On this stone working class history the eleventh of January. And on the eleventh of January nineteen twelve, the Lawrence Strike, also known as the Bread and Roses Strike, broke out. Polish women working in cotton mills in New England noticed that their pay had been reduced and stopped their looms, leaving the mill shouting short pay. Other workers, mostly women and girls, also walked out, and within a week twenty
thousand workers were out. Despite brutal repression, they held out until mid March and won all of their demands, which were also mirrored by other employers who wanted to avoid similar strikes. The popular name for the strike came from a line from a speech by socialist Rose Schneidermann quote the worker must have bread, but she must have roses to end quote, a demand which young girls inscribed on
their banners in Lawrence. The Bread and Roses Strike is commemorated in our January t shirt of the Month, made by a workers cooperative and supporting grassroots unions in South Asia, available on the link in the show notes. The sources, maps, and all of our anniversaries. Each day check out the on this Day section of our stories at at Stories stop workingclasshistory dot com and if you value our work, support us at Patreon dot com slash working class history.
Links in the show notes. The music by a Decade, See you tomorrow,