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With three bullets to the heart, the State of Utah executed Joe Hill on November 19, 1915. In one of the most disputed cases to date, Joe Hill, the most prolific songwriter in the history of the Industrial Workers of the World, was convicted of murdering John Morrison, owner of Morrison Grocery, and his son Arling on the night of January 10, 1914 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Margareta Katarina Haaglund gave birth to the legendary Joel Haaglund in Gavle, Sweden on October 7, 1879. His father, Olaf Haaglund, supported nine children, six of whom lived to maturity, by working as a conductor on the Gavle-Dala Railroad. The Haaglunds were a devoutly religious family who did not discuss politics. Margareta and Olaf led the family in songs and taught each child to play the family organ, which Olaf built. Joe Hill, born Joel Haaglund, also learned to play the violin, guitar, accordion, and piano, as his love for music developed. In 1902, after the death of his parents, Joe and his brother Paul immigrated to America where they expected to “scrape gold off the ground.” After working various jobs in New York City, Joe moved to Chicago and found work in a machine shop. Shortly thereafter, he was fired from his job and blacklisted for attempting to organize the workers. As a result, Joel Haaglund changed his name to Joe Hill. He traveled extensively around the country before joining the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in San Pedro, California in 1910. Joe quickly became immersed in the IWW and devoted his life to the “awakening of ‘illiterates’ and ‘scum’ to an original, personal conception of society and the realization of the dignity and rights of their part in it.” He wrote songs like “The Preacher and the Slave” and “Casey Jones – the Union Scab” to inspire solidarity in the ranks of the IWW and to recruit new members. He encouraged a “conscientious withdrawal of efficiency,” which was not a call for violence, but rather a sprinkle of sand in the workings of machinery, and, more specifically, the efforts of non-union friendly employers. In 1914, on his way from California to Chicago, Hill stopped to earn some money in the Utah mines. There he encountered three friends who he had met while working in San Pedro: Otto Applequist and the Eselius Brothers. Edward and John Eselius allowed Joe to live at their house as a guest. Joe Hill was eventually convicted of murdering John and Arling Morrison, and took his last breath in Utah before the firing squad. His trip to Chicago was eventually completed – in a casket. |
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Acts in Gavle (Sweden) for the centenary of the execution of Joe Hill …..Do not complain, get organized!
A trip to Sweden to no matter what meeting organized by the comrades of SAC is a guarantee of learning, great moments of personal relations and teamwork.
My Last Will
For there is nothing to divide.
My kin don’t need to fuss and moan –
“Moss does not cling to a rolling stone.” My body? — Oh! — 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
The occasion this time was motivated by the anniversary of the execution of Joe Hill, Utah (USA).Therefore people from many different countries of Europe and varied syndicalist organizations and Wobblies have been for three days discussed issues that affect us directly and deeply in our daily militant activity and we also had poetry, songs and theatrical actions.
It was held in a building of an old church and, for years, the municipal public space of social activities.
Around 20:30 began the commemorative festivities in ‘Joe Hill’s Garden’, with music al colleagues Fred Alpi and David Kristian Svensson (CNT-f). They also made a collective dramatization Besides presenting an excellent book of songs related to the Swedish emigrant founder of the IWW
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The Industrial Workers of the World
Founding Information:The Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) was founded in 1905 by “seasoned old unionists” who were dissatisfied with contemporary movements to organize American laborers. The most powerful existing organization of workers was the American Federation of Labor (AFL), a gathering of specialized craft unions that actually fought against other emerging solidarity unions of all types of workers, skilled or unskilled. Many who opposed the AFL in favor of inclusive unions were already active in existing labor movements and argued amongst themselves as to worthy theory and policy to pursue. It was into this chaotic landscape that the I.W.W. was born. Six men met in Chicago in November of 1904 to set about correcting the inadequacies of the American labor movement. All six men already belonged to unions of their own: To avoid complications within their respective unions, the six met in secret. Others labor organizers, such as the future I.W.W. leader Gene Debs, knew about the meeting but were unable to attend. The men weighed the question of whether or not scattered and sputtering craft unions could be re-organized alongside millions of unskilled laborers. Figuring it was worth a try, the men invited 36 prominent labor leaders to attend a second secret meeting to be held the following January. Only 25 of these leaders attended the meeting. They moved forward nonetheless, officially founding the I.W.W. on June 27, 1905 with a start-up membership of just over two hundred men and women. Calling their founding convention “the Continental Congress of the working class, “William D. Haywood, then Secretary of the Western Federation of Miners, sought to make the I.W.W. an organization open to workers of all types. Unlike the AFL, which excluded non-whites, women, the unskilled, and the foreign born, the I.W.W. poised itself as a movement available to all varieties of workers. Within a year, the I.W.W. grew to a membership of 3,000 workers, thanks to their inclusive policies.Four phases of the I.W.W.:From its founding in 1905 through about 1911, the I.W.W. refined its policies and sought to establish viable local chapters in as many cities and states as possible. It was during this initial period of growth that the “Wobblies,” as they came to be called, achieved a reputation for their tenacious and effective strikes. Coupled with their efforts to gain a greater measure of free speech for political and economic dissidents, the I.W.W. became both a respected and hated labor organization. Due to their leftist hopes of destroying the wage system, the I.W.W. lost the support of many industrial unions that were interested in labor reform, not labor revolution. The Wobbly goal of giving ownership and management of industrial production to the workers was too Socialist for many organizations who simply wanted to barter for better wages, not strive to dismantle the employer-employee system. Despite disagreements with other labor organizations, the influence of the Industrial Workers of the World grew. Spurred on by a success in the textile industry in 1912, the I.W.W. became increasingly effective as a trade union. It won support among harvest workers, lumberjacks, miners, longshoremen, and mariners. Glory was short-lived, however, as the federal government, under the political weight of angry corporations, moved to stifle the organization’s growth. Beginning in 1917, the federal government used World War I as a rationale to harass and imprison Wobblies. Citing that agitation during wartime was equivalent to treason, the federal government put the I.W.W. into a defensive posture, slowing their growth and hampering their attempts at continued labor consolidation. During this time, union resources had to be spent on legal defense against state and federal attacks. Another setback was the formation of an American Communist movement, which led to an ideological splintering of the union. Coupled with infiltration and sabotage by government and company agents, the I.W.W. suffered an organizational schism in 1924. Since that year, the I.W.W. has lost its organizational power and become a marginal political factor. Though the association lives on today, with chapters in dozens of cities around the world, the Wobblies lack the organizational power they once enjoyed. Lacking the central power and labor support it once enjoyed, the I.W.W. has since developed pronounced anarchist overtones while simultaneously becoming a popular source of mythmaking and legend. |
My Last Will
For there is nothing to divide.
My kin don’t need to fuss and moan –
“Moss does not cling to a rolling stone.” My body? — Oh! — 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
Hill was memorialised in a tribute poem written about him c. 1930 by Alfred Hayes titled I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night,
The Free 