Labor-lore and Working Class Culture

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Comment by Viola Wilkins yesterday

no we're not gonna take it, we're not gonna take this class war anymore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AesMEyTi8s&feature=relmfu


"What Shall We Do with the Jimmy Johns Bosses?" by Sean Carleton, X364847, a.k.a. The Timber Beast, 2010.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_f0-vkGFRA&feature=relmfu

This song is dedicated to the fighting spirit of the Jimmy Johns workers: First Starbucks, now Jimmy Johns, next the whole damn restaurant industry! Fellow Workers from all over the world are with you in love, struggle, and solidarity! Check out more IWW songs on the IWW Youtube Channel, Wobblysongs: http://www.youtube.com/user/Wobblysongs

Follow the activities of the JJWU and make a donation to help their organizing work: http://jimmyjohnsworkers.org/

"What Shall We Do with the Jimmy Johns Bosses?" by Sean Carleton, X364847, a.k.a. The Timber Beast, 2010.
Inspired by Joe Grim Feinberg's "What Shall We Do with the Starbucks Bosses" (2007). Original tune: "What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_f0-vkGFRA&feature=relmfu

UNION SCABBING
“Union scabbing is as if you're about to be hung, and as you were led to the scaffold the executioner turned to you and said: “Gee, I hate to do this, but if it is any consolation the scaffold was built by union carpenters, the rope was made by union rope makers and here, sir, is my card.” - Joe Hill.
Retold by Utah Phillips on the album We Have Fed You All For 1000 Years, track 11.

http://libcom.org/history/music-iww-creation-working-class-counterc...

Comment by Viola Wilkins on May 14, 2012 at 6:56







LEGAL ILLEGAL

(by Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger)

Every you pick up the newspaper
Every time you switch on the TV
You can bet your old boots that at some point you'll see
A high-ranking copper or else an MP
Calling on all who are British & free
To stand up & defend law & order

It's illegal to rip off a payroll

It's illegal to hold up a train
But it's legal to rip off a million or two
That comes from the labor that other folks do
To plunder the many on behalf of the few
It's a thing that is perfectly legal

It's illegal to kill off a landlord
Or to trespass upon his estate
But to change a high rent for a slum is ok
You condemn 2 adults & 3 children to stay
In rubble that's rotten with damp & decay
It's a thing that is perfectly legal

If your job sends you into a zombie

It's legal to fell some despair

But don't be aggressive that is if you're smart
Remember the boss has your interest at heart
And it grieves him to see you unhappy

If you fashion a bomb in the kitchen
You're guilty of breaking the law
But a bloody great nuclear plant is ok
The plutonium processing hastens the day

When this tiny little isle may be blasted away
Nonetheless it is perfectly legal

It's illegal if you are a gypsy
To camp on the side of the road
But it's proper & right for the rich & the great
To live in a mansion that no man has paid
It was got from the people by pillage & rape
That's what they call a tradition

It's illegal to carve up your misses

Or put poison in your old man's tea
But poison the rivers, the seas & the sky
And poison the mind of a nation with lies
If it's done in the interest of free enterprise

Then it's proper & perfectly legal

It's legal to join a trade union
And to picket is one of your rights
But don't be offensive when scabs cross the line
Be nice to the coppers & keep this in mind
To picket effectively that is a crime

Worst than if you had murdered your mother

It's legal to sing on the telly
But they make bloody sure that you don't
If you sing about racist & fascist & creeps
And thieves in high places who live off the weak
And those who are selling us right up the creek
The twisters, the takers, the con men, the fakers
The whole bloody game of exploiters.



















Comment by Moira S on April 7, 2012 at 0:10

Is that a picture of Archie Green on the home page of this section? I knew Archie, and it sure looks like him. 

Comment by Nathan Moore on April 4, 2012 at 16:11

Hey Folks: I'm sorry that I haven't been on this site for awhile.  Things have been crazy.  My good friend Harry Stamper, ILWU member and folksinger, passed away recently.  Harry was an incredible writer of labor songs.  He is perhaps known the most for "We Just Come to Work Here (We Don't Come To Die)," which has become the anthem of the Occupational Health and Safety Movement.  I'm attaching the remembrance that Harry's family asked my wife and I to write for labor and folk music organizations.  If you're interested, we've started a website and community blog to commemorate and promote Harry's life and music.  http://rememberharry.wordpress.com/.  

You can read the remembrance at:

HarryRemembrance.pdf

Comment by Nathan Moore on April 4, 2012 at 16:07

Awesome, Viola!  Thank you.  

Comment by Viola Wilkins on April 4, 2012 at 9:37

This Little Scab

(Tune: This Old Man – by members of Chicago Branch IWW and local 329, Service Employees International Union, on the August-and Nursing Hoe picket line, Winter of 1975-76)

 

This little scab, she plays one

She is scabbing just for fun

 

Chorus:

With a knick knack paddy whack

Throw a scab a stone

This little scab is going home!

 

This little scab, she plays two,
There is nothing she won’t do (Chorus)

This little scab she plays three, 
Scab on you and scab on me. (Chorus)

 

This little scab she plays four,
Helps boss keep the workers poor. (Chorus)

 

This little scab, she plays five,
This time she gets out alive. (Chorus)

This little scab, she plays six,
Scabbings how she gets her kicks. (Chorus)

This little scab she plays seven,
This little scab won’t go to heaven (Chorus)

This little scab, she plays eight,
Hurry scab or you’ll be late. (Chorus)

 

This little scab, she plays nine,
Walked across our picket line. (Chorus)

 

This little scab, she plays ten,
This little scab won’t scab again.

Comment by Nathan Moore on October 17, 2011 at 7:27

Gordon: Bill Adler is going to be in Eugene on Wed.  I'll take your word for it and check out the event.  Looking forward to getting a copy of the new book on Joe Hill.

Comment by Gordon Glick on October 17, 2011 at 4:28

Bill Adler came to Tacoma last Tuesday evening to read from and answer questions about his new book, "The Man Who Never Died." The Tacoma Branch of the IWW was proud to sponsor this event at King's Books on St. Helen's Ave. in downtown Tacoma, WA. This author has done meticulous research into the life and final days of Wobbly troubadour Joe Hill, and gave a great presentation. Tacoma IWW obtained the musical talents of local folk musician Gary Cantor to sing a few tunes by and about Joe Hill.

Bill is a genuine working class historian and author, and his book is highly recommended by Tacoma GMB IWW.

Comment by Nathan Moore on October 17, 2011 at 0:12

Check out my interview with ILWU member Bryan Bingold about The Little Red Album, Vol. 1, an album of labor songs played in contemporary styles by rank and file union members in Portland, Oregon.  http://wobblynate.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/the-little-red-album-vol...

Comment by Viola Wilkins on September 22, 2011 at 2:20

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Maguires

http://tigger.uic.edu/~rjensen/molly.htm

http://www.lehigh.edu/~ineng/paw/paw-history.htm

Conan Doyle based "Valley of Fear" on the MM's, or Scowrers, as he called them. There was an excellent movie, "The Molly Maguires" (1970), with Sean Connery as Jack Kehoe and Richard Harris as the conflicted Pinkerton who infiltrates the group.

I felt the most sympathy for their plight when the miner played by actor Richard Harris is at the paymaster to receive his first weeks wages. He has extracted 33, 1-ton loads of coal at 30 cents a ton for a total of $9.90. After deductions for his lantern, pick, drill bits and gunpowder used in the extraction he has 24 cents left. Marvellously acted, the look on his face goes from utter joy to defiant disbelief. 

The veteran miner behind him fares a little better delivering $19 worth of coal and taking home $9 after mining and company store expenses. 

That business practice is still common today, the uniform or equipment must be bought from a company store and is overpriced, which is exactly what the mining company was doing in the movie. 

The "stealing" of wages by the company wasn't just reserved for these poor unfortunate Irish immigrant workers to 19th century USA. 

The Wellingtonian army had their wages taxed for things that you might expect would be provided. The rich staying rich and the poor staying poor same thing across the globe through out history. Fat cat bosses these days over paid exec's, underpaid staff over taxed populous. 

It's also worth noting that many historians believe that claims of "secret societies" such as this sabotaging the mines were actually largely the inventions of a sensationalist press and mine owners wanting more draconian labor laws. Exaggerating what happened was a good way of boosting both their profits. 

During the British miners' strike in the 1980s there were similar rumors of mines being sabotaged by strikers in the Murdoch owned tabloids. In reality, without being in constant use and without constant maintainance the equipment was just breaking down naturally through neglect and rust. 

The Molly Maguires: The Life Of A Tragic History

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLA0ZrCBLss

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9YtMMAevG0&feature=related

The Sons of Molly by the Irish Baladeers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_6_gvxlWTQ&feature=share

The daughter of Molly Maguire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7YliR4aYaQ

Broken Families - daughter of Molly Maguire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCvSoQA_rfw

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