Probably the most famous labor songwriter in America was Joe Hill. He was born in Sweden and came to the United States in the early 1900s. He worked as an unskilled laborer.

Joe Hill joined the Industrial Workers of the World, known as the Wobblies. More than any other union, they used music in their campaigns, urging members to "sing and fight."

One of Joe Hill's best-known songs is "Casey Jones." It uses the music from a song about a train engineer. In the old song, Casey Jones is a hero. He bravely keeps his train running in very difficult conditions.

In Joe Hill's version, Casey Jones is no hero. His train is unsafe. Yet he stays on the job after other workers have called a strike against the railroad company.

Pete Seeger and the Song Swappers sing "Casey Jones (The Union Scab)."

Another American labor song is called "Bread and Roses." That term was connected with the women's labor movement.

The song was based on a poem called "Bread and Roses" by James Oppenheim. The poem was published in The American Magazine in December of 1911.

The following month there was a famous strike by textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts. They won higher pay and better working conditions. Oppenheim's poem gained more attention.

At that time, conditions in factories were already a national issue. In 1911, a fire at a clothing factory in New York had taken the lives of 146 people. The victims were mostly immigrant women.