\\\INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD//////// education W * W organization * _I_ * emancipation ------------------------------------------------------------- ``We Never Forget'' * * * >>> NOVEMBER 19 : JOE HILL MURDERED November 19 marks the 99th anniversary of the execution of our fellow worker Joe Hill, songwriter and organizer, by the state of Utah, for a crime he did not commit. Born Joel Emmanuel Haggland on October 7, 1879, Joe left Sweden for New York about 1902. He played piano in NYC, then moved west and worked as a longshore-worker in San Pedro, California. Joe travelled around the west working on farms and construction. Joe Hill's songs first appeared in the IWW Songbook in 1911. Joe was at the Fraser River, B.C. rail construction when workers struck in 1912. He wrote *Where the Fraser River Flows* and helped win the strike. Arrested in Salt Lake City in 1914, Joe was charged with murder of a storekeeper and ex-policeman. Evidence shows the storekeeper was killed for revenge by ex-convicts he had helped send to prison. But police were eager to get rid of the songwriter, and so Joe was convicted with many irregularities in the trial. Worldwide protests came from the Swedish government, and hundreds of letters and telegrams came daily to the Utah governor asking for a pardon. In prison Joe kept writing songs, including *The Rebel Girl*, written for Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, which Joe considered his best song. November 18, 1915, Joe sent this telegram to IWW secretary Big Bill Haywood: *Don't waste any time in mourning -- organize!* Later, Joe handed a guard a paper with these words: MY LAST WILL My will is easy to decide, For I have nothing to divide My kin don't need to fuss and moan, Moss does not cling to a rolling stone My body -- Ah, if I could choose, I would to ashes it reduce And let the merry breezes blow My dust to where some flowers grow Perhaps some fading flower then, Would come to life and bloom again This is my last and final will Good luck to all of you -- Joe Hill. Joe Hill was executed by a firing squad November 19, 1915. In the 1980's, an urn containing Joe Hill's ashes was found in the US Post Office. After some negotiation, the ashes were turned over to the IWW, and scattered at about 20 different sites around the United States. Wherever people are fighting for their rights, the spirit of Joe Hill lives on! Don't mourn -- organize! THE REBEL GIRL by Joe Hill /words updated/ There are women of many descriptions In this cruel world as everyone knows Some are living in beautiful mansions And wearing the finest of clothes There's the blue blooded queen and the princess Who have charms made of diamonds and pearls But the only and true kind of lady Is the Rebel Girl chorus: She's a rebel girl, a rebel girl To the working class she's the strength of this world From Newfoundland to B.C. She's fighting for you and for me Yes she's there by our side With her courage and pride She's unequalled anywhere And I'm proud to fight for freedom With the rebel girl! \\\THE BOSSES NEED YOU - YOU DON'T NEED THEM/////// ###