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This week marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of one of the most important strikes in American labor history. On January 11th 1912, immigrant Polish women working at Everett Cotton Mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts, went on strike against a reduction in pay in response to a new state law. A day later, other workers joined in, and by the end of the week, 25,000 workers had walked off their job demanding an increase in wages, and overtime pay. Led by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), the labor action, which lasted two months, came to be known as the Bread and Roses strike, and marks a seminal moment for workers rights in the US. Before the New Deal helped to create the beginnings of an American Middle Class, workers in the US, many of them immigrant, faced extreme severe conditions. Child labor was the norm, work hours were routinely 50-60 hours a week, malnutrition was widespread, and the mortality rate among the poor, especially children, was sky-high. The Bread and Roses strike sent a strong message to the wealthiest 1% of the time and after two months of militant labor actions, and growing national solidarity, the mill companies relented, giving in to almost all the workers’ demands. Other companies, anxious to avoid similar confrontations, began changing their practices. The demand for bread (more wages), and roses (the time to enjoy life outside work), became a rallying cry. It was articulated in a poem by James Oppenheim, later popularized in a song by Judy Collins, and written about by Upton Sinclair. Given today’s economic climate and the rising opposition to wealth inequality in the US, the history of the Bread and Roses strike of 1912 is particularly relevant.

GUEST: John de Graaf, Outreach Director of The Happiness Initiative, has produced more than fifteen national PBS documentary specials and is the co-author of Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic and co-author of What’s The Economy For, Anyway? He has taught at Evergreen State College and serves on the board of Earth Island Institute.

Read John De Graaf’s article about the Bread and Roses strike here: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/09-7