Bread and Roses

In the early 1910s, labor activists fought for better working conditions and the vote for women. Several strikes used the slogan “Bread for all, And Roses too.” Labor activist Rose Schneiderman (1882 - 1972) elaborated on this theme in a speech in Cleveland in 1912:

“What the woman who labors wants is the rights to live, not simply exist - the right to life as the rich woman who has the right to life, and the sun and music and art. You have nothing that the humblest worker has not a right to have also.  The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too.”

When we consider the pressure and duress in Egypt and today, do we consider limited access to “sun and music and art” as part of the oppression?


haggadah Section: -- Exodus Story