page_title: Bread and Roses
section_title: Women's Trade Union League
hierarchical_section_title: Bread and Roses / History / Women's Trade Union League
caption_attribution_description: English: Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) emblem from magazine publication in 1916
context_page_description: "Bread and Roses" is a political slogan as well as the name of an associated poem and song. It originated from a speech given by American women's suffrage activist Helen Todd; a line in that speech about "bread for all, and roses too" inspired the title of the poem Bread and Roses by James Oppenheim. The poem was first published in The American Magazine in December 1911, with the attribution line "'Bread for all, and Roses, too'—a slogan of the women in the West." The poem has been translated into other languages and has been set to music by at least three composers.
  The phrase is commonly associated with the successful textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, between January and March 1912, now often referred to as the "Bread and Roses strike". The slogan pairing bread and roses, appealing for both fair wages and dignified conditions, found resonance as transcending "the sometimes tedious struggles for marginal economic advances" in the "light of labor struggles as based on striving for dignity and respect", as Robert J. S. Ross wrote in 2013.
context_section_description: Helen Todd, subsequently, became involved in the fall of 1910 with Chicago garment workers' strike, which was led by the Women's Trade Union League of Chicago. The Women's Trade Union League worked closely with the Chicago Women's Club in organizing the strike, picket lines, speeches, and worker relief activities. Helen Todd and the president of the Women's Trade Union League Margaret Robins made a number of speeches during the strike and manned with the thousands of striking garment workers the picket lines. During the strike, it was later reported that a sign was seen with the slogan "We want bread – and roses, too".
  In 1911, Helen Todd went out to California to help lead the suffrage movement in the state and campaign in the state's fall election for proposition 4, which sought women's suffrage. The women's suffrage campaign proved successful, and the right for women to vote passed in the state in November 1911. During the California campaign, the suffragettes carried  banners with several slogans; one was "Bread for all, and Roses, too!" – the same phrase that Helen Todd used in her speech the previous summer.
caption: The Women's Trade Union League was central in promoting the eight-hour day, a living wage and improved working conditions.
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