Links on the Chain

Come you ranks of labor, come you union core.

And see if you remember the struggles of before,

When you were standing helpless on the outside of the door.

And you started building links on the chain, on the chain.

And you started building links on the chain

When the police on their horses were waitin' on demand.

Riding through the strike with the pistols in their hands

Swingin' at the skulls of many a unionist.

As you built one more link on the chain, on the chain.

As you built one more link on the chain

And then in 1954, decisions finally made.

Black people were a-risin' fast and racin' from the shade.

And your union took no stand and your union was betrayed.

As you lost yourself a link on the chain, on the chain.

As you lost yourself a link on the chain.

And then there came the boycotts and then the freedom rides,

And forgetting what you stood for, you tried to block the tide.

Oh, the automation bosses were laughin' on the side,

As they watched you lose your link on the chain, on the chain.

As they watched you lose your link on the chain

And the ones who try to tell you blacks will take your jobs away,

They're the same ones who were scabbin' hard just the other day.

And your union's not a union till they're thrown out of the way.

And they're chokin' on your links of the chain, of the chain.

And they're chokin' on your links of the chain

For now the times are tellin' you, the times are rollin' on,

And you're fighting for the same thing, the jobs that will be gone.

Now it's only fair to ask you, friends, which side are you on.

As you're buildin' all your links on the chain, on the chain.

As you're buildin' all your links on the chain