FROM MADISON IN STRUGGLE... The words and music to 'Solidarity Forever' and some other classic songs of the struggle
Although there are and have been dozens of recordings of the union song "Solidarity Forever," the classic version has to be the one sung numerous times and on hundreds of picket lines led by Peter Seeger, going all the way back to his days with the Almanac Singers. So here is is, both with the You Tube link and with the words, "Solidarity Forever," now a little over a hundreds years old and back in action once again in the USA.
In case you can't use the hot link above, here is the URL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYiKdJoSsb8
THE WORDS OF SOLIDARITY FOREVER
SOLIDARITY FOREVER! By Ralph H. Chaplin (IWW) , (Tune: "John Brown's Body", "Battle Hymn of the Republic")
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!
But 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, 'mid the wonders we have made;
But the Union makes us strong.
CHORUS
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.
CHORUS
In our hands is placed a power greater than their hoarded gold;
Greater than the might of atoms, magnified a thousandfold.
We can bring to birth the new world from the ashes of the old,
For the Union makes us strong.
CHORUS
Another great Pete Segger rendition is of the song "Which Side Are You On?", although the 2008 video that accompanies the words takes a too rosey-eyed view of Barack Obama's relation to the working class and the class struggle. Now that Obama has allied himself and his presidency with global finance capital — it was part of his campaign from the day he appointed the infamous billlionaire un ion-bisting teacher bashing Penny Pritzker as his campaign finance chieftan — the video might be confusing.
The URL to Peter Seeger's version of "Which side are you on?" is at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N43Cm6ra0hY&feature=related
By: J.S. Whitfield
GDC Statement
General Defense Committee
of the Industrial Workers of the World
An Injury To One Is An Injury To All!
GDC Central • Post Office Box 180195 • Chicago, Illinois 60618 USA
Email • gdc@iww.org • Telephone • 773.857.1090
2011
Central
Administration
Central
Secretary-Treasurer
Steve Ayers
Chair of the General
Executive Board
Koala Largess
Steering Committee
Marie Mason
Chuck Bailey
Eric Zenke
Right now in Wisconsin public workers from across the state, supported by
private sector workers, students young and old, retirees, labor activists and more,
are holding unprecedented protests in Madison against the utterly dictatorial move
by Governor Scott Walker to gut their collective bargaining rights.
After giving $140 million to special interest groups in January, many of whom
donated to Republican campaigns and to the Governor himself, Walker is now
attempting to strip Wisconsin's state workers of their hard-won right to collectively
bargain over the conditions of their labor under the guise of filling a claimed $137
million budget shortfall.
A similar bill has been introduced in Ohio, and Republican Sen. Jane
Cunningham in Missouri has also introduced a bill to strip state law of all Child
Labor protections.
In light of these increasing attacks on the working class, We, the Steering
Committee and Central Secretary Treasurer of the General Defense Committee of
the Industrial Workers of the World, stand firmly behind all workers fighting back.
We extend Solidarity to all workers, union or non-union, fighting back against the
Capitalist class trying to return us to conditions not found since the Industrial
Revolution.
As our primary mission is to offer solidarity and defense help to any workers
imprisoned, arrested, attacked, or punished by the State in any way in fighting the
class war, the GDC of the IWW is here to offer any and all help we can during these
times, and during all labor struggles.
An injury to one is an injury to ALL!
Solidarity Forever!
Signed,
Central Secretary-Treasurer:
Steven Ayers
Steering Committee:
Chuck Bailey
Eric Zenke
Marie Mason