Category: Bread and Roses Strike of 1912

Hellraisers Journal: From The New York Call: “Lawrence Strike Ends in Victory” -Workers’ Committee Accepts Offer

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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Quote re Lawrence Strike Victory NY Cl p1, Mar 14, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday March 15, 1912
Lawrence, Massachusetts – Stirring Scenes as Strike Committee Agrees to End Strike

From The New York Call of March 14, 1912:

HdLn Lawrence Victory, NY Cl p1, Mar 14, 1912

HdLn Lawrence Mtg Victory, NY Cl p1, Mar 14, 1912

(By United Press.)

LAWRENCE, Mass., March 13.-The great textile strike practically came to an end at 11:30 today when the subcommittee of the strikers accepted a schedule of increased wages offered by William H. Wood, president of the American Woolen Company.

Immediately after indorsng the schedule, the subcommittee submitted it to the Strike Committee of the whole, which enthusiastically adopted it after less than a half hour’s consideration.

The strikers announced that they had gained virtually every concession asked when the strike was declared nine weeks ago.

The terms of settlement here will probably be applied to the entire textile industry throughout New England and New York State, and the increases in that event will affect over 300,000 workers.

Stirring scenes marked the meeting, which probably will mark the close of the conflict that, because of the savage resistance of the mill owners and the aggressive tactics of the strikers, will be celebrated in American strike history.

Chant the Internationale.

The dingy hall in the basement of which more than 2,000 men, women and children have been fed by the union for two months, resounded with the jubilant cries of the strikers. One man rushed to the platform and led in singing of “L’Internationale,” which was chorused by the audience.

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Hellraisers Journal: Mrs. Amos Pinchot and Journalist Gertrude Marvin Meet with Lawrence Textile Strike Committee

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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Quote EGF, Heaven n Hell, ISR p617, Jan 1910—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday March 13, 1912
Lawrence, Massachusetts – Mrs. Pinchot and Miss Marvin Investigate Conditions

From The Boston Daily Globe of March 11, 1912:

Lawrence, Meeting w Strike Com, Pinchot Marvin, Miller, Bst Mrn Glb p2, Mar 11, 1912

Left to Right-Mrs Amos Pinchot, Gertrude Marvin, William Gates,
Francis Miller, Edward Reilly, Rebecca Smith.

From the Bridgeport Evening Farmer of March 9, 1912:

Lawrence, March 9-Wearing a chic, white felt crush hat, long gray coat and high boots, Mrs. Amos Pinchot [Gertrude Minturn Pinchot], sister-in-law of Gifford Pinchot who came down here to investigate conditions for herself, was “out and about” at 6, this morning, despite the dismal drizzle that kept even many of the strikers off the picket route.

With Miss Margaret Marvin [Gertrude Marvin], a magazine writer, Mrs. Pinchot breakfasted in true cosmopolitan fashion in a typical “sling ’em out quick” counter lunchroom and then made the rounds of soup kitchens, tenement homes, police stations and courtroom. She argued with strike pickets, policemen and militiamen and got the point of view of everyone whom she saw and who “looked interesting.”

She spoke laughingly, today, of threats by policemen to arrest her for “obstructing the sidewalk” when she questioned them too closely and said she might be tempted when she gets back to New York to write about some of the “inhuman things” she has seen in her two days visit here.

—————-

[Emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Textile Strike at Lawrence, Melting Pot Boiled Over into Industrial Revolt against Starvation Wages

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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quote BBH Weave Cloth Bayonets, ISR p538—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday March 12, 1912
“The Industrial Revolt at Lawrence” by R. W. Child, Illustrated by Jay Hambidge

From Collier’s of March 9, 1912:

Revolt at Lawrence by Jay Hambidge, Colliers p13, Mar 9, 1912

———-

Revolt at Lawrence, Woman Beaten, by Jay Hambidge, Colliers p15, Mar 9, 1912

DURING these eight weeks in Lawrence, Massachusetts, a strange and wonderful picture has been painted.

Upon the little canvas, woven on the looms of social and industrial development, are now spread the half-somber, half-glaring colors of human instincts and emotions. In the foreground one of our American melting pots, having failed to produce an alloy of many metals, has frothed, sputtered, and boiled over; in the background is the indistinct gray swirl of economic forces rushing by-out of history-into eternity. If there is an awe-inspiring quality in this picture, it is because some day it may be reproduced in great bold strokes across the whole expanse of American life.

Lawrence is drab. In the winter dusk the huge rectangular prisms of the textile mills, black and sullen against the sky line, lie along the shores of the Merrimac River, and, behind them, like a progeny of badly begotten offspring,  crowding in a hungry herd, are the countless other rectangular prisms of human habitations.

Systematic and Organized Misrepresentation

STANDING on a street corner, one sees suddenly that this crowd that moves along the street of shops is a congress of nations. He sees the faces of oppressed peoples, nine-tenths timid and patient, one-tenth of the stuff that makes mobs. The marching feet of a company of soldiers fill the cold, damp air with the grim, scuffling sound of military without music. At every street corner a pacing sentry, who is clad in wool cap, greatcoat, and leggings, lurches back and forth like a huge bird deprived of liberty. His bayonet flashes in the light from the store windows.

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Hellraisers Journal: “The Lawrence Way” by Art Young -Infamous Attack Upon Parents and Children by Soldiers and Policemen

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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quote BBH Weave Cloth Bayonets, ISR p538—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday March 11, 1912
“The Lawrence Way” by Art Young-Striking Parents and Children Under the Club 

From Collier’s of March 9, 1912:

Lawrence Way by Art Young, Colliers p14, Mar 9, 1912

On February 24 and 25, soldiers and policemen forcibly prevented parents from
sending their children away from Lawrence to cities that offered food and shelter.
[Detail 1.]

Lawrence Way by Art Young Detail 1, Colliers p14, Mar 9, 1912

Let the Children Come – Sympathy – Homes of the Workers of Other Cities

[Detail 2.]

Lawrence Way by Art Young Detail 2, Colliers p14, Mar 9, 1912

Lawrence Mass., the Hunger City
Dividends for Mill-Owners, Starvation Wages for Workers
—————

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Hellraisers Journal: Mrs. Fremont Older Returns to California, Describes Startling Scenes at Lawrence Textile Strike

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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quote BBH Weave Cloth Bayonets, ISR p538—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday March 10. 1912
Mrs. Fremont Older Describes Startling Scenes at Lawrence Textile Strike

From the Fall River Daily Globe of March 1, 1912:

BBH, Cora Older, France Jolliffe, Fall Rv Glb p1, Mar 1, 1912
LAWRENCE, March 1-The prolonged strike of the mill operative here has attracted attention from sociologists all over the country, and many of them are here studying conditions. William D. Haywood is taking a prominent part in the management of the strike and has addressed many meetings. Mrs. Fremont Older and Mrs. Frances Jolliffe, both of  San Francisco, have also been keeping close watch on affairs and have given advice to the strikers and their sympathizers.

From the San Bernardino News of March 7, 1912
-Mrs. Fremont Older Reports on Conditions at Lawrence:

Cora Older re Lawrence Strike, San Bernadino CA Ns p3, Mar 7, 1912

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Hellraisers Journal: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Joan of Arc of Lawrence, Massachusetts, Tells Truth About the Textile Strike

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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Quote EGF, Heaven n Hell, ISR p617, Jan 1910—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday March 9, 1912
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Joan of Arc of Lawrence, Massachusetts

From the Pittsburgh Gazette Times of March 4, 1912:

EGF, Ptt Pst Gz p1, Mar 4, 1912

The Militant Leader of the Textile Workers, Who Made Successful Appeal
for Funds for the Relief of the Wives and Children of the Workmen.

From Pennsylvania’s Franklin Evening News of March 5, 1912:

EGF w Baby Fred, Franklin PA Ns Hld p1, Mar 5,1912

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, fresh from her work at Lawrence, Mass., where she played a prominent part in organizing the textile workers on strike there, is making speeches in the larger cities over the country, telling of conditions existing in Lawrence and raising funds for the relief of the strikers. Miss Flynn, who is only 22 years old, first gained fame as a labor worker in New York. She is an able talker.

“The Lawrence strike is no labor union strike,” she is telling her audiences; “it is a starvation strike.”

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Hellraisers Journal: Children of Lawrence Strikers Go to Washington to Tell Their Stories before House Rules Committee

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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quote BBH Weave Cloth Bayonets, ISR p538—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday March 8, 1912
Children of Lawrence Strikers Appear before House Committee at Washington

From The Washington Times of March 2, 1912:

Lawrence Strikes bf Hse Com Liss Sanger Teoli, WDC Tx p1, Mar 2, 1912
[Inset: Miss Tema Camitta, Philadelphia Sunday School Teacher.]

From the Washington Evening Star of March 2, 1912:

Child Tells Her Story.

There was Camello [Camella] Teoli, a little Italian girl, who stood up when she was told and who said she was sixteen years old, although she didn’t look it. She started to work in the spinning room of one of the American Woolen Company’s mills in Lawrence two years ago and three weeks later had her hair caught in a shafting and her scalp torn off, just as did Miss Houghton, at the census office, more than twelve months ago. But little Camello Teoli was the oldest of seven children and, with her father, the support of the family.

She earned several dollars a week when “speeded up,” and her father, when he was lucky, made seven. She is still under treatment as a result of the horrible accident of which she was a victim, but lately has been working just the same, she said, for her father has been on “slack time” and has been making $2.80 a week.

There were other children there, too, who, while they showed no scars, looked even to the untrained eye as if they had been “speeded up” beyond the limit of juvenile endurance.

Cheeks sallow, lips pinched and eyes that seemed to have looked upon all the misery of the world, the children sat unmoved throughout the hearing, presented by Mr. Berger as an exhibit of what “one of the most highly protected industries in America does to the human life by which it is served,” as he declared.

The children, with several adult strikers as guardians, and accompanied by George W. Roewer, the Boston attorney, who has defended in court the strikers arrested in Lawrence, reached Washington last night several hours behind schedule time, and were met at the Union station were escorted to the accommodations that had been provided for them by a big crowd of local socialists and labor sympathizers. All of the Lawrence delegation wore little cards, bearing the inscription “Don’t be a scab,” and although weary from their journey, marched to their lower Pennsylvania avenue hotel singing and cheering.

Today they marched to the Capitol in the same way, and outside of the House building had to run the fire of a battery of cameras and moving picture machines stationed right outside of the entrance.

[Note: Camella Teoli was introduced to the Committee on March 2nd. She made her full statement before the Committee on March 4th.]

[Emphasis added.]

———-

Lawrence Strikers Children, WDC Eve Str p2, Mar 2, 1912

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Coming Nation: “The Lawrence Strike” by John Sloan-Bayonets, Hunger, Misery

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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quote BBH Weave Cloth Bayonets, ISR p538—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday March 7, 1912
“The Lawrence Strike” by John Sloan & Photographs from Scene of Revolt

From The Coming Nation of March 2, 1912:

-page 4: “The Lawrence Strike” by John Sloan

Lawrence Strike by John Sloan, Cmg Ntn p4, Mar 2, 1912

—–

-pages 5-6, 12: Rock Fenn on Unity, Class Solidarity and Revolt

Revolt of the Textile Workers

How the Working People of all Nationalities in Lawrence Have
United in Class Solidarity and Revolt Against Exploitation

By Rock Fenn

FROM the home of the striker at Lawrence to the office beyond the canal is a long step. On the one side are tenements reeking with the effluvia of families jammed into dispiriting rooms; on the other side a few well-fed bosses in great brick buildings a hundred yards long, with wide windows one above the other, three, four, five or six stories high.

Lawrence American Flag Not Secure, Cmg Ntn p6, Mar 2, 1912

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Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: “The Battle for Bread at Lawrence” by Mary E. Marcy, Part III

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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quote BBH Weave Cloth Bayonets, ISR p538—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday March 6, 1912
“The Battle for Bread at Lawrence” by Mary E. Marcy, Part III

From the International Socialist Review of March 1912

” The Battle for Bread at Lawrence”
-by Mary Marcy, Part III
———-

[Wonderful Solidarity]

 

Lawrence Family of Striker, ISR p543, March 1912

The wonderful solidarity displayed by the strikers has surprised everybody. There are more languages spoken in the confines of Lawrence than in any other district of its size in the world. But in spite of these barriers, the strike was an almost spontaneous one and seventeen races, differing widely in speech and custom, rose in a concerted protest. Lacking anything like a substantial organization at the outset, they have clung together in furthering a common cause without dissension. Too much credit cannot be given Comrades Joseph Ettor and Wm. D. Haywood in the splendid work of organization and education they have carried on in Lawrence.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: “The Battle for Bread at Lawrence” by Mary E. Marcy, Part II

Janet RayeBread and Roses Strike of 1912
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quote BBH Weave Cloth Bayonets, ISR p538—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday March 5, 1912
“The Battle for Bread at Lawrence” by Mary E. Marcy, Part II

From the International Socialist Review of March 1912
-Haywood Arrives in Lawrence, Massachusetts:

Lawrence Strikers v Bayonets, ISR Cv, March 1912

[By Mary E. Marcy]
—–

Haywood Arrives.

Lawrence BBH Arives, ISR p537, March 1912

January 24 Haywood reached Lawrence to help carry on the strike. We quote from the Evening Tribune, Lawrence:

William D. Haywood arrived in Lawrence at 11.50 o’clock from New York City Wednesday morning and over 10,000 strikers turned out together with three bands and two drum corps, to greet him at the North station with a tremendous ovation.

Long before the time when he was scheduled to arrive the strikers assembled at the depot in eager anticipation of the coming of the famous labor organizer. Even at 9 o’clock there was a large crowd awaiting his arrival. Before 10 o’clock the number of strikers at the station had been greatly increased. The sidewalks on Essex street were filled to their greatest capacities. Common street was crowded all morning also with strikers wending their way to the Boston & Maine station. About 10:30 o’clock the Franco-Belgian band arrived, having marched from the Franco-Belgian hall on Mason street. This band was followed by about 200 of the Franco-Belgian element of the strikers. The band stopped in front of the postoffice and played several selections.

The number of strikers was being continually augmented and the crowd seemed to be growing restless. About 11 o’clock a parade of about a thousand strikers came up Essex street. In this parade were the Umberto and the Bellini bands and St. Joseph’s drum corps.When this contingent arrived there was great cheering. The bands played almost continuously and there was a great deal of noise. Every time that the cab train came in sight the crowd would commence cheering and the bands would play with renewed vigor.

Shortly after 11:30 o’clock a large parade came up Common street and joined forces with the strikers already at the station. At the head of this parade there was a sign painted on cardboard in large black letters,

“All in One.”

There were many American flags carried by the strikers.

Finally the time for the arrival of Mr. Haywood came and when the train came in sight there was a great demonstration. When the train was approaching the crowd kept pushing up near the tracks and it looked as if someone would be run over.

When the strikers caught sight of Haywood they went almost insane with delight and cheered incessantly while the bands and drum corps boomed out stirring selections. The scene was certainly a wild one. As Mr. Haywood came out of the car he took off his hat and waved it to the crowd. The strikers surrounded Haywood and then the parade started down Common street. Haywood was near the head of the parade and was surrounded by thousands of howling and cheering strikers.The parade was over 10,000 strong. The bands played and excitement of the highest pitch prevailed.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: “The Battle for Bread at Lawrence” by Mary E. Marcy, Part II” →