Little Red Songbook 39th edition
#littleredsongbook
Today in Labor History August 19, 1909: The first edition of the IWW’s The Little Red Songbook was published in Spokane, WA. The book’s subtitle is “Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent.” Between 1909 and 1995, the Wobblies printed 36 editions. The songbook always includes songs by Joe Hill, Ralph Chaplin, T-Bone Slim, and Haywire Mac. Most editions contained many of the best-known labor songs, like "The Internationale," "The Preacher and the Slave," and "Solidarity Forever." Haywire Mac, composer of the “Big Rock Candy Mountain” and “Hallelujah I’m a Bum,” was one of the original members of the IWW band, in Spokane, in 1907. Mac later participated in the anarchist Magonista Revolution in Baja California, helping to capture and occupy Tijuana. He eventually settled down in San Francisco, where he hosted working-class radio and television programs.
You can read my bio of Haywire Mac here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2021/03/16/the-haywire-mac-story/
#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #littleredsongbook #folkmusic #union #HaywireMac #JoeHill #internationale #wobblies #solidarity
poor working conditions drove increasing numbers of Finns to the Industrial Workers of the World (#IWW). In the 1920s, Finns formed the largest individual ethnic group within the organisation. The IWW’s catch phrases were #directaction, #sabotage and #generalstrike. Music was used in the battle against capitalism by the IWW: “The Singing Union”.
https://www.fmq.fi/articles/there-is-power-in-the-union
#Finland #labormovement #littleRedSongbook #migrantworkers #music #organize #songs #Unions #workingclasshistory
I sang Bread and Roses at my union online social, and other people sang other brilliant things!
Today in Labor History November 7, 1912: Ernest Riebe's "Mr. Block," IWW labor comic strip first appeared in print. Mr. Block was one of the best-loved features in the Wobbly press. Joe Hill wrote a song about "Mr. Block," who was a boss-loving, American Dream-believing, self-sabotaging knucklehead. Some call Riebe the first "underground" comic book artist.
Mr. Block (by Joe Hill)
Please give me your attention, I'll introduce to you
A man who is a credit to the ["Our] old Red White and Blue["]
His head is made of lumber and solid as a rock
He is a common worker and his name is Mr. Block
And Block [he] thinks he may be premier [President] some day
Chorus
Oh Mr. Block, you were born by mistake
You take the cake, you make me ache
[Go] tie a rock on your block and then jump in the lake
Kindly do that for Liberty's sake!
2. Yes, Mr. Block is lucky - he got a job, by gee!
The shark got seven dollars for job and fare and fee
They shipped him to a desert and dumped him with his truck
But when he tried to find his job he sure was out of luck
He shouted, "That's too raw! I'll fix them with the law!"
3. Block hiked back to the city but wasn't doing well
He said "I'll join the union, the great AF of L".
He got a job that morning, got fired by the night
He said, "I'll see Sam Gompers and he'll fix that foreman right!"
Sam Gompers said, "You see, you've got our sympathy."
4. Election day he shouted, "A Socialist for Mayor!"
The comrade got elected [and] he happy was for fair
But after the election he got an awful shock
[When] a great big socialistic bull did rap him on the block
And Comrade Block did sob, "I helped him get his job!"
5. Poor Block he died one evening, I'm very glad to state
He climbed the golden ladder up to the pearly gate
He said, "Oh Mister Peter, one thing I'd like to tell
I'd like to meet the Astorbilts and John D Rockerfell!"
Old Pete said, "Is that so? You'll meet them down below!"
Tune: It Looks to me Like a Big Time Tonight. from Al Grierson,
by Joe Hill, in 13th ed. of the Little Red Songbook
#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #anarchism #MrBlock #LittleRedSongbook #JoeHill #underground #comics #cartoon #satire #writer #artist @bookstadon
Today in Labor History August 19, 1909: The first edition of the IWW’s The Little Red Songbook was published in Spokane, WA. The book’s subtitle is “Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent.” Between 1909 and 1995, the Wobblies printed 36 editions. The songbook always includes songs by Joe Hill, Ralph Chaplin, T-Bone Slim, and Haywire Mac. Most editions contained many of the best-known labor songs, like "The Internationale," "The Preacher and the Slave," and "Solidarity Forever." Haywire Mac, composer of the “Big Rock Candy Mountain” and “Hallelujah I’m a Bum,” was one of the original members of the IWW band, in Spokane, in 1907. Mac later participated in the anarchist Magonista Revolution in Baja California, helping to capture and occupy Tijuana. He eventually settled down in San Francisco, where he hosted working-class radio and television programs.
You can read my bio of Haywire Mac here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2021/03/16/the-haywire-mac-story/
#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #littleredsongbook #folkmusic #union #HaywireMac #JoeHill #internationale #wobblies #solidarity
Sing while you Strike - Occupy a chorus !
August 19, 1909, the first edition published by the #IWW in #spokane Washington of the #LittleRedSongbook In countless editions and revisions has never gone out of print; a pocket-sized compendium including “Up From Your Knees,” “The Commonwealth of Toil,” “Solidarity Forever,” “Workers of the World, Awaken!,” “There Is Power In A Union,” and “Pie in the Sky.”
2018 Kim Kelly on
https://chicagoreader.com/music/the-protest-songs-that-drove-the-wobblies-a-century-ago-are-still-lighting-fires/
6 March 1913 “There is Power in a #Union" in #iww #LittleRedSongBook.
"Would you have mansions of gold in the sky/
and live in a shack, way in the back?/
Would you have wings up in heaven to fly/
And starve here with rags on your back?"
"There is power, there is power/
In a band of workingfolk,/
When they stand hand in hand/
That’s a power, that’s a power/
That must rule in every land,/
One Industrial Union Grand".
"Wherever you find injustice, the proper form of politeness is attack."
Juice Is Stranger Than Friction: T-Bone Slim.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-Bone_Slim
Research translate & publish project
https://blogs.helsinki.fi/tboneslim/t-bone-slim-info/
Songs of Matti Valentine Huhta aka TBone Slim
https://johnwestmorelandmusic.com/t-bone-slim
Today in Labor History November 7, 1912: Ernest Riebe's "Mr. Block," IWW labor comic strip first appeared in print. Mr. Block was one of the best-loved features in the Wobbly press. Joe Hill wrote a song about "Mr. Block," who was a boss-loving, American Dream-believing, self-sabotaging knucklehead. Some call Riebe the first "underground" comic book artist.
Mr. Block (by Joe Hill)
Please give me your attention, I'll introduce to you
A man who is a credit to the ["Our] old Red White and Blue["]
His head is made of lumber and solid as a rock
He is a common worker and his name is Mr. Block
And Block [he] thinks he may be premier [President] some day
Chorus
Oh Mr. Block, you were born by mistake
You take the cake, you make me ache
[Go] tie a rock on your block and then jump in the lake
Kindly do that for Liberty's sake!
2. Yes, Mr. Block is lucky - he got a job, by gee!
The shark got seven dollars for job and fare and fee
They shipped him to a desert and dumped him with his truck
But when he tried to find his job he sure was out of luck
He shouted, "That's too raw! I'll fix them with the law!"
3. Block hiked back to the city but wasn't doing well
He said "I'll join the union, the great AF of L".
He got a job that morning, got fired by the night
He said, "I'll see Sam Gompers and he'll fix that foreman right!"
Sam Gompers said, "You see, you've got our sympathy."
4. Election day he shouted, "A Socialist for Mayor!"
The comrade got elected [and] he happy was for fair
But after the election he got an awful shock
[When] a great big socialistic bull did rap him on the block
And Comrade Block did sob, "I helped him get his job!"
5. Poor Block he died one evening, I'm very glad to state
He climbed the golden ladder up to the pearly gate
He said, "Oh Mister Peter, one thing I'd like to tell
I'd like to meet the Astorbilts and John D Rockerfell!"
Old Pete said, "Is that so? You'll meet them down below!"
Tune: It Looks to me Like a Big Time Tonight. from Al Grierson,
by Joe Hill, in 13th ed. of the Little Red Songbook
#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #IWW #anarchism #MrBlock #LittleRedSongbook #JoeHill #underground #comics #cartoon #satire #writer #artist @bookstadon
“The Right to Be Lazy”
Lyrics: Luis J. Prat.
Tune: Luis J. Prat.
Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SSJbR-s-Ws
You shall work every day of your life,
And you shall work from childhood to old age,
And you shall work yourself into an early grave
Because the boss says so,
The system makes you so,
Because the cops will beat you up if you don’t.
Today in Labor History August 19, 1909: The first edition of the IWW’s The Little Red Songbook was published in Spokane, WA. The book’s subtitle is “Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent.” Between 1909 and 1995, the Wobblies printed 36 editions. The songbook always includes songs by Joe Hill, Ralph Chaplin, T-Bone Slim, and Haywire Mac. Most editions contained many of the best-known labor songs, like "The Internationale," "The Preacher and the Slave," and "Solidarity Forever."
#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #IWW #LittleRedSongbook #FolkMusic #union #HaywireMac #JoeHill #internationale #wobblies #solidarity
Client Info
Server: https://mastodon.social
Version: 2025.07
Repository: https://github.com/cyevgeniy/lmst