Bread and Roses: Mills, Migrants, and the Struggle for the American Dream

by Bruce Watson

On January 12, 1912, an army of textile workers stormed out of the mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts, commencing what has since become known as the "Bread and Roses" strike. Based on newspaper accounts, magazine reportage, and oral histories, Watson reconstructs a Dickensian drama involving thousands of parading strikers from fifty-one nations, unforgettable acts of cruelty, and even a protracted murder trial that tested the boundaries of free speech. A rousing look at a seminal and overlooked chapter of the past, Bread and Roses is indispensable reading.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Labor, American History, Local History, Politics, Book Club

337 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Bruce Watson is the author of "Light: A Radiant History from Creation to the Quantum Age" (Bloomsbury, Feb. 2016). Starting with creation stories and following the trail of luminescence through three millennia, "Light" explores how humanity has worshiped, captured, studied, painted, and finally controlled light. The book's cast of characters includes Plato, Ptolemy, Alhacen, Dante, Leonardo, Rembrandt, Galileo, Newton, Daguerre, Monet, Edison, Einstein... The American Library Association's Booklist called "Light: A Radiant History" "a dazzling book."

Watson currently writes the online magazine The Attic (www.theattic.space.) With weekly articles about American Dreamers, Wonders, Wits, Rebels, Teachers, and more, The Attic promotes “a kinder,cooler America.”

Watson is also the author of four other well-reviewed books, including "Freedom Summer: The Savage Season that Made Mississippi Burn and Made America a Democracy," "Sacco and Vanzetti: The Men, The Murders, and The Judgment of Mankind," and "Bread and Roses: Mills, Migrants, and the Struggle for the American Dream."

Watson has also written more than three dozen feature articles for Smithsonian. His work has appeared in the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, American Heritage, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Yankee, Reader’s Digest, and Best American Science and Nature Writing 2003.

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I truly wish this book had been what I thought it was going to be--a thoughtful consideration of the ways in which the 1912 Lawrence textile mills strike encapsulated the particular challenges of the immigrant community of Lawrence and its relationship to the Industrial Workers of the World in the early 20th c. Unfortunately, what Watson presents here is a readable but ultimately interpretation/analysis-lite account of the events in Lawrence, retrodding much of what has been covered in other accounts of the strike. Moreover, his tone is to ultimately treat the IWW leaders--Ettor, Giovannitti, and Haywood--as coercive in their conscription of immigrant laborers to stick it out for almost 3 months of protest. Especially when, as he notes, Lawrence was a vibrant community of numerous immigrant groups that had an array of communication methods--including ethnic and religious organizations and newspapers in foreign languages--it does not make sense to treat the immigrants who put their lives and livelihoods on hold for the strike as mere dupes for the IWW. Moreover, he could have provided more valuable analysis as to why so much of the IWW's efforts nationwide were driven by immigrant laborers, and about the particular conditions of labor in the early 20th c. that were supplanted by immigrant attitudes and beliefs about work, opportunity, and the so-called American dream.

I clearly need to find better materials to read regarding the relationship of immigrant communities to work in the late 19th/early 20th c., and i'm sure they're out there (please send suggestions my way), but this limited account of the Lawrence strikes doesn't add much nuance to my understanding of the era.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book to get some background for an upcoming tour, and it was just perfect for what I needed. Vivid and well-written, it made great use of lots of media sources to fill out the details of the strike. It was fascinating to read about the depths of poverty at the time, but also to find the parallels with the politics and economics of today. I think the part that stuck with me most was the struggle that Lawrence has had with remembering the strike. For a long time the “official” version (outside agitators and foreign troublemakers) was the only version, and this book helps make clear how difficult it was for people at the time and in the years that followed to reconcile their feelings of defensiveness and shame with feelings of pride. So glad I could learn more about this local history.

[Rolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very readable account of the strike, though light on discussion of the larger context.

[Karen Adkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my students recommended this book to me after we'd had a discussion of labor movements. (Having students recommend books to me is one of my favorite things about being an educator.) It is truly excellent; if you don't know the Lawrence Mill strike of 1912, it's one of the more remarkable events in labor history--one of the times that women were really at the forefront of the labor movement, visible in the strike. Watson wrote for the Smithsonian magazine for a long time, so while this is a great history (he makes vivid and effective use of primary sources, particularly all the local papers, so you get a good sense of the reception of activism), he really writes for a non-academic audience. I gobbled this down in a day. I've always loved the mythology of the strike, so it was dismaying to find out about the myth ("Bread and Roses" is a name that came long after the strike, and one actual strikers resisted--they thought it prettified what was an ugly and violent conflict). The book is particularly timely for American readers, as the issues it covers--resentment over immigration, outrageous economic inequality, sexism, degradation of manual labor, exploitation of laborers (the details about child labor, and the strikers' decision to send children away to be hosted by sympathetic others so they wouldn't starve, are hard to read)--are absolutely resonant with our contemporary scenes. There were even accusations of fake news when the newspapers would report on police beatings of strikers.

[cassiterite · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting look at an important event in American labor history. I don't always feel as though I see eye to eye politically with the author, as I am one of those rabble-rousing anarchist Wobblies he (and many others at the time of the strike itself) disparages, but that bias and some weird wording about the women strikers aside, it's a decent telling of the facts.

[Blake Amstead · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading it. It left me with mixed feelings. I have no misconceptions of right and wrong or good and evil. What I seem to have a hard time understanding is how the working class has never truly embraced the power it has to dictate a livable wage.

[Becky Bradway · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read quite a few books about the labor movement and socialist politics in the 1900's-1930's, and am particularly interested in the fate of the Wobblies. This book is one of my favorites. It's exciting, easy to read, more accurate and less academic and/or doctrinaire than most other the histories. It's a good companion to some of the memoirs of the period, such as those written by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and Bill Haywood, and those by journalists Mary Heaton Vorse and writers connected with The Masses magazine. Now I'll be reading Watson's book about Sacco and Vanzetti.

Anyone who is interested in today's labor struggles, immigration, and the resurgence of socialism would find Bread and Roses fascinating. We've circled back around here in our new Gilded Age.

[Kelly Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this retelling of the history that went down in Lawrence and the modern bits in the epilogue. Only recently have I learned that I had ancestors, Sicilian immigrants who were in Lawrence for this and wanted to learn more about what they saw and possibly went through. Then I got super mad, I'm reading this in 2023 where much of the things that lead to the strike are once again happening, child labor laws are being repealed, and for some reason billionaires exist... but I digress, I very much enjoyed it and it at times felt more like I was reading a suspense page turner novel.

[Manny · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nicely written and articulate summary of not only the demonstrations in 1912 and it's effect on the labor struggles of the many workers involved, but the deep involvement of women and migrants as well as a description of the strategies used by capital to undermine workers and their rights with the support of the state. Must read for anyone that wants to know about the precursor to many of the economic problems we face today.

[Michael Gass · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written book on the 1912 textile strike in Lawrence. Found out more about the IWW (Wobblies) and how this strike and differences between their members caused the rise and fall of the organization. It still exists today but in a smaller and more fragmented organization. Like the book says at the end. The IWW people like Ettor and Big Bill Haywood were good instigators but the group did not have very good organizers.

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this book in 2021 was an experience. It has it all: greedy owners beholden to stock holders, underpaid and overworked employees, corrupt politicians, lies/propaganda, riots, police brutality, and general suffering. Basically “there is nothing new under the sun.”

[Peggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much information, unbelievable detail, both historically and what evolved after the Lawrence, Massachusetts mill strike of 1912. I read this book because a dear friend sent a question to friends: did you ever read a book that changed your life? This book changed hers and I can see why.

[Alexis K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love nonfiction books about historical events that read like novels! Truly interesting book about the Lawrence Textile Strike of 1912 and all of the political, economic, and social issues surrounding it.

[Chelsey Engel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly thorough and impressive.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riveting. Couldn't put it down.

[sean antizionist · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting historical read. Very thorough on the details. Didn’t love the author’s inferences and obvious red scare influences.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes--
Hearts starve as well as bodies: Give us Bread, but give us Roses!
-James Oppenheimer*

This isn't five stars like Holding the Line: Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike of 1983 was, in its compulsive readability and way it got me fired up, but it's a five-star book for me nonetheless. I'd maybe knock it down a bit for the end, but overall, it's a great, detailed, amazingly-researched look at a crucial strike in labor history. And Watson does have some lovely passages of description and scene-setting in the Lawrence of 1912.

Watson does a good job lining up the situation leading into 1912, and every time a crucial figure makes their first appearance, he steps back and takes his time really letting you get to know the person -- which I loved. I knew a lot of them anyway, but there was almost always something new to me, or a shifted perspective. Even smaller figures, who maybe didn't go on to notoriety or national importance, get some attention.

There's also a lot of good discussion of the way the Lawrence strike was viewed for many years, and why (thanks, middle-class "concerned citizens" trying to preserve your town's "good name"!); Watson also talked about media spins in regards to the strike, not just in local papers, but in national press, and how reporters also behaved while covering the strike (as best he could tell). And he put it into context, too, by describing details of daily life and society at the time, such as the number of daily newspapers in Boston versus Lawrence -- the kind of thing that's always incredibly helpful when reading about a setting removed from your own.

The ending was satisfying in some ways -- seeing the end of the strike! The result of the Ettor/Giovanetti trial! The successes! The aftermath! -- and less satisfying in others. Namely, the timeline sped up drastically, summer came and went invisibly, and the last chapter was a little jarring. But I loved that Watson gave time in the epilogue to talk about what happened to each major figure after the strike, and some labor history in the aftermath of Lawrence.

Anyway, I liked it, made a lot of notes.

*Okay, so as this very book points out, the idea that this poem was written for the Lawrence strike is incorrect, a myth, a legend, as it was published in December 1911, but hey -- I like a good myth. No one knows quite why Bread and Roses got connected to the Lawrence strike, but it's got such a nice ring to it. Some strike should have it.

[Joebaby · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://www.lawrencehistory.org/node/421

‘Bread and Roses’ Centennial Symposium:
The 1912 Lawrence, MA Strike and Its Legacy
April 27 - 28, 2012

When 30,000 workers walked out of Lawrence’s textile mills in the dead of a New England winter in January 1912, they launched an epic confrontation between capital and labor. With immigrant women playing a central role, the strike gained national prominence. To commemorate the strike’s100th anniversary and to consider its lessons for today, the Lawrence History Center is issuing a call for papers, art, spoken word, and video presentations for a Bread & Roses centennial conference to be held in Lawrence, Massachusetts on Friday and Saturday, April 27 and 28, 2012.

Conference Tentative Structure:
• April 27, 2012: Afternoon walking tours of key Lawrence strike sites.
• April 27, 2012: Dinner, a keynote talk, and spoken word tributes to the strike.
• April 28, 2012: Panels, roundtables, walking tours, and a lunch-time conversation on the strike’s
meaning for today.

Partial list of co-sponsors:

Ardis Cameron, Director and a Professor of American and New England Studies University of Southern Maine, Author, Radicals of the Worst Sort
James Green, Professor, History, UMass Boston

Bruce Watson, Author, Bread and Roses
Sheila Kirshbaum, Director, Tsongas Industrial History Center
Paul Marion, Director, Community and Cultural Affairs, UMass Lowell
Nina Coppens, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Fine Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, UMass Lowell
Joseph Lipschitz, Chair, History, UMass Lowell
Robert Forrant, Professor, History, UMass Lowell
Joyce Bowman, Chair, History, UMass Amherst
Bruce Laurie, Professor Emeritus, History, UMass Amherst
Charles Mauriello, Chair, History, Salem State University
Avi Chomsky, Professor, History, Salem State University
Theresa McBride, Chair, History, College of the Holy Cross
Michael Rossi, Dean, School of Liberal Arts, Merrimack College
Clarisse Poirier, Chair, History, Merrimack College
Stephen Russell, Chair, History, Northern Essex Community College
Dexter Arnold, PhD, Strike Scholar
Michael Honey, Fred and Dorothy Haley Professor of Humanities, University of Washington
Jurg Siegenthaler, Professor Emeritus, College of Arts and Sciences, American University

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

You have to love a book dedicated to the billion people around the world who still survive on a dollar a day.

Bruce Watson's "Bread and Roses" tells the captivating story of the 1912 textile strike in the mill town of Lawrence, Massachusetts. Now known as the "bread and roses strike", it united dozens of communities of immigrant workers under the leadership of the anti-capitalist Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and won a months-long struggle against incredible odds.

Is is important, in this day and age, to remember the great debt we owe the unions. The immigrant mill workers of 1912 worked 58 hours a week in dangerous conditions for starvation wages. The strike actually started when the state mandated a 56 hour workweek and they lost 2 hours pay.

The timing of the Lawrence strike was fortunate. The nation was entering the new century, eager to see progress and change. The nation and the pres supported the strike, sending money and support and housing their children. After the strike, mill owner, Billy Wood, decided to share his wealth with the workers, giving frequent raises and providing insurance

This was one of the IWW's greatest victories but it was short-lived. In less than a year, the union in Lawrence had been all but exterminated, victim of a violent reaction. Subsequent strikes became more violent as the owners and the police used what they had learned in 1912 to suppress any and all strikes.

This story is a beautifully written, meticulously detailed and documented account. The book details the rolls historical characters like big Bill Haywood, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, "Smiling Joe" Ettor and hometown organizer Angelo Rocco played in the Bread & Roses strike.

[Jordan McPeek · Rating 4 out of 5]

History books with fifty pages of footnotes can be awful dry, bringing up the image of the researcher sitting in the library more often than the events being portrayed. Not this one. Watson uses great storytelling ability to present a thrilling well-researched account of one of America's most famous strikes. While sympathetic to the strikers, it doesn't shy away from the messiness on both sides, touching on the dirty tactics and violence each engaged in. A recurring theme is how two different portrayals of the strike emerged, depending on whether you supported the mills or the strikers, and how quickly one became dominant after the strike ended. Despite the incredible solidarity and resolve of the strikers, they did not have absolute support of all workers and struggled against factions and scabs, even while enjoying national and international attention and support. Heart-wrenching accounts of the children's exodus and impassioned courtroom pleas from deathrow inmates illustrate the depth of striker commitment. The radical IWW (Wobblies) and its key figures feature prominently in the story, along with their own history. In the end, Watson leaves plenty of room for debate regarding the strike's legacy.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

What looked like a fabulous book about equality and ethics in dealing with immigration, is actually calculated attack on capitalism. With a message nothing short of class envy, the author does not merely describe a horrible incident in early America, it exploits the immigrants themselves as a sort of unruly mob sticking it to "the man" , and "the man" being an evil overlord. Whilst some factory owners may indeed have been unkind, they were no criminals in any sense of the word.

Not only is the struggle misrepresented, Mr.Watson's style is incredibly boring and wordy. In trying to paint a sympathetic picture of the supposedly oppressed, the effect is just the opposite and I found myself putting the book down after each chapter---out of sheer exhaustion!

No doubt labor unions and factory owners could have done more to find and compromise, and police officers from Lawrence in particular should have shown restraint, especially towards women and children--no excuses; but one wonders how long patience should last when you bite the hand that feeds you.

[T.R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

We often think multiculturalism was invented in the last few decades, but Watson tells an incredible story of solidarity across dozens of languages. Workers and families from dozens of countries stood strong in the face of physical violence, and the threat of starvation to lift themselves from the dark tenements and immense deafening factories in this mill town. Their incredible sacrifices made a difference in factories across New England and are part of the legacy we inherit today.

Hopefully we'll be able to take some time from protesting gas prices and making it to our next reality show to take responsibility for their work and improve the plight of today's workers (see the slaughter house chapter in Fast Food Nation) and stand in solidarity against ICE raids tearing apart our communities.

[Bops · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book I've read about mill/labor history in New England. It revealed that the Lawrence, MA Mill Strike of 1912 commonly known as the Bread and Roses Strike, has nothing to do with bread and roses. But Hey, its catchy. It is hard to find a well written and accurate nonfiction history that doesn't glorify or vilify laborers or management. Watson is able to convey the details of the residence of Lawrence, MA. I really enjoyed his use of all the ethnic newspapers. I would suggest this for all the current dwellers of mill spaces.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

People today all too glibly make disparaging comments about the role of unions in our country's economy. They forget that factory owners had to be hauled kicking and screaming to the table to give a person a decent wage. This book chronicles the mill workers' strike in Lawrence, MA in 1912 that came to be known as the Bread and Roses Strike named after a poem written by James Oppenheim. This poem is anthologized in the book THE CRY FOR JUSTICE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF THE LITERATURE OF SOCIAL PROTEST, Editor Upton Sinclair, 1915.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for young adults about the struggles of immigrants in New England mills around the turn of the 20th century. The book tells the story from the perspectives of two teens, one an Italian-born girl whose father was killed in the mills and lives in poverty - she just wants to go to school - and the other an American-born boy born into poverty who just wants to go to work. It's hard-hitting, but tells it like it is (or rather, was).

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and entertaining account of local history, labor history and the attitudes of the early 20th century towards workers, free speech, rebellion, and socialism. Full of interesting characters both famous and obscure. Recommended to anyone who likes local history, of special interest to anyone who is intrigued by the mills of our past.

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been on a New England history kick lately. The writing in this book can be a bit on the cheesy side, but it's certainly well-researched, and you'd have to be a pretty horrible writer not to make this story interesting.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extremely interesting account of the darkerside of the gilded age. This lends support to alot of the Zinn I've read and the notion that the 1920's socialist movement wasn't just for eastern europoeans.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

This as a good look at the IWW (i.e. Wooblies), and the socialist movements in the early 1900's. Especially in the mill towns of New England.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was quite fantastic. Balanced in that way that allows for the fact that the owners/police were scum but doesn't let the history get clouded by turning it into a leftist diatribe.