Paterson Silk Strike: IWW Leads 25,000 Workers in Five-Month Struggle Against Textile Manufacturers

Approximately 25,000 silk workers in Paterson, New Jersey walked out on February 25, 1913, beginning one of the most significant industrial conflicts of the Progressive Era. The IWW-led strike united diverse immigrant workers - Italian, Jewish, German, and native-born - demanding the eight-hour day, abolition of the four-loom system that intensified labor, and improved wages. The strike lasted five months and became a national cause, attracting support from intellectuals, artists, and radicals.

The manufacturers responded with overwhelming force. Over 2,300 strikers were arrested, with many held on high bail. Police regularly beat picketers, and the city banned public meetings. Striker Valentino Modestino was killed by company guards. The silk manufacturers, organized through their association, refused all negotiation and hired strikebreakers while waiting out the workers. Local government functioned essentially as an arm of the manufacturers, with police, courts, and city officials coordinating suppression.

On June 7, 1913, the IWW staged the Paterson Strike Pageant at Madison Square Garden, organized by journalist John Reed. Over 1,000 workers performed their own story before 15,000 spectators, dramatizing strike scenes and police violence. Despite generating national attention, the pageant lost money and the strike fund dwindled. By late July, starving workers began returning to the mills, and the strike collapsed without winning any demands. The defeat demonstrated the limits of IWW tactics against coordinated employer resistance and state repression, and showed how completely local government could be captured by industrial interests even in Progressive Era America.