A wonderful vignette of the strike of 7000 largely Polish women and girls in the cigar making factories of Detroit. While men in the industry were often unionized, the large female workforce rarely was. This would not be the last time Detroit’s Polish women cigar makers would strike; their sit-down actions twenty years later would help unionize most of the women in the industry.

‘Girls’ Parades Start Strike’ from Solidarity. Vol. 7 No. 345. August 19, 1916.

Detroit, Mich. The story of how the cigarmakers’ strike began and how it was carried on by parades of girls marching from one factory to another, will long be remembered in the Polish section of Detroit.

The strike of the cigarmakers began late in the spring in the union shops. That was not much of a strike. The workers asked for $1 more a thousand, and in a short time they got it. Some of the shops struck for a day or two, some never stopped a wheel.

It was this successful strike of the union workers that aroused the girls in the non-union shops. When the girls now on strike made their demands they were unorganized. Since they struck they have been formed into a union by David S. Jones of the old Cigarmakers’ Union.

The girls first struck in the Lilles factory. They struck here, although the rates are a little better than in some of the shops. Their demands were refused. The workers, men and girls, went out.

The packers did not go. The packers in these factories are not actively on strike, though, of course, their work has stopped with the work of the makers. And the strikers are now trying to stop every worker in the shop, from going back to work. For a time they made no effort to impede the packers, but now they include all in their efforts.

When the Lilles girls decided that they would have to strike, they went out, and waited quietly for a week. Then a deputation was sent to the employers. When this deputation came back the parades started. The Lilles girls formed a parade and deliberately went out to enlist the girls in the other factories.

The parade marched by the Mazer factory, and the strikers called on the other girls to come out. There were several of these marches on different days, and the next news was that the Mazer employes had struck. Then came the march to the Wayne factory. This is a big shop employing hundreds of girls at St. Aubin and Forest avenues. The Lilles and Mazer girls came by marching, shouting “Come on out. Don’t be afraid.” They bore banners with similar appeals. The girls in the Wayne shop. left their machines and crowded to the widows and watched the parade.

The banners they bore were in English. The girls shouted in English. For while these girls speak Polish also and attend Polish churches, they are very American.

The last parade to the Wayne factory took place on July 5. With more banners and more shouting, the strikers paraded by the factory and the girls inside crowded to the windows. The marchers went away. Then they came back again. Then they went away again.

The girls inside went back to their machines. Soon it was lunch time, and in the dining room the strike was the sole topic. Still they went back to their machines. Then, about 1:30, came the rush. It was said inside that the employers were about to discharge one of the leading girls and another girl popped up in the leadership and led the way down the stairs and into the street, and soon the Wayne girls were parading, too.

Then one by one other factories were swept into the strike wave. At first some of them struggled along with a few helpers, for there were a few who stayed. And the packers were not on strike. Then one by one the shops shut down. And 7,000 girls and men were on strike.

The most widely read of I.W.W. newspapers, Solidarity was published by the Industrial Workers of the World from 1909 until 1917. First produced in New Castle, Pennsylvania, and born during the McKees Rocks strike, Solidarity later moved to Cleveland, Ohio until 1917 then spent its last months in Chicago. With a circulation of around 12,000 and a readership many times that, Solidarity was instrumental in defining the Wobbly world-view at the height of their influence in the working class. It was edited over its life by A.M. Stirton, H.A. Goff, Ben H. Williams, Ralph Chaplin who also provided much of the paper’s color, and others. Like nearly all the left press it fell victim to federal repression in 1917.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/solidarity-iww/1916/v7-w345-aug-19-1916-solidarity.pdf