Introductions
For my second post, I guess I should introduce myself. I'm currently a senior at Yale University, in New Haven, CT, studying Latin American history and, to paraphrase the authors of the Port Huron Statement, looking uncomfortably to the world which my generation inherits and which I will truly enter, for the first time in my life, in the Spring.
As you'll notice, I've added a subtitle to this blog, "Musings and Meanderings of a Sometimes-Socialist," since my last post, and I think it says a lot about me -- as I've realized over the course of several conversations with friends, I'm a "sometimes-socialist." I once considered myself a true socialist, but I'm less certain about the world -- and my own beliefs -- everyday. While I still self-identify as a democratic socialist, I think the description "sometimes-socialist" fits me quite well.
As for the title of my blog, "Bread and Roses" is the title of two popular labor songs, one a poem by James Oppenheim, a turn-of-the-century member of the IWW, put to music, and the other -- which I prefer -- a more recent song written and performed by Irish labor activist and musician Martin Whelan. Both refer to the common symbols and slogan of the international labor movement, first coined in 1912 by women strikers in Lawrence, Massachussetts who carried a poignant sign: "We want bread, and roses too!" The strike, which sought to improve working conditions and wages in the textile industry, has come to be known as the "Bread and Roses Strike," and its imagery and symbolism have spread across the globe. Find below the lyrics for both songs:
"Bread and Roses" by James Oppenheim
As we go marching, marching, in the beauty of the day,
A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts gray,
Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses,
For the people hear us singing: Bread and Roses! Bread and Roses!
As we go marching, marching, we battle too for men,
For they are women's children, and we mother them again.
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;
Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses.
As we go marching, marching, unnumbered women dead
Go crying through our singing their ancient call for bread.
Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew.
Yes, it is bread we fight for, but we fight for roses too.
As we go marching, marching, we bring the greater days,
The rising of the women means the rising of the race.
No more the drudge and idler, ten that toil where one reposes,
But a sharing of life's glories: Bread and roses, bread and roses.
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;
hearts starve as well as bodies; bread and roses, bread and roses.
"Bread and Roses" by Martin Whelan
If we don't have our dreams,
What do we live for?
If we don't have our dreams,
What did James Connolly die for?
Chorus:
Look up the sky is burning,
With blood that workers shed,
And we'll carry on the battle,
For roses and bread.
Oh bread and roses,
Roses and bread,
We'll carry on the battle,
For roses and bread.
He was born to organise,
That's what James Larkin lived for,
For being a union man,
That's what Joe Hill was killed for.
Chorus
With dreams in solid steel,
That's what Mandela lived for,
For dreaming of what might be,
That's what Allende died for.
Chorus
Let's dream that dream of dreams,
Of life without sorrow,
And maybe our dreams
Can build a new tomorrow.
Chorus
As you'll notice, I've added a subtitle to this blog, "Musings and Meanderings of a Sometimes-Socialist," since my last post, and I think it says a lot about me -- as I've realized over the course of several conversations with friends, I'm a "sometimes-socialist." I once considered myself a true socialist, but I'm less certain about the world -- and my own beliefs -- everyday. While I still self-identify as a democratic socialist, I think the description "sometimes-socialist" fits me quite well.
As for the title of my blog, "Bread and Roses" is the title of two popular labor songs, one a poem by James Oppenheim, a turn-of-the-century member of the IWW, put to music, and the other -- which I prefer -- a more recent song written and performed by Irish labor activist and musician Martin Whelan. Both refer to the common symbols and slogan of the international labor movement, first coined in 1912 by women strikers in Lawrence, Massachussetts who carried a poignant sign: "We want bread, and roses too!" The strike, which sought to improve working conditions and wages in the textile industry, has come to be known as the "Bread and Roses Strike," and its imagery and symbolism have spread across the globe. Find below the lyrics for both songs:
"Bread and Roses" by James Oppenheim
As we go marching, marching, in the beauty of the day,
A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts gray,
Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses,
For the people hear us singing: Bread and Roses! Bread and Roses!
As we go marching, marching, we battle too for men,
For they are women's children, and we mother them again.
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;
Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses.
As we go marching, marching, unnumbered women dead
Go crying through our singing their ancient call for bread.
Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew.
Yes, it is bread we fight for, but we fight for roses too.
As we go marching, marching, we bring the greater days,
The rising of the women means the rising of the race.
No more the drudge and idler, ten that toil where one reposes,
But a sharing of life's glories: Bread and roses, bread and roses.
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;
hearts starve as well as bodies; bread and roses, bread and roses.
"Bread and Roses" by Martin Whelan
If we don't have our dreams,
What do we live for?
If we don't have our dreams,
What did James Connolly die for?
Chorus:
Look up the sky is burning,
With blood that workers shed,
And we'll carry on the battle,
For roses and bread.
Oh bread and roses,
Roses and bread,
We'll carry on the battle,
For roses and bread.
He was born to organise,
That's what James Larkin lived for,
For being a union man,
That's what Joe Hill was killed for.
Chorus
With dreams in solid steel,
That's what Mandela lived for,
For dreaming of what might be,
That's what Allende died for.
Chorus
Let's dream that dream of dreams,
Of life without sorrow,
And maybe our dreams
Can build a new tomorrow.
Chorus
posted by Micah at 11:30 AM
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