The Paterson Silk Strike of 1913
Central issue, problem, or question: What were the causes of the Paterson
Silk Strike of 1913?
Significance: This lesson focuses on the causes and effects of the Paterson silk
strike of 1913, the biggest, longest, most dramatic strike in Paterson’s history.
Core Curriculum Content Standards for Social Studies: Standard 6.4
(United States and New Jersey History). I-9: (Discuss the working conditions
in the Paterson silk mills and the strike of 1913).
Objectives: After learning about the Paterson silk strike and analyzing primary
source documents, students will be able to:
• Describe working conditions in Paterson silk mills.
• Explain the origins and goals of the 1913 silk strike.
• Analyze the perspectives of both silk workers and mill owners.
Abstract: Middle school students will learn about the conflict between silk
workers and mill owners in 1913 and draw political cartoons illustrating the
perspectives of workers or owners. High school students will learn about the
strike and the workers’ pageant and create their own pageants reflecting the
perspectives of both workers and owners.
Duration: Two 45-minute class periods.
Sources
Secondary Sources
Steve Golin online lecture: “The Paterson Silk Strike: A Different American
Dream,” July 2005; available in the “Silk Strike” section of the New Jersey
History Partnership Project website, http://nj-history.org.
Steve Golin, The Fragile Bridge: Paterson Silk Strike, 1913 (Philadelphia,
1988).
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Delight Dodyk and Steve Golin, The Paterson Silk Strike of 1913: Primary
Materials for the Study of the History of Immigrants, Women, and Labor
(n.p., 1987).
Technology in the Garden, program 8, New Jersey Legacy television
series, co-produced by the New Jersey Historical Commission and New
Jersey Network, 2001, videocassette.
Primary Sources
“Uncle Sam Ruled Out,” Solidarity, 7 June 1913.
http://nj-history.org/proRef/silkStrike/pdf/silkStrikeDoc6.pdf
Mayor Andrew F. McBride’s Testimony before the Senate Commission on
Industrial Relations, 1914.
http://nj-history.org/proRef/silkStrike/pdf/silkStrikeDoc1.pdf
Account of the Paterson Silk Strike, New York Times, 26 February 1913.
http://nj-history.org/proRef/silkStrike/pdf/silkStrikeDoc2.pdf
Statement of the Paterson Manufacturers’ Association, April 1913.
http://nj-history.org/proRef/silkStrike/pdf/silkStrikeDoc3.pdf
“Statement of the General Strike Committee,” Paterson Evening News, 21
April 1913.
http://nj-history.org/proRef/silkStrike/pdf/silkStrikeDoc4.pdf
Program of the Paterson Silk Strike Pageant, 7 June 1913.
http://nj-history.org/proRef/silkStrike/pdf/silkStrikeDoc5.pdf
Materials: The teacher will need copies of the primary source documents listed
above, along with a worksheet for the middle school lesson.
Background: One of the oldest industrial cities in the United States, Paterson
had a long history of conflicts between mill owners and textile workers, but the
silk strike of 1913 was the biggest, longest, and most dramatic strike in
Paterson’s history. It began when the broad-silk weavers in Paterson’s largest
mill walked off the job to protest owner Henry Doherty’s attempt to increase the
number of looms each weaver tended from two to four. Although Doherty
promised that wages would increase under the new system, the weavers
anticipated that the four-loom system would eventually increase unemployment
and job competition and decrease wages. Broad-silk weavers from other mills
soon joined the strike, seeing the adoption of the four-loom system as a threat to
their way of life.
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Dyer’s helpers and ribbon weavers also went on strike, effectively halting silk
manufacturing in Paterson. Their goals, however, differed from those of the
broad-silk weavers. Dyer’s helpers struck to achieve the 8-hour day/44-hour
week, rather than to protest the “stretch out.” Ribbon weavers joined the strike to
protect the right of free speech, which they believed was threatened by the arrest
of speakers and peaceful picketers for “disorderly conduct” and “unlawful
assembly.”
At the beginning of the strike, silk workers invited the Industrial Workers of the
World (IWW or Wobblies) to help them. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was the most
important of the IWW organizers in Paterson. She was on the site of the pickets
every day, delivered numerous speeches, and organized Tuesday night
meetings for female silk workers, who compromised half the strikers, and for the
wives and daughters of male strikers. Flynn’s efforts helped cultivate female
leaders, like Hannah Silverman, a seventeen-year-old mill worker who became
an effective public speaker. When the silk workers reenacted the events of the
strike in a pageant performed at Madison Square Garden in New York City,
Silverman led the parade up Fifth Avenue to the Garden.
The IWW philosophy of solidarity played a key role in the strike. The majority of
silk workers were foreign-born or the children of immigrants; they did not share a
common language, and cultural differences could lead to misunderstandings.
Although manufacturers tried to exploit this tension and divide the strikers by
appealing to the patriotic sentiments of native-born silk workers, the IWW
managed to maintain unity by emphasizing the interests and experiences the
strikers shared.
The strike lasted five months. Both workers and industrialists were unified in
their demands, but the manufacturers were able to outlast the strikers. The strike
was nevertheless a partial victory for the workers. Although the dyer’s helpers did
not gain the 8-hour day, the weavers did protect the two-loom system and
preserve the right of free speech, both on the streets and in the factory. In 1919,
Paterson silk workers won the 8-hour day, but by that time Paterson’s silk
industry was already in decline. After the 1913 strike, many mill owners began
relocating much of their business to Pennsylvania; others withdrew from
production. The introduction of nylon and rayon during the Great Depression
sealed the industry’s fate.
Key Words:
Industrial Workers of the World
Strike
Labor union
Socialist
Scab
Capitalist
Monopoly
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Textile Mill
Propaganda
Picket Line
Anarchist
Middle School Procedures
For homework the night before this lesson, students should read the section of
their textbook on workers, labor unions, and socialism in industrial America. The
teacher should begin the lesson by showing the video segment on the Paterson
silk strike from the New Jersey Legacy television series, available in the “Silk
Strike” section of the New Jersey History Partnership Project website,
http://nj-history.org. After viewing the video, the teacher should ask students:
• How and why did the 1913 strike start?
• Who were the Wobblies? What was their goal?
• How did Paterson mill owners respond to the strike?
• Why did the strikers meet in Haledon rather than Paterson?
• How long did the strike last?
• Why did the strike end?
• How does this event fit with what you learned from your textbook about
workers, employers, and industrial conflict during the Progressive Era?
The teacher should then hand out a copy of the cartoon, “Uncle Sam Ruled Out,
along with a worksheet.
http://nj-history.org/proRef/silkStrike/pdf/silkStrikeDoc6.pdf
http://nj-history.org/proRef/silkStrike/pdf/silkStrikeMSWS.pdf
After students have completed the worksheet, the teacher should lead a class
discussion of the cartoon. Afterwards, the teacher should ask students: How do
you think mill owners might answer this criticism? After discussing this question,
the teacher should hand out Paterson Mayor Andrew F. McBride’s testimony
before the Senate Commission on Industrial Relations.
http://nj-history.org/proRef/silkStrike/pdf/silkStrikeDoc1.pdf
For homework, students will develop their own political cartoons, presenting the
perspective of the mill owners or of the workers. On the following day, students
should present their cartoons to the class.
High School Procedures
For homework the night before this lesson, students should read the section of
their textbook on workers, labor unions, and socialism in industrial America. The
teacher should begin the lesson by showing the video segment on the Paterson
silk strike from the New Jersey Legacy television series, available in the “Silk
Strike” section of the New Jersey History Partnership Project website,
http://nj-history.org. After viewing the video, the teacher should ask students:
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How and why did the 1913 strike start?
Who were the Wobblies? What was their goal?
How did Paterson mill owners respond to the strike?
Why did the strikers meet in Haledon rather than Paterson?
How long did the strike last?
Why did the strike end?
How does this event fit with what you learned from your textbook about
workers, employers, and industrial conflict during the Progressive Era?
The teacher should then divide the students into small groups of three or four
and hand out three primary source documents for analysis by the groups:
• Account of the Paterson Silk Strike, New York Times.
http://nj-history.org/proRef/silkStrike/pdf/silkStrikeDoc2.pdf
• Statement of the Paterson Manufacturers’ Association.
http://nj-history.org/proRef/silkStrike/pdf/silkStrikeDoc3.pdf
• “Statement of the General Strike Committee,” Paterson Evening News.
http://nj-history.org/proRef/silkStrike/pdf/silkStrikeDoc4.pdf
Each group will read and analyze all three documents, outlining the strikers’ and
the mill owners’ explanations. Once the groups have completed this task, the
teacher should reconvene the class to develop a class outline.
The teacher should then hand out one more primary source document, the
Program of the Paterson Silk Strike.
http://nj-history.org/proRef/silkStrike/pdf/silkStrikeDoc5.pdf
The teacher should explain that after almost four months of striking, the silk
workers sought to raise money and to publicize their cause by organizing a
parade down Fifth Avenue and a pageant at Madison Square Garden starring the
workers themselves.
The teacher should once again assign students to collaborative groups to
dramatize the strike using the pageant as a model but also incorporating what
they know of the manufacturers’ position. In other words, their pageants should
dramatize the conflict between workers and silk mill owners. Each group will
present their pageant to the class.
Connections: Teachers might combine this lesson with the New Jersey
History Partnership Project’s interactive tour of Paterson’s raceways.
http://nj-history.org/mktRev/raceways/patersonRaceways.htm
Comments and Suggestions: Teachers might take students on a fieldtrip to
the Botto House in Haledon where striking workers met or to the Paterson
Museum and the Great Falls Historic District in Paterson.
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