A lot of history in this issue of ‘Life and Labor,’ Don’t miss Anne Withington on the ‘Bread and Roses strike, and ‘The First Woman’s Strike in America – 1828’ by Ruth Delzell.

Life and Labor (National Women’s Trade Union League). Vol. 2 No. 1. January, 1912.

Contents: Frontispiece, Editorial: Educate, Agitate and Organise by Agnes Nestor, To Wash or Not to Wash: Ay, There’s the Rub by Mary E. Dreier, The Lawrence Strike by Anne Withington, Great Scenes from Great Stories: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo Arranged by Mary Peck, First Woman’s Strike in America – 1828 by Ruth Delzell, Guaranteeing a Living Wage By Law by Rev. John A. Ryan, Diary of Judicial Decisions Compensation for Accidents by Irene Osgood Andrews, Emilie L. Glorieur The Minneapolis Policewoman, The Day Stars by Edith Wyatt, New World Lessons for Old World Peoples by Violet Pike, Votes for Women, In Merry Mood, National Women’s Trade Union League, Self-Help Versus State-Help, The Mail Bag.

Life and Labor was the monthly journal of the Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL). The WTUL was founded by the American Federation of Labor, which it had a contentious relationship with, in 1903. Founded to encourage women to join the A.F. of L. and for the A.F. of L. to take organizing women seriously, along with labor and workplace issues, the WTUL was also instrumental in creating whatever alliance existed between the labor and suffrage movements. Begun near the peak of the WTUL’s influence in 1911, Life and Labor’s first editor was Alice Henry (1857-1943), an Australian-born feminist, journalist, and labor activists who emigrated to the United States in 1906 and became office secretary of the Women’s Trade Union League in Chicago. She later served as the WTUL’s field organizer and director of the education. Henry’s editorship was followed by Stella M. Franklin in 1915, Amy W. Fields in in 1916, and Margaret D. Robins until the closing of the journal in 1921. While never abandoning its early strike support and union organizing, the WTUL increasingly focused on regulation of workplaces and reform of labor law. The League’s close relationship with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America makes ‘Life and Labor’ the essential publication for students of that union, as well as for those interest in labor legislation, garment workers, suffrage, early 20th century immigrant workers, women workers, and many more topics covered and advocated by ‘Life and Labor.’

PDF of issue: https://books.google.com/books/download/Life_and_Labor.pdf?id=bjeBAAAAMAAJ&output=pdf