Then we’ll sing one song of the One Big Union Grand,
The hope of the toiler and slave,
It’s coming fast; it is sweeping sea and land,
To the terror of the grafter and the knave.
-Joe Hill
Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday March 7, 1917
San Jose, California – “Then Let the Merry Breezes Blow…”
From the March Edition of the International Socialist Review:
Joe Hill — Memorial services in honor of Joe Hill, the I. W. W. poet who was murdered by the authorities of Salt Lake City last year, were held in San Jose, California, at South Park, January 14. Services opened by the singing of the Marseillaise by the I. W. W. local. Comrade Cora P. Wilson of the Socialist Party delivered the oration. Services were continued at Inspiration Point, Alum Rock Park. Joe Hill’s last poem was read and as the comrades sang the “Red Flag,” Rita Wilson, 9 years old, let loose three balloons containing the ashes of Joe Hill, which the four winds wafted over the beautiful Santa Clara Valley.
[Photograph added.]
Joe Hill’s Last Poem:
Letter to Fellow Workers from Big Bill Haywood
We have tried to carry the will of our martyred
Fellow Worker into effect.
….Yours for Industrial Freedom, W. D. Haywood.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SOURCE
The International Socialist Review, Volume 17
-ed by Algie Martin Simons, Charles H. Kerr
Charles H. Kerr & Company,
July 1916-June 1917
https://books.google.com/books?id=SVRIAAAAYAAJ
ISR March 1917
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=SVRIAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&source=gbs_atb&pg=GBS.PA517
NEWS AND VIEWS-Joe Hill’s Ashes
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=SVRIAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&source=gbs_atb&pg=GBS.PA573
IMAGES
Joe Hill, My Last Will, Nov 18, 1915
https://books.google.com/books/reader?id=SVRIAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&source=gbs_atb&pg=GBS.PA326
Joe Hill Ashes, Envelope, November 1916
Joe Hill, Haywood’s letter re ashes, Jan 3, 1917
http://garagecollective.blogspot.com/2010/12/little-packet-containing-ashes-of-joe.html
See also:
Hellraisers Journal, Friday December 1, 1916
Joe Hill’s Ashes Handed Out to Delegates of IWW Convention; Four Packets Cast Upon Lake Michigan
https://weneverforget.org/hellraisers-journal-joe-hills-ashes-handed-out-to-delegates-of-iww-convention-four-packets-cast-upon-lake-michigan/
The Red Flag
Joe Hill’s Last Will
We Will Sing One Song