Songs of the Industrial Workers of the World (4th Australian edition)/Workers of the World, Awaken!
WORKERS OF THE WORLD, AWAKEN!
By Joe Hill.
Workers of the world, awaken!
Break your chains, demand your rights;
All the wealth you make is taken
By exploiting parasites.
Shall you kneel in deep submission
From your cradles to your graves?
Is the height of your ambition
To be good and willing slaves?
Chorus:
Fight for your own emancipation;
Arise, ye slaves of every nation!
In One Union grand.
Our little ones for bread are crying,
And millions are from hunger dying;
The means the end is justifying,
'Tis the final stand.
If the workers take a notion,
They can stop all speeding trains;
Every ship upon the ocean
They can tie with mighty chains,
Every wheel in the creation,
Every mine and every mill,
Fleets and armies of the nation
Will at their command stand still.
Join the Union, fellow-workers,
Men and women, side by side;
We will crush the greedy shirkers
Like a sweeping, surging tide;
For united we are standing,
But divided we will fall;
Let this be our understanding—
"All for one and one for all."
Workers of the world, awaken!
Rise in all your splendid might,
Take a wealth that you are making.
It belongs to you by right;