After 25 years, the Rockin’ Solidarity Labor Chorus is calling it a day. We’ll be performing three last concerts: an hour of favorite songs, in historical context. If you’re an old member or a long-time follower, please come down for a last chance to sing along. All concerts are free.
This website will be maintained for the foreseeable future to honor the legacy of both the Chorus, and its director, Pat Wynne.
Labor Chorus photo gallery
Solidarity Forever
Click to see a video clip of the Labor Chorus singing the refrain of Solidarity Forever
1919 verses by Ralph Chaplin
from Songs of the Workers, 15th edition, 1919
When the Union’s inspiration through the worker’s blood shall run,
There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun
Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one?
But the Union makes us strong.
CHORUS:
Solidarity forever!
Solidarity forever!
Solidarity forever!
But the Union makes us strong.
Is there aught we hold in common with the greedy parasite
Who would lash us into serfdom and would crush us with his might
Is there anything left for us but to organize and fight?
For the Union makes us strong.
It is we who plowed the prairies; built the cities where they trade.
Dug the mines and built the workshops; endless miles of railroad laid.
Now we stand, outcast and starving, ‘mid the wonders we have made;
For the Union makes us strong.
All the world that’s owned by idle drones, is ours and ours alone.
We have laid the wide foundations; built it skywards, stone by stone.
It is ours, and not slave in, but to master and to own,
While the Union makes us strong.
They have taken untold millions that they never toiled to earn.
But without our brain and muscle not a single wheel can turn.
We can break their haughty power; gain our freedom, when we learn
That the Union makes us strong.
In our hands is placed a power greater than their hoarded gold;
Greater than the might of armies, magnified a thousand fold.
We can bring to birth the new world from the ashes of the old,
For the Union makes us strong.
New verse by Pat Wynne
When the workforce opened up and we women were of use,
We were paid half the wage of men and took twice the abuse,
Alone we didn’t stand a chance, but we paid our union dues,
Now the union makes us strong. (Pat Wynne)
New Verses by Other People
It was Pat Wynne’s inspiration kept us singing on so long,
As she led us into battles where we’d right a thousand wrongs,
And our strength shall last forever, every time we join in song
The Labor Chorus makes us strong. (Anonymous)
It is we that wash the dishes, scrub the floors and chase the dirt,
Feed the kids and send them off to school and then we go to work;
Where we work for half wages for a boss that likes to flirt,
But the union makes us strong. (Faith Petrick)
They divide us by our color, they divide us by our tongue,
They divide us men and women, they divide us old and young;
But they’ll tremble at our voices when they hear these verses sung,
For the union makes us strong. (Steve Suffet)
We’re in high schools and in childcare and in elementary schools
We have suffered long from cutbacks, but we will not suffer fools
Education will be funded when we fight to change the rules
And we make our unions strong! (Bonnie Lockhart)
How can we fight the riding tide of global corporate greed?
They’ve downsized us, and laid us off, shipped factories overseas,
But workers have the power to win a Global Victory,
Now the Union makes us strong. (Unknown)
Corporations close their plants and fire employees
Squeeze profits from communities at home and overseas.
But if we stand together, we can bring them to their knees
In Union we are strong. (Bernard Gilbert)
Now party hacks and idiots run the economy.
They’ve fallen hard for budget cuts and for austerity.
If schooling seems expensive, just try ignorance, you’ll see,
Education makes us strong. (Bernard Gilbert)
Spanish Words
Solidaridad Pa’ Siempre
Augustín Lira, Luis Valdez, y Felipe Cantú
En las viñas de la ira luchan por su libertad
Todos los trabajadores quieren ya vivir en paz
Y por eso compañeros nos tenemos que juntar
Con solidaridad
Solidaridad pa’ siempre…
¡Que viva nuestra unión!
Vamos, vamos campesinos los derechos a pelear
Con el corazón en alto y con fe en la unidad
Que la fuerza de los pobres como las olas del mar
La injusticia va a inundar
French Words
Solidarité Mes Frères Et Mes Soeurs
paroles françaises par J. Baumgarten, 1915
Nous engraissons le capital et ses usines
Enchaînés du matin au soir à la machine
Pour notre peine, des salaires de famine
Mais l’union nous rendra forts
Refrain
Solidarité mes frères et mes soeurs
Ensemble nous vaincrons
Mais si un jour nous arrêtons tous nos machines
Mais si un jour nous occupons tous nos usines
Puissants patrons vous ferez alors tristes mines
Car l’union nous rendra forts.
En combattant pour elle, la classe ouvrière
Apportera un ordre nouveau sur la terre
Au coude à coude restons unis, prolétaires
C’est l’union qui nous rend forts.
San Francisco Rockin Solidarity Labor Chorus 