About

Welcome to our 2nd Episode about Joe Hill’s most famous song, The Preacher and the Slave. "The Preacher and the Slave" was written by Joe Hill in 1911. It was written as a parody of the hymn "In the Sweet By and By". In this song, Joe Hill coined the now familiar phrase "pie in the sky." The Industrial Workers of the World (commonly known as the Wobblies) were founded in 1905. They concentrated much of their energies organizing migrant workers in lumber and construction camps. Joe Hill was an organizer in the IWW and devoted his life to the "awakening of 'illiterates' and 'scum' to an original, personal conception of society and the realization of the dignity and rights of their part in it." He wrote his songs to inspire solidarity in the ranks of the IWW and to recruit new members. He and the Wobblies encouraged a "conscientious withdrawal of efficiency," which was not a call for violence, but rather a sprinkle of sand in the workings of machinery, and, more specifically, the efforts of non-union friendly employers... listen to other episodes as they are released at Protest Songs In Left Wing Politics -  http://septicradio.com/protestsongsleftwing.php A production of Septic Radio.