They fell in freedom’s battle,
They died for manhood’s right,
They fought and won the struggle
But they perished in the fight;
They never knew the blessing
Of the cause they died to save,
But the final of their struggle
Was the dark and yawning grave.
They rallied round the standard
Of unionism strong;
They strove by peaceful methods
To remedy the wrong;
They asked for living wages,
They sought but to be free –
But would the tyrants grant it?
Oh, would they grant the fee.
A, no! The moneyed villains,
To give was not their will
They bade their hired assassins
To shoot – and shoot to kill!
They began the battle
Our heroes faced the foe,
They did their duty bravely,
As the people plainly know.
Peace to those brave martyrs,
Three years have passed since then
They fought and died at Virden
They died like gallant men.
May heaven’s joy be with them.
For braver men ne’er stood
Within the ranks of labor
In noble brotherhood.
They died for manhood’s right,
They fought and won the struggle
But they perished in the fight;
They never knew the blessing
Of the cause they died to save,
But the final of their struggle
Was the dark and yawning grave.
They rallied round the standard
Of unionism strong;
They strove by peaceful methods
To remedy the wrong;
They asked for living wages,
They sought but to be free –
But would the tyrants grant it?
Oh, would they grant the fee.
A, no! The moneyed villains,
To give was not their will
They bade their hired assassins
To shoot – and shoot to kill!
They began the battle
Our heroes faced the foe,
They did their duty bravely,
As the people plainly know.
Peace to those brave martyrs,
Three years have passed since then
They fought and died at Virden
They died like gallant men.
May heaven’s joy be with them.
For braver men ne’er stood
Within the ranks of labor
In noble brotherhood.
Contributed by Bernart Bartleby - 2016/1/14 - 15:25
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Poesia di anonimo autore, testimone dei fatti di Virden, Illinois, del 1898
Musica da Bucky Halker, folksinger e labor songster americano
Nel suo album del 2002 intitolato “Welcome To Labor Land”
Quello che successe a Virden nel 1898 – ma poi anche in molte altre cittadine industriali dell’Illinois, come Pana, Cambria e Carterville, in quegli anni – è una pagina sanguinosa e anche triste della storia del movimento operaio americano.
Il motto dei padroni, quando non riescono a piegare i lavoratori con la forza o con le lusinghe, è sempre stato “divide et impera”. E così fecero i boss della Chicago-Virden Coal Company, una compagnia mineraria, che nel 1898, per contrastare un grosso sciopero, reclutarono negli Stati del sud tanti afroamericani disperati senza informarli che sarebbero stati utilizzati come crumiri. Gli sgherri della compagnia, le guardie dell’agenzia Thiel, andarono fino in Alabama per ingaggiare con l’inganno e per quattro soldi centinaia di negri e li caricarono su treni diretti in Illinois.
Il 12 ottobre 1898 un treno pieno di inconsapevoli “strikebreakers” giunse a Virden, accolto dagli scioperanti inferociti. Le guardie armate, impaurite, aprirono il fuoco, ma anche i lavoratori erano armati… Bilancio: 7 minatori e 4 guardie private rimasero uccisi, decine i feriti, anche tra i “crumiri”, che nemmeno misero piede a terra.
Episodi del genere si ripeterono molte volte in quegli anni.
Lo sporco gioco dei padroni finì col radicare il sentimento razzista fra i lavoratori bianchi del nord.
La guerra tra i poveri fomentata dai ricchi, un’immagine frequente anche ai giorni nostri.
I lavoratori uccisi a Virden nel 1898 furono sepolti nell’Union Miners Cemetery di Mount Olive. Quando morì nel 1930, la grande attivista sindacale Mary Harris "Mother" Jones volle essere sepolta insieme a loro.