Every Fellow Worker Knows Joe Hill (2024)

_{Joe Hill’s depiction of the Mexican Revolution sent to his
comrade-in-arms Sam Murray}

A collection of some important and sometimes ridiculous texts written by fellow worker Joe Hill and published in the Wobbly, socialist or mainstream press in his time, or a few years after he was executed by the State of Utah in 1915 for being a revolutionary.

More well known for his songs (such as the British Columbia themed tune, ‘Where the Fraser River Flows‘), Hill also drew comics and wrote brief articles and letters for publications, giving insight into his analysis and displaying his sometimes enjoyable, sometimes questionable sense of humor and critique-worthy choice of words or analysis itself.

In light of his writing and thoughts on both American militarism and the Mexican Revolution, Hill’s song, ‘Should I Ever Be a Soldier‘, for instance, takes on a new light, as a combination of both factors.

Ultimately, revolutionaries too are just people, absolutely riddled with contradictions, and as such should be ruthlessly or tenderly critiqued the same as all else should be, neither revered unquestionably nor dismissed outright.

– M.Gouldhawke, 2024

Another Victim of the Uniformed Thugs

From ‘Industrial Worker‘, August 27, 1910, Spokane, Washington

On the Road, August 11th, 1910.

While strolling through the yards at Pendleton, Ore., I saw a fellow sitting on a tie pile. He had his left hand all bandaged up and hanging useless by his side, and the expression on his face was the most hopeless I ever saw. Seeing that he was one of my class I went up and asked him how it happened, and he told me a tale that made the blood boil in my veins. Like many others, he floated into Roseville Junction, Cal., a town noted for murders and bloodshed.

He had a few cents and did not have to beg, but the bull of that worthy town did not like the way he parted his hair, I guess, so he told him to make himself scarce around there. After a bit a train pulled out and he tried to obey the orders, but that upholder of law and justice saw him and habitually took a shot at him. His intentions were, of course, the very best, but being a poor shot he only succeeded in crushing the man’s hand.

The poor fellow might starve to death though, so that blood-thirsty hyena may not get so badly disappointed after all. Not being satisfied with disabling the man for life, he struck him several blows on the head and face with a “sapper” (rubber hose with chunks of lead in the end). Then he threw him in the “tank” without any medical aid whatever, although the hand was bleeding badly.

The next morning about 5 o’clock he got a couple of kicks for breakfast and told that if he dared to show his face around there again it would be the grave yard for his. He told me he could not sleep much because the hand was aching all the time and he wished he could get it cut off, because it was no good anyway.

Now, fellow workers, how long are those hired murderers, whose chief delight it is to see human blood flowing in streams, going to slaughter and maim our class. There is only one way to stop it — only one remedy — to unite on the industrial field,

Yours,

Joe Hill,
Portland Local, No. 92

Vote Right

From ‘Industrial Worker’, May 25, 1911, Spokane, Washington

“I see by the papers” that some smart jink in New York has invented a new voting machine. Guess the working class will break their legs to get the first crack at the “box”.

But after they have tried all the different brands they might find out that the only machine worth while is the one which the capitalists use on us when we ask for more bread for ourselves and our families. The one that works with a trigger.

All aboard for Mexico!

Joe Hill, San Pedro

The People

From ‘Industrial Worker‘, February 20, 1913, Spokane, Washington

By J. Hill

“The People’s flag is deepest red.” Who are the people?

“God knows” Taft stands for “the people.” If you don’t believe it just read the “Los Angeles Crimes” and you will find out that, next to General Debility Otis, Taft is the greatest man in the country. Yes, Fatty stands for the people all right — when he is standing, but he is sitting down most of the time.

And “Teddy da Roos,” who used to peddle the Bull Moose, is also very strong for “the people.” Some time ago he wasn’t so strong and then it was that he invented a policeman’s riot club filled with spikes. It would crush the skull of a wage slave with one blow. Yes, “Teddy da Roos,” he is strong for “the people.”

And Woodhead Wilson, he is for “the people” too. This is what he said in one of his speeches: “Why shouldn’t the children of the workingclass be taught to do the work their parents are now doing?” Of course, he meant to say “Why shouldn’t the children of the rich be taught to rob the class their parents are now robbing.” And he is going to give “the people” free silver, he says, but if a working stiff wants any silver he has to peel off his coat and hop to the stormy end of a No. 2.

When the Red Flag was flying in Lower California there were not any of “the people” in the ranks of the rebels. Common working stiffs and cow-punchers were in the majority, with a little sprinkling of “outlaws,” whatever that is.

“The people” used to come down there on Sunday in their stinkwagons to take a look at “The wild men with their Red Flag” for two bits a look. But if the Mexican or the Indian regiment happened to be a little overjoyed from drinking “mescal” and took a notion to have a bit of sociable target practice, or to try to make buttonholes for one another without taking their clothes off, then “the people” would almost break their legs to get to their stinkwagons and make a bee-line for the “Land of the Graft and the Home of the Slave.”

Well, it is about time that every rebel wakes up to the fact that “the people” and the workingclass have nothing in common. Let us sing after this “The Workers’ flag is deepest red” and to hell with “the people.”

How to Make Work for the Unemployed

From ‘The International Socialist Review‘, December 1914, Chicago

By Joe Hill

Much has been written lately about various new ways and tactics of carrying on the class struggle to emancipate the workers from wage slavery.

Some writers propose to “organize with the unemployed”; that is, to feed and house them in order to keep them from taking the jobs away from the employed workers. Others again want to organize a Gunmen Defense Fund to purchase machine guns and high powered rifles for all union men, miners especially, that they may protect themselves from the murderous onslaughts of the private armies of the master class. Very well; these tactics MAY be perfectly good, but the question arises: Who is going to pay for all this?

Estimating the unemployed army to be about five millions in number and the board bill of one individual to be five dollars a week, we find that the total board bill of the whole unemployed army would be twenty-five million dollars per week.

The price of a machine gun is about $600 and a modern high-power rifle costs from $20 to $30. By doing a little figuring we find that fifty million dollars would not be sufficient to buy arms for the miners, let alone the rest of the organized workers. Every workingman and woman knows that, after all the bills are paid on pay day, there is not much left to feed the unemployed army or to buy war supplies with.

What the working class needs today is an inexpensive method by which to fight the powerful capitalist class and they have just such a weapon in their own hands.

This weapon is without expense to the working class and if intelligently and systematically used, it will not only reduce the profits of the exploiters, but also create more work for the wage earners. If thoroughly understood and used more extensively it may entirely eliminate the unemployed army, the army used by the employing class to keep the workers in submission and slavery.

In order to illustrate the efficacy of this new method of warfare, I will cite a little incident. Some time ago the writer was working in a big lumber yard on the west coast. On the coast nearly all the work around the water fronts and lumber yards is temporary.

When a boat comes in a large number of men are hired and when the boat is unloaded these men are “laid off.” Consequently it is to the interest of the workers “to make the job last” as long as possible.

The writer and three others got orders to load up five box cars with shingles. When we commenced the work we found, to our surprise, that every shingle bundle had been cut open. That is, the little strip of sheet iron that holds the shingles tightly together in a bundle had been cut with a knife or a pair of shears, on every bundle in the pile — about three thousand bundles in all.

When the boss came around we notified him about the accident and, after exhausting his supply of profanity, he ordered us to get the shingle press and re-bundle the whole batch. It took the four of us ten whole days to put that shingle pile into shape again. And our wages for that time, at the rate of 32¢ per hour, amounted to $134.00. By adding the loss on account of delay in shipment,the “holding money” for the five box cars, etc., we found that the company’s profit for that day had been reduced about $300.

So there you are. In less than half an hour’s time somebody had created ten days’ work for four men who would have been otherwise unemployed, and at the same time cut a big chunk off the boss’s profit. No lives were lost, no property was destroyed, there were no law suits, nothing that would drain the resources of the organized workers. But there WERE results. That’s all.

This same method of fighting can be used in a thousand different ways by the skilled mechanic or machine hand as well as by the common laborer. This weapon is always at the finger tips of the worker, employed or unemployed.

If every worker would devote ten or fifteen minutes every day to the interests of himself and his class, after devoting eight hours or more to the interests of his employer, it would not be long before the unemployed army would be a thing of the past and the profit of the bosses would melt away so fast that they would not be able to afford to hire professional man-killers to murder the workers and their families in a case of strike.

The best way to strike, however, is to “strike on the job.” First present your demands to the boss. If he should refuse to grant them, don’t walk out and give the scabs a chance to take your places. No, just go back to work as though nothing had happened and try the new method of warfare.

When things begin to happen be careful not to “fix the blame” on any certain individual unless that individual is an “undesirable” from a working class point of view.

The boss will soon find that the cheapest way out of it is to grant your demands. This is not mere theory; it has been successfully tried more than once to the writer’s personal knowledge.

Striking on the job is a science and should be taught as such. It is extremely interesting on account of its many possibilities. It develops mental keenness and inventive genius in the working class and is the only known antidote for the infamous “Taylor System.”

The aim of the “Taylor System” seems to be to work one-half of the workers to death and starve the other half to death. The strike on the job will give every worker a chance to make an honest living. It will enable us to take the child slaves out of the mill and sweat-shop and give their unemployed fathers a chance to work. It will stop the butchering of the workers in time of peace as well as in time of war.

If you imagine “Making Work for the Unemployed” is unfair, just remember Ludlow and Calumet and don’t forget Sacramento where the men who were unable to get work had their brains beaten out by the Hessians of the law and were knocked down and drenched to the skin with streams of ice-cold water manipulated by the city fire department, where the unemployed were driven out of the city and in the rain only to meet the pitchforks of the farmers. And what for? For the horrible crime of asking the governor of California — for A JOB!

This is the way the capitalist class uses the working class when they can no longer exploit them — in the name of Law and Order. Remember this when you MAKE WORK FOR THE UNEMPLOYED!

Cheerful Note from Joe Hill

From ‘Solidarity‘, December 19, 1914, Cleveland, Ohio

Salt Lake County Jail, Nov. 29

Editor, Solidarity:

I see in the “Sol” that you are going to issue another edition of the Song Book, and I made a few changes and corrections which I think should improve the book a little, which I am enclosing herewith.

Now, I am well aware of the fact that there are lots of prominent rebels who argued that satire and songs are out of place in a labor organization and I will admit that songs are not necessary to a movement. But I think that our little Song Book is doing good work for the cause; and whenever I “get the hunch” I intend to make some more foolish songs, although I realize that the class struggle is a very serious thing.

A pamphlet, no matter how good, is never read more than once, but a song is learned by heart and repeated over and over; and I maintain that if a person can put a few cold, common sense facts into a song, and dress them (the facts) up in a cloak of humor to take the dryness off of them, he will succeed in reaching a great number of workers who are too unintelligent or too indifferent to read a pamphlet or an editorial on economic science.

There is one thing that is very necessary in order to hold the old members and to get the would-be members interested in the class struggle and that is entertainment. The rebels of Sweden have realized that fact, and they have their little blowouts regularly every week. And on account of that fact they have succeeded in organizing the female workers more extensively than any other nation in the world. The female workers are sadly neglected in the United States, especially on the West coast, and consequently we have created a kind of one-legged, freakish animal of a union, and our dances and blowouts are kind of stale and unnatural on account of being too much of a “buck” affair; they are too lacking the life and inspiration which the woman alone can produce.

The idea is to establish a kind of social feeling of good fellowship between the male and female workers, that would give them a little foretaste of our future society and make them more interested in the class struggle and the overthrow of the old system of corruption. I think it would be a very good idea to use our female organizers, [Elizabeth] Gurley Flynn, for instance, EXCLUSIVELY for the building up of a strong organization among the female workers. They are more exploited than the men, and John Bull is willing to testify to the fact that they are not lacking in militant and revolutionary spirit.

By following the example of our Swedish fellow workers, and paying a little more attention to entertainment with original song and original stunts and pictures, we shall succeed in attracting and interesting more of the young blood, both male and female, in the One Big Union.

Yours for a change,

Joe Hill

Address Jos. Hillstrom, Co. Jail, Salt Lake City, Utah

(We are more than pleased to offer these suggestions from Fellow Worker Hill to our readers, and believe they should be given thorough consideration by all active I.W.W. men and women. We are sorry that Hill’s corrections and changes for some of his songs arrived too late for the Eighth edition, which was already on the press when his letter came. Will keep them on file for a later edition. — Editor Solidarity)

Excerpt from ‘The Last Letters of Joe Hill’

From ‘Industrial Pioneer‘, December 1923, Chicago

VII.

Utah State Prison, Sept. 9, 1915.
Sam Murray,
Frisco, Calif.

Friend and Fellow Worker:

Yours received O.K. Glad to hear that things are picking up. I see that you are employed at making bait for the German “sharks.” Well war certainly shows up the capitalist system in the right light. Millions of men are employed at making ships and others are hired to sink them. Scientific management, eh, wot?

As far as I can see, it doesn’t make much difference which side wins, but I hope that one side will win, because a draw would only mean another war in a year or two. All these silly priests and old maid sewing circles that are moaning about peace at this time should be locked up in the crazy house as a menace to society. The war is the finest training school for rebels in the world and for anti-militarists as well, and I hope that all the S.S. bills [*] in the country will go over there.

Well, Sam, I don’t know anything about my case. My attorneys told me to leave it all to them, and that makes it pretty soft for me to have someone else do the worrying for me. I believe your good work on the coast is being felt at this end of the line, though.

With best wishes I am as ever yours,
Joe Hill.

[“Scissor bills” referred to workers lacking in revolutionary class consciousness, foolish enough to cut off their own noses to spite their faces.
– M.Gouldhawke]

VIII.

Utah State Prison, Sept. 30, 1915.
Sam Murray, 3345 17th St.,
Frisco, Calif.

Friend and Fellow Worker:

Well, Sam, I received your letter, but you shouldn’t feel so sentimental about it. This dying business is not quite so bad as it is cracked up to be. I have always said “a new trial or die trying,” and I’ll show that I meant it. I was moved to another cell last night and have an armed guard in front of my cell. I was also given a swell feed for the first time in God knows how long, and that is one of the surest signs.

Well, Sam, you and me had a little pleasure at one time that few rebels have had the privilege of having, and I guess I’ve had my share of the fun after all. Now, just forget me, and say goodbye to the bunch.

Yours for the OBU,
Joe Hill.

PS. Sent a letter to Caroline.

[The “pleasure” and “privilege” here being a reference to Hill and Murray’s joint participation in the Mexican Revolution.
-M.Gouldhawke]

Letter from Joe Hill Addressed to ‘Solidarity’ Readers

From ‘Solidarity‘, October 9, 1915, Cleveland, Ohio

Ben Williams,
Care Solidarity,
Cleveland, Ohio.

Dear Friends and F.W.s [Fellow Workers]:

“John Law” has given me his last and final order to get off the earth and stay off. He has told me that many times before, but this time it seems as if he is meaning business.

I have said time and again that I was going to get a new trial or die trying. I have told it to my friends. It has been printed in the newspapers, and I don’t see why I should “eat my own crow” just because I happen to be up against a firing squad. I have stated my position plainly to everybody, and I won’t budge an inch, because I know I am in the right.

Tomorrow I expect to take a trip to the planet Mars, and if so, will immediately commence to organize the Mars canal workers into the I.W.W., and we will sing the good old songs so loud that the learned star gazers on earth will once and for all get positive proof that the planet Mars is really inhabited.

In the meantime I hope you’ll keep the ball a-rolling here. You are on the right track and you are bound to get there.

I have nothing to say about myself, only that I have always tried to do what little I could to make this earth a little better for the great producing class, and I can pass off into the great unknown with the pleasure of knowing that I have never in my life, double crossed a man, woman or child.

With a last fond farewell to all true rebels and hearty thanks for the noble support you have given me in this unequal fight, I remain,

Yours for International Solidarity,
Joe Hill

PS. — I have written down for publication, the facts about the case AS I KNOW THEM. I want you to get the truth. Joe.

My Last Will

From ‘Salt Lake Telegram‘, November 19, 1915

My will is easy to decide.
For there is nothing to divide.
My kin don’t need to fuss and moan —
“Moss does not cling to 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