Solidarity Forever
Solidarity Forever, written by Ralph Chaplin, is perhaps the
most famous IWW song. It's sung to the tune of John Brown's
Body.
- 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
-
- Solidarity forever, Solidarity forever
- Solidarity forever, for the union makes us strong!
-
- It is we who plowed the prairies, built the cities where they
trade
- Dug the mines and built the workshops, endless miles of
railroad laid
- Now we stand outcast and starving 'mid the wonders we have
made
- But 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
-
- And of course, more verses have been added:
-
- It is we that wash the dishes, scrub the floors and chase the
dirt
- Feed the kids and send them off to school and then we go to
work
- Where we work for half wages for a boss that likes to flirt
- But the union makes us strong.
More anarchist and
other radical songs