工 運 先 賢
Joe Hill 被處决後, IWW 這個組織已被政府與反對派壓迫至近乎瓦解, 不過他的精神仍被視為 "IWW-International Workers of The World 世界國際勞工" 的主導者。
遺 願
以圓其遺願, 死後火化的骨灰, 一點亦不留在 Utah 猶他州, 全都發送至世界各地方 IWW 的人, 由他們把骨灰隨風而散; 在瑞典, 除少許骨灰撒於風中, 餘下的骨灰與一塊紀念他的牌匾, 共安放在瑞典南部的小城市 Landskorna, 當地一個工會辦公室的牆壁上, 今天這辦公室已改作該市的圖書館。
一封内有骨灰的文件, 要輾轉兩年才能郵寄到芝加哥 Chicago 的郵局, 給當地的 "IWW 世界國際勞工組織"。當年是1917年, 美國已参予第一次世界大戰的第一年, 國家的反間諜法案已通過, 這封付有 Joe Hill 的骨灰信件, 經郵政檢查後而不准派發, 因這郵件是美國法案中所指的:
"任何郵件, 內容涉及鼓吹叛國, 煽動叛亂, 均嚴禁付寄與派遞"。
最後, 這封沒有派遞給 IWW 的骨灰郵件, 被轉送至 Washington DC 國家檔案館, 收藏在館內至1988年; 當它被發現後, 才再次送回給芝加哥 IWW 組織的領導人, 但是當年這組織已萎縮到只有幾百成員。
當年芝加哥郵局顯然是看到信封正面這標題:
"Joe Hill - murdered by the capitalist class, Nov 19, 1915"
1917年的美國官方更不願見到的, 就是這信封背面寫着 Joe Hill 的遺願:
他一生的逸事, 像一首偉大的民族史詩, 其簡單而充滿熟悉的旋律, 一些熱情與譏諷, 開拓了一個勞工社會所需的動力。
Joe Hill 有清晰的政治視野和前瞻, 對社會和經濟制度給勞動人民的影響, 更以自身的審判和被處決, 提醒全世界人民, 要糾正不公義的法制。
作為移民勞工的他, 經常面臨失業和就業不足, 在這動盪不安的環境, 卻成為廣受歡迎的歌曲作家和漫畫家。他撰寫的歌曲多達30多首, 包括:
The Precher and The Slave
The Tramp
There is Power in a Union
The Rebel Girl
Casey Jones-The Union Scab
歌曲多以控訴的表達, 為生活掙紥, 沒有固定工作的勞動工人, 他們的悲哀與渴求, 更要組織與改善他們的工作條件。
正如歷史學家 Kornbluh 指出:
" 第一次世畀大戰做成一個 "美國勞工運動和社會不可磨滅的印記", 它奠定了工會組織的凝聚力, 維護持不同政見者的公民權利, 促使監獄和農勞工人的改革, 並留下一個真正的世界遺產, 就是「民主工業」"
THE TRAMP
音樂取自美國內戰的歌曲 "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!"
由軍隊的作曲家 George F. Root 1860年所撰寫
If you all will shut your trap,
I will tell you 'bout a chap,
That was broke and up against it, too, for fair
He was not the kind that shirk,
He was looking hard for work,
But he heard the same old story everywhere:
CHORUS:
Tramp, tramp, tramp, keep on a-tramping,
Nothing doing here for you;
If I catch you 'round again,
You will wear the ball and chain,
Keep on tramping, that's the best thing you can do.
He walked up and down the street,
'Till the shoes fell off his feet,
In a house he spied a lady cooking stew,
And he said, "How do you do,
May I chop some wood for you?"
What the lady told him made him feel so blue:
'Cross the street a sign he read,
"Work for Jesus," so it said,
And he said, "Here is my chance, I'll surely try,"
And he kneeled upon the floor,
'Till his knees got rather sore,
But at eating-time he heard the preacher cry:
Down the street he met a cop,
And the Copper made him stop,
And he asked him, "When did you blow into town?
Come with me up to the judge."
But the judge he said, "Oh, fudge,
Bums that have no money needn't come around."
Finally came that happy day
When his life did pass away,
He was sure he'd go to heaven when he died,
When he reached the pearly gate,
Santa Peter, mean old skate,
Slammed the gate right in his face and loudly cried:
In despair he went to Hell,
With the Devil for to dwell,
For the reason he'd no other place to go.
And he said, "I'm full of sin,
So for Christ's sake, let me in!"
But the Devil said, "Oh, beat it! You're a 'bo!"
THERE IS POWER IN A UNION
There is power in a factory, power in the LINE
Power in the hands of a worker
But it all amounts to nothing if together we don't stand
There is power in a Union
Now the lessons of the past were all learned with workers' blood
The mistakes of the bosses we must pay for
From the cities and the farmlands to trenches full of mud
War has always been the bosses' way, sir
The Union forever defending our rights
Down with the blackleg, all workers unite
With our brothers and our sisters from many far off lands
There is power in a Union
Now I long for the morning that they realise
Brutality and unjust laws can not defeat us
But who'll defend the workers who cannot organise
When the bosses send their lackies out to cheat us?
Money speaks for money, the Devil for his own
Who comes to speak for the skin and the bone?
What a comfort to the widow, a light to the child
There is power in a Union
The Union forever defending our rights
Down with the blackleg, all workers unite
With our brothers and our sisters together we will stand
There is power in a Union.
他的犧牲成為一個工運烈士, 他面對權力壓迫與挑戰而永不妥協, 在權貴的勢力下, 亦不能動搖他對勞工的凝聚力。但是, 在歒對的工業家、資本家、財閥與政府打壓之下, 最終成了被誣陷為謀殺罪犯而犧牲。
今天某些國家仍以100年前美國的黑暗年代, 在沒有言論自由, 社會公義之下去看待其子民。難道要寄望"他們"會有 Joe Hill, Martin Luther King Jr., Mohatma Ghandi, Nelson Mandela 的出現嗎 ? !