Lawrence strike

Introduction

1912 textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, was one of the most heroic struggles and resounding victories of the U.S. working class and one of the most successful efforts of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). A distinctive characteristic was the diversity of the workforce: a variety of immigrant groups rallied to the strike, women played as decisive a role as the men, and children (many of whom were textile workers) played a crucial role as well. (Cahn, 60)

The strike rocked the nation. It is sometimes known as the "Bread and Roses" strike, thus associated with the stirring socialist-feminist anthem of that name written by James Oppenheim. Although there is scholarly controversy over whether that song inspired by the Lawrence strike, it is obvious that the spirit of the Lawrence strike was consistent with that of the song: "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 strike's outcome posed fundamental questions for the U.S. labor movement.

Event and Its Context

The textile mills of Lawrence attracted over the years a diverse, multiethnic labor force as waves of immigrant families drawn into the area. By 1912 there was an impressive mixture of humanity working in the mills: 30,000 workers composed of 25 ethnic groups speaking 45 languages. Working-class families constituted more than 60,000 inhabitants in an industrial city of about 80,000. (Cahn, 60)

The average wage in the mills was notoriously low at 16 cents an hour, which—given periodic unemployment—yielded a yearly income of less than $500 in a period when it estimated that a typical family could not live on less than $900 a year. Consequently, a number of families had to have more than one family member, sometimes parents and children alike, working in the mills to earn enough money to make ends meet. Half of all children between the ages of 14 and 18 living in Lawrence worked in the mills. The average workweek was 60 hours, and conditions were such that "a considerable number of the boys and girls die within the first two or three years after beginning work," according to a knowledgeable local physician, who added: "Thirty-six out of every 100 of all men and women who work in the mill die before or by the time they are 25 years of age." (Dubofsky, 45)

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) ...