Common Sense and a Little Fire: Women and Working-Class Politics in the United States, 1900-1965

by Annelise Orleck

Common Sense and a Little Fire# traces the personal and public lives of four immigrant women activists who left a lasting imprint on American politics. Though they have rarely had more than cameo appearances in previous histories, Rose Schneiderman, Fannia Cohn, Clara Lemlich Shavelson, and Pauline Newman played important roles in the emergence of organized labor, the New Deal welfare state, adult education, and the modern women's movement

Genres: History, Feminism, Nonfiction, Labor, Biography, Politics, American History

400 pages, Paperback

First published May 22, 1995

Reviews

[Monique · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting portrait of four women who led the labor movement in the early to middle twentieth century. Brought together by the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911, these women joined a labor movement that had no room for women- their work or their voices. Nevertheless, they persisted.

Bonus: You get to learn the origins of the symbolism behind the red rose often claimed by socialists, and in particular as of late, by Bernie Sanders supporters all over Twitter. Red flowers were worn by activists following the Haymarket Massacre in 1886 as a way to commemorate their dead. But the image of the red rose specifically came from a speech given by Rose Schneiderman in 1911, “The woman worker wants bread, but she wants roses too.” "Bread and Roses" became a slogan carried on signs of women strikers shortly after. In her speech, Schneiderman was giving voice for the first time to the concept of a living wage, not just a subsistence wage. At this time, the conversations around minimum wage revolved around the price of bread and the cost of the cheapest room that could be found. Schneiderman wanted a wage that would allow a worker to get a room in a safe neighborhood, feed herself more than bread, allow her a brief bit of time off to take in the park, and importantly, allow herself the occasional indulgences of life, like a rose bought for its beauty and cheer. Schneiderman gave voice to a vision where workers were people, not just machines.

[Rhys Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous research materials, especially on Pauline Newman + the Socialist Literary Society (as well as other early 20th century alternative humanities schooling programs)

good for those needed primer in the more obscure history of this era in the labor movement

unsure how useful this would be for those who are not doing research

[Katie katiek-is-booked · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Common Sense and A Little Fire” by Annalise Orleck makes the case for women’s inclusion in the documented history of the U.S. labor movement of the early to mid-1900s. However at 317 pages the book includes much more than women’s involvement in the labor movement, and specifically focuses on the intertwining stories of four immigrant Jewish women and their influence and impact. Fannia Cohn, Clara Lemlich, Pauline Newman, and Rose Schneiderman are introduced as young factory workers from New York’s Lower East Side, each immigrating in the late 1800s and very early 1900s. The story quickly takes us to the atrocious working conditions and sexism each woman experiences, not unique to them alone but as a generalized experience of working class women of the time. Utilizing the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 the book gives readers a familiar historical foundation to build off of, an event that galvanizes the already activist women into more significant movement and long-term action. The book explores over six decades of women’s roles in work and the labor movement.

While Orleck’s intentions were surely to give readers a more thorough and inclusive understanding of women in the U.S. labor movement, they also give us considerable insight into the working class lifestyles and conditions. One of the themes throughout the text is the class dynamics among men and women within the working class, as well as interclass dynamics between working class women and middle and upper class society women. The reader will encounter the influence of political beliefs on activism of each woman, the unions, and how those are influenced by the involvement of “the mink brigade” and wealthy women who donate and believe in the working woman’s cause. Trade unionism, worker education, community organizing, consumer issues, and lobbying are all themes readers will encounter through the lives of Cohn, Newman, Schneiderman, and Lemlich (later Shavelson). Each began their involvement with grassroots activism on the shop floors and within their unions, giving the reader a biography of each woman’s life but also of women’s and co-ed unionism in the United States. While the story often centers on New York, the reader is also taken to Chicago, D.C., Philadelphia, and abroad to Puerto Rico and Europe, as each woman’s involvement becomes more professional and as representatives of their unions and political parties. The travels of each woman expands their networks, as well as ours as readers, understanding more about the women who have been too often overlooked as influencers and creators of labor policy and legislation.

One major theme throughout the entirity of the historical text is industrial feminism, a term coined in 1915 to describe the working woman’s fight for economic freedom and equality that had been taking place since as early as 1909. Through this we discover the relational dynamics between unions and women’s suffrage, as well as the eventual progression from activism to lobbying. Industrial feminism also gives readers an understanding of the motivations of working class individuals joining socialist, communist, and democratic beliefs and parties. While much of the book relies on written correspondence of the women themselves with each other and others within their networks, each also wrote for their local and union papers giving the author a great deal of primary texts to work from.
Each woman left a significant amount of work authored, including formal articles written for local and union papers, as well as private correspondances that were saved. Public speeches by each woman while organizing their communities were also recorded in newspapers, often described as powerful and some of the best public orators. Readers will also discover that as Schiederman’s friendship with the Roosevelt’s grew more intimate, both with Eleanor and Franklin, there are official White House records as well. Additional archival sources, interviews by the author as well as interviews by other individuals, published sources, government reports, scholarly articles and books, are all sources utilized by Orleck throughout the book.
Through the countless sources Orleck uses to tell the stories of Cohn, Lemlich, Newman, and Schiederman, they also retell the history of U.S. labor reform and class dynamics, and gives readers a more intimate understanding of the sacrifices women were forced to make, changing the historiography as previously understood. The letters between Eleanor Roosevelt and Rose Schiederman particularly give us a more thorough understanding of how working women’s experiences and network influenced the White House and Roosevelt administration. Each woman’s life intersected with the other’s, and each befriended and utilized larger networks, primarily of women and often immigrant women, to accomplish their goals. After reading “Qualities of a Citizen” by Gardner, each woman’s accomplishments seem that much greater with the understanding of what they overcame as immigrant women. While “Common Sense and A Little Fire” only briefly mentions an employer trying to get an immigrant woman striker deported by means of ‘moral character’ it would not be unfathomable that it happened considerably more. If there had been any doubt of women’s place in economic and labor history, after reading “Common Sense and A Little Fire” that doubt has surely been eliminated. Cohn, Lemlich, Newman, and Schniederman dedicated their lives to improving American labor conditions for all citizens and with this book their contributions have been solidified in the historiography of labor reform and women’s equality.

[Kara Culp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Orleck does an incredible job weaving the lives of these women together with the impact of their work. In these activists I saw myself, my teachers, my aunts, my grandmothers. I saw old versions of the same problems my contemporaries fight for today. The line continues. But this book makes me believe that new generations of Cohns, Newmans, Schneidermans, and Shavelsons will continue to fight for something better.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to read this for class...semi-tedious but not awful. It's about four Jewish women immigrant labor activists. Oy Vey.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring--as an academic and an activist

[Wes Bishop · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read for anyone who simultaneously wants to learn about gender, and the early labor movement.

[Judith Rosenbaum · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I read in grad school. Anyone interested in radical politics, Jewish women, immigrant activism, the labor movement, or women's friendship should read this book.