The Strike of 1916

Title: Union Song Book
Type: Book
Date: 1914
Source: Minnesota Historical Society

Description: This is a book of songs that the union used to express the point of view of the workers and the union.

Transcription:

[page 1]

I. W. W.
SONGS

TO FAN THE FLAMES
OF DISCONTENT

PUBLISHED BY THE
I. W. W. PUBLISHING BUREAY
112 HAMILTON AVENUE     CLEVELAND, OHIO

[page 2]

WAGE WORKERS, COME JOIN THE UNION

(Tune: "Battle Hymn of the Republic")

We have seen the reaper toiling in the heat of summer sun,
We have seen his children needy when the harvesting was done,
We have seen a mighty army dying, helpless, one by one,
While their flag went marching on.

CHORUS.
Wage workers, come join the union!
Wage workers, come join the union!
Wage workers, come join the union!
Industrial Workers of the World.

O, the army of the wretched, how they swarm the city street -
We have seen them in the midnight, where the Goths and Vandals meet;
We have shuddered in the darkness at the noises of their feet,
But their cause went marching on.

Our slavers' marts are empty, human flesh no more is sold,
Where the dealer's fatal hammer wakes the clink of leaping gold,
But the slavers of the present more relentless powers hold,
Though the world goes marching on.

But no longer shall the children bend above the whizzing wheel.
We will free the weary women from their bondage under steel;
In the mines and in the forest worn and helpless man shall feel
That his cause is marching on.

Then lift your eyes, ye toilers, in the desert hot and drear,
Catch the cool winds from the mountains. Hark! the river's voice is near;
Soon we'll rest beside the fountain and the dreamland will be here
As we go marching on.