Rose Schneiderman and Helen Todd are both (separately) credited with coining the slogan “Bread and Roses.” Both were suffragists: Todd a labor activist and Schneiderman a labor union leader. The slogan inspired James Oppenheim’s poem “Bread and Roses,” published in December 1911 in The American Magazine. The Lawrence, MA textile strike began in January 1912 and was also known as the “Bread and Roses Strike.”

Melody by Mimi Fariña.

English lyrics revised by Brivele for May Day 2018.

Yiddish translation by Aron Gonshor and Edit Kuper, for the 2018 production of A Bintl Brief at Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre in the Segal Centre for Performing Arts, Montreal, Canada.