The following chapters consider two key strikes in detail: the New York shirtwaist makers’ strike of 1909–1910, and the Lawrence textile workers strike of 1912. The shirtwaist makers’ strike was the first massive uprising of women workers in the United States, and was a breakthrough in organizing the garment industry. It was known as the “women’s movement strike” because of the unusual extent to which women of all classes participated. It is an important place to look at a broad united front of women in action, and the contradictions within it.
The Lawrence strike was a great, militant, even (it was thought at the time) revolutionary uprising of the U.S. working class. Because of the radicalism of the Industrial Workers of the World who led it, and their encouragement of the participation of women, the strike is a good place to look at the way women came to the fore when they had the chance to do so, and the way housewives were encouraged to participate in an industrial struggle.