The colossal struggle of the Chicago tailors at the end of 1910 and the beginning of 1911 will be marked in golden letters in the history of the class struggle as one of the greatest, most idealistic, and most praiseworthy struggles that oppressed and humiliated workers have waged against their oppressors and exploiters.

The chief historic significance of this gigantic struggle lies in the fact that tens of thousands of slaves in the needle trades industry made their first significant revolt against their oppressors, lost their confidence in the old conservative union, the United Garment Workers, and its reactionary leaders, and laid the foundation for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers 2Union, which now numbers about two hundred thousand members and is considered one of the most powerful and most progressive labor organizations in the world.

To obtain a thorough understanding of the great struggle of that period, a struggle made possible by the steadfastness, willingness to sacrifice, and militancy of the workers, one must understand the conditions of slavery that existed in the needle trades industry, conditions which were, undoubtedly, the driving force in this historic fight.

The workers in that industry, besides slaving ten or twelve hourse a day for starvation wages, had to stand for various insults and humiliations from their managers, from their managers, foremen, assistant foremen, and other mixed slaves, who had only one ambition: to get more work out of the workers. These hired slaves did not do this out of their desire to enslave people but because it was in their interests to do so. The more work one of those slaves got out of "his" workers, the more secure was his position. He also could expect a special reward from 3his boss in the form of a wage increase or a bonus. On the other hand, if a foreman was not by nature a slave driver, he did not last long on his job. It thus came to pass that most of the foremen, assistant foremen, and other lackeys were people who could get the utmost production from their workers, who could draw out their last drop of blood.

During the great strike of 1910, the Illinois [State] Senate conducted an investigation. Horrible facts were brought out about the slavery, about the oppression that the unfortunate tailors had to suffer.

It is important to note that most of those workers were, at that time, "greenhorns" of various nationalities, who could not talk things over among themselves, and who, therefore, could not come to any understanding among themselves about how to improve their condition. The manufacturers, on their part, had seen to it that the workers had no opportunity to come together. They understood the great danger that lay in store for them if their slaves 4should come to some understanding. A system was installed in the shops of Hart, Schaffner and Marx, which employed about six thousand people, most of them "greenhorns" of various nationalities, whereby two workers of the same nationality--who could converse with each other--were never permitted to sit together.

It was proven before the Senate Investigation Committee that many women workers were slaving for the miserable sum of three to six dollars a week. It was proven that in a certain shop the women who were employed in finishing coats, had to finish ten coats a day for which they were paid thirteen cents a coat. The fastest woman worker could not finish a coat in less than an hour and a half, which means that working at a terrific speed for ten hours a day, a woman worker earned about eighty-five cents a day. The owner of that factory had, later on, reduced the price to twelve cents per coat.

The spiritual suffering and oppression which the workers had to endure was to them incomparably worse than the starvation wages, long hours, and hard 5work. When a worker dared to complain to a foreman, he was bawled out in the worst possible way. "If you do not like it, you can get out of here," was the usual reply of the foreman to a complaint. "If you do not want to go through the door, you can get out through the window. We will get another greenhorn to take your place."

The United Garment Workers Union, the one union then in existence, composed of men's clothing tailors, had never made any serious attempt to organize these unorganized slaves. The officials of that union, which controlled a certain number of "label shops," made enough money, and perhaps more than enough, to assure their existence. They did not care about anything else. This organizational work, which had been criminally neglected by the officials of the old union, was done, in an indirect way, by the manufacturers and their hired servants.

The terrible exploitation, humiliation, and oppression at last awoke a feeling of revolt in the hearts of those slaves, which caused the great strike of 1910 6to break out. This strike was the foundation for the organization of the industry and it led to the birth of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union.

The Historic Strike; How it Was Conducted

The signal for the great fight was given on September twenty-seventh, 1910, when a few girls from the Number Five pants shop of Hart, Schaffner and Marx, went out on strike in protest against a reduction in wages of one-quarter of a cent per pair of trousers. Two Jewish girls, Annie Shapire and Bessie Abramowitz, led the strike. Bessie Abramowitz is now the wife of Sidney Hillman, international president of the Amalgamated. This small group of strikers sent a committee to Hart, Schaffner and Marx demanding that the one-quarter of a cent reduction in wages be rescinded. The company refused their request and the strike went on.

The news of the strike spread, with the quickness of lightning, among the 7tailor shops, and in the hearts of tens of thousands of enslaved, oppressed, and humiliated workers there awoke a feeling of human pride, of consciousness of self, and a desire to fight, to revolt against their oppressors and exploiters.

About a thousand workers joined the ranks of the strikers on the second day. Three weeks later, forty thousand workers were striking--a fact that had never before been recorded in the history of the class struggle.

A group of strikers appealed, at the very beginning of that historic struggle, to Robert Garin, president of district council number six of the United Garment workers, for aid to the strikers. Garin took over the fight but he withheld the call for a general strike until eighteen thousand workers were on strike. The number of the strikers grew so fast that the United Garment Workers was no longer able to control the movement. The strikers turned for help to the Women's Trade Union League, which body gladly accepted the invitation. The Women's Trade Union League played a very important role in the strike 8later on. The women of this organization always stood in the front row of the pickets who were shamefully terrorized by the hired sluggers, gansters, and bandits of the manufacturers. The Chicago police played a shameful role in that strike. It not only refused to give any protection to the strikers but it terrorized them, split their skulls with clubs, and made wholesale arrests.

The Union leaders issued orders to the strikers to avoid violence and to behave themselves in an orderly way. Despite these orders, violent acts were committed every day, but by the other side. Two workers, Charles Lozinkos and Frank Negrekis died as martyrs to the cause: they were shot by hired murderers.

The murder of the two strikers did not discourage the fighting workers but made them more militant. They resolved to stay in the struggle to the bitter end. The funeral of those two martyrs was made the occasion for an impressive demonstration which awoke the sympathy of the entire population for the strikers. The violence against the strikers diminished after that.

On November fifth, Rickert concluded a shameful agreement with Hart, Schaffner and Marx, but the strikers rejected that agreement with scorn. The strikers, at that time, lost their faith in the leadership of the United Garment Workers and they appealed for help to the Chicago Federation of Labor. This central labor body consented to their request, and from then on, the leadership of the strike was assumed by John Fitzpatrick, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor. A Joint Strike Conference Board was organized, to whom the leadership of the strike was entrusted.

Relief for the Strikers and the Important Role of the Courier in that Work

The work of the newly created strike organization consisted not only of leading the strike but also of raising help for the strikers, many of whom were suffering from hunger, cold, and other privations. About the middle of November, the relief problem became the most acute problem facing the strike leaders. Tens of thousands of workers had already been on strike for about 10two months. The strike leaders had to provide the strikers with bread, or permit them to die of starvation and cold, or to surrender.

The climax was reached on November eleventh when ten thousand hungry strikers surrounded the strike headquarters at 275 La Salle Street, where they expected to receive strike benefit but there was nothing to give them. The ten thousand hungry people stood for hours in the cold around the strike headquarters, until John Fitzpatrick appeared on a fire escape and begged them to disperse to their own locals where strike benefits would be given to them.

The strike committee began then to consider seriously the problem of relief and decided to do away with money benefits and to distribute food instead. The committee, acting upon Mr. Fitzpatrick's suggestion, established commissaries, following a plan often used by the miners. The commissaries were located on Lincoln Street, Blue Island Avenue, Johnsohn Street, and Fourteenth Place. Fitzpatrick was in charge of distributing the tickets which he used to 11give to the shop chairmen, who, in turn, distributed them among their workers. A family of five could obtain at the nearest commissary the following food for one ticket; eighteen pounds of bread, five pounds of sugar, two large packages of oatmeal, one pound of coffee, five pounds of beans, and ten pounds of ham.

However, a colossal sum of money was required to keep up those commissaries and to feed the hungry army of tens of thousands. Jewish Chicago then took upon itself the sacred duty of helping in this work. The relief work among the Jews was led by the Jewish Courier, with the assistance of Mr. Harry A. Lipsky, general manager of the Courier. Upon an appeal by the Courier, a "Jewish Aid Committee of prominent public workers and businessmen" was organized, with the following officials: B. Horwich, chairman, Harry A. Lipsky, secretary and B. J. Schiff, treasurer. The Courier opened a fund for the strikers, which brought in about six thousand dollars. The committee, headed by Harry A. Lipsky, conducted the relief work among Jewish strikers by distributing tickets for bread and meat to them. Using these tickets, the 12strikers could get bread in any Jewish bakery in the city and meat in any Jewish butcher shop. In many cases, the committee helped the strikers to pay for rent, coal, and gas.

The Chicago Joint Board of the Amalgamated [Clothing Workers Union] has published a book in honor of the convention which is now taking place in Chicago. This book is being given to the delegates to the convention as a present. The reader will find on page thirty-six of this book an appreciation of the important part played by the Courier during that strike, and an appreciation of the particularly significant activity of Mr. Lipsky in behalf of the strikers.

The End of a Great Historic Fight

The material help extended to the workers enabled them to keep up the bitter struggle. On January eleventh, Mr. Rickert submitted to the strike committee a new settlement proposal, which had three main points: All workers were to 13return to their work within ten days, the employers were not to discriminate against union workers, and an arbitration board was to be created, whose decisions should be binding upon both sides.

The strike committee approved the settlement and advised the workers to accept it. The firm of Hart, Schaffner and Marx agreed to that settlement and thereby laid the foundation for organizing the thousands of workers of that firm in whose factories, conditions of slavery had existed.

The strike committee discussed the strike at a meeting on February eleventh, a meeting attended only by Rickert and his assistants. The hungry, tired strikers who had fought for fourteen long weeks, were by that time so worn out that they surrendered without a protest. Those who could, returned to their jobs. Some strikers were not given back their jobs by their employers. Horribly reactionary conditions began to prevail in the industry, but the workers did not lose their hope for better times. When in 1915 they were 14called again to fight, they responded like true soldiers, fought a life and death battle, until they were finally rewarded for their heroic suffering.

Note: Most of the facts related in this article were taken from a book issued by the Chicago Amalgamated in honor of this convention. The book was given to the delegates to the convention as a present.