The elegant expression which serves as a title here has also served as a political chant ever since it was published as the title of a poem (which I’ve shared in full below) in a popular cultural periodical at the turn of the century. This magazine attributed the line “Bread for all, & Roses, too” to “the women in the West” but the now famous poem was credited to lesser known writer James Oppenheim…
However, his poem was inspired by an apparently riveting speech delivered by activist, educator, & suffragist Helen M. Todd. I first encountered this beautiful cry (for beauty as well as sustenance) as the name of a food cooperative some of my friends were establishing—back when I myself was a budding young poet & philosophy student with a newfound interest in socialism & labour movements.
My political views have shifted & expanded to include several other ideologies since those early college years—but my core values remain rooted in grassroots & community organizing… Which I have recently found myself drawn to again. I come back to this poem—alongside other chants & songs—when I need to draw strength or when I feel particularly dismayed by a recent turn of social events…
~ Bread and Roses ~
As we come marching, march
-ing, 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:
“ 🍞 & Roses, Bread & 🌹 ! ”
🪧
As we come marching, march
-ing, we battle, too, for men—
For they are women's children
and we mother them again…
Our days shall not be sweated
from birth until our life closes—
Hearts starve as well as bodies:
Give us Bread, but give us Roses.
🪧
As we come marching, march
-ing, unnumbered women dead
go crying through our singing
their ancient song of Bread;
Small art and love and beauty
their trudging spirits knew—
Yes, it is Bread we fight for—
but we fight for Roses, too.
🪧
As we come marching, march
-ing, we bring the Greater Days—
The rising of the women means
the rising of the [human] race…
No more the drudge and idler—
ten that toil where one reposes—
But a sharing of life's glories:
“ 🍞 & Roses, Bread & 🌹 ! ”
📝 by James Oppenheim, 1911
