HARRI WEBB

The Long Strike 1926

The sidings are rusting, the pitwheels are still,

The seams no more shake to the shot-firer's drill,

The lamp-room is silent, the cage is at rest,

For owners and men are now put to the test,

And who is to say who will stand it the best?

The silence has spread from the seams underground

To the towns and the streets and the homes all around,

For all it's a question of life or of death

And it seems as if history is holding its breath.

Oh, say, is the silence the silence of death?

Our women and children know hunger and need,

But they stand staunch beside us, true comrades indeed.

And though we're forced back on the coal-owners' terms

We stood out long enough to show we're not worms.

And we know that one day we'll be calling the terms.

We've had strikes before and will have strikes again,

There's no end to the war between masters and men

Till the workers of Wales strike the chains from our land,

Then we'll all work together and work hand in hand,

We'll all work for Wales and we'll work hand in hand.