Final Project, History 2100, Spring 2017, William Paterson University

1. By: Thomas Ingino

2.  During this century, the labor movement was
in full swing and unions were gaining
momentum in their efforts to improve
working conditions for laborers and the
middle-class.
 Women played a major role in many strikes
during this time, and were fighting for equal
wages, working conditions and suffrage
throughout the United States.

3.  The International Workers of the World, also
known as the “Wobblies”, was founded in
1905 in Chicago, Illinois by William Haywood.
 The IWW grew in numbers between 1912 and
the end of WWI because they began to
organize women activists into unionized
groups.
 Women were found at the forefront of the
IWW in many different civic engagements
during this Progressive Era.

4.  The AFL was a large union federation in the 20th
century. They were plagued with problems, and
was mainly comprised of white, male laborers.
 The founders of the IWW, looking for a new
model of unionism, encouraged women,
minorities and other ethnicities to join their
ranks, increasing their ranks drastically.
 While the AFL was constantly fighting each other
and filled with widespread corruption, the IWW
concentrated on the major social issues that were
plaguing our nation.

5.  Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
◦ One of the leaders of the Industrial Workers
of the World and a leader in the Paterson
Strike.
 Carrie Golzio
◦ She and her parents were involved in the
strike, and Carrie joined the ranks of the IWW
 Margaret Sanger
◦ Lead and assisted in many rallies and
operations of the strike committee

6.  Paterson was an industrial town, but unlike other industrial
towns, Paterson relied on skilled immigrant labor.
 Handloom were the machine of choice due to the delicacy
of fine silk, which power machines could not be delicate
enough to produce.
 By 1900, however, a high-speed automatic ribbon loom
was introduced which could embroider designs on ribbon
goods efficiently by power looms.
 These new technologies transformed Paterson into the
“Silk City”, reaching markets that European silk could not.
 These new technologies, however, did not sit well with the
laborers and the work force.

7.  Skilled weavers refused to obey manufacturers
and a division of nationality and craft was
created.
 Skilled weavers and dyers, who were proud of
their craft, decided to go on strike in 1913.
 The strikes were highly successful in the
beginning, closing 300 silk and dye houses.
 25,000 strikers, many led by women activists,
refused to use the new machinery because it
lowered the value of their labor. Falling wages
and rising unemployment caused the walk out at
the Doherty Mill by 800 workers, which began
the strike.

8.  When the Paterson Silk Strike began, the Paterson
strikers invited organizers, especially women
leaders, of the IWW to help them organize and
lead the strike.
 The IWW gained recognition in 1912 after the
incident in Lawrence, Massachusetts where they
were able to bring nonviolent and democratic
changes to involve women and immigrants into
the working class of America.
 The use of the IWW was seen as the
“convergence” of the women’s movement and the
industrial movement.

9.  Many of the influential women of the strike
were part of, or joined the IWW
 Organized many of the rallies and mass
protests around the city
 Sustained the strike committee’s
organization and helped fund the strike
itself in different ways, one being the
Paterson Pageant

10.  Elizabeth Flynn was one of the leaders of the
IWW and the most inspirational and important
women of the strike.
 She held weekly speeches for women on
Sundays from the porch of the Botto House
which drew in a crowd of thousands of
striking women.

11.  Carrie Golzio joined the IWW after hearing
one of Flynn’s speeches
 She was a skilled worker, and took pride in
her work and feared the four-loom system
would reduce the quality of her work
 Golzio gained the support of other eastern
European Jewish female silk weavers from the
mill she worked in and together joined the
strike

12.  Sanger was another important woman of the
IWW who aided Flynn in the exodus of
children from the city
 She also attempted to bargain with the
Pennsylvania mills, who the manufacturers
were outsourcing their work to during the
strike, to join the strike in order to increase
their power and strengthen their numbers.
 Sanger helped in the organization of the
Paterson Pageant

13.  The Botto family was an immigrant family
who lived in neighboring Haledon and worked
in the silk industry
 Since the Haledon mayor was sympathetic to
their cause and Paterson Police were arresting
protestors, the family allowed the IWW to use
their home as a “headquarters”
 Rallies and speeches were held outside the
home and drew crowds of thousands

14. The Botto House

15.  The women activists and the IWW used many
different tactics in order to protest.
 Since Paterson police arrested IWW leaders as
soon as they arrived, the strike leaders, such as
Flynn and Haywood, set up their “headquarters”
at the Botto House, which was in Haledon, who’s
mayor was sympathetic to their cause.
 The exodus of children to families in New York,
led by Margaret Sanger, was another tactic used.
By removing children from the area to a safe
place, they believed it would give the women who
were striking more power since they did not have
to worry about childcare. Over 600 children were
moved.

16.  The May Day Parade was a demonstration
where the women strikers dressed in bright
red or white and paraded around the city
 Nonviolent mass picketing was commonly
used
 Flynn made weekly speeches on Sundays
from the porch of the Botto House, where
crowds of thousands of women would attend
to listen and cheer

17.  One of the most important and
memorable tactic that was used was
the organization of the ‘Paterson
Pageant’
 Organized by Haywood, Sanger and
Flynn, the IWW held an enormous
rally at Madison Square Garden in
order to make the strike more
publicized in an attempt to gain
more supporters, especially from
the New York silk workers.
 Almost 15,000 people attended, the
majority of them women strikers
 The audience it attracted became
tremendously enthusiastic

18.  For the most part, the strike was nonviolent
 During the 6 month period, only two workers
were killed by private detectives, who had
been hired by mill manufactuers.
 Over 3,000 picketers were arrested, however
the majority only received a ten day jail
sentence.
 For being such a large and long
demonstration, the lack of violence during
the dispute shows that not all protests need
violence to come to an end

19.  Instead of bargaining with the strikers and
the IWW, mill owners refused any contact with
the union
 Mill owners created their own manufacturers’
association
 Since the mill owners had outsourced any
work they could to their mills in Pennsylvania,
they just sat back and waited until the
strikers felt the anguish of empty stomachs
and extreme poverty

20.  By the end of May, some of the workers
began to crack and cross the picket lines.
 With the mill owners not budging, and the
Strike Fund depleted leaving no food or
supplies for strikers, there was little left to
do.
 The central strike committee voted to settle
with the mill owners in July of 1913, 6
months after it had started.

21.  Even though the strikers held out for 6
months, they had gained nothing from their
demonstration
 Women still had to work long hours at low
wages
 There are estimates of $5 million in lost
wages by workers and $10 million in lost
profits for owners
 Even though the owners did not agree to
anything, the two loom system remained the
standard in the Paterson industry in 1919

22.  Overall, the engagement was a loss for the
women protestors.
 These women had made a large impact in
history and the industry, but in the end they
had not received any of their demands,
although one could argue that since the mills
continued to use the two loom system that
the women did earn a partial victory.
 The defeat in Paterson was detrimental to the
IWW, who lost their effectiveness in the East.

23.  After the strike, Paterson’s silk industry
continued to grow, but had lost part of its
share in the national silk industry.
 The women workers had not won the 8-hour
work day until 1919, 6 years after the strike.

24.  Even though the strike did not win the main
demands of the silk workers, it did publicize
how unions can impact employers and
industries
 During this time, the role of women was
changing, and this event showed how women
can make an impact on society
 This event also showed that not all strikes are
successful and also showed the power and
resilience of employers and companies

25.  Dodyk, Delight W., and Steve Golin. The Paterson Silk Strike of 1913: primary
materials for the study of the history of immigrants, women, and labor. Revised
Edition ed. Haledon, NJ: American Labor Museum/Botto House National Historic
Landmark?, 2013.
 Golin, Steve. "Defeat becomes disaster: The Paterson strike of 1913 and the
decline of the IWW." Labor History 24, no. 2 (1983): 223-48. Accessed April 4,
2017. doi:10.1080/00236568308584706.
 Shea, George W. Spoiled silk: the Red mayor and the great Paterson textile strike.
NY: Fordham University Press, 2001. Accessed April 12, 2017. ChengFind.
Keyword: Paterson Silk Strike .
 Tripp, Anne Huber. The I.W.W. and the Paterson silk strike of 1913. Urbana:
University of Illinois Press, 1987.
 Golin, Steve. "The IWW and Bohemians: The Case of the Paterson
Pageant." WorkingUSA 8, no. 5 (2005): 565-72. doi:10.1111/j.1743-
4580.2005.00065.x.
 Njwomenshistory.org. Accessed April 25, 2017.
http://www.njwomenshistory.org/Period_4/flynn.htm.

26.  "The Paterson Strike." The Public Papers of
Margaret Sanger: Web Edition. Accessed April
25, 2017.
https://www.nyu.edu/projects/sanger/webed
ition/app/documents/show.php?sangerDoc=
302118.xml.