My body? Oh, if I could choose,
I would to ashes to reduce
And let the merry breezes blow,
My dust to where some flowers grow.
Perhaps some fading flowers then
Would come to live and bloom again.
This is my last and final will,
Good luck to all of you,
-Joe Hill
Hellraisers Journal: Friday November 17, 1916
Seattle, Washington – “Christians at War,” a Blasphemous Song?
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer makes clear that the I. W. W. song, “Christians at War,” is blasphemous song and a “song of hate.” The “Intelligencer” warns that the song is found in the I. W. W. Songbook dedicated as the “Joe Hill Memorial Edition” and goes on to describe Fellow Worker Hill as “an I. W. W. sympathizer.” We proudly point out that Joe Hill was a card-carrying member of the Industrial Workers of the World. FW Hill was a world-famous songwriter, a poet, an artist, and a true blue rebel, dedicated to the principles of the One Big Union of all the workers.
WE NEVER FORGET
From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer of November 15, 1916:
1-Front cover of the I. W. W. Book of Songs, containing the “Hymn of Hate” and other seditious [?] verse. The volume is inscribed “Joe Hill Memorial Edition,” The “Joe Hill” being the notorious Joseph Hillstrom, an I. W. W. sympathizer who was executed in Utah for cold-blooded murder. The I. W. W. sought at the last moment to prove as alibi for the murderer, but the [attempt failed?]. Spry [Governor of Utah] declined to interfere, and the verdict of the jury and the sentence of the court was carried out. This I. W. W. book of songs is sold [?] in the Seattle local and wherever the organization is allowed to exist.
2-“Christians at War, “ a blasphemous song set to the music of “Onward, Christian Soldiers,” which was sung by the Seattle I. W. W. when they invaded Everett and fought the battle that resulted in six deaths, Sunday, November 5.
SOURCE & IMAGE
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
(Seattle, Washington)
-Nov 15, 1916, page 8, (100)
http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/pnwlabor/page/1
See also:
Tag: Joseph Hillstrom
http://caucus99percent.com/tags/joseph-hillstrom
“Joe Hill’s Music, The defiant power of song”
-by Jeremy Harmon, The Salt Lake Tribune
http://local.sltrib.com/charts/joehill/music.html
Christians at War – Raymond Crooke
Lyrics by John F. Kendrick, page 23
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Songs_of_the_Workers_(9th_edition)
Joe Hill’s Vision
http://www.folkarchive.de/wewill.html
We will sing one song of the meek and humble slave,
The horn-handed son of the soil,
He’s toiling hard from the cradle to the grave,
But his master reaps the profits from his toil.
Then we’ll sing one song of the greedy master class,
They’re vagrants in broadcloth, indeed,
They live by robbing the ever-toiling mass,
Human blood they spill to satisfy their greed.
CHORUS:
Organize! Oh, toilers, come organize your might;
Then we’ll sing one song of the workers’ commonwealth,
Full of beauty, full of love and health.
We will sing one song of the politician sly,
He’s talking of changing the laws;
Election day all the drinks and smokes he’ll buy,
While he’s living from the sweat of your brow.
Then we’ll sing one song of the girl below the line,
She’s scorned and despised everywhere,
While in their mansions the “keepers” wine and dine
From the profits that immoral traffic bear.
We will sing one song of the preacher, fat and sleek,
He tells you of homes in the sky.
He says, “Be generous, be lowly, and be meek,
If you don’t you’ll sure get roasted when you die.”
Then we sing one song of the poor and ragged tramp,
He carries his home on his back;
Too old to work, he’s not wanted ’round the camp,
So he wanders without aim along the track.
We will sing one song of the children in the mills,
They’re taken from playgrounds and schools,
In tender years made to go the pace that kills,
In the sweatshops, ‘mong the looms and the spools.
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.
(Watch video for more on Joe Hill’s alibi.)
Joe Hill – Bruce Springsteen