The Union Song “Solidarity Forever” – What It Really Represents

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Brooks Bayne in Articles

The left would have you believe that the teachers union protests in Wisconsin and elsewhere are simply about “the people” and “the middle class”. The union supporters have denied that these protests have anything to do with socialism or Marxism, even though we know that America’s unions were created by socialists and Marxists. What is the “Solidarity Forever” song that the unionists all sing about? Who wrote it? Who published it? Here are the unionists singing “Solidarity Forever” in the Wisconsin capitol building:

And here they are singing the same song as they’re being dragged out of the capitol one-by-one:

SOLIDARITY FOREVER!
By Ralph H. Chaplin, 1915
(Tune: “John Brown’s Body”)
When the Union’s inspiration through the worker’s blood shall run,
There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun.
Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one?
But the Union makes us strong.

CHORUS
Solidarity forever!
Solidarity forever!
Solidarity forever!
But the Union makes us strong.

Is there aught we hold in common with the greedy parasite
Who would lash us into serfdom and would crush you with his might?
Is there anything left for us but to organize and fight?
For the Union makes us strong.
(Chorus)

It is we who plowed the prairies; built the cities where they trade.
Dug the mines and built the workshops; endless miles of railroad laid.
Now we stand, outcast and starving, ‘mid the wonders we have made;
But the Union makes us strong.
(Chorus)

All the world that’s owned by idle drones, is ours and ours alone.
We have laid the wide foundations; built it skywards, stone by stone.
It is ours, not to slave in, but to master and to own,
While the Union makes us strong.
(Chorus)

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.
(Chorus)

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.
(Chorus)

Cute, the songwriter, Ralph Chaplin, calls capitalists, “greedy parasites” and then goes on to regurgitate rehashed Marx and Engels in the style of the typical, self-entitled, collectivist everyman – hence why the song is so appealing to the Wisconsin unionists – they can relate to it. What would one expect from unionists living in Wisconsin, “the birthplace of American progressivism”?

Chaplin was originally a communist who would later work for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) organization, which was created by two hundred socialists, anarchists, and radical trade unionists. The IWW’s members are known as Wobblies… fitting. Later, Chaplin became a socialist, because his communist paradigm was shaken by the fact the Marxist revolutionaries killed people to meet their goals in the Russian Revolution. Ralph was yet another collectivist idealist ignorant to history and human nature.

The IWW had a newspaper named, “Solidarity” and Chaplin, a poet, was one of their leaders and he worked as an editor,  “journalist”, and illustrator. Chaplin illustrated his first Solidarity cover (top below) in 1915, and he also created the widely used IWW “wildcat strike” icon (middle below). Note the IWW’s recent “general strike” illustration (bottom below), in Arabic, marketed to those participating in the socialist uprisings in the Middle East.

“Solidarity Forever” was originally published in IWW’s “Little Red Songbook” (songs from which are embedded in a Scribd document at the bottom of the article), the purpose of which is to “fan the flames of discontent” – red being the color of socialists and communists. The song has been recorded by Pete Seeger, Joe Glazer, and the Almanac Singers – all communists. The song has also been performed numerous times by lefty fave, Utah Phillips, another communist. Other songs in the “Little Red Songbook” hail socialism and Sam Gompers, a Marxist,  who created the AFL (now the AFL-CIO, America’s largest union organization). The IWW’s Preamble (which is on the inside cover of every Little Red Songbook) states:

The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life. Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the earth and the machinery of production, and abolish the wage system. We find that the centering of the management of industries into fewer and fewer hands makes the trade unions unable to cope with the ever growing power of the employing class. The trade unions foster a state of affairs which allows one set of workers to be pitted against another set of workers in the same industry, thereby helping defeat one another in wage wars. Moreover, the trade unions aid the employing class to mislead the workers into the belief that the working class have interests in common with their employers. These conditions can be changed and the interest of the working class upheld only by an organization formed in such a way that all its members in any one industry, or in all industries, if necessary, cease work whenever a strike or lookout is on in any department thereof, thus making an injury to one an injury to all. Instead of the conservative motto, “A fair day’s wages 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. Knowing, therefore, that such an organization is absolutely necessary for our emancipation, we unite under the following constitution:

The IWW’s preamble is straight-up Marxism. And these words are the basis for many legal actions taken against the group because it proves that the IWW is a subversive organization and a threat to American liberty.

Chaplin was arrested in 1917 under the Espionage Act. He, along with 117 others were all charged with 100 crimes, including conspiring to overthrow the U.S. government and impeding America’s war effort . The jury returned a guilty verdict for all charged within an hour.

Ironically, there was a minor point of agreement between Chaplin and conservatives. Chaplin, and his hardcore leftist counterparts, were against the industrial union mandates in the Wagner Act, passed in 1935, and not for the same reasons conservatives would obviously be against Marxist ideology (add to the reason conservatives would be against the Marxist inspired Act… the Wagner Act is also racist!), but because Chaplin felt the Act didn’t give unions enough control over the means of production.

Now when you hear the word “solidarity” in relation to unions, or hear the song “Solidarity Forever”, you’ll know what’s really going on. The agenda of those who support “solidarity” is at the heart of the battle between supporters of American liberty (conservatives, libertarians, independents) and collectivists (socialists, Marxists, progressives). As the IWW preamble says, the unionists want to overthrow America (they were arrested for such) and give workers control of production.

Please share this article with a union worker. Chances are, he or she only knows part of this story, if any – ironically, this applies to many teachers. Friends don’t let friends join unions.

Sound off below! Comments from trolls will be deleted.

Tags: espionage act, Featured, iww, little red songbook, marxism, ralph chaplin, socialism, solidarity, solidarity forever, wagner act