“November seems to be a bad month for people involved in labor,” says social worker Robert L. Hopper, reciting a list of names and dates off the top of his head. “On November 11, 1887, the Haymarket martyrs were executed; in 1974 Karen Silkwood was killed; on November 5, 1916, several Wobblies were killed in Everett, Washington; in 1919, timber worker organizer Wesley Everest was lynched by a mob in Centralia, Washington; and on November 19, 1915, Joe Hill was executed by authorities in Utah.”
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Hill was one of the union’s most famous rabble-rousers, and his caustic protest songs played a critical role in organizing workers. “When the IWW people were going to do free-speech events–where they’d often get arrested for speaking out on labor issues–the Salvation Army would appear with their bands and try to drown out the speakers,” says Hopper. “Joe would take their tunes, throw new words at them, and those would be used at those events. Sometimes people would start singing the tune with the new words, and end up drowning out the Salvation Army people.”
Hopper’s own interest in labor issues dates back to his childhood in Glencoe, where his father was a carpenter, his mother worked for Ma Bell, and both carried union cards. About a decade ago, after a stint in the army, a string of low-wage jobs, and a long flirtation with Marxism, Hopper began to embrace the IWW, although he didn’t become a card-carrying member until this past April. He likes that the IWW organizes all workers into “one big union” rather than dividing them by trade, “so that we can pool our strength to fight the bosses together.” All decisions and elections are determined by the general membership, and dues are voluntary. “When they organize a place, they don’t come in and organize,” says Hopper. “They say, ‘We’ll assist you, but you have to do the work yourself because it’s your workplace. If you want to strike, we’ll support you. If you want to end the strike, let us know.’ It’s antihierarchical and antiauthoritarian.”
Hopper will perform and discuss his ballad–as well as songs by and about Hill and other Wobblies, including local Wobbly Mike Hargis’s topical update of Country Joe & the Fish’s “I Feel Like I’m Fixing to Die Rag”–at an event called “In November We Remember.” It’s at 8 PM on Saturday, November 24, at the College of Complexes, which meets at the Lincoln Restaurant, 4008 N. Lincoln. Admission is $3, and a purchase of food or drink is required. Call 312-326-2120 for more information.
