Solidarity forever
Solidarity forever
muzyka: trad. / William Steffe
[G]Solidarity forever,
[C]Solidarity for[G]ever,
Solidarity for[Em]ever,
For the [Am]union [D7]makes us [G]strong!
When the [G]union’s inspiration through
the workers’ blood shall run,
There can [C]be no power greater
any[G]where beneath the sun;
Yet what force on earth is weaker
than the [Em]feeble strength of one,
But the [Am]union [D7]makes us [G]strong.
Solidarity forever…
Is there aught we hold in common with the greedy parasite,
Who would lash us into serfdom and would crush us with his might?
Is there anything left to us but to organize and fight?
For the union makes us strong.
Solidarity forever…
It is we who plowed the prairies; built the cities where they trade;
Dug the mines and built the workshops, endless miles of railroad laid;
Now we stand outcast and starving midst the wonders we have made;
But the union makes us strong.
Solidarity forever…
All the world that’s owned by idle drones is ours and ours alone.
We have laid the wide foundations; built it skyward stone by stone.
It is ours, not to slave in, but to master and to own.
While the union makes us strong.
Solidarity forever…
They have taken untold millions that they never toiled to earn,
But without our brain and muscle not a single wheel can turn.
We can break their haughty power, gain our freedom when we learn
That the union makes us strong.
Solidarity forever…
In our hands is placed a power greater than their hoarded gold,
Greater than the might of armies, multiplied a thousand-fold.
We can bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old
For the union makes us strong.
Solidarity forever…
Solidarity Forever to prawdopodobnie najsłynniejszy hymn związkowy. Śpiewany na melodię John Brown’s Body oraz The Battle Hymn of the Republic (znanej też jako „Glory! Glory! Hallelujah”), napisany został przez aktywistę i artystę, Ralpha Chaplina (autora czarnego kota, symbolu anarchosyndykalistów) w 1915 r. w Chicago.
Chaplin rozpoczął pisanie rok wcześniej podczas strajku górniczego w Huntington. Choć utwór został napisany jako piosenka amerykańskiego rewolucyjnego związku zawodowego Robotnicy Przemysłowi Świata (Industrial Workers of the World, IWW), inne ruchy związkowe zaadoptowały tę piosenkę jako swoją.
Zobacz też wersję polską tej piosenki: „Solidarność naszą bronią”.