"Better than a Hundred Speeches": The Strike Song

• Published in: Encyclopedia of Strikes in American History pp. 103 - 117
• Main Author: Lynch, Timothy P.
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: United Kingdom Routledge 2009; M. E. Sharpe Incorporated
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Strike Songs; UMWA; Trade Union Unity League; States Secretary; Joe Hill; CIO; Vice Versa; Almanac Singers; Red Songbook; Radical Minority; T R Od; Harlan County; IAM; People's Songs; Samuel Gompers; Firemen; Union Train; Picket Lines; IWW Member; Labor Songs; John Golden; CIO Union; Solidarity Forever
• DOI: 10.4324/9781315699844-12
• ISBN: 0765613301; 9780765613301

As Ella May Wiggins's coffin was lowered into the ground, Katie Barrett sang Ella May's best-loved song, "Mill Mother's Lament." We leave our homes in the morning, We kiss our children good bye While we slave for the bosses Our children scream and cry. And when we draw our money Our grocery bills to pay, Not a cent to pay for clothing, Not a cent to lay away. And on that very evening, Our little son will say: "I need some shoes, Mother, And so does sister May." How it grieves a heart of a mother, You everyone must know, But we can't buy for our children Our wages are too low. It is for our little children, That seem to us so dear, But for us nor them, dear workers, The bosses do not care. But understand, all workers, Our union they do fear; Let's stand together, workers, And have a union here.