134 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
134 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
\\\INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD////////
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education
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W * W
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organization * _I_ * emancipation
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-------------------------------------------------------------
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``We Never Forget''
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* * * >>> NOVEMBER 19 : JOE HILL
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MURDERED
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November 19 marks the 99th anniversary of the execution of
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our fellow worker Joe Hill, songwriter and organizer, by the
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state of Utah, for a crime he did not commit.
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Born Joel Emmanuel Haggland on October 7, 1879, Joe left
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Sweden for New York about 1902. He played piano in NYC, then
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moved west and worked as a longshore-worker in San Pedro,
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California. Joe travelled around the west working on farms and
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construction.
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Joe Hill's songs first appeared in the IWW Songbook in 1911.
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Joe was at the Fraser River, B.C. rail construction when workers
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struck in 1912. He wrote *Where the Fraser River Flows* and
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helped win the strike.
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Arrested in Salt Lake City in 1914, Joe was charged with
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murder of a storekeeper and ex-policeman. Evidence shows the
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storekeeper was killed for revenge by ex-convicts he had helped
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send to prison. But police were eager to get rid of the
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songwriter, and so Joe was convicted with many irregularities in
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the trial.
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Worldwide protests came from the Swedish government, and
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hundreds of letters and telegrams came daily to the Utah governor
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asking for a pardon. In prison Joe kept writing songs, including
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*The Rebel Girl*, written for Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, which Joe
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considered his best song.
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November 18, 1915, Joe sent this telegram to IWW secretary
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Big Bill Haywood: *Don't waste any time in mourning --
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organize!* Later, Joe handed a guard a paper with these words:
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MY LAST WILL
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My will is easy to decide, For I have nothing to divide
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My kin don't need to fuss and moan,
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Moss does not cling to a rolling stone
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My body -- Ah, if I could choose, I would to ashes it
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reduce
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And let the merry breezes blow
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My dust to where some flowers grow
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Perhaps some fading flower then, Would come to life and
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bloom again
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This is my last and final will
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Good luck to all of you -- Joe Hill.
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Joe Hill was executed by a firing squad November 19, 1915. In
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the 1980's, an urn containing Joe Hill's ashes was found in the
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US Post Office. After some negotiation, the ashes were turned
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over to the IWW, and scattered at about 20 different sites around
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the United States. Wherever people are fighting for their
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rights, the spirit of Joe Hill lives on! Don't mourn --
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organize!
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THE REBEL GIRL
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by Joe Hill /words updated/
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There are women of many descriptions
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In this cruel world as everyone knows
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Some are living in beautiful mansions
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And wearing the finest of clothes
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There's the blue blooded queen and the princess
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Who have charms made of diamonds and pearls
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But the only and true kind of lady
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Is the Rebel Girl
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chorus:
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She's a rebel girl, a rebel girl
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To the working class she's the strength of this world
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From Newfoundland to B.C.
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She's fighting for you and for me
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Yes she's there by our side
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With her courage and pride
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She's unequalled anywhere
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And I'm proud to fight for freedom
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With the rebel girl!
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\\\THE BOSSES NEED YOU - YOU DON'T NEED THEM/////// ###
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