Find it hard to believe we don't learn
Of our histories of Ludlows
Capital stained snow red, in Colorado
11,000 on strike boot to hills
Away from company town and company troops
"We pay you like dogs and as such you will fall"
September to April we held strong
Time has come we will stand to the last
We will strike till our last crumb is gone!
Isabel the murdered Lou Tikas last night
They got machine guns up on the ridge
The said "no negotiations" and shot him in the face
They beat back Baldwin-Felts gun to gun
But the powers sent in the national guard
And the government said
"You're on Rockefeller time and time just started running out"
She held him to taste tears of emptiness
While they waited for the bullets to rip through the tents
And that night 16 were raked and burned to add to the 30 graves
You must think of our blood running down
Mixes with the pilings of mining towns
And remember you take one step too far,
   and your rulers bring out their bloody guard
Isabel, keep your head down
They're reloading up on the ridge
Say "no negotiations" and they'll shoot us in the face
Capital stained snow red in Colorado

— I just heard a Zinn recording where he said that as a young guy, a Woody Guthrie song inspired him to find out about the Ludlow massacre. Songwriters, no matter how radical, are never ahead of us or leading workers, but we can inspire, educate and reinforce our beliefs in justice and dreams for a better world. This one instance which is typical of over 100 years of reaction to worker organizing, captures our imaginations because of its sheer naked aggression against a peaceful strike and its communal direct action. See also history of Lawrences textile strike, Railroad strike of 1877, Homestead story and the amazing rebellions/sit-downs (mostly shop floor non-union) of the 1930's. Locally, I have thought, we should have a yearly vigil for the workers shot in SF during the general strike of 1934, but our state school system erases erases workers struggle, and a small contingent would be deemed absurd, I fear. I can't blame this on anything but class enforced omission of our history. My neighbors don't even know there was a general strike. My alt.com music peers think 'union' means mafia-run bureaucracy rather than a democratic anticapitalist struggle, part of our long journey to real freedom and liberty, and cannnot see it as the all-encompassing term that spells trouble for capital and at the least, small victories for our rights. The eight hour work day was fought against by our tax paid gov't armies, democrats and republicans, for decades.... and only won through constant direct attack by workers. And I must add the conservative union leaders of the AFL etc., tried at every turn to quell the rank and file's demand for real economic justice. Note this is what the band at practice would call "Tommy dialogue number 1"... usually I only submit them to 2 or 3 for one night.