Union Songs .... online collecton
Search this site by a single word eg Hospodaryk or by a phrase
eg "Luigi Trastulli" (using " ")![]()
More than 717 songs and poems, over 275 Authors
Call them rebel songs, slave songs, songs of freedom, work songs, songs of dissent, songs of struggle, protest songs, liberation songs, labour songs, labor songs, workers songs, industrial folk songs, environmental songs, songs of equality, peace songs.
For over two centuries working people across the world have built trade unions. This site documents the songs and poems that they made in the process, union songs. It includes songs and poems that are being written today, as the process of union building continues all around the world.
Such songs are the work of famous poets as well as men and women whose names have been forgotten. They stretch back to ancient times and are being created today.
"I don't see songs themselves as changing the world. They reinforce sentiments. When people come to one of my shows, they arrive as individuals but, I hope, leave with a shared purpose and inspiration.
"Songs won't change the world, but can encourage others to do so. They can act as a form of unification.
"One of the great joys of 'The Writing On The Wall', when Tony Benn and I perform together, is to celebrate the rich tradition of opposition to tyranny.
"People like Wat Tyler will be remembered far longer than turncoat politicians like Tony Blair" Roy Bailey
Whatever name we find for these songs they have in common a fierce opposition to the rule of the entrenched powerbrokers, who as they get richer and as humanity's problems grow more accute, get more determined to hang on to power by any means and at all costs.
union songs..........a selection by mark gregory