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.]
