My union badge shows two joined hands
With a lighted flame in common fight
But trouble's brewing in the sheds
For both these working hands are white
But working hands are white and black
And the work they do is all the same
But prejudice and fear come in
To break the grip, and dim the flame
The shunters broke the grip one day
Kings Cross goods yard went on strike
Not in a fight for better pay
But a coloured man they did not like
They did not like the coloured man
They wouldn't work with him, they said
In truth, it touched their overtime
And to a colour bar it led
The colour bar strikers soon went back
Jim Figgins led the NUR
And when they asked for his support
He said, 'We'll have no colour bar'
Jim Figgins said, 'Get back to work
This is a strike we'll not support
This is the kind of ignorance
That unions have always fought'
But though the union won that fight
The pressure's there and rising higher
Smoke rises in the engine sheds
And where there's smoke there's always fire
Men don't let smoke get in your eyes
Kindle that flame and keep it bright
To proud tradition still be true
And make those joined hands black and white
With a lighted flame in common fight
But trouble's brewing in the sheds
For both these working hands are white
But working hands are white and black
And the work they do is all the same
But prejudice and fear come in
To break the grip, and dim the flame
The shunters broke the grip one day
Kings Cross goods yard went on strike
Not in a fight for better pay
But a coloured man they did not like
They did not like the coloured man
They wouldn't work with him, they said
In truth, it touched their overtime
And to a colour bar it led
The colour bar strikers soon went back
Jim Figgins led the NUR
And when they asked for his support
He said, 'We'll have no colour bar'
Jim Figgins said, 'Get back to work
This is a strike we'll not support
This is the kind of ignorance
That unions have always fought'
But though the union won that fight
The pressure's there and rising higher
Smoke rises in the engine sheds
And where there's smoke there's always fire
Men don't let smoke get in your eyes
Kindle that flame and keep it bright
To proud tradition still be true
And make those joined hands black and white
Contributed by Bernart - 2013/7/25 - 16:55
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Scritta da Charlie Mayo ed Ewan MacColl
Incisa da Ewan MacColl con Peggy Seeger nel disco del 1958 intitolato “Second Shift”.
Nel secondo dopoguerra, quando segretario della National Union of Railwaymen britannica (NUR, oggi dissolta) era Jim Figgins, ci furono tra i lavoratori delle ferrovie alcune tensioni di matrice razziale. Parecchi bianchi rifiutavano di lavorare fianco a fianco con i dipendenti di pelle nera. Alla stazione di King’s Cross venne proclamato uno sciopero per chiedere l’allontanamento dei neri ma la NUR non diede il suo sostegno e Jim Figgins disse che il simbolo del sindacato era una stretta di mani e che non importava se quelle mani erano bianche o nere o di qualunque altro colore…