The strike that started on Jan. 12, 1912 created political tremors far beyond the Merrimack Valley. It forced a vigorous national debate about factory conditions, child labor, the exploitation of immigrants, and the free exercise of First Amendment rights during labor disputes.
On one side of the class divide in Lawrence was a rich, arrogant, and out-of-touch group of Yankee manufacturers. Their “one percent’’ sense of entitlement led them to spurn negotiations with “the offscourings of Southern Europe,’’ as New England Magazine disdainfully called the strikers. Instead, mill owners relied on rough policing by 50 state and local militia units. Two workers were shot or bayoneted to death, while many others were clubbed and jailed.
Arrayed against American Woolen and its heavily armed defenders was a rainbow coalition of recently arrived immigrants - low-paid workers from 30 countries who spoke 45 different languages. They were welded together into a militant, disciplined, and largely nonviolent force, through their own efforts and the extraordinary organizing skills of the Industrial Workers of the World, which began recruiting in Lawrence long before the two-month walk-out.
Many on the picket lines were women or teenagers. Their mistreatment at work, miserable living conditions, malnutrition, and other health problems soon became a national scandal. When a delegation of 16 young strikers appeared before a House committee hearing in Washington, the wife of Republican President William Howard Taft was among those in the audience shocked by their account of factory life in Lawrence. These child laborers put a human face on the strikers’ now famous demand for “bread and roses.’’ They wanted more than just a living wage; they sought dignity, respect, and opportunities for personal fulfillment denied to those employed in the mills at age 14 or even younger.
