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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Remember Joe Hill |
Current rating: 0 |
by ML
(No verified email address) |
19 Nov 2001
Modified: 20 Nov 2001 |
Remember Joe Hill--Don't Mourn, Organize!
Nov. 19 is the day in 1915 that Joe Hill was executed for a murder that he probably didn't commit |
 Remember Joe Hill--Don't Mourn, Organize!
Nov. 19 is the day in 1915 that Joe Hill was executed for a murder that he probably didn't commit |
From an excerpt from A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES by Howard Zinn at the IWW website:
Joe Hill, an IWW organizer, wrote dozens of songs -- biting, funny, class-conscious, inspiring -- that appeared in IWW publications and in its Little Red Song Book. He became a legend in his time and after. His song ``The Preacher and the Slave'' had a favorite IWW target, the church:
Long-haired preachers come out every night,
Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right;
But when asked how 'bout something to eat
They will answer with voices so sweet:
You will eat, bye and bye,
In that glorious land above the sky;
Work and pray, live on hay,
You'll get pie in the sky when you die.
His song ``Rebel Girl'' was inspired by the strike of women at the textile mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and especially by the IWW leader of that strike, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn:
There are women of many descriptions
In this queer world, as everyone knows,
Some are living in beautiful mansion,
And are wearing the finest of clothes.
There are blue-blooded queens and princesses,
Who have charms made of diamonds and pearl,
But the only and Thoroughbred Lady
Is the Rebel Girl.
In November 1915, Joe Hill was accused of killing a grocer in Salt Lake City, Utah, in a robbery. There was no direct evidence presented to the court that he had committed the murder, but there were enough pieces of evidence to persuade a jury to find him guilty. The case became known throughout the world, and ten thousand letters went to the governor in protest, but with machine guns guarding the entrance to the prison, Joe Hill was executed by a firing squad. He had written Bill Haywood just before this:
``Don't waste any time in mourning. Organize.'' |
See also:
http://iww.org/
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"Mocking Loon" is the arthur |
by Bob
na (unverified) |
Current rating: -1
20 Nov 2001
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Dear "ML"; What happened to my comment posted here this morning? Don't you want to defend your literacy? As I said, this post is probably a feebleminded attempt of yours to prove that you are literate.
Let me ask you a few more questions. Is your name Mike Lehman or Mark Lehman? Are you from the Ithaca area? If so, I can probably tell you more about yourself than you want to know. Bob |
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Could we get some T-shirts? |
by Michael Feltes
mfeltes (nospam) gmx.net (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
20 Nov 2001
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I love that graphic, but it seems to be a little bit cropped at the edges. Do you have a full graphic, and could we blow it up and have it printed on some T-shirts? What would that cost? |
