Worker Organizing

I.W.W. (i.e. the Wobblies)

Since the founding of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), songs have played a large part in spreading the message of the One Big Union. The songs are preserved in the Little Red Songbook.

The Little Red Songbook (1909), also known as I.W.W. Songs or Songs of the Industrial Workers of the World, subtitled (in some editions) Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent, is a compilation of tunes, hymns, and songs used by the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) to help build morale, promote solidarity, and lift the spirits of the working-class during the Labor Movement.

The Little Red Songbook was first published by a committee of Spokane, Washington IWW members in 1909. It was originally called Songs of the Workers, on the Road, in the Jungles, and in the Shops—Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent.[3] It includes songs written by Joe Hill, Harry McClintock (Spellbinder), Ralph Chaplin, T-Bone Slim, and others. The early editions contain many of the most well-known labor songs, such as “The Red Flag,” “The Internationale,” “The Preacher and the Slave,” and “Solidarity Forever.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Red_Songbook

Copies can be bought here.

Bernie’s Top Labor Songs (Live At 8pm Et)

Utah Phillips covers Joe Hill’s “Pie in the Sky” “The Preacher and the Slave”

“Solidarity Forever” – American Workers Song [LYRICS]

“Solidarity Forever”, written by Ralph Chaplin in 1915, is a popular trade union anthem. It is sung to the tune of “John Brown’s Body” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”. Although it was written as a song for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), other union movements, such as the AFL–CIO, have adopted the song as their own. The song has been performed by musicians such as Utah Phillips, Pete Seeger, Leonard Cohen, and Seth Staton Watkins. It was redone by Emcee Lynx and The Nightwatchman. It is still commonly sung at union meetings and rallies in the United States, Australia and Canada, and has also been sung at conferences of the Australian Labor Party and the Canadian New Democratic Party. This may have also inspired the hymn of the consumer cooperative movement, “The Battle Hymn of Cooperation”, which is sung to the same tune.

Bloody Ludlow by Oliver Vincent Hirsch

This is a song about the Massacre of striking coal miners in Ludlow, Colorado. It was one of the most brutal attacks on organized labor in North American history. It took place on April 20, 1914. In response, the miners armed themselves and attacked dozens of mines, destroying property and engaging in several skirmishes with the Colorado National Guard.