For the Little Red Songbook

Posted on by Little Red Songbook Committee
1909 IWW band, nine Wobblies in red marching band uniforms stand together with instruments. IWW Globe logo in corner.
1909 IWW Band Postcard. From the IWW Materials Preservation Project.

Greetings Fellow Workers,

The Little Red Songbook (LRS) Committee has been working for two years on the new 39th Edition of the songs of the IWW. The Literature Committee sent requests to the GOB, IW, Wob Forum, and the Seattle Worker seeking committee participants, submissions, and ideas. A survey for song suggestions was created and widely distributed. With input from many Wobs, we reviewed over 150 songs for their potential publication in our new edition of the songbook.

The Songbook has been a part of the IWW since its first publication 1909. Published in Spokane, Washington during the 1909 Free Speech Fight under the title, Songs of Workers, on the Road, in the Jungles, and in the Shops. 

The songbook is a foundational piece of our Union. The songbook is the most widely distributed piece of IWW literature to the general public, and might be the best-selling item in our store inventory.

Members of the Committee judged songs based on their pertinence to today, musicality, and content. We submit the following list of song for publication. We ask for your comments and opinions.

Our goal for the next year is to finalize the song list and to start the process of laying out and creating the new edition complete with cords, lyrics, notes, and art. We are hoping to create a rough draft by September 2026. 

Contact, comment, and join the LRS Committee by sending a note to: [email protected]

For the OBU.

1916 Industrial Worker Advert. A sketch of a singing man with text that reads "Selling by the Thousands, The New I.W.W. Song Book, Enlarged Seventh Edition, Now 64 Pages, This latest edition of the now famous IWW Songs is going fast. Send in your orders at once. Great Demand, Large sales. Price ten cents each $5.00 per 100, $35 per 1000. A bunch of new songs along with all of the good old ones makes this edition the best yet. Order from IWW Publishing Bureau." From the IWW Materials Preservation Project.
1916 Industrial Worker Advert, “Selling by the Thousands.” From the IWW Materials Preservation Project.

Song List

  1. A la Huelga – Chico Sánchez Ferlosio
  2. All Used Up
  3. All You Fascists Are Bound to Lose – Woody Guthrie
  4. Banks of Marble
  5. Bread and Roses / Du Pain et des Roses
  6. Dump the Bosses Off Your Back
  7. El Derecho de Vivir en Paz (2019 version) – Victor Jara
  8. El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido – anonymous
  9. En la Plaza de Mi Pueblo – anonymous
  10. God Bless You Very Wealthy Men
  11. Hallelujah, I’m a Bum
  12. Hold the Fort / Recordad!!
  13. Huelga En General
  14. I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night – Alfred Hayes & Earl Robinson
  15. If They Come For You – Ed Peckford
  16. Joe Hill’s Last Will
  17. May Day
  18. Minimum Wage Strike
  19. Never Cross a Picket Line – Billy Bragg
  20. Niños Campesinos
  21. Paper Heart -Si Kahn
  22. Rich People – Carsie Blanton
  23. Roll the Union On – John Handcox
  24. Solidarity Forever / Solidaridad pa’ siempre / Solidarité mes frères sœurs
  25. Stung Right
  26. That Sabo-Tabby Kitten
  27. The Chemical Worker’s Song – Process Man
  28. The Internationale
  29. The Little Flame – Carsie Blanton
  30. The Little Red Songbook – Richard Brazier
  31. The Popular Wobbly
  32. The Preacher and the Slave / Pastel Celestial
  33. The Rebel Girl – Joe Hill
  34. The Right to be Lazy
  35. There is Power in a Union
  36. There is Power in a Union (Pride Version) – Billy Bragg
  37. Tierra y Libertad
  38. Union Maid
  39. We Have Fed You All for a Thousand Years
  40. What Shall We Do with the Starbucks Bosses?
  41. Where the Fraser River Flows – Utah Phillips
  42. Which Side Are You On?
  43. Wobbly Doxology
  44. Workers Song – Dick Gaughan
  45. Working Folk Unite
  46. Ya Ain’t Done Nothing if ya Ain’t Been Called a Red – Faith Petric

This story was published in Seattle Worker in the 2025 September/October edition.

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