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
board call national people sit soon
Our people were very restive, saying that they could not sit under that notice, and that if the National Board did not call them out soon they would go out of themselves.
good people public
We have tried you good people of the public and we have found you wanting.
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.
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.
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.
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.
girls married men national paid period received single strike
During this strike period we girls each received $3 a week; single men $3 a week, and married men $5 a week. This was paid us by the National Board.
ballot women worker
The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too. Help, you women of privilege, give her the ballot to fight with.
attack bosses employing girls gradually immigrant intended knew labor meant next raw rid work
Of course, we knew that this meant an attack on the union. The bosses intended gradually to get rid of us, employing in our place child labor and raw immigrant girls who would work for next to nothing.
rack
The old Inquisition had its rack and its thumbscrews and its instruments of torture with iron teeth.
So we must stand together to resist, for we will get what we can take - just that and no more.
bodies burned came good traitor
I would be a traitor to these poor burned bodies if I came here to talk good fellowship.
against allowed conditions hand press protest time unbearable workers
But every time the workers come out in the only way they know to protest against conditions which are unbearable the strong hand of the law is allowed to press down heavily upon us.
became duties grew kept member national subject time work
I read upon the subject and grew more and more interested, and after a time I became a member of the National Board, and had duties and responsibilities that kept me busy after my day's work was done.