"Solidarity Forever"

History records that the labor anthem "Solidarity Forever" was first published on today's date in 1915. Ralph Chaplin began writing what became "Solidarity Forever" in 1913 while covering the Paint Creek–Cabin Creek Strike, or the Paint Creek Mine War, in West Virginia for a publication issued by the revolutionary Industrial Workers of the World. It was completed two years later in Chicago at the time of a hunger demonstration there and gained its early popularity during a lumber workers' strike in Washington State.

There are many versions of the song, and I think that these different versions most often reflect the divergent opinions of who is singing and who is leading a crowd. The verses that promise a hopeful future in which the working-class takes power and establishes some form of socialism are left out when labor leaders and Democrats are rallying workers for immediate objectives. Leftists might sing one version of the song that is closer to their politics and leave it to another group to sing another version. Workers who join rallies and picketlines today hear the words and often grasp their meaning immediately. But there is more to be said about the song and what it means.

The poem that became "Solidarity Forever" was written at a moment when mine workers and their families in West Virginia were experiencing defeat during a period of prolonged armed struggle that we know today as the West Virginia Mine Wars. One would have had to be outrageously optimistic to have believed at that point that the mine workers' struggles would continue and that eventually something like justice would prevail even for a short time. The song has a healing power to it when all of its verses are sung with honesty, and I have wondered if this healing power and the positive message of what can be attempted comes from the very origins of the song.

I first heard "Solidarity Forever" as a kid when it was played on a mandolin by an old man during a house party. I purchased the album of labor songs done by The Almanac Singers and learned the words to every song on that album as a teenager. I have probably sung the song, in one version or another, hundreds of times on picketlines and at meetings over the years. "Solidarity Forever" has never grown old for me. I especially enjoy watching young people taking in the song and joining in singing it with others. I pray that they don't lose that light and fire in their eyes and in their hearts.

Here is the version by The Almanac Singers that I learned:

Singing Solidarity Forever, Passaic County, 1926

Description
Strikers raise their fists and sing as they march down a street during the Passaic Textile Strike, 1926. One striker wears a military uniform.

American Labor Museum / Botto House National Landmark

Persistent URL: https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3GH9K76