Bread and Roses: A Tribute to Women's Struggles for Rights and Dignity

“On the occasion of March 8th, International Women's Day, I want to remember with a special bread Anna Lo Pizzo, an activist in the workers' and feminist movement, an Italian emigrant who was killed on January 29, 1912, for her commitment to protest against labor exploitation and in favor of women's emancipation.” These are the words of Catello Di Maio, the baker from Torre del Greco, owner of Cesto bakery. The bread and roses strike is still a burning issue today; it took place in Massachusetts, in the textile factories of Lawrence, triggered by yet another reduction in the wages of the numerous and united workers, who gave rise to a heated protest. The workforce was predominantly made up of women, who also brought their own children to work. During the strike, some protesting workers, picketing at the gates, raised a banner with a phrase that would go down in history: “We want bread and roses too” - We want both bread and roses. The meaning of the famous phrase is to recognize not only the right to live but also the right to be a woman, without distinction of social class. The feminist slogan became very famous, viral we would say today, with Rose Schneiderman, a suffragist and trade unionist of the New York textile industry who in June 1912 pronounced this phrase during a conference, managing to convince upper-class women to join the feminist protest, obtaining the right to vote in New York in 1917. In both cases, the struggles achieved the desired goals, despite the harsh repression. To them, and in particular to the Italian Anna Lo Pizzo, Catello Di Maio dedicates a black bread with roses, a tribute available on March 8th at Cesto bakery, in an effort to remember and give due credit to those women who fought with strength and sacrifice to see rights recognized that today seem obvious to us. A poem, very well known still today, was written by James Oppenheim, Bread and roses, published in December 1911 in the magazine “The American monthly”, which gave further prominence to the feminist movement. Those verses have not yellowed with time, they are often quoted on occasions concerning women's rights. “As we march, march, in the beauty of the day, a million darkened kitchens, a thousand gray lofts, are touched by all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses, for the people hear us singing: Bread and roses! Bread and roses! As we march, and march, we battle too for men, for they are women's children, and we mother them again. Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes; hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses. As we march, and march, unnumbered women dead go crying through our singing their ancient call for bread. Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew. Yes, it is bread we fight for, but we fight for roses too. As we march, and march, we bring the greater days, The rising of the women means the rising of the race. No more the drudge and idler, ten that toil where one reposes, but a sharing of life's glories: bread and roses, bread and roses. Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes; hearts starve as well as bodies; bread and roses, bread and roses.”