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Paterson Silk Strike

Back in the day on January 27th, 1913, eight hundred broad silk weavers walked out of the Henry Doherty Mill in Paterson, New Jersey. The workers took action in response to the introduction of the “four-loom” system that would have them operating four automatic loom machines at a time instead of two. Seeing the potential for increased work and decreased wages, the weavers opted instead to instigate what would become known to history as the Paterson Silk Strike. Local representatives of the Industrial Workers of the World called upon their national headquarters as Big Bill Haywood, Rebel Girl Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and others responded to organize the strike. The I.W.W. saw solidarity as the key and by the following month ribbon weavers and dye house workers joined in. The Paterson Silk Strike was in full effect closing down 300 mills and binding together 24,000 men, women and children industry wide. Workers demanded the abolition of the four-loom system, higher wages and an eight-hour day.

A pageant play was even organized and staged at Madison Square Garden to raise money for the strike. However, the mill owners waited to starve out solidarity and by July of that year picket lines were broken and individual shop-by-shop settlements were endorsed.

For Uprising, this is your truth professa’ saying it’s no mystery why they conceal our people’s history