Joe Hill: Red November, black November

Abstract

A pamphlet, no matter how good, is never read more than once, but a song is learned by heart and repeated over and over – Joe Hill Joe Hill, born Joel Hägglund, was an IWW organiser, songwriter, troubadour, and cartoonist. Immigrating from Sweden to the US around the turn of the century, Joe Hill travelled the land as an itinerant worker, hopping trains and picking up jobs across the country. At some point, he found the IWW and soon became a prominent member, travelling widely, organising workers, and using his music to spread the word of the IWW. He contributed greatly to Wobbly culture, writing such songs as ‘There is Power in a Union’, ‘The Rebel Girl’, and ‘The Preacher and the Slave’ – in which he coined the phrase ‘pie in the sky’, referring to the illusory promises of street preachers who discouraged workers from organising for better conditions in this life. An immigrant, an itinerant worker, and an IWW member, Joe Hill was the perfect scapegoat. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to death by firing squad INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 20 Volume 22 Issue 4 2015 Red November, black November, Bleak November, black and red. Hallowed month of labour’s martyrs, Labour’s heroes, labour’s dead. Labour’s wrath and hope and sorrow, Red the promise, black the threat, Who are we not to remember? Who are we to dare forget? Black and red the colours blended, Black and red the pledge we made, Red until the fight is ended, Black until the debt is paid. — By Ralph Chaplin F or Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) members and radical labour activists, November is a particularly sombre month. And this past November particularly so, as it marks the 100th anniversary of the 1915 execution of Joe Hill by the state of Utah. Red November, black November IN MEMORY ❐ JOEL HÄGGLUND (‘JOE HILL’) BRIAN LATOUR is the Press Officer of the IWW and currently lives in Canada Joe Hill memorial mural, by Heidi and Josh Belka of Salt Lake City. INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 21 Volume 22 Issue 4 2015 Eventually, Joe Hill made his way to Utah where he was accused of the murder of a grocer. Despite the fact that the state had only circumstantial evidence, as an immigrant, an itinerant worker, and an IWW member, Joe Hill was the perfect scapegoat. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to death by firing squad. Many unionists fought for clemency for Joe Hill; resolutions were passed urging the state of Utah to free Hill by union bodies throughout North America, Europe, and Australia. Even President Woodrow Wilson urged the governor of Utah to grant Joe Hill clemency, but it was all to no avail. Joe Hill was murdered by the state of Utah on 19 November 1915. His ashes were sent to IWW locals, members, and sympathisers around the world and were spread throughout the land. Red November, Unfortunately, Joe Hill was not the first or the last union organiser to meet an untimely end. The month of November is one where too many unionists and IWW members became labour martyrs. Albert Parsons, August Spies, George Engel, and Adolph Fischer, four Chicago anarchists were executed on 11 November 1887, for advocating for the eight-hour day and became known as the Haymarket martyrs. A fifth, Louis Lingg, committed suicide in his cell the day before. This was followed a few days later by the Thibodeaux massacre, in which anywhere from a few dozen to possibly 300 striking African-American sugar cane workers were murdered in Louisiana. The Everett massacre took place on 5 November 1916, when a group of deputy sheriffs opened fire on a steamship carrying IWW members to Everett to participate in a free speech fight. 11 were killed and 27 wounded. On 11 November 1919, an IWW hall in Centralia was attacked by legionnaires. IWW members who fought back in self-defense were jailed and one, Wesley Everest, was kidnapped from his cell, castrated , lynched, and shot full of holes. November 1919 was also the time of ‘Bloody Bogalusa’, where, in a show of solidarity in the face of the racism of...