§ Message № bread-and-roses · Union Lens

Bread and Roses.

Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses.

James Oppenheim · 1911

Bread and Roses., Quorum

Bread and roses.

James Oppenheim's 1911 poem gave the labor movement its most humane line: hearts starve as well as bodies, give us bread, but give us roses. Bread is the wage. Roses are everything a life is for beyond the wage, dignity, beauty, rest.

Why it sits in the Union lens.

The Union lens carries the labor tradition as one of the word's three meanings. "Bread and Roses" is that tradition at its most generous, the reminder that the labor argument was always about a full life, not just a full table.

How we set it.

Fraunces editorial, "Roses" in the wonky italic on the Union-brick ground. A literary line set with literary care.