Name: Solidarity Forever (R. H. Chaplin)
Duration: P00H03M48S
Description: Written by Ralph H. Chaplin, a major contributor to "the Little Red Songbook", this song came to be synonymous with the Labor Movement of the early 20th century; and continues to be used widely among radical workers today.

Solidarity Forever (R. H. Chaplin)

from The First Shall Be The Last by Matt Rivers

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Written by Ralph H. Chaplin, a major contributor to "the Little Red Songbook", this song came to be synonymous with the Labor Movement of the early 20th century; and continues to be used widely among radical workers today.

lyrics

When the Union’s inspiration through the worker’s blood shall run
There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun
Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one
The Union makes us strong
Solidarity Forever, Solidarity Forever, Solidarity Forever
The Union makes us strong

Is there aught we hold in common with the greedy parasite
Who would lash us into serfdom and would crush us with it’s might
Is there anything left for us but to Organize and Fight
The Union makes us strong
Solidarity Forever…

It is we who plowed the prairies; built the cities where they trade
Dug the mines and built the workshops; endless miles of railroad laid
Now we stand outcast and starving ‘mid the wonders we have made
The Union makes us strong
Solidarity Forever…

All the world that’s owned by idle drones is ours and ours alone
We have laid the wide foundation; built it skyward stone by stone
It is ours; not to slave in, but to master and to own
The Union makes us strong
Solidarity Forever…

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
The Union makes us strong
Solidarity Forever…

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
The Union makes us strong
Solidarity Forever…

credits

from The First Shall Be The Last, released May 1, 2023

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Matt Rivers

Matt Rivers is a modern relic & torchbearer for the old ways of song craft & performance; following in the footsteps of such artists as: Woody Guthrie, Blind Willie McTell, Harry McClintock, & countless nameless & forgotten forebears of the folk tradition. ... more

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