| THE INTERNATIONAL
Arise, ye prisoners of starvation!
Arise, ye wretched of the earth,
For justice thunders condemnation,
A better world's in birth,
Never more tradition's chains shall
bind us,
Arise, ye slaves no more in thrall
The earth shall rise on new
foundations,
We have been naught; we shall be all.
CHORUS:
'Tis the final conflict
Let each stand in his place,
The international working class
Shall free the human race.
We want no condescending saviors,
To rule us from a judgment hall;
We workers ask not for their favors:
Let us consult for all,
To make the thief disgorge his booty,
To free the spirit from its cell,
We must ourselves decide our duty,
We must decide and do it well.
ON THE PICKET LINE
(Tune: Polly-Wolly-Doodle)
To win our strike and all our demands,
Come and picket on the picket line;
In one strong union we'll join
our hands,
Come and picket on the picket line.
CHORUS:
On the line, on the line,
Come and picket on the picket line.
We will shout and yell and fight
like hell,
Come and picket on the picket line.
If you've never spent a night in
jail,
Come and picket on the picket line;
You will be invited without fail,
Come and picket on the picket line.
If you don't like scabs and thugs
and stools,
Come and picket on the picket line,
For you show the boss that the
worker rules,
When you picket on the picket line.
|
SOLIDARITY FOREVER
(Tune: Battle Hymn or the Republic)
When the Union's inspiration thru
the workers' blood shall run,
There shall be no power greater any-
where 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,
For the Union makes us strong.
It is we who plowed the prairies,
built the cities where they
trade,
Dug the mines and built the work-
shops, endless miles of railroad
laid.
Now we stand outcast and starving
mid the wonders we have made,
But 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 could 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 a new world
from the ashes of the old,
For the Union makes us strong.
CHORUS:
|