Category: Commemorations

Washington

September 22, 2015

Statement by the Ambassador of Sweden to the United States on the occasion of the centennial of the death of Joe Hill

This Fall we are remembering the centennial of the death of Joe Hill. On November 19, 1915, Joe Hill, born Joel Emmanuel Hägglund, was executed in Utah State Prison after being convicted of a murder in a robbery gone wrong. Hill denied that he was involved in the robbery and killing. The Swedish Envoy to the United States and the Swedish public all became involved in a bid for clemency. In archival materials donated to the Joe Hill Collection at the Walter P. Reuther Library, by His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf in 1976, this is documented.

In a 2011 biography, William M. Adler concluded that Hill was probably innocent of murder.

Joe was born in 1879 in the Swedish town Gävle. His father, who was a railroad employee died young and when his mother died in 1902 Joe and one of his brothers did what many poor Swedes did at the time. He emigrated to the United States.

Here he became a migrant worker, a labor activist, song writer and cartoonist for the Industrial Workers of the World.

His most well-known songs include “The Preacher and the Slave,” “The Tramp,” “There is Power in a Union,” “The Rebel Girl,” and “Casey Jones—the Union Scab.” Folk singer Pete Seeger sang and recorded his songs. Some of the songs are still sung in the Swedish labor movement.

The most famous song is probably the song about Joe Hill, “I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night” with lyrics by Alfred Hayes and tune by Earl Robinson. The song was performed by Joan Baez at Woodstock in 1969 and also recorded by her as well as by Paul Robeson. In May 2014, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band opened their concert in Tampa, Florida, with the song.

Joe Hill was commemorated in Sweden in 1980 with the issuing of a postage stamp that cost 1, 70 Swedish kroner, which at the time was the amount for airmail to the United States.

A biography by Gibbs M. Smith was turned into the 1971 movie “Joe Hill” directed by Bo Widerberg. The film has been restored and digitalized by the Swedish Film institute and the Embassy is hoping it will be screened in the United States in the near future.

Here is a clip of Judy Collins singing at the Joe Hill commemoration concert in Salt Lake City over Labor Day weekend:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GONWYQJ4Q0g

We’re looking for a report on the event; the local daily seems to have been content to run a photo on its website early in the day. However, they have posted a package on the Joe Hill centenary which gives a reasonably good overview — except that it ignores the strong evidence William Adler’s book presents that Joe Hill was innocent, and that police let the actual murderer go in order to pursue their frame-up. Instead, the paper gives space to the family of the murdered grocer to assert that no amount of evidence can move them to recognize the truth. To make up for it, there’s a pretty good short graphic novel treatment of Joe Hill’s life.

August 2015

8/13-15/2015 Still Building Internationalism Conference, Gävle, Sweden. Three days of music, books, and organized discussions around the topics of Work and Migration, Work and Repression, and Building Internationalism, Connecting Struggles. Organized by the SAC union, Joe Hill-sällskapet and Federativs Förlag, the conference will be attended by members of self-managed and radical unions across Europe. Click here for information on registration.

September 2015

9/5/2015 Concert: The Joe Hill Organizing Committee hosts a day-long celebration of Joe Hill’s life and work Saturday, Sept. 5, at Sugarhouse Park (which stands on the site of the prison where Joe Hill was held and executed) in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Noon to 8 p.m. Judy Collins, Mark Ross, Anne Feeney, David Rovics, Mischief Brew, Joe Jencks, and many more. Free.

November 2015

Centenary of the murder of IWW songwriter and organizer Joe Hill by the state of Utah.

11/19/2015 Concert: 100 years later: Tribute Concert for a true rebel that never died. Berlin. Bernd Köhler & Blandine Bonjour, Geigerzähler, The Overall Brigade. Supamolly, Jessner Str. 41, D-10247 Berlin, Germany. 6:00 – 12:00 p.m.

This summer, we will meet in Gävle, the birthplace of Joe Hill. 2015 marks a hundred years since he was murdered. We gather in his memory, not to mourn – but to organize!

One hundred years later, we’re sticking to the same values. Still organizing, still fighting, still building internationalism! Our hope is to strengthen bonds, build alliances, connect everyday struggles, learn from each other’s experiences – to gain hope and have a good time.

We have chosen to focus on the European level, since it’s obvious to us we have to try to build a common counter force against what’s going on in our workplaces, streets, neighborhoods and schools. Someone who doesn’t love us is making plans for our future, making our part of the world a golden cage. We intend to break it, together.

Each day of the conference will have a different topic, starting with a panel of people who have worked around the issue. The topics will be: work and repression, work and migration and finally, building internationalism – connecting struggles. We encourage each and every one of you who want to participate to contact us. In the afternoons there will be room for discussions, sharing of information, and workshops.

A book fair will take place parallel to the conference. Federativs förlag and Aparte will release a new anthology about Joe Hill on the occasion. And, of course, there will be music, lots of music!

We welcome unions – self-organized, base-unions and unions from the red and black spectra. But also social movements, groups and grass-roots organizations doing work within the areas the conference is dealing with: self organizing of refugees and immigrants, student-organizing, neighborhood committees, anti-repression and Anti-fascism. We need to connect our struggles, considering all the aspects of the everyday life of working class people.

Together we will win. For every day, life under capitalism becomes more unbearable. We’ve had enough. Enough of the nationalist and fascist movements who tries to set us up against each other, enough of the dictatorship and exploitation by the bosses, enough of unemployment and lack of housing, enough of unions and social movements being targeted with repression, enough of a system which robs us not only on the fruits of out labor, but also our dignity.

We live in an unstable time. One thing we’ve learned from history – never again will we fight for nations or the rich! It’s clear neither political parties or top-down bureaucratic unions are able to do anything for us. True a hundred years ago, it is still the same: our liberation is possible only by the work of our own hands. We believe we are at a turning point. Self-organized unions and grassroots movements have a role to play. On the same time with steady signs of the downfall, people choose to struggle, connect and organize. Let’s come together, see what we can learn from each other, build alliances, and make things move on a larger scale. It’s about time to leave old conflicts behind and focus on what we have in common, instead of our differences.

We carry a new world in our hearts, Still building internationalism!

JH100 organizing committee, jh100@sac.se

The committee consists of members of SAC’s (The Swedish Workers Central Organization) international committee, Joe Hill-sällskapet and Federativs Förlag. The main language of the conference will be english, but we’ll try to provide interpretation into other languages. Follow http://www.internationellsolidaritet.com for updates.

http://internationellsolidaritet.com/2015/05/19/still-building-internationalism-conference-13-168/