Artist & Tune
Version by The Almanac Singers
Version by Pete Seeger
Version by Joe Glazer
Version by Utah Phillips
Version by Bobbie McGee
Version by Tom Juravich
Version by Tom Morello
Reference
About the Song
The song was written in 1915 by Ralph Chaplin, a member and organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). After the song achieved widespread fame, Chaplin was not happy that it was often sung by unions that seemed to have no desire to truly eliminate the worst injustices of capitalism.
- The first video below is by the Almanac Singers on their 1941 "Talking Union" album. Pete Seeger & Lee Hays were both members of the Almanac Singers quartet. This is one of Seeger's very first recordings. Buy as CD here.
- Videos 3-6 are by important labor singers.
- Video 7 was taken in 2012 in the Wisconsin State Capitol during one of the Solidarity Sing Alongs that began there in 2011 to protest Gov. Scott Walker's move to bust teachers and other union workers across Wisconsin.
- Video 8 was made by UAW workers from the Ford Plant.