Joe Hill's songs remind us that attacks on immigrants are nothing new in the USA... Paul Robeson and Joan Baez have sung about these kinds of attacks before....
Many of the active leaders of the socialist, communist and union movements of the early 20th Century were from Sweden, Germany, and other European countries that were as unwelcoming of immigrants then as the USA is threatening to become (again) now.Apropos our frustration at the current level of political backwardness and historical ignorance of so many US citizens, and apropos the 100th anniversary of the state-sponsored murder of IWW union organizer and Swedish immigrant, Joe Hill, here�s a bit of inspiration (I hope): a link to a youtube of Paul Robeson�s version of the old Wobbly song, �I Dreamt I Saw Joe Hill��
The words to the song are at the end of this report. Another version of the Joe Hill song by Paul Robeson can be found at the following URL:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Kxq9uFDes
The song plays during a video of mostly young folks demonstrating in defense of unions in Madison, Wisconsin in January and February 2011. As everyone now knows from "history", the protests "lost" and Wisconsin's governor, Scott Walker, went on the be a national celebrity because he had "crushed the unions." And indeed it's true that he did some damage. But our organizing spreads out over years and generations. Another nice version of "Joe Hill" is Joan Baez's, sung at Woodstock. That URL is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX7M9psH0rM
If you like Robeson�s version, you can select Joan Baez�s version at Woodstock, 1969. I recommend you look to the right to select Bruce Springsteen�s version, performed at a concert last April. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVlWftdZac0
Pete Farruggio, PhD, Associate Professor, Bilingual Education, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
JOE HILL SONG....
The Ballad of Joe Hill
by Alfred Hayes and Earl Robinson
I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
Alive as you or me:
Said I, but Joe you�re ten years dead;
I never died said he.
I never died said he.
In Salt Lake, Joe, Great God, said I,
Him standing by my bed;
They framed you on a murder charge,
Said Joe but I ain�t dead;
Said Joe but I ain�t dead.
The copper bosses framed you Joe
They shot you Joe said I;
Takes more than guns to kill a man,
Said Joe I did not die.
Said Joe I did not die.
Joe Hill ain�t dead he says to me,
Joe Hill ain�t never died;
Where working men are out on strike,
Joe Hill is at their side,
Joe Hill is at their side.
And standing there as big as life
A-smiling with his eyes.
Said Joe, what they forgot to kill
Went on to organize,
Went on to organize!
From San Diego up to Maine,
In every mine and mill - Where working men defend their rights
It�s there you�ll find Joe Hill.
It�s there you�ll find Joe Hill.
(repeat first verse)
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, THE CLASSIC WORKING CLASS ORGANIZING SONG, "Solidarity Forever..."
When the union's inspiration through the workers' blood shall run,
There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun;
Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one,
But the union makes us strong.
CHORUS:
Solidarity forever,
Solidarity forever,
Solidarity forever,
For the union makes us strong.
Is there aught we hold in common with the greedy parasite,
Who would lash us into serfdom and would crush us with his might?
Is there anything left to us but to organize and fight?
For the union makes us strong.
It is we who plowed the prairies; built the cities where they trade;
Dug the mines and built the workshops, endless miles of railroad laid;
Now we stand outcast and starving midst the wonders we have made;
But the union makes us strong.
All the world that's owned by idle drones is ours and ours alone.
We have laid the wide foundations; built it skyward stone by stone.
It is ours, not to slave in, but to master and to own.
While the union makes us strong.
They have taken untold millions that they never toiled to earn,
But without our brain and muscle not a single wheel can turn.
We can break their haughty power, gain our freedom when we learn
That the union makes us strong.
In our hands is placed a power greater than their hoarded gold,
Greater than the might of armies, magnified a thousand-fold.
We can bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old
For the union makes us strong.
By: Margaret Wilson
Strike Songs
I never heard the song about Joe Hill before but it is wonderful! The Solidarity for Ever song I remember from so many strikes.