Working men and women in America certainly had no greater champion in song than the great Phil Ochs (1940-1976). Phil penned a 7-minute-long ballad telling the story of Joe Hill (albeit with some inaccuracies) using the same tune Woody Guthrie used for “Tom Joad.” He championed the plight of immigrant farmworkers in California in his song “Bracero” and he sang about fellow workers in various industries in his powerful anthem, “Hands.” But Phil was under no illusion regarding the inconsistencies and contradictions in the story of Labor, particular those concerning the times he lived in and the relationship between organized Labor and the Civil Rights movement. Where the IWW, from its inception, practiced non-discrimination both among workers and their leaders, the history of the AFL-CIO is more equivocal and shifting. In 1959 the only black member of the AFL- CIO’s 27-member executive council was A. Phillip Randolph, organizer and leader of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. At that same time nationwide union membership was around 27% black. Randolph was harshly criticized by George Meany and censured by the executive council for his criticism of certain union leaders regarding their stand on Civil Rights. At the same time that the executive council did not formally endorse the 1963 March on Washington (organized by Randolph and others) it did lobby for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Joseph Rauh and Jack Conway of the UAW negotiated with attorney general Nicholas Katzenbach for the inclusion of the non-discrimination clause, Title VII. So
while individual unions and their rank and file, particularly in the southern states, maintained discriminatory practices through the 1950s, in the 60s, they, like other groups in America, came around to support anti-discrimination legislation and action. Phil goes on to criticize other aspects of the capitalist system detrimental to workers in general, namely automation and other forces fostering the economic climate that kills jobs.
lyrics
Come you ranks of labor, come you union core,
And see if you remember the struggles of before,
When you were standing helpless on the outside of the door And you started building links on the chain.
On the chain, you started building links on the chain.
When the police on the horses were waitin' on demand, Ridin' through the strike with the pistols in their hands, Swingin' at the skulls of union workers where they stand, As you built one more link on the chain, on the chain,
As you built one more link on the chain.
Then the army of the fascists tried to put you on the run, But the army of the union, did what had to be done,
Oh, the power of the factory was greater than the gun, As you built one more link on the chain, on the chain, As you built one more link on the chain.
And then in 1954, decisions finally made,
For civil rights the freedom fighters stood up unafraid
But your union took no stand and your union was betrayed, As you lost yourself a link on the chain, on the chain,
As you lost yourself a link on the chain.
And then there came the boycotts and then the freedom rides,
And forgetting what you stood for, you tried to block the tide, Oh, the automation bosses were laughin' on the side,
As they watched you lose your link on the chain, on the chain, As they watched you lose your link on the chain.
You know when they block your trucks now, by layin' on the road, All that they are doin' is all that you have showed,
That you gotta strike, you gotta fight to get what you are owed, When you're building all your links on the chain, on the chain, When you're building all your links on the chain.
And the man who tries to tell you that they'll take your job away, He's the same man who was scabbin' hard just the other day, And your union's not a union till he's moved out of the way,
And he's chokin' on your links of the chain, of the chain,
And he's chokin' on your links of the chain.
For now the times are tellin' you the times are rollin' on,
And you're fighting for the same thing, the jobs that will be gone, So it's only fair to ask you now, which side are you on?
As you're buildin' all your links on the chain, on the chain,
As you're buildin' all your links on the chain.
credits
from When We Stand Together,
released July 23, 2022
words and music by Phil Ochs (with small changes by Magpie)
The James Connolly Upstate NY IWW branch is a union for all workers based in NY. Musicians and other workers wishing to
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