Union Songs

General Strike

A Song by Smokey Dymny©Smokey Dymny 2002

- [play]

General strike! General strike!
That's the only 'general' working people like.
We may not be an army but the enemy's in our sight
And the way to bring them down is general strike.

You don't have to be an economist t' know things don't add up
And a lawyer and a judge can't fix your rights
And the papers tell you stories to send you to bed at night
But the way to turn things 'round is general strike.

You don't need to use a gun, you don't have to blow things up
You can't cast a ballot or give up your vote.
Don't talk to any clergy or debate in parliament
None of these have done a lot to rock the boat.

When a bunch of us stops working, we all watch who's gonna win
'Cause the outcome's often stacked against our side.
But when we all walk at once, there's no ifs or ands or buts
The capitalists will all be petrified

So don't bother with a Party or a platform they're a joke,
Just tell your fellow workers there's a date.
And when we shut down the system it'll be over in a wink
That's the day the workers start to legislate.

Notes

Many thanks to Smokey Dymny for permission to add this song to the Union Songs collection.

Smokey Dymny writes
"In 2002 the province of British Columbia, Canada had an overwhelming landslide election in favour of a neo-con government which had deceitfully renamed itself "Liberal". 77 of 79 seats were taken by this new government, leaving two NDP members. The union radicals of the province quickly organized a committee they named "Prepare the General Strike" despite having little or no help from their own unions. When I met this committee the next summer in Vancouver I had written a song which I played for them. It took a number of more years before I could record it properly.

This is the song Utah Phillips told me he was waiting to get his hands on when I arrived in Victoria, B.C. last July (2006) for his concert. He had heard an advance copy when he was visiting the Wobblies in Edmonton the previous year. They gave it to him but when he took it home he could not open it on his own computer"

"Smokey's voice is a pork chop with a little bit of road dirt."- Art Farquharson
http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/bands/Smokey
http://www.newunionism.net/solidarityidol.htm
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Smokey Dymny
Box 745, Quathiaski Cove, B.C.
V0P 1N0, Canada
phone: 250-285-2447

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union songs..........a selection by mark gregory