Rose Schneiderman
Rose Schneiderman
Rose Schneidermanwas an American socialist and feminist, and one of the most prominent women labor union leaders...
NationalityPolish
ProfessionActivist
Date of Birth6 April 1882
CountryPoland
experience fellowship gathered people save talk themselves
I can't talk fellowship to you who are gathered here. Too much blood has been spilled. I know from my experience it is up to the working people to save themselves. The only way they can save themselves is by a strong working-class movement.
burned business destroying factory girls hard learned machines paid quite
I learned the business in about two months, and then made as much as the others, and was consequently doing quite well when the factory burned down, destroying all our machines - 150 of them. This was very hard on the girls who had paid for their machines.
act easily girls meetings sympathize understand women
The girls and women by their meetings and discussions come to understand and sympathize with each other, and more and more easily they act together.
hurt feelings important
... it is the spirit of trade unionism that is most important, the service of fellowship, the feeling that the hurt of one is the concern of all and that the work of the individual benefits all.
girl men years
After I had been working as a cap maker for three years it began to dawn on me that we girls needed an organization. The men had organized already, and had gained some advantages, but the bosses had lost nothing, as they took it out on us.
rose bread ballots
The worker must have bread, but she must have roses too,
strong class people
I know from my experience it is up to the working people to save themselves. The only way they can save themselves is by a strong working-class movement.
sister mother brother
We have tried you citizens; we are trying you now, and you have a couple of dollars for the sorrowing mothers, brothers and sisters by way of a charity gift.
real progress movement
All the time our union was progressing very nicely. There were lectures to make us understand what trades unionism is and our real position in the labor movement.
mean-girls average victory
Then came a big strike. About 100 girls went out. The result was a victory, which netted us - I mean the girls - $2 increase in our wages on the average.
reconstruction workers
You have nothing that the humblest worker has not a right to have also.
mean people unions
Today, for many people, being a union member simply means paying dues, but in the early days there were so few of us that if a majority of the members were not active, the union ceased to exist.
thinking past nostalgia
I cannot think of a thing that was better in those good old days.
work average cost
By working hard we could make an average of about $5 a week. We would have made more but had to provide our own machines, which cost us $45, we paying for them on the installment plan. We paid $5 down and $1 a month after that.