Joe Hill and the Rhetoric of Radicalism

Abstract

When Joe Hill was arrested for murder in Salt Lake City in 1914, he was known by fellow members of the Industrial of the World (IWW) as the author of popular contributions to their but outside the IWW he was as known as any other itinerant laborer. In more than a year, Hill's erratic but courageous actions during his murder trial turned the obscure songsmith into a labor martyr. Hill often made decisions that hurt his chances for acquittal, yet enhanced his image as a working-class hero. He refused to provide an alibi, stubbornly insisting that the American legal system live up to its claim that all defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial based on evidence and the rule of law. Nor would he explain the gunshot wound he suffered on the night of the murders, the main piece of circumstantial evidence against him, claiming that he needed to remain silent to protect a woman's honor. In the middle of the trial, Hill angrily dismissed his court-appointed attorneys, accusing them of working with the prosecution, and insisted on defending himself. Although the prosecutor presented only circumstantial evidence connecting Hill to the murders, and witnesses changed their stories to implicate Hill, he was found guilty and sentenced to death. Thousands signed petitions supporting Joe Hill, and President Woodrow Wilson twice appealed to the Governor of Utah to grant a new trial.1By this time, Hill was no longer an anonymous migrant worker. He had become the IWW incarnate, the quintessential Wobbly, as members of the IWW were called. The image of Hill as a thief and cold-blooded murderer epitomized the capitalist propaganda about traitorous, bombthrowing radicals, and right-wing newspapers denounced Hill as typical of the IWW menace. Meanwhile, the left idolized Hill as a workingclass poet incapable of murder, who was being railroaded by a crooked legal system intent on silencing the Wobbly bard. While in prison, Hill continued to write songs, including the wellknown anthem Workers of the World Awaken. Hill's letters, widely reprinted in the left-wing press, argued for his innocence but at the same time expressed his determination to use his case to expose injustices in the legal system. His final telegram commanded - Don't mourn for me - organize! - and these words remain a rallying cry for radicals. When Hill was executed by firing squad in Salt Lake City in November 1915, his status as a labor martyr was assured.This article explores how Joe Hill's martyr image was created and how it has been perpetuated in opposition to the hegemonic narratives of capitalism. It does not address the question of Hill's guilt or innocence, which has preoccupied many scholars; instead it examines Hill's songs and prison letters, as well as the rhetorical battles over Hill's image, to reveal how radical social movements appropriate and revise powerful aspects of the dominant discourse to persuade others to fight for social change. The first part of the article examines Joe Hill's songs in their historical performance context to better understand the role they played in radicalizing workers. Clearly the most popular contributions to the IWW's little red songbook, Hill's songs, taken together, constitute a singable synopsis of the Wobblies' philosophy of class struggle.2 Hill's habit of writing new words for familiar tunes, his ironic humor, and his knack for turning abstract IWW philosophy into memorable human dramas in song all contributed to the popularity and lasting appeal of his work. Often rewriting Christian rhetoric to point out the hypocrisy of religion's close collaboration with capitalism's mistreatment of workers, Hill's songs create an alternative vision of a worker's paradise on earth. This battle for the rhetorical high ground, which Hill waged in his songs, intensified with his arrest on charges of murder. The second section considers how Joe Hill created a martyr image for himself during his trail and subsequent appeals. …