Songs of the Workers (15th edition)/Wage Workers, Come Join the Union

by Industrial Workers of the World

WAGE WORKERS, COME JOIN THE UNION
(Tune: "Battle Hymn of the Republic")

We have seen the reaper toiling in the heat of summer sun,
We have seen his children needy when the harvesting was done,
We have seen a mighty army dying, helpless, one by one,
While their flag went marching on.

CHORUS

Wage workers, come join the union!
Wage workers, come join the union!
Wage workers, come join the union!
Industrial Workers of the World.

O, the army of the wretched, how they swarm the city street—
We have seen them in the midnight, where the Goths and Vandals meet;
We have shuddered in the darkness at the noises of their feet,
But their cause went marching on.

Our slaver's marts are empty, human flesh no more is sold,
Where the dealer's fatal hammer makes the clink of leaping gold,
But the slavers of the present more relentless powers hold,
Though the world goes marching on

But no longer shall the children bend above the whizzing wheel,
We will free the weary women from their bondage under steel;

In the mines and in the forest worn and helpless man shall fell
That his cause is marching on.

Then lift your eyes, ye toilers, in the desert hot and dear,
Catch the cool winds from the mountains. Hark! the river's voice is near;
Soon we'll rest beside the fountain and the dreamland will be here
As we go marching on.