Industrial Workers of the World

“ Mad with their blood-lust, rich from our labor, exploiters dwell
In luxury and splendor; scornful of our power
Sweeping to triumph, trusting no promise—Heaven or Hell;
This song of sorrow sounds to them their fatal hour.
Rise now we workers rebellious and bold;
Tyrants no longer shall rule from above;
We are the builders—no one shall suffer hunger and cold—
We bring a world of beauty, liberty and love. ”

“ For the toilers to run the nation, and the world both high and low.
Kick in, and do your duty; for it's up to you and me—
It's the One Big Union of the Workers that will bring prosperity.
Don't be a meek and lowly slave like lots of those you meet,
Don't be a servile scissorbill and lick the bosses' feet.
Don't let them starve you off the earth, don't fear their prison cell,
Make your laws in the union hall—the rest can go to hell. ”

“ The workers will utilize the knowledge of ages to build and to plant on a solid rockbed the foundation of a new industrial and social system.
The foundation must be firm and solid. The revolutionary climax, after an incessant course of evolutionary processes by which forms and methods undergo changes, will eliminate forever the cause for the industrial division of society into two hostile camps. Harmonious relations of mankind in all their material affairs will evolve out of the change in the control and ownership in industrial resources of the world. ”

“ O, Liberty! can man resign thee?
Once having felt thy generous flame,
Can dungeon's bolts and bars confine thee?
Our whips, thy noble spirit tame?
Our whips, thy noble spirit tame?
Too long the world has wept bewailing,
That Falsehood's dagger tyrants wield;
But Freedom is our sword and shield;
And all their arts are unavailing!
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1928.
This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”

“ It is ours, and not to slave in, but to master and to own,
While the Union makes us strong.
They have taken untold millions that they never toiled to earn
But without our brain and muscle not a single wheel can turn.
We can break their haughty power; gain our freedom, when we learn
That, the Union makes us strong.
In our hands is placed a power greater than their hoarded gold;
Greater than the might of armies, magnified a thousand fold.
We can bring to birth the new world from the ashes of the old,
For the Union makes us strong. ”

“ The workers, conscious of their mission, must recognize the fact that the industries are developing to the highest state of perfection, and will be ready for operation under a new arrangement of things, namely after the class now in possession and control of them have gone the way of decay under the pressure of the advancing force of a new civilization. But it is imperative to arrange the human forces of production for the operation of the vast resources and implements of production under a system wherein commodities will be made for use alone. ”

“ To shout the Workers' battle cry for freedom.
We shall rally to the call, boys, on every sea and shore,
To shout the Workers' battle cry for freedom.
We shall stand with folded arms and for Masters slave no more,
And shout the Workers' battle cry for freedom.
CHORUS:
When the world is standing still and the Master cries for peace,
Let's shout the Workers' battle cry for freedom.
When he dons the overalls then the working class will cease
To shout the Workers' battle cry for freedom.
SECOND CHORUS:
One Union forever! ”

“ The Industrial Union
Shall be the human race.
We want no condescending saviors,
To rule us from a judgment hall;
We workers ask not for their favors;
Let us consult for all.
To make the thief disgorge his booty
To free the spirit from its cell,
We must ourselves decide our duty,
We must decide and do it well.
The law oppresses us and tricks us,
Wage systems drain our blood;
The rich are free from obligations,
The laws the poor delude. ”

“ The working class alone is interested in the removal of industrial inequality, and that can only be accomplished by a revolution of the industrial system. The workers, in their collectivity, must take over and operate all the essential industrial institutions, the means of production and distribution, for the well-being of all the human elements comprising the international nation of wealth-producers. ”

“ Our hearts shall cheer him and cry "All Hail!"
Our hands shall help to win the fight—
We're ready to fight, we're ready to die
For Liberty.
Industrial Unionism is the royal road to Industrial Freedom. ”

“ Our slaver's marts are empty, human flesh no more is sold,
Where the dealer's fatal hammer makes 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 ”

“ Instead of the conservative motto, "A fair day's wage for a fair day's work," we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, "Abolition of the wage system."
It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with capitalism. The army of production must be organized, not only for the every-day struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on production when capitalism shall have been overthrown. By organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old. ”

“ They at least propose some way of consummating their program of a revolution. But the middle-class is more frantic in its wailings of despair. In their band wagon they are lining up a large following of workers. Millions are made to believe that an impending struggle against predatory wealth will have as object the restoration of by-gone conditions, or the enforcement of restrictive measures for curbing further concentration of industries.
But the workers are not, and should not be concerned in the hopeless struggles of a decaying element of society. ”

“ One day as I lay dreaming, this vision came to me:
I saw an army streaming singing of liberty;
I marked these toilers passing by, I listened to their cry,
It was a triumphant anthem—an anthem filled with joy;
It was a triumphant anthem—an anthem filled with joy.
CHORUS:
One union, industrial union;
Workers of the world unite,
To make us free from slavery
And gain each man his right. ”

“ In presenting this plan of organization of industries, as it exists today, we have in mind only the object before explained. The workers, forced by capitalist ownership of the means of production to do service in all these industries, must organize themselves in their proper places in the industries in which they are engaged. Every worker who studies this map will find where he will fit in when the industries are organized for the control of the workers through industrial organization. ”

“ Its a message for millions resounding
To throw off your chains and be free.
YOU cannot be free while your CLASS is enslaved. Join the I. W. W. and find YOUR place in the final battle for the emancipation of the world's workers. ”

“ That is to say, the workers of any one plant or industry must be members of one and the same organization—no craft division lines. The capitalist institutions are today organized on exactly the same lines. The industries as they are grouped today, dovetailing into each other, furnish to the workers the basis for the construction of their organization for the struggles of today for better living conditions, and for the supervision and the management of industries in an industrial commonwealth of workers and producers. ”

“ There are some who never labor, yet labor's product get;
They never starve or freeze, nor face the wintry breeze;
They are well fed, clothed and sheltered,
And they do whate'er they please.
These parasites are living, in luxury and state;
While millions starve and shiver, and moan their wretched fate;
They know not why they die, nor do they ever try
Their lot in life to better;
They only mourn and sigh.
These parasites would vanish and leave this grand old world,
If the workers fought together, and the scarlet flag unfurled ”

“ Good will, revolutionary will-power, determination, courage are valuable assets in the struggle for the change. But they are like the water on the millwheels, unconscious of the great service that they are rendering. ”

“ Their labor power sell, in Kirby's peon hell;
Where the masters met disaster, when they met these workingmen who knew
That One Big Union true, could win the fray.
The women in the sweatshops, and the children working in the mills;
The stockyards man who kills, the miner in the hills;
Must stick together, in all weather; in One Big Union they must fight
Against the masters' might, they must unite.
DON'T FORGET that our fight is your fight. So let's fight together.
Organize yourself and fellow workers on the job for higher wages, shorter hours and better conditions. ”

“ To convert force and power into useful operation requires intelligence. And that intelligence must guide us to use the accumulated force for a defined purpose. That purpose, as it seems to be agreed, is to form a new social, or rather industrial structure within the shell of the old. To accomplish this the advocates, the militants for the new, must know to what extent the present factors in industrial development have organized and systematized industrial production. ”

“ Workingmen, unite!
We must put up a fight,
To make us free from slavery
And capitalistic tyranny;
This fight is not in vain,
We've got a world to gain.
Will you be a fool, a capitalist tool?
And serve your enemy?
Our Country? The country of millions of hunted, homeless, hungry slaves! The country of Colorado, Louisiana, Texas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and all the other innumerable scenes of labor's shambles? Not OUR country.
SCISSOR BILL.
By Joe Hill. ”

“ Social relations are the reflex of the grouping of industrial possessions. The owners of all resources and means of wealth form a class of their own; the owners of labor power as their only possession in the market, another. Political, judicial, educational and other institutions are only the mirror of the prevailing system of ownership in the resources and means of production. ”

“ We will unite in all our splendid might
In the Industrial Workers of the World.
We have a union, a fighting union,
And our masters know that, too.
It will keep them in their place
When they know they have to face
Our union of workingmen that's true.
For countless years and ages we've been enslaved
Beneath the capitalistic rule;
We, the strong, cringing to those men depraved,
In whose hands we have ever been a tool.
But the day of liberty is dawning—
Freedom now draws nigh.
We must unite to win the fight—
Wage slavery then will die. ”

“ The feudal lords had to surrender their sceptre to the ascending bourgeoisie, better known today as the capitalist class. The latter, at the outset, had in view only the free development of all forces of production, in an era of unrestricted competition between individuals. When, over a century ago, the change was consummated by revolutions, the instruments of production were more equally distributed. They were in possession of a multitude of the victorious capitalists, who owned small enterprises. ”

“ They proved themselves to be labor sons
In all of the workers' fights;
They have been hounded by power unbounded
Of capitalists throughout the land,
But all are astounded, our foes are confounded
For we still remain a union grand.
Then hail to this fighting band!
You live on coffee and on doughnuts;
The Boss lives on porterhouse steak.
You work ten hours a day and live in huts;
The Boss lives in the palace you make.
You face starvation, hunger, privation,
But the Boss is always well fed. ”

“ When now and then advocates of a better system of society refer to the new unionism they do it, in most cases, without knowing fully the distinction between the old kind of unionism and the unionism that advocates—One Big Union for the Entire Working Class the World Over! ”

“ Give every worker a chance to work each day;
Let's all join together and to the Boss all say,
CHORUS:
SABOTAGE.
Make it too expensive for the boss to take the lives and liberty of the workers. Stop the endless court trials by using the Wooden Shoe on the job. ”

“ It is the heritage of the working class to utilize to the fullest extent the great achievements of the preceding and existing processes and methods of production, for the benefit of all useful members of society. ”

“ Great will be the workers' power.
An eight-hour day for all employed workers, would put thousands of the unemployed to work.
WE WILL SING ONE SONG.
By Joe Hill.
(Air: "My Old Kentucky Home.")
We will sing one song of the meek and humble slave,
The horn-handed son of the toil,
He's toiling hard from the cradle to the grave,
But his master reaps the profits from his toil.
Then we'll sing one song of the greedy master class,
They're vagrants in broadcloth, indeed,
They live by robbing the ever-toiling mass,
Human blood they spill to satisfy their greed.
CHORUS:
Organize! ”

“ All countries of the world are governed, principally, in the interests of the small class controlling industrial combinations. Whenever the workers aimed heavy blows at these interests directly, that is, when they refused to serve, temporarily, in the production process of these industries, the exploiting class all over the world burst out in frantic denunciations of the forces that had so little regard for private property. ”

“ When the workers understand how the industrial system of today has developed, how one industrial pursuit dovetails into another, and all comprise an inseparable whole, they will not wantonly destroy what generations of industrial and social forces have brought forth. ”

“ When in One Union grand, the working class shall stand,
The parasites will vanish
And the workers rule the land.
UP FROM YOUR KNEES!
By Ralph H. Chaplin.
(Air: "Song of a Thousand Years.")
Up from your knees, ye cringing serfmen!
What have ye gained by whines and tears?
Rise! they can never break our spirits
Though they should try a thousand years.
CHORUS:
A thousand years, then speed the victory!
Nothing can stop us nor dismay.
After the winter comes the springtime;
After the darkness comes the day.
Break ye your chains; strike off your fetters ”

“ Where the workers can all join the fight;
So now on the soap box boldly he stands,
A singing with all of his might:
CHORUS:
There are but two nationalities, a nation of Masters, and a nation of Slaves.
One active agitating worker in the industry, is worth a dozen in the jungle.
One Big Union, One Enemy—The Boss. ”

“ Of course, it is the ultimate purpose of this arrangement that every worker shall have equal rights, and equal duties also, with all others in the management of the industry in which he or she serves in the process of production. ”