Written In Blood: Songs that celebrate the working man--Bryan Franks

Artists that use their talents to inform and raise up and improve the lives of others is the highest form of art in my humble opinion. Protests songs give voice to the downtrodden, the exploited, and abused. It can raise awareness to bring about social change. Lives can improve, poverty can be mitigated and society benefits from a healthier happier populace.

Unfortunately, the oligarch does not see it that way. Profit before anything is the root of most suffering. Corporations that will sue a CEO if they refuse to ignore all responsibility for the environment and the welfare of the average man. This must change and these songs show that informed people have known the evils of out of control unregulated capitalism for a long time.

Many have shed blood in the mines, factories, and on the picket lines. Young girls trapped in a garment mill burned to death. Striking miners burned as they slept and mowed down with Gatling guns by National Guard. Miners in the 1800s crushed to death in a mine by owners that refused to install supports because supports cost money and crushed workers did not.

When I see Labor Day celebrated as a patriotic holiday with barbeques and American flags I can only think that it has been thoroughly whitewashed. The Government never sided with the worker at least not until some social change finally occurred during the FDR years. The common man fought the corporation and the government that backed them with their blood. It is essential that we reclaim our truth and history at this time when our hard-fought human rights and social protections continue to erode under a criminal administration.

Join me in celebrating Labor Day week with songs of struggle that celebrate and memorialize those that gave their lives for hungry children and old people and decent working conditions rather than wars for corporate profit.

Solidarity is our only hope.

I've gathered a few of my favorites here for your enjoyment.