Free Republic of the Murdered by Emmett Doyle published on 2021-11-15T00:22:09Z This translation of Dan Berglund's Swedish song for those killed in the workplace is dedicated to Björn Söderberg, murdered by fascists for exposing their infiltration of his local union. The struggle is against both the paramilitary violence of the fascists, and the daily structural violence of capitalism. Key of Bm, performed on a bouzouki, D pennywhistle, and bodhran. Bm A Bm I ate my oats, and read the morning news D A Kissed my wife goodbye, and then put on my boots F#m A Bm Underneath the stars my footprints in the snow Bm A Bm Marked the road that 13 years have seen me come and go On that day, the north wind blew around We were welding on a platform, 30 meters off the ground I heard a crash, and someone shouted Sven It disappeared in blood and fire and darkness fell again As I woke up, in a box made out of pine, I figured I’d be damned, it’s the end of the line My wife’s was pale as ice and tears fell from her eyes While the priest prayed unto god with his nose turned to the sky And I was lowered into my simple hole Twiddling my thumbs in the midnight of my soul “Dear Comrade and Corpse”, some distant voice there said Welcome to the Free Republic of the Murdered Dead And there in the rocks, roots, sand, and soil People lay in rows, the whole ground was full Of women and men who’d worked on everything And the earth shook from their voices as they all began to sing We are the dead of the factories and the mines, Of fisheries and lumber mills, butchered like swine 500 every years, bled out from the herd And the greatest of the murderers in Jacob Wallenberg We are the ones who ran the factory lines, Carried out like firewood and stacked up in the pines We bowed before our killer and made sure his belly grew While the parties and the unions were spit-shining his shoes Now we shout for revenge, so everyone can hear Our bitter song in the roar of engines and of gears In the whisper of the pines, and in the north wind’s breath Demanding you to do your duty and avenge our death We sing for you through the noise of the machines, Let every strike carve out for us the pathway to be free Class against class, that’s the battle we must fight And we will rise in silence and be marching at your side Genre Folk & Singer-Songwriter Comment by sojounen This is stunning. A few years ago I posted an english translation to this song hoping that it would reach a wider audience. Regardless of my efforts, look like it has. Kudos from Minneapolis 2024-04-02T00:17:30Z Comment by Dotty H Is it possible to get the lyrics? 2023-02-12T14:02:37Z Comment by acrylamid The punk band EAK (abbreviation for: Eld Attack Krossa) has in its cover from 1995 updated the lyrics to Peter Wallenberg. Both Jakob and Peter are dead today but Jakob (the younger) and Peter (the younger) have taken over. 2022-01-09T12:41:25Z Comment by acrylamid The original lyric was "Study Marx and Lenin and unite" but Dan Berglund himself has changed it to "Make sure to wake up and unite at some point". 2022-01-09T12:36:48Z Comment by acrylamid The song is from 1974, Björn Söderberg was killed 1999. Dan Berglund himself dedicated the song to all those who die annually in Swedish industry. In the LP envelope there is a picture from Skogskyrkogården in Karlskoga on the seven graves that together form a star. They were seven of the eleven who died in a workplace accident at Bofors in 1940 and which is one of Sweden's worst workplace accidents. 2022-01-09T12:30:25Z