Biography
Ralph Chaplin, from Chicago, Illinois, was sentenced to twenty years in prison at the IWW trial in Chicago. Chaplin was a songwriter and editor of the IWW's banner newspaper Solidarity. His most famous song, "Solidarity Forever, " remains popular as the anthem of the trade union movement. Chaplin served in Leavenworth Penitentiary from September 1918 to July 1919 and from April 1921 until the commutation of his sentence on June 25, 1923. The Department of Justice initially recommended against any reduction of sentence, calling Chaplin a "notorious agitator" who used "all his power and influence to belittle the government." At Leavenworth the warden criticized Chaplin as a "lazy, " "sneaking" and "double dealing" prisoner: Chaplin is more cunning than the average IWW prisoner and he tries sneaking ways to get others to make trouble for the prison officials... Chaplin poses as a poet and is a lazy loafer. During his incarceration Chaplin's family and friends published a chapbook of prison poems.
Ralph Hosea Chaplin IWW's leading songwriter, poet, and propagandist; wrote "Solidarity Forever" on January 17, 1915, set to "John Brown's Body." Joined IWW 1913; in 1916 became editor of the union's eastern paper Solidarity. Convicted in the 1918 Chicago mass trial; sentenced to 20 years and a $30,000 fine. Served roughly four years at Leavenworth before Harding's December 1923 amnesty. Chronicled prison years in "Bars and Shadows" (1922) and autobiography "Wobbly" (1948).
