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Untitled Document
Solidarity Forever
Every union member should know the song, "Solidarity Forever," and
appreciate its lyrics. Without a doubt, it has become the anthem
of the American labor movement. Ralph Chaplin, the famous poet,
artist, writer, and organizer for the Industrial Workers of the
World, wrote "Solidarity Forever" on January 17, 1915. That day,
while lying on the rug in his living room, he scribbled stanza
after stanza. The idea had come to him earlier while he was in
West Virginia helping the coal miners in the great Kanawha Valley
strike. Little did he dream then that song would live on after all
his other work was forgotten. Chaplin recalled: "I wanted a song
to be full of revolutionary fervor and to have a chorus that was
singing and defiant."
When the union's inspiration
through the workers' blood shall run,
There can be no power greater
anywhere beneath the sun;
Yet what force on earth is
weaker than the feeble strength of one,
But the union makes us strong.
CHORUS:
Solidarity forever,
Solidarity forever,
Solidarity forever,
For the union makes us strong.
Is there aught we hold in common
with the greedy parasite,
Who would lash us into serfdom
and would crush us with his might?
Is there anything left to us but
to organize and fight?
For the union makes us strong.
It is we who plowed the praries;
built the cities where they trade;
Dug the mines and built the
workshops, endless miles of railroad laid;
Now we stand outcast and
starving midst the wonders we have made;
But the union makes us strong.
All the world that's owned by
idle drones is ours and ours alone.
We have laid the wide
foundations; built it skyward stone by stone.
It is ours, not to slave in, but
to master and to own.
While the union makes us strong.
They have taken untold millions
that they never toiled to earn,
But without our brain and muscle
not a single wheel can turn.
We can break their haughty
power, gain our freedom when we learn
That the union makes us strong.
In our hands is placed a power
greater than their hoarded gold,
Greater than the might of
armies, magnified a thousand-fold.
We can bring to birth a new
world from the ashes of the old
For the union makes us strong.
Play the Song! |
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