Only Bread And Water...

In 1912 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, 23,000 textile workers struck after a new law reduced the women’s and children’s work schedules by two hours—an attempt to improve conditions-but the company refused to pay them for that time. In other words, the workers suffered a two-hour cut in pay. They could ill afford any type of cut. Half of a worker’s pay each week went for rent; two people in a Family of five had to be working just to exist. As one witness later told a congressional committee, “Often the children went hungry. There were days when only bread and water kept them alive.”

At the Everett Cotton Mill on January 11, workers refused to labor more than 54 hours since they’d only be paid for 54 hours. The workers from mill to mill, although of different ethnic backgrounds and nationalities, made the same decision. By the afternoon of the 12th, 10,000 men, women and children were on strike. They realized they needed help; and since the AFL wasn’t sympathetic to the strike, they sent a telegram to Joseph Ettor of the Industrial Workers of the World.

“Smiling Joe” went to Lawrence and formed a strike committee comprised of four members of each of the 14 largest ethnic groups. The committee organized a picket line on which thousands of workers and friends carried signs with such messages as “We Want Bread and Roses Too.” Within a week the lines were drawn; the strikers had the support of the public; the corporations had the support of local and state authorities.

Pickets were blasted with high-pressure water hoses; hundreds were arrested. The state militia was called in and forbade picketing, parades or demonstrations by more than three people. But the pickets wouldn’t be deterred; even alter clubbing , bayoneting, tear gassing and other forms of violence and harassment, the pickets continued to march and sing “Solidarity Forever” and other union songs.

The climactic event of the strike came in early February when a group in New York offered to place the children of strikers in homes so they’d be fed and housed better. As groups of children left for New York and Vermont, support for the strikers swelled, as did hostility toward the companies. Then the police chief declared no more children could leave. Seven who tried were taken into custody by the police, their parents told the city would provide for them. On February 24 a group of youngsters and their parents showed up at the train station; when the children tried to board the train, police began clubbing them. Mothers and children were dragged away and clubbed again.

The incident outraged many politicians and others throughout the country, who demanded an investigation. The Strike Committee of Lawrence sent 16 strikers to testify. In light of the increasingly negative publicity-and the neglected orders at the mills-the corporations gave in. Wage increases of 5 percent to 21 percent were granted, the latter going to the lowest-paid workers. William D. Haywood, IWW leader, told the workers, “You have demonstrated that there is a common interest in the working class that can bring all its members together.”