ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how women workers and their activities in the labour movement have been remembered – sometimes as figures of pathos, sometimes as exemplars of radical activism. The day the fire broke out; the doors to the factory had been locked to prevent theft, unauthorized rest breaks, and contact between workers and union organizers. In the aftermath of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, a number of women assumed public positions which enabled them to actively campaign to ensure the safety of industrial workers. At a time when union power was at its peak in the US, organizers of this commemoration used the memory of the Triangle workers’ deaths to celebrate the subsequent achievements of the New Deal and reformed labour legislation. The Tomioka Silk Mill was built as a flagship government enterprise in Gunma Prefecture, 100 kilometres North-West of Tokyo, in 1872.
