Festive event celebrates union activist and songwriter

Evening of Socialist Music, Sheffield Trades and Labour Club
Musician Luke Carver GossMusician Luke Carver Goss
Musician Luke Carver Goss

This festive concert has been organised by Sheffield Trades Council in memory of Joe Hill, a famous US union organiser, who died 100 years ago.

Called ‘the troubadour of discontent’, Joe was a well-known activist working for the militant International Workers of the World, nicknamed the ‘Wobblies’.

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His most famous songs were There is Power in a Union, The Rebel 
Girl and The Preacher and the Slave.

The last song, written in 1911, was a parody of the hymn In the Sweet By-and-By and coined the phrase pie in the sky.

A massive campaign to overturn Joe’s death sentence for the alleged murder of a grocer and his son in Utah failed and he was executed by firing squad in Salt Lake City in November, 1915.

His final rallying cry to fellow workers was: “Don’t waste time mourning, organise!”

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Performing tomorrow night are the UNITE Brass Band, sponsored by Britain’s biggest trade union, and Sheffield Socialist Choir.

They will be joined by Luke Carver Goss, a Sheffield singer and guitarist who is active in Heeley Labour Party.

He has written a song about Joe Hill especially for the event.

Doors open at 6.45pm and tickets on the door cost £6 (£4 concesssions).

The music starts at 7.30pm.

The event is suitable for children.

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Sheffield Trades Council secretary Martin Mayer said: “It’s Christmas and it’s time to get together for a good seasonal gathering with great music, a comradely atmosphere – and a bit of a political flavour too!”