Working-class motivational songs. What does inspire you to pursuit meaning in cooperation?

Labour Movement
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Hi, unusual topic and triggering question…

The other day I was thinking that the business people and small-holder owners who aspire to become the ruling class usually listen to things like this THE BEST BUSINESS MOTIVATION FOR SUCCESS IN LIFE - INCREDIBLE MOTIVATIONAL SPEECH - YouTube and other inspirational stuff which acts as a stimulus that pushes these classes to keep motivated to fight for their wealth and status in the harsh capitalist dynamic of competition. And I was thinking that maybe we workers (co-operators and proles), should also share, build and co-create our own sources of inspiration to fight for a mutual-aid economy, **find meaningfulness in what we do in a world full of alienating labour ** motivated by the mere pursuit of profit, and strive for our own style of working-class excellence while keeping up our morale high and find purpose even in difficult times (Like songs that we can use in demonstrations, social/workplace gatherings or strikes), especially in the current context of climate crisis, late-stage capitalism and COVID crisis.

What are the working-class songs that you like the most?

Here are mine:

(1) The people united will never be defeated (El pueblo unido jamas será vencido) - The People United Will Never Be Defeated (English lyrics) - YouTube
(2) Whirlwinds of Danger (Varshavianka / A las barricadas) "Whirlwinds of Danger" - Warszawianka in English - YouTube
(3) Song of the United Front (Einheitsfrontlied) Song of the United Front - YouTube
(4) Bella Ciao - YouTube

I think it’s the right time to start making us powerful questions…

What if we don’t co-determine a clear purpose and we don’t help us to mutually remember it consistently as cooperators we, by default, give up to the distortion of our cooperatives with capitalist practises? What does inspire you to fight for your freedom as a worker? What does inspire you to fight for the freedom of your peers? What does inspire you to fight for the working people’s of the world? Why? In how many different ways might we co-create a world where labour is a source of meaning and not alienation? Why are you a cooperator?

I hope you find the post appropriate.

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Davy Steele singing Pete Seeger’s “Asikatali”

Jammed this with Davy when i was playing at a session in Edinburgh in 1988. :smiley:

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Excellent selection of songs there! I’ll pick out some from around the UK …

Love a bit of Billy Bragg

I’m not a massive fan but Angelic Upstarts are popular in the North East of England

I love Dawn Ray’d (Antifascist Black Metal … acquired taste?) Anyway I linked one that doesn’t have screaming in it :grin:

Very controversial one over here because it’s pro-IRA, but Come out ye Black and Tans is historically very relevant… I hope sharing it doesn’t get me labelled as a terrorist :slight_smile: there are lots of Irish working-class songs, Whiskey in the Jar is my favourite

I don’t know how well they fit the spec but I just love everything by Enter Shikari if you like a bit of rock or techno

I like your value of “working class excellence”… at first when reading this I had in mind storing working-class identity in artistic achievements (I think this exists in poetry and especially rap), but maybe a lot of arts and crafts are quite individualistic things? Or is it more about adopting a habit/mood of celebrating collective victories and achievements? The UCU strikes in 2019-20 had a vibe of this about them, for a while it seemed like every action turned into another one somewhere else :grin:

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