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Today in Labor History November 19, 1915: Joe Hill, IWW organizer and song writer was executed by a Utah firing squad after being convicted of murder on trumped-up charges. His final message from prison was “Don’t mourn, Organize!” His ashes were supposedly sprinkled in every state of the union, except Utah, because he had said, "I don't want to be found dead in Utah." They were also sprinkled in Canada, Sweden, Australia and Canada. Some of his most famous songs were “The Preacher and the Slave,” “The Rebel Girl,” “There is Power in a Union,” “Casey Jones, the Union Scab,” and “Mr. Block.” In 1988, an envelope containing his remaining ashes was discovered. Abbie Hoffman suggested that folksinger Billy Bragg should consume them and he supposedly did, washed down, of course, with copious union beer.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #joehill #anarchism #deathpenalty #prison #folkmusic #singer #execution #solidarity
Peter Riley
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