Raging Grannie Tells the Story of Labor’s Songs

On Saturday, August 28, Mimi Yahn -- educator, activist, ‘zine publisher, and musical director of Pittsburgh’s Raging Grannies -- presented “The Story of Labor’s Songs.”  The Grannies perform satirical songs at demonstrations, picket lines, fundraisers, and similar events.  Yahn’s presentation took place at the historic Pumphouse, which is nearly all that is left of the Carnegie Steel/US Steel mill in Homestead.  It is the site of the 1892 Battle of Homestead, in which the people of the town defended their economic security, their first-amendment rights, and their way of life from Pinkerton agents employed by the Carnegie Steel Company.

Yahn generously provided a bibliography and 12-page songbook to the arriving visitors.  She introduced her topic by pointing out that songs have generally been more difficult to censor than other kinds of expression, and that songs therefore constitute an often-overlooked people’s history of collective struggles for justice.  Observing that songs have the power to encourage us to defy tyrants and to laugh at the boss, Yahn supported her view with quotations -- some inspiring, others humorous -- from sources ranging from abolitionist and feminist Frederick Douglass to former Vice-President Spiro Agnew. 

She then played audio recordings of over two dozen labor songs — some no doubt familiar, many new to all but perhaps a very few.  Performers included Odetta, Merle Travis, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Billy Bragg, and many others.  The songs included miners’ songs, Wobbly songs, 19^th century labor songs, union hymns, songs of women workers, internationalist anthems, and more.  Some of the songs were satirical and provocative, others movingly sentimental, still others rousing and invigorating.

Scholarly yet accessible, Yahn framed each song with a commentary or dedication.  For example, she introduced “Bread and Roses” via a vivid history of the Lawrence Strike of 1912.  “This Land is Your Land” she dedicated to the demonstrators at the 2004 Republican National Convention.  For “Fifty-Nine Cents,” a 1981 song reflecting on the fact that at that time US women only made $.59 to a man’s dollar, Yahn noted that during the Great Depression women made $.85 to a man’s dollar.  Today, she said, women make roughly $.75 to a man’s $1.00. 

Encouraged by Yahn, the audience sang along with their favorites.  Many also stood at the end to join an a cappella rendition of “Solidarity Forever.”

Yahn concluded the program by calling on those present to support the nurses (Service Workers International Union 1199p) currently on strike at Presbyterian Hospital in Washington, Pennsylvania. 

The program was hosted by the non-profit Battle of Homestead Foundation, which promotes labor-community solidarity by interpreting (and ensuring access to) the site of the United States’ most dramatic confrontation over the rights of workers and their communities.  It is dedicated to ensuring that the Pumphouse will remain a living monument to the issues of 1892.

To contact the Battle of Homestead Foundation, please phone Russ Gibbons (412-782-0171).  Mimi Yahn can be contacted at meemers@surfbest.net.

- Joel Woller