Labor Organizer Joe Hill: Executed This Day in 1915
Posted on Mon Nov 19, 2007 at 01:05:37 PM EST
Tags: death penalty, execution, utah, joe hill, labor, activism, iww (all tags)
Even before his execution, the Swedish immigrant was widely thought to have been railroaded for his IWW affiliation.
Though state authorities had little use for the worldwide clemency bid whose backers included U.S. President Woodrow Wilson -- powerless to intervene officially, since the execution was a state matter -- Hill walked spryly into his martyrdom.
His dauntless last message to fellow Wobbly Bill Haywood -- "Don't waste any time mourning. Organize." -- is a permanent fixture on pins and placards among every stripe of left activist. The songs he wrote remain in print -- and in performance.
And the Depression-era tribute ballad "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night" can seamlessly serenade ripped-from-the-headlines footage, as a Paul Robeson rendition does in these clips of 1998 protests against then-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
(Cross-posted from ExecutedToday.com)
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