VOICE ONE:
Labor Day is an American holiday that honors working people. Itis celebrated each year on the first Monday of September. I’m SarahLong.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Bob Doughty. Today we play some songs from the Americanlabor movement on the VOA Special English program, THIS IS AMERICA.
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VOICE ONE:
The labor movement in the UnitedStates has been very successful. It has won many rights for Americanworkers. The struggle for these rights was long and difficult. Yetfew people remember the battles. Americans know about them mostlythrough music. For music was an important part of the campaign forworkers’ rights.
The songs are stories of struggle and pride. Struggle to win goodpay and working conditions. Pride in work that is well done. Some ofthe songs tell of working long hours for little pay. Some tell ofthe bitter, sometimes violent, struggle between workers and businessowners.
VOICE TWO:
Union activists knew that songs could be weapons. The music was away to help people feel strong and united. So most labor songsexpress the workers’ hope that a union could make life better.
The people who wrote labor songs were workers and activists, notprofessional musicians. Usually they did not write new music. Theywrote new words to old songs.
One example is the song “We Shall Not Be Moved.” It uses themusic and many of the same words of an old religious song. Here isfolksinger Pete Seeger.
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VOICE ONE:
Many of the best labor songs came from workers in the coal minesof the southern United States. Coal mining was perhaps the mostdangerous job in America. There were few health or safety rules toprotect workers. The labor movement demanded action. But mine ownersbitterly opposed miners’ unions. In some areas, there was open warbetween labor activists and coal companies.
VOICE TWO:
Once in Harlan County, Kentucky, company police searched forunion leaders. They went to the home of one man. They did not findhim there. So, they waited outside for several days. The coalminer’s wife, Florence Reece, remained inside with her children. Shewrote this song, “Which Side Are You On?” Again, here is PeteSeeger.
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VOICE ONE:
Joe Hill was probably the most famous labor song writer inAmerica. He was born in Sweden and came to the United States in theearly nineteen-hundreds. He worked as an unskilled laborer.
Joe Hill joined a labor union called the I-W-W, the IndustrialWorkers of the World. More than any other union, the I-W-W usedmusic in its campaigns. It told its members to “sing and fight.”
One of Joe Hill’s best-known songs is “Casey Jones.” It uses themusic from a song about a train engineer. In the old song, Jones isa hero. He bravely keeps his train running in very difficultconditions.
In Joe Hill’s version, Casey Jones is no hero. His train isunsafe. Yet he continues to operate it after other workers havecalled a strike against the railroad company. Pete Seeger and theSong Swappers sing “Casey Jones – The Union Scab.”
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VOICE TWO:
When labor organizer and songwriter Joe Hill was thirty-threeyears old, he was accused of murder. Some historians believe thatpolice falsely accused him of murder to stop his labor activities.Others say there was strong evidence that he was guilty.
Joe Hill was executed in nineteen-fifteen in the state of Utah.Reports say these were his last words: “Do not waste time feelingsad about my death. Organize the workers.” The song “Joe Hill” waswritten by Earl Robinson and Alfred Hayes. It is sung here by JoanBaez.
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VOICE ONE:
Labor historian and musician Joe Glazer says the unofficial songof America’s labor movement is the song called “Solidarity Forever.”It was written in nineteen-fifteen by Ralph Chaplin. He was a poetand organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World union.
Ralph Chaplin wanted to write a song of revolution. He said itshould show that workers would always unite to claim their rights.
Here is “Solidarity Forever,” sung by the Whiteville Choir. Thesesingers are members of a clothing workers union in Whiteville, NorthCarolina.
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VOICE TWO:
To most Americans today, labor songs are part of the past. Onereason is that labor unions have gotten smaller. Another reason isthat American culture has changed. People do not sing in groupmeetings as much as they once did.
Still, many workers enjoy hearing and singing labor songs. Onepopular historical song is called “Bread and Roses.” Clothingworkers used these words to describe their movement innineteen-oh-eight. That year, one-hundred-twenty-eight women died ina factory fire in New York City. Fifteen-thousand women marched toprotest unsafe conditions in the factory.
VOICE ONE:
Four years later, the words “Bread and Roses” appeared on a flagcarried by textile workers during a strike in Lawrence,Massachusetts. That gave a member of the International Workers ofthe World the idea for a song. James Oppenheim wrote the song “Breadand Roses.” Pat Humphries sings it.
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VOICE TWO:
This program was written by Jerilyn Watson. It was produced byCaty Weaver. Our studio engineer was Keith Holmes. I’m Bob Doughty.
VOICE ONE:
And I’m Sarah Long. Join us again next week for another reportabout life in the United States on the VOA Special English programTHIS IS AMERICA.
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