What do these show you about Lawrence's history and what it was like to live and work there?//

The Strike Itself

//What caused the strike?//

Read the first paragraph of the Mass Moments story of "The Bread and Roses Strike" and tell a partner in your own words what caused the Lawrence Strike. Do you agree with this presentation, given what you've seen so far?

What happened during the strike? First, look at these photos -- what do they tell you? What else do you want to know? //[Photos of Strikers marching, Militia in place holding back crowd, Children going away, child labor -- documents below]//

Then look at this timeline. What were the key events of the strike?



Here is the Strike Committee's explanation of the causes of the strike. What were the causes of the strike, according to the Strike Committee? [see document below --__Statement of Strikers on Causes of Lawrence Strike of 1912__ (from Report on strike of textile workers in Lawrence, Mass., in 1912 b y United States. Bureau of Labor, Charles Patrick Neill, pp. 41-42) ]

In March of 1912, the United States Congress became involved. The Strike itself has become national news. Representatives and senators were concerned and curious. Were conditions as bad as the press said? Who was right, the mill owners or the workers? Were unions causing trouble? What about the women and children? The House of Representatives held hearings; they heard from many people connected with the strike-- owners, managers, townspeople, workers. Read the testimony of three of the Lawrence workers-- Josephine Liss, George Lipson, and Camello Teoli. According to their testimony, why were the Lawrence workers striking? Did the unions play a role? What role did women play in the strike?

Documents-- excerpts from House Testimony of
 * Josephine Liss [images below -- in House Testimony, starting at p. 241 ]
 * George Lipson [images below -- in House Testimony, starting at p. 31]
 * Camella Teoli []

//After you read these documents, answer these questions:// //What were the conditions of work?// //Was it possible for that worker to support herself and/or her family?// //Why would going on strike be appealing to these workers? Was it different for women workers?// //Did these workers support a union? Did anyone join a union? Why?//

What about Unions?

Many people blamed and praised unions, especially the IWW, for their role in the strike. What was that role?

First, here's background on labor unions c. 1900. Look at one of these websites for more information about labor unions in the United States.
 * AFL-CIO Labor History Timeline
 * Social Studies Help Center "History of Labor Unions"
 * AFL-CIO Interactive photo essay on history of labor unions
 * IWW "What Everyone Should Know" and "Chronology"

Then let's consider the involvement of the unions in the Lawrence Strike of 1912. Samuel Gompers in testifying before Congress stated the American Federation of Labor (AFL) were craftsmen and tradesmen (skilled trades) and the mill workers were unskilled labor. Thus, the AFL and its affiliate the United Textile Workers did not have many members in Lawrence. Also, the AFL did not enroll women members. The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) focused on organizing unskilled workers. It had more members in Lawrence. In fact, there were locals for each of the different ethnic groups -- over 26 different nationalities, each speaking a different language, was represented. And the IWW did have women members. In fact, one of their most famous organizers was Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. But even the IWW's membership in Lawrence was small; it was less than 300 members. The number of strikers was said to be 20,000 or more....

Here's the //Proclamation of the Strikers.// Read it and ask yourself, what were the demands of the workers, according to the Strike Committee (led by organizers from the IWW)? Did these demands appeal to all workers? Why or why not? [document below Proclamation or The Striking Textile Workers Of Lawrence. from Report on strike of textile workers in Lawrence, Mass., in 1912 b y United States. Bureau of Labor, Charles Patrick Neill, p. 503) ]

Think about the testimony you have read and discuss these questions: //Was union leadership instrumental in the strike? Did they appeal to women?// //Would the strike have been successful without the aid of the union?//

What about women?

Finally, let's look at the role of women.

Let's get an overview of women workers in the United States 1880-1920. Examine page 7 and page 9 and page 10 from the National Women's History Museum online exhibit "A History of Women in Industry." How many women worked? At what type of jobs? Did they join unions?

Women could be mothers or workers or strikers or all of these in Lawrence in 1912. Re-examine the testimony and other documents you read earlier. How were women involved in the Lawrence Strike of 1912?

To help you think about women in the strike, construct of diagram outlining the pros and cons of the strike from their perspective. Use a T-Chart to do so. Consider the living and working conditions of Lawrence, the nature of the work, the impact on families, the opportunities granted or denied to women at the time, the demands of the unions, the consequences of striking. //Given all of these factors, why was striking an option? Were women an important part of this strike? Why/why not? In what ways?//

Now, return to the "Bread and Roses" song we heard at the beginning. This song is associated with women workers in general and this strike in particular. Why?

What do we think?

Now you have collected a lot of information about the Lawrence Strike of 1912. Your job as a reporter is to help your readers understand what happened and why. How will you explain the role of women and of unions in the "Bread and Roses Strike" of 1912? What does the experience of this strike say about the ideals of the United States?

Write a newspaper editorial and answer these questions: //How were women workers important in the Lawrence Strike of 1912? Did they join a union to do so? Who led the strike: local women workers, unionists, or both? What is important for your readers to know about the Lawrence "Bread and Roses" Strike of 1912?//

Alternate assessment: For ELL students -- Pair with another student. Each of you take the role of either a Striker or a Mill Owner. Review what you have learned and then debate using the viewpoint of labor and owners. Answer these questions: Should the strike have occurred? What should have been the role of women and of unions in the strike? What should be the solution to the strike?

Extension Activity: Compare this strike to other strikes. What was the role of labor unions? What was the role of women workers? How are these alike and different from Lawrence? Lowell Textile Mill Strike (1834) Homestead Strike (1892) Pullman Strike (1894) New York Shirtwaist Strike (Uprising of the 20,000) (1909)


 * Conclusion:**

In the Lawrence Strike of 1912 workers of diverse nationalities struck to change the conditions of work and the working for few rewards that had created hardships at home. Women played an important role in the leadership of this strike. Labor unions did too, although some strikers felt that the men leaders of the unions took more credit and did less work than they deserved. In the United States we assume everyone has the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. How do we interpret the reasons for the "Bread and Roses Strike of 1912 " according to these principles? Can what we learned about economic situations, family needs, work conditions, and the interaction between all three of these be applied to our world today?


 * Assessment:**


 * // STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO… // || // STRONG // || // GOOD // || // ADEQUATE // || // INADEQUATE // || // WEIGHTING // ||
 * Explain the conditions in Lawrence, MA in 1912 and why these conditions were problematic for the mill workers || Explains conditions with 3-5 examples; connects to mill workers' lived experience || Explains conditions with 1-3 examples; connects to mill workers' lived experience || Explains conditions with no examples; mentions impact on mill workers || Neither explains conditions with examples nor connects to mill workers' lived experience || 10 ||
 * Explain the main events of the Lawrence Strike of 1912 || Explains 4+ events || Explains 2-4 events || Explains 1-2 events || Cannot describe events || 10 ||
 * Analyze the role of unions in the strike || Fully describes unions and what they did in the strike; argues the importance of unions to the strike || Fully describes unions and what they did in the strike; mentions the importance of unions to the strike || Defines unions, mentions what they did in the strike; ignores making argument about the importance of unions to the strike || Does not describe unions and what they did in the strike; does not argue the importance of unions to the strike || 20 ||
 * Analyze the role of women in the strike || Describes women and what they did in the strike; argues the importance of women to the strike || Fully describes women and what they did in the strike; mentions the importance of women to the strike || Mentions what women did in the strike; ignores making argument about the importance of women to the strike || Does not describe women and what they did in the strike; does not argue the importance of women to the strike || 20 ||
 * Write a short persuasive editorial arguing a response to the Lawrence Strike of 1912 || Crafts argument to newspaper readers about significance of women and unions to Lawrence Strike of 1912; urges a course of action or essential understanding by readers || States significance of women and unions to Lawrence Strike of 1912; writes in editorial form || Restates events of strike, mentions role of women and of unions, states an opinion. || States a few facts, makes no argument, not in editorial form. || 30 ||
 * Connect the experience of the Lawrence Strike to the ideals of economic freedom and equity || Argues significance of Lawrence Strike; discusses ideals of economic freedom and equity; connects ideals and events to the concept "Bread and Roses || States significance of Lawrence Strike; discusses ideals of economic freedom and equity; mentions the concept "Bread and Roses || Connects Lawrence Strike to ideals of economic freedom and equity. || Cannot make connection || 10 ||

**Pictures of Lawrence:**








**Conditions and Cost of Living of Workers:**
AGES AND HOURS OF LABOR AND CONDITIONS OF WORK IN THE TEXTILE MILLS. The immediate cause of the strike in Lawrence was a reduction in earnings growing out of the Massachusetts law that became effective January 1, 1912, which reduced the hours of employment for women and for children under 18 years of age from 56 to 54 hours per week. A former act of the legislature, effective January 1, 1910, had reduced the hours from 58 to 56, and at that time the Lawrence mills had increased both piece and day rates so that the reduction in hours per week from 58 to 56 had meant no reduction in weekly earnings. With the reduction in hours from 56 to 54 on January 1, 1912, the time and piece rates were not readjusted, and this reduction in hours meant, therefore, a reduction in weekly earnings of 3$ per cent. This reduction appears slight, but it was really a very serious matter to the low-paid textile-mill employees. The law of the State does not permit the employment of persons under 14 years of age. Approximately one-half of the persons in Lawrence 14 years of age and over—men, women, and young persons—are employed in the textile mills. In studying the Lawrence strike, wage data were secured from pay rolls for 21,922 textile-mill employees, or one-third of the total number of people in Lawrence 14 years of age and over. The average rate of wages for the 21,922 textile-mill employees was 16 cents per hour. Approximately one-fourth (23.3 per cent) of the total number earned less than 12 cents per hour, and about one-fifth (20.4 per cent) earned 20 cents and over per hour. The average amount actually received by the 21,922 employees during a week late in 1911, in which the mills were running full time, was $8.76. Almost one-third (33.2 per cent) of the total number received less than $7 during the week, and approximately one-half as many (17.5 per cent) received $12 and over during the week. The earnings are, of course, materially affected by the amount of work available, and while it was not possible to get an exact measure of the slack time in the textile mills of Lawrence, sufficient data were secured to confirm the complaints of the mill employees as to the serious curtailment of their earnings by reason of lost time, particularly during the past two or three years. The hours of work for women and for minors under 18 were limited to 56 before the strike; no limit was placed by law upon the hours of work of men. During the week for which pay-roll data were secured 57.2 per cent of the 21,922 employees worked 56 hours, 22.9 per cent worked less than 56 hours, and about an equal proportion (19.9 per cent) worked more than 56 hours. The average hours worked during the week were 54.4. The distribution of the 21,922 employees for which wage data were secured into sex and age groups was as follows: Number. Per cent Male, 18 years of age and over 11, 075 60. 5 Male, under 18 years of age 1, 075 4. 9 Total males., 12,150 65.4 Females, 18 years of age and over 8,320 38.0 Females, under 18 years of age 1,452 6.6 Total females 9, 772 44. 6 Grand total 21,922 100.0 The actual economic condition of the families of the workers in the textile mills in Lawrence can not be easily pictured by a mere statement of individual earnings. It is obvious from the figures of earnings that the full-time earnings of a large number of adult employees are entirely inadequate to maintain a family. Thus the full-time earnings of 7,275 employees, or about one-third of the total covered in this investigation, are less than $7 a week. Of the 7,275 earning less than $7 a week, 5.294 were 18 years of age or over, and 36.5 per cent of the 5,294 were males. These wages, however, are not peculiar to Lawrence. The wages of textile workers in that city are not lower than in most other textile towns. The plain fact is that the textile industry, as far as earnings are concerned, is in large part a "family industry." It gives employment to men, women, and children. The normal family of five, unless the father is employed in one of the comparatively few better-paying occupations, is compelled to supplv two wage earners in order to secure the necessaries of life. From a study of the table showing earnings it is very apparent that in many occupations, if the father of the family has not at least one child old enough to go to work, it becomes necessary for the wife to enter the mill to supplement the earnings of the husband in order to maintain a family. Where, as is often the case, the father, the mother, and three or more sons or daughters are at work and contribute their earnings to a common family fund, the family can live in comfort and lay a tidy sum aside weekly in the way of savings. But, on the other hand, the economic condition of the head of the family in one of the poorer-paid occupations, with two or three chil dren so young as to necessitate the mother remaining at home to care for them, is one of extreme hardship. Necessity forces a large number of wives with small children to enter the mills, and in these cases, where no older children or other members of the family remain at home throughout the day, the small children are left in charge of other families, in which the mother or some grown female member of the family looks after those left in her charge. In some instances the children are taken out on Sunday afternoons to the country and left there until the following Saturday, then during the Saturday afternoon holiday the parents go out and bring the children back home and keep them until the afternoon of the following day. The usual practice is, however, for the father and mother to take the children, before going to work at 6.50 a. m., to a neighboring family, in whose charge they are left during the day. In the evening, after the close of the day's work, the children are again brought home. In families where there are older children who are still tit school the father and mother go to work and leave the older children to take the younger brothers and sisters to the family in whose charge they are to be left. In the Italian quarter there is also, in connection with one of the churches, a day nursery, where a number of parents take their children on the way to work and leave them until they return in the evening. The rate usually charged for the board and care of a child ranges from $1 to $2 per week.

from //Report on strike of textile workers in Lawrence, Mass., in 1912// b y United States. Bureau of Labor, Charles Patrick Neill (Google Books), [|pp. 19-22]

from //Report on strike of textile workers in Lawrence, Mass., in 1912//. by United States Senate. Link to entire book - From New York Public Library and HathiTrust Digital Library Senate Report on Strike of Textile Workers in Lawrence, Mass in 1912 Chapter 4 "Retail Prices and the Cost of Living" pp. 165-186.
 * Cost of Living -- Food**



**Photos of Strike:**
//Photos of Strike from Library of Congress @http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=%22bread%20and%20roses%22// //Photos by Lewis Hine of child laborers in Lawrence MA 1911 @http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=LOT%207479%20AND%20lawrence%20mass//







**Lipson Testimony:**












**Josephine Liss Testimony:**








Liss and Lipson testimony in House of Representatives Report on Strike at Lawrence -- From New York Public Library and HathiTrust Digital Library 62d Congress - House of Representatives - The Strike at Lawrence, MA, Hearings before the Committee on Rules of the House of Representatives on March 2-7, 1912

**Statements of Strike Committee:**
Statement of Strikers on Causes of Lawrence Strike of 1912 (from Report on strike of textile workers in Lawrence, Mass., in 1912 b y United States. Bureau of Labor, Charles Patrick Neill, pp. 41-42)

The following reply to the statement of the president of the American Woolen Co. was issued by the "strike committee" on January 22:  Lawrence, Mass., //January 22, 19It.// //Strike committee// //of the striking textile workers of the American Woolen Co. to President// //William M. Wood:// Sir: We, я committee of the strikers, take this means of answering a statement published in the papers of this city and elsewhere with your name attached. It is our intention to be as brief as possible in dealing with your open letter. Thursday morning, January 3, 1912, a committee called upon the agents of the Ayer, Wood, and Washington mills and endeavored to hold a conference with those gentlemen, and so come to a peaceful understanding concerning the demands of the workers. Two of the agents refused to have dealings with the committee, while the other advised the committee to write to or consult with you at your Boston office. As a result of the above advice, the committee sent a letter to your address containing the demands of the workers, but for some reason or other the letter was not answered. Previous to the strike the Italian workers held several meetings which were largely attended, and they were very clear in their demands. We are of the opinion that you have had ample time to consider the demands of the men, women, and children who have made the American Woolen Co. what it is to-day. In view of the fact that machinery has been improved and as a result the workers turn off more and more work, but they are not paid accordingly, even though the price of food, clothing, and shelter has in many cases increased 50 and even 100 per cent within the last few years. We, the committee, are willing to meet the officials of the company at any time and submit the grievances of the strikers. So, if you believe in a square deal you will not refuse to meet with us but will come forward at once and try to bring the trouble to a final conclusion. You must bear in mind the fact that these men, women, and children have not gone on strike for light or transient causes, but because they could no longer bear up under the burdens laid upon their shoulders. It seems to us and to the strikers that the American Woolen Co. has within the last few years built several mills, which are paid for according to your own figures, and the company has even in the worst of times managed to pay dividends to its stockholders. So it has come to this: The workers are of the opinion that the only competition left is the struggle among themselves for a miserable job at 16, $7, or $8 a week, and they feel fortunate when they manage to hold down such a low-paid set of jobs. You speak of men from out of town who know nothing of the textile industry. We, the committee, would like to know if the militia, the special policemen, and the Pinkerton detectives, recently brought into this city, know anything about the textile industry except to bayonet and club honest workingmen into submission? Your attention is called to the fact that all the mills of this city are more or less affected. So the committee desires the news to be spread broadcast that there is a general strike on in Lawrence against the slavery of the textile workers and a united opposition against the starvation wages of the past. These are the demands of the strikers: 1. Fifteen per cent increase in wages. 2. The abolition of all bonus or premium system. 3. Double pay for all overtime work. 4. No discrimination against the strikers for activity during the strike.  Strike Committee.

.

Proclamation or The Striking Textile Workers Of Lawrence. from Report on strike of textile workers in Lawrence, Mass., in 1912 b y United States. Bureau of Labor, Charles Patrick Neill, p. 503)

We, the 20,000 textile workers of Lawrence, are out on strike for the right to live free from slavery and starvation; free from overwork and underpay; free from a state of affairs that had become so unbearable and beyond our control, that we were compelled to march out of the slave pens of Lawrence in united resistance against the wrongs and injustice of years and years of wage slavery. In our fight we have suffered and borne patiently the abuse and calumnies of the mill owners, the city government, police, militia, State government, legislature, and the local police court judge. We feel that in justice to our fellow workers we should at this time make known the causes which compelled us to strike against the mill owners of Lawrence. We hold that as useful members of society and as wealth producers we have the right to lead decent and honorable lives; that we ought to have homes and not shacks; that we ought to have clean food and not adulterated food at high prices; that we ought to have clothes suited to the weather and not shoddy garments. That to secure sufficient food, clothing and shelter in a society made up of a robber class on the one hand and a working class on the other hand, it is absolutely necessary for the toilers to band themselves together and form a union, organizing its powers in such form as to them seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that conditions long established should not be changed for light or transient causes, and accordingly all experience has shown that the workers are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves, by striking against the misery to which they are accustomed. Rut when a long train of abuses and ill treatment, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them to a state of beggary, it is their duty to resist such tactics and provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these textile workers, and such is now the necessity which compels them to fight the mill-owning class. The history of the present mill owners is a history of repeated injuries, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these textile workers. To prove this let facts be submitted to all right-thinking men and women of the civilized world. These mill owners have refused to meet the committees of the strikers. They have refused to consider their demands in any way that is reasonable or just. They have, in the security of their sumptuous offices, behind stout mill gates and serried rows of bayonets and policemen's clubs, defied the State, city, and public. In fact, the city of Lawrence and the government of Massachusetts have become the creatures of the mill owners. They have declared that they will not treat with the strikers till they return to the slavery against which they are in rebellion. They have starved the workers and driven them to such an extent that their homes are homes no longer, inasmuch as the mothers and children are driven by the low wages to work side by side with the father in the factory for a wage that spells bare existence and untimely death. To prove this to the world the large death rate of children under one year of age in Lawrence proves that most of these children perish because they were starved before birth. And those who survive the starving process grow up the victims of malnutrition. These mill owners have charged the strikers with violence and then in the best of times they have paid the workers a starvation wage. They have built large mills within the last 10 years, and paid annual dividends, and they ask the workers to submit to a wage that even a coolie would despise. They have pitted the women and children against the men and so brought wages down to a level where an honest living is beyond the average textile worker. They have introduced improved machinery into the factories and thrown the workers out on the streets to starve, or used the surplus labor created by labor-saving machinery to grind the live out of those who were fortunate enough to have a job. These mill owners not only have the corrupting force of dollars on their side, but the powers of city and State government are being used by them to oppress and sweep aside all opposition on the part of these overworked and underpaid textile workers. The very courts, where justice is supposed to be impartial, are being used by the millionaire mill owners. And so serious Ьач this become that the workers have lost all faith in the local presiding judge. Without any attempt at a trial, men have been fined or jailed from six months to a year on trumped-up charges, that would be a disgrace even in Russia. This judge is prejudiced and unfair in dealing with the strikers. He has placed all the strikers brought before him under excessive bail. He has dealt out lengthy sentences to the strikers as if they were hardened criminals, or old-time offenders. He has refused to release on bail two of the leaders of the strike, while he released a prisoner charged with conspiracy and planting dynamite, on a thousand dollars' bail. He sentenced, at one morning's session of court, 23 strikers to one year in jail on the fake charge of inciting to riot. The judge has declared he is opposed to the union that is conducting the strike. The brutality of the police in dealing with the strikers has aroused them to a state of rebellious opposition to all such methods of maintaining order. The crimes of the police during this trouble are almost beyond human imagination. They have dragged young girls from their beds at midnight. They have clubbed the strikers at every opportunity. They have dragged little children from their mothers' arms and with their clubs they have struck women who are in a state of pregnancy. They have placed people under arrest for no reason whatsoever. They have prevented mothers from sending their children out of the city and have laid hold of the children and the mothers violently and threw the children into waiting patrol wagons like so much rubbish. They caused the death of a striker by clubbing the strikers into a state of violence. They have arrested and clubbed young boys and placed under arrest innocent girls for no offense at all. The militia has used all kinds of methods to defeat the strikers. They have bayoneted a young boy. They have beaten up the strikers. They have been ordered to shoot to kill. They have murdered one young man, who died as a result of being bayoneted in the back. They have threatened one striker with death if he did not close the window of his home. They have threatened to stay in this city until the strike is over. They have bayoneted one citizen because he would not move along fast enough. And they have held up at the point of the bayonet hundreds of citizens and Civil War veterans. The city government has denied the strikers the right to parade through the streets. They have abridged public assemblage by refusing the strikers the use of the city hall and public grounds for public meetings. They have turned the public buildings of the city into so many lodging houses for an army of hirelings and butchers. They have denied the strikers the right to use the Common for mass meetings, and they have ordered the police to take little children away from their parents, and they are responsible for all the violence and brutality on the part of the police. The Massachusetts Legislature has refused to use any of the money of the State to help the strikers. They have voted $150,000 to maintain an army of 1,500 militiamen to be ready to shoot down innocent men, women, and children who are out on strike for a living wage. They have refused to use the powers of the State for the workers. They have appointed investigation committees, who declare, after perceiving the signs of suffering on the part of the strikers on every side, that there is no trouble with these people. All the nations of the world are represented in this fight of the workers for more bread. The flaxen-haired son of the North marches side by side with his dark-haired brother of the South. They have toiled together in the factory for one boss. And now they have joined together in a great cause, and they have cast aside all racial and religious prejudice for the common good, determined to win a victory over the greed of the corrupt, unfeeling mill owners, who have ruled these people 8O long with the whip of hunger and the lash of the unemployed. Outlawed, with their children taken away from them, denied their rights before the law, surrounded by the bayonets of the militia, and driven up and down the streets of the city by an overfed and arrogant body of police, these textile workers, sons and daughters of the working class, call upon the entire civilized world to witness what they have suffered at the hands of the hirelings of the mill-owning class. These men and women can not suffer much longer; they will be compelled to rise in armed revolt against their oppressors if the present state of affairs is allowed to continue in Lawrence.

Strike Committee Statements from //Report on strike of textile workers in Lawrence, Mass., in 1912// b y United States. Bureau of Labor, Charles Patrick Neill (Google Books) [pages 496-505 Appendix B "Proclamations Issued by the "Strike Committee'" has all documents]

Additional:
"Bread and Roses" as sung by Mt. Holyoke alumnae

American Women's History: Labor Unions, A Research Guide

Mass Moments "Bread and Roses Strike"

@http://www.lucyparsonsproject.org/iww/kornbluh_bread_roses.html

**Document 9: Mary K. O'Sullivan, "The Labor War at Lawrence," //Survey// (6 April 1912): 72-74.**

Learn NC's description of working in a textile mill

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