Solidarity Forever
We come with dirt under our nails and rage in our blood. We are the children of Blair Mountain and the Battle of Matewan.
From Zachary Shrewsbury:
We must remember something here this May Day as West Virginians:
The oligarchy has tried to bury us under coal dust, opioids, and broken promises.
They told us we were backwards. Told us to be quiet. Told us to be grateful for scraps.
But this soil remembers. And so do we.
They drained our hills for profit and tossed our people aside when the wells ran dry.
They sent preachers to pacify us, bosses to watch us, and cops to crush us.
They stole our labor, poisoned our rivers, then blamed us for being poor.
But on this May Day, we say, “No more.”
This land has always belonged to those who worked it not those who stole it.
We built this country with our hands. We broke our backs while they lined their pockets.
And now they fear us because they know we’re rising again.
The billionaires, the landlords, the corporate Democrats and crooked Republicans,
They call us lazy, violent, ignorant. But they are terrified of what happens when we remember who we are.
Because when Appalachia stands,
The working class stands.
The world shakes.
We’re organizing. We’re striking. We’re taking it back.
We come with dirt under our nails and rage in our blood.
We are the children of Blair Mountain and the Battle of Matewan.
We carry the memory of union songs and broken chains.
Every time they evict a family, cut a pension, fight against a union,
We grow another fist.
Every time they lie about who we are,
We raise another voice.
This isn’t a protest.
This is a declaration.
We are building a world where no one starves and no one rules over another.
Where labor means dignity, not exploitation.
Where the bosses answer to the people, not the other way around.
We are not waiting for justice.
We are justice.
And to every parasite still feeding off our pain:
Sleep light.
We’re coming.
This is our West Virginia.
These are our mountains.
This is our fight.
This is our May Day.
And we are just getting started.
Solidarity, forever.
Remembering Blair Mountain
The following is a speech by Robert Gillette, director of the Eastern Panhandle Liberation Center in Martinsburg, WV. The speech was given as part of “Remember Blair Mountain: Celebrating the Largest Labor Uprising in US History,” an event held in Shepherdstown, WV, organized by the