Joe Hill

Joe Hill is also the name of the guitarist for the rock band Alien Ant Farm.

Joe Hill, born Joel Emmanuel Hägglund, and also known as Joseph Hillström (October 7, 1879 - November 19, 1915) was an American labor activist and member of the Industrial Workers of the World, better known as the Wobblies. He was executed for murder after a controversial trial, and after his death became the subject of a folksong.

Hill was born in Gävle, Sweden, a town north of Stockholm. He emigrated to the United States in 1902, where he became a migrant laborer, moving from New York City to Cleveland, Ohio, and eventually to the West Coast. He was in San Francisco, California, when the earthquake struck it in 1906. Hill joined the Wobblies around 1910, when he was working on the docks in San Pedro, California. In late 1910 he wrote a letter to the I.W.W. newspaper, Industrial Worker, identifying himself as a member of the Portland, Oregon I.W.W. local.

Hill rose in the I.W.W. organization and travelled widely organizing workers under the I.W.W. banner, writing political songs and satirical poems, and making speeches. He coined the phrase "pie in the sky" which appeared in his song "The Preacher and the Slave" (a parody of the then well known hymn "In the Sweet Bye and Bye"):

Long-haired preachers come out every night,

<i>Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right;

<i>But when asked how 'bout something to eat

<i>They will answer with voices so sweet:

<i>You will eat, bye and bye

<i>In that glorious land above the sky;

<i>Work and pray,

<i>Live on hay,

<i>You'll get pie in the sky when you die.

On January 10, 1914, John G. Morrison, a grocer, and his son Arling were murdered in Salt Lake City, Utah by two armed robbers masked by red bandannas. On the same evening, Joe Hill appeared on the footsteps of a local doctor with a bullet wound. Hill said that he had been wounded defending a woman. The doctor noticed that Hill was armed with a pistol.

Hill was arrested for Morrison's murder. A red bandanna was found in Hill's rooms. The pistol Hill had when he was at the doctor was not found. Hill resolutely denied that he was involved in the robbery and murder of Morrison, but he refused to testify at his trial, and was convicted of murder. An appeal to the Utah Supreme Court was unsuccessful, and it is uncertain whether appeals for mercy organized by the I.W.W. did his case any good.

The case generated international attention, and critics charged that the trial and conviction were unfair.

Hill was executed by firing squad on November 19, 1915. His last words, to his supporters, were "Don't mourn for me. Organize!"

His will, which was eventually set to music by Ethel Raim, read:

My will is easy to decide,

<i>For there is nothing to divide,

<i>My kin don't need to fuss and moan-

<i>"Moss does not cling to a rolling stone."

<i>My body? Ah, If I could choose,

<i>I would to ashes it reduce,

<i>And let the merry breezes blow

<i>My dust to where some flowers grow.

<i>Perhaps some fading flower then

<i>Would come to life and bloom again.

<i>This is my last and final will,

<i>Good luck to all of you, Joe Hill

Hill's body was sent to Chicago were it was cremated. His ashes were purportedly sent to every I. W. W. local. In 1988 it was discovered that one envelope had been seized by the U. S. Postal Service in 1917 because of its "subversive potential." The envelope, with a photo affixed captioned: "Joe Hill murdered by the capitalist class, Nov. 19, 1915," as well as its contents, was deposited at the National Archives. After some negotiations, the last of Hill's ashes was turned over to the I. W. W. in 1988.

Influence and Tributes

Joe Hill is remembered for his devotion to union organizing and his many clever song lyrics, some of which continue to be sung.

Hill is also remembered from a tribute poem written about him in 1925 by Alfred Hayes entitled "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night", although sometimes referred to simply as "Joe Hill". Hayes's lyrics were turned into a song in 1936 by Earl Robinson. The usual lyrics to the song go:

<i>I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,

Alive as you and me.

Says I "But Joe, you're ten years dead"

"I never died" said he,

"I never died" said he.

"In Salt Lake, Joe," says I to him,

him standing by my bed,

"They framed you on a murder charge,"

Says Joe, "But I ain't dead,"

Says Joe, "But I ain't dead."

"The Copper Bosses killed you Joe,

they shot you Joe" says I.

"Takes more than guns to kill a man"

Says Joe "I didn't die"

Says Joe "I didn't die"

And standing there as big as life

and smiling with his eyes.

Says Joe "What they can never kill

went on to organize,

went on to organize"

From San Diego up to Maine,

in every mine and mill,

where working-men defend their rights,

it's there you find Joe Hill,

it's there you find Joe Hill!

I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,

alive as you and me.

Says I "But Joe, you're ten years dead"

"I never died" said he,

"I never died" said he.

Paul Robeson and Pete Seeger often performed this song and are associated with it, along with renowned Irish folk singer Luke Kelly. But the best known performance and recording of "Joe Hill" was done by Joan Baez at Woodstock in 1969.

Phil Ochs has also written and performed a song about Joe Hill. Bob Dylan claims that Hill's story was one of his inspirations to begin writing his own songs.

He was also pictured in the 1971 movie Joe Hill, directed by Bo Widerberg. [1] (http://swedish.imdb.com/title/tt0067276/)

See also

• Anarchist poetry

External links

• I.W.W. tribute page to Joe Hill (http://hillstrom.iww.org/joehill.html)
• Lyrics to Phil Ochs' song about Joe Hill (http://www.cs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/joe-hill.html)
• THE PREACHER AND THE SLAVE (JOE HILL) (http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/parton/2/pie.html/)de:Joe Hill

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