The working class will never be free until it can blow the whistle for the parasites to go to work. The IWW, through organization, can make this possible.
We have fed you all for a thousand years
And you hail us still unfed.
Though there's never a dollar of all your wealth
But marks the workers’ dead.
We have yielded our best to give you rest
And you lie on crimson wool.
Then if blood be the price of all your wealth,
Good God! We have paid it in full!
There is never a mine blown skyward now
But we're buried alive for you.
There's never a wreck drifts shoreward now
But we are its ghastly crew.
Go reckon our dead by the forges red
And the factories where we spin.
If blood be the price of your cursed wealth
Good God! We have paid it in.
We have fed you all for a thousand years -
For that was our doom, you know,
From the days when you chained us in your fields
To the strike a week ago.
You have taken our lives, and our babies and wives,
And we're told it's your legal share
But if blood be the price of your lawful wealth
Good God! We have bought it fair.
We have fed you all for a thousand years
And you hail us still unfed.
Though there's never a dollar of all your wealth
But marks the workers’ dead.
We have yielded our best to give you rest
And you lie on crimson wool.
Then if blood be the price of all your wealth,
Good God! We have paid it in full!
There is never a mine blown skyward now
But we're buried alive for you.
There's never a wreck drifts shoreward now
But we are its ghastly crew.
Go reckon our dead by the forges red
And the factories where we spin.
If blood be the price of your cursed wealth
Good God! We have paid it in.
We have fed you all for a thousand years -
For that was our doom, you know,
From the days when you chained us in your fields
To the strike a week ago.
You have taken our lives, and our babies and wives,
And we're told it's your legal share
But if blood be the price of your lawful wealth
Good God! We have bought it fair.
Contributed by Bernart Bartleby - 2014/5/23 - 13:22
Sintesi del pensiero di Big Bill Haywood:
"If one man has a dollar he didn't work for, some other man worked for a dollar he didn't get"
Attualissimo.
"If one man has a dollar he didn't work for, some other man worked for a dollar he didn't get"
Attualissimo.
B.B. - 2020/10/25 - 22:59
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Canzone di autore anonimo (forse William Dudley Haywood, detto "Big Bill", 1869-1928, dirigente dell’IWW a Chicago), presente nalla 15ma edizione del “Little Red Song Book” dell’IWW (Industrial Workers of The World).
Musica di Rudolf Von Liebich (suppongo un immigrato tedesco a Chicago)
E’ anche il brano che dà il titolo ad un disco di Utah Phillips del 1983.
Big Bill Haywood, che è probabilmente l’autore del testo di questa canzone, è stato un’importante figura del sindacalismo statunitense. Con Arturo Giovannitti e Carlo Tresca fu uno dei protagonisti dello storico sciopero dei tessili a Lawrence, “The Bread and Roses Strike”.
L’ingresso degli USA nella Grande Guerra offrì il pretesto alle autorità per reprimere con ferocia l’IWW, che si era schierato sul fronte anti-interventista: secondo la legge federale del 1917, chiamata “Espionage Act”, 165 membri dell'IWW furono accusati di "cospirazione" e "incoraggiamento alla diserzione". Nell'aprile 1918 iniziò il processo a Haywood ed altri 100 sindacalisti, che furono tutti giudicati colpevoli. La sentenza per Haywood e quattordici altri fu di 20 anni di prigione. Nel 1921, mentre era libero su cauzione in attesa del processo di appello, Haywood fuggì in Unione Sovietica. Qui fu consulente sindacale di Lenin fino al 1923 e morì nel 1928. Le sue ceneri sono sepolte per metà nel muro del Cremlino e per metà a Chicago, vicino al monumento ai martiri di Haymarket (fonte: it.wikipedia).