Part Four: Funeral and Aftermath
THE FUNERAL
The body was shipped from Utah to Chicago, 1,600 miles. 30,000 attended the funeral. The Red Flag flew without police interference.
"Look 'round, the Frenchman loves its blaze,
The sturdy German chants its praise,
In Moscow's vaults its hymns are sung,
Chicago swells the surging throng."
"The Red Flag": James Connell.
Thousands sang Joe Hill's very own songs. Over the red draped coffin, a banner proclaimed:
"In Memoriam, Joe Hill. We never forget.
Murdered by the authorities of the State of Utah,
Nov. 19th, 1915."
Orations were made over the coffin in ten different languages.
Jim Larkin in his speech said: "Joe Hill was shot to death because he was a member of the fighting section of the American working class, the IWW. Over the great heart of Joe Hill, now stilled in death, let us take up his burden, rededicate ourselves to the cause that knows no failure and for which Hoe Hillström cheerfully gave his all, his valuable life. Though dead in flesh, he liveth amongst us.”
Joe’s ashes were put in small envelopes and scattered in every state of the Union except Utah, in every country in South America, and throughout Asia, Europe, and Australia.
A LETTER
While the fight was going on to save Hill’s life, President Wilson received a pencilled note as follows:
“DECLINE
By 1919, I.W.W. membership had plummeted from 100,000 to 30,000. Internal discord over relations with the growing American Communist movement divided the membership. That same year, at a mass trial in Chicago, 101 I.W.W. leaders were sentenced to federal prison terms for conspiring to obstruct the war effort. As a result of the convictions and desertions, the I.W.W. was both physically and psychologically destroyed.
SMALL BUT TRUE
In later decades, the I.W.W. continued to press the rights of workers, free speech and civil rights. Today, the I.W.W. retains a vigorous press and is a magnet for writers, playwrights, oral historians and filmmakers fascinated by the legacy of this vibrant, militant, fist-shaking union.”
Source: see here
