“Don’t waste time mourning, organize!”
Joe Hill was born Joel Hägglund in Sweden, before immigrating to America in 1902. He changed his name to Joseph Hillstrom, which was shortened to Joe Hill. He joined the Industrial Workers of the World, commonly referred to as the Wobblies. The Wobblies strived to organize the workers ignored by mainstream unions, such as the unskilled, migrants, immigrants, and minorities. The objective was to create One Big Union in order to replace capitalism with industrial democracy.
Hill became a prominent labor rights activist who used his artistic abilities as a tool for protest. Along with drawing satirical cartoons, he wrote and performed over 30 songs. Even though he never recorded any of them, many were published in the IWW’s Little Red Songbook. Notable songs he composed includes “The Tramp”, “There Is Power in a Union” (different from the Billy Bragg song of the same title), “Casey Jones – The Union Scab”, and “The Preacher and The Slave” (which is credited with coining the phrase “pie in the sky”). Artists such as Pete Seeger (also in Protest Music Hall of Fame), Cisco Houston, Joe Glazer, Bucky Halker, and Utah Phillips helped preserved his music.
Another notable tune he wrote was “The Rebel Girl”. The song is about influential labor leader and activist Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. One of the more well-known versions of the song is by Hazel Dickens, who updated some of the lyrics. Her version appeared on the 1990 Joe Hill tribute album, Don’t Mourn, Organize! Songs of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill.
Part of what helped immortalized Hill’s legacy was the circumstances behind his death. On November 19, 1915, Hill was executed by firing squad in Salt Lake City, Utah, after being found guilty of murder. The evidence of the case was considered suspect and it is widely believed that was innocent. A widely held view of why Hill didn’t do more to fight the charges was that Hill felt that dying a martyr’s death would help galvanize the workers. In a final message to IWW General Secretary Bill Haywood, Hill made the now famous proclamation: “Don’t waste any time in mourning—organize.”
After Hill’s death, many songs have been written to honor him. One of the more well-known compositions is “I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night” (quite often shorten to “Joe Hill”) written by Alfred Hayes and Earl Robinson. The oft-covered standard was first popularised by Paul Robeson. It is also widely associated with Joan Baez (who is inducted in the Protest Music Hall of Fame), who notably performed it at Woodstock in 1969. Phil Ochs (also a Protest Music Hall of Fame inductee) composed his own tribute, also entitled “Joe Hill”. The legacy of Joe Hill lives on.