For three weeks thousands of janitors and their supporters took to the streets in a ceaseless carnival of noisy, drum banging marches and guerrilla actions. Threats and arrests were no deterrent to the veterans of Century City, and trade union solidarity was probably at the highest level since the 1940s. And, thanks to superb strike coverage in the leftish LA Weekly, the janitors garnered unprecedented support from white collar workers and sympathetic Anglo liberals. That is to say it has reshaped the balance of power between workers and capital, giving a million immigrants a new confidence in their power and destiny as a class. Bread and Roses brings the janitors' struggle powerfully to life.
Loach shows how the workers' confidence starts to grow when they join the union and demand better.
Bread and Roses shows how such workers can stand up against exploitation, racism and sexism, and is a boost to workers everywhere. Lawrence then housed the world's biggest textile factory. The bosses employed immigrant workers from many different nationalities on a pittance. Those workers rose up together in January 1912 after the bosses speeded up the looms and cut wages. Some 23,000 people fought poverty and the brutality of the National Guard for two months.