From the earliest time, music has provided the spirit of the labor movement. One of the concerns of the most politicized of the 1960s anti-war activists was that the music they listened to was not in keeping, for the most part, with historical workers' music - had they been co-opted? Much of the anti-war music was not specifically political, it didn't speak the language of class struggle. The folk movement that preceded it - now that was a different story. (how many of us know the tale of Pete Seeger's reaction to Dylan's electrified guitar? Dylan plugs in, fans plug out?
The reason was not that Dylan, as an artist, couldn't do more with electric. The reason was simpler: The acoustic guitar could be taken to rallies, easily brought to Union halls - it was an instrument of the people.
Here are some of my favorite labor solidarity songs
Woody Guthrie, 1913 Massacre (do they teach this in schools?)
Ewan McColl (Pete's brother in law) and "The Ballad of Accounting"
Billy Bragg," There is Power in a Union"
Some of the work has been "rediscovered" and given new life by more recent artists, such as Bruce Springsteen, from the "Seeger Sessions" singing about the plight of the dustbowl farmer, who, like many of us, ended up with a mortgage and nothing worth the debt.
Union halls used to serve as cultural centers. Plays, music, literature, painting, dance
- Gus Hall used to talk about how the cigar rollers would hire readers to read great literature to the workers while they worked. Chicago is proud home to the Old Town School of Folk Music http://www.oldtownschool.org/ In the fall, one of the top folk singers from this school, Mark Dvorak, will be performing a benefit concert for a wonderful progressive organization to assist persons with disabilities integrate fully into the community. We are standing in unity - the only way to victory.
This is our heritage as progressives. Too few people know the songs of labor solidarity and struggle. Share your own favorites!