Emma B. Little was a long-time and leading activist with the I.W.W. based around Fresno, California where she shared in organizing with a family of comrades; including her husband Fred Little and his brother Frank, already a legend in the movement. Here Emma makes an urgent appeal for the life of another close friend and comrade, Joe Hill, falsely accused and facing death in Utah. Two months later and Hill was murdered by the Mormon State, while two years later and Emma’s brother-in-law Frank was lynched by minions of Montana’s copper barons.

‘Arise Ye Slaves!’ by Emma B. Little from Solidarity. Vol. 6 No. 298. September 25, 1915.

Another crime is about to be perpetrated by the capitalist class against the workers.

Our song bird is about to be executed–before he ever has a chance to sing for us the glorious songs of freedom-the freedom of the white slaves from wage slavery.

Will we permit him to be executed? Only we can prevent his execution. We, the great working class, are the ones to say when the lives of the people shall go out into the unknown.

WE SAY JOE HILL SHALL NOT GO OUT.  All together we say he shall not go. We need him in our business. The singing of songs and the writing of books is an important work in civilizing the world. This is Joe’s work and we say he shall do this work and no damnable capitalist court shall railroad him to the other side.

WE SAY HE SHALL NOT GO OUT, AND NOW, BOYS, IT’S UP TO YOU. GET BUSY ON THIS JOB.

CIRCULATE THE PETITIONS–flood the Governor’s office. You won’t have any trouble to get signers, even those who do not know anything about the case will sign a petition that asks that the death sentence be set aside in a case of circumstantial evidence-point out the fact that the sentence was hurried so as to give the accused no time to obtain help-point out the fact that the accused is a common working man, that he is unusually intelligent-a poet, a song writer. You will be surprised to find how many will sign your petition. Don’t wait to get acquainted with a man before you ask him to sign-most everybody is human, just ask everyone you meet, that’s a good way to get acquainted, and you can do some propaganda work for the I.W.W. at the same time. This is hard on Joe Hill but it is excellent propaganda for the I.W.W.–and don’t forget to ask the women to sign, most of them know how to sign their names and very few will refuse. You’ll be surprised to find how many people are anxious to sign. The working class are getting tired of having their fellow workers railroaded, and even those who are not exactly of the working class are tired and they sign too. More than ninety-nine out of every hundred will sign if they are only asked. The case is so rotten, it smells all over the United States.

HOLD MASS MEETINGS. SHOW UP THIS CAPITALIST CONSPIRACY TO MURDER A COMMON WORKING MAN LIKE YOURSELVES! Why? Because he has always been active in the working class movement. Because he has done everything in his power to better the conditions of the workers. Because he has always made every possible effort to EDUCATE the workers as to the necessity for ORGANIZATION on the JOB in order that they may free themselves from WAGE SLAVERY.

SING JOE’S SONGS in your union hall, on the streets, everywhere where two or three are gathered together.

Also if convenient use a little SABOTAGE in your business. The Bible says a tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye, a life for a life–and JOE HILL’S life is worth more to us of the great working class than are the lives of all the courts of Utah.

WE DEMAND THIS LIFE!
WE ARE GOING TO ENFORCE OUR DEMANDS!
GET BUSY, BOYS, GET BUSY!

EMMA B. LITTLE.

The most widely read of I.W.W. newspapers, Solidarity was published by the Industrial Workers of the World from 1909 until 1917. First produced in New Castle, Pennsylvania, and born during the McKees Rocks strike, Solidarity later moved to Cleveland, Ohio until 1917 then spent its last months in Chicago. With a circulation of around 12,000 and a readership many times that, Solidarity was instrumental in defining the Wobbly world-view at the height of their influence in the working class. It was edited over its life by A.M. Stirton, H.A. Goff, Ben H. Williams, Ralph Chaplin who also provided much of the paper’s color, and others. Like nearly all the left press it fell victim to federal repression in 1917.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/solidarity-iww/1915/v06-w298-sep-25-1915-solidarity-joe-hill.pdf