The early Italian immigrants were very active politically, many of them having been socialists or anarchists in Italy. They lived in tight-knit families, mostly in the North End of the city, and were in the early years regarded with some prejudice by native Vermonters. The granite industry in Barre still flourishes, although only a fraction of the labor force of 1912 is at work in the industry today. The old Socialist Labor Hall has been restored and is the site of many community events. Barre's sculptors are still highly regarded. One, Frank Gaylord, was the creator of the Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C., and although the granite for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is not Barre gray, the black granite of the memorial was brought to Barre to be engraved and polished.
The people of Barre remember with pride the fact that they were able to help the mill workers of Lawrence during the 1912 strike. Not only did the Italian stonecutters take in children of strikers, they also raised hundreds of dollars for strike relief. After Ettor and Giovannitti were freed, Giovannitti came to Barre for ten days and spoke in the Labor Hall, where, according to The Barre Daily Times, he "avoided the subject of politics and stated his simple desire to let his audience know just how much their support had meant to the textile operatives."
There is considerable debate about the term "Bread and Roses," as applied to the 1912 strike. Folklore has it that there was a photograph of marchers taken during the strike that showed a placard reading, variously, "We want bread and roses, too" or "Give us bread, Give us roses" or "We want bread and we want roses, too." The actual photograph has never surfaced. Whether the Italian slogan "Pane e Rose," was used by the Italian strikers in Lawrence is, at best, unsure. Nor do we know the date when Giovanitti wrote the Italian poem "Pan' e Rose." The English poem "Bread and Roses" was not inspired by the strike, according to its author, James Oppenheim, but as it was set to music not long afterward, the song has generally been associated with the Lawrence strike. By making Mamma and Rosa responsible for the legendary slogan and making it part of this story, I have obviously placed the incident in the realm of fiction rather than verifiable fact.
* * *