This Land is Your Land

*Seal of the CPUSSA*

*This Land is Your Land* is the national anthem of the Commonwealth of America. Originally written by IWW organizer Joe Hill, it was published in his *Little Red Songbook* in 1909 along with dozens of other folk tunes, most of them originating as classic Christian hymns later appropriated and revised by labor activists to encourage workers to unionize. Though the *Songbook* was banned by the Wilson administration in 1912 for its subversive themes, *This Land* found its way into the mainstream for its uplifting lyrics and homely melody, often sung in classrooms by children who enjoyed the simple harmony line. In educational settings, the more radical verses were generally omitted to avoid trouble with the school district. In 1914 with the onset of the First Weltkrieg, it became associated with the anti-war Socialist Party as they sought to appeal to moderate pacifists who viewed their program as too radical.

When the Communist Party was founded by the resurgent socialist coalition in 1920, it quickly adopted *This Land* as its anthem, essential to their branding along with the golden "ribbon and cog." It remained popular as a rallying cry throughout the course of the civil war in NCL states, and was one of three choices for the national anthem of the new Commonwealth to be decided at the Second Constitutional Convention in Chicago. Some anarchist delegates from the party's left wing represented by IWW loyalists argued against designating an official state anthem while the AFL generally supported *Solidarity Forever,* a revised version of the classic *John Brown's Body.* In the end, *This Land* came out on top as a relatively inoffensive compromise song, and its radical verses were restored in spite of minor protests by the right-leaning social democratic wing of the AFL. Throughout the century it was covered and parodied in dozens of different genres and languages, with the most controversial appropriating of its lyrics coming from the Russian pop song *Back in the USSA.*

## Official text

(Verse 1/chorus)

This land is your land, this land is my land

From San Francisco to Staten island.

From the Redwood forest, to the Erie waters,

This land was made for you and me.

(Verse 2)

As I went walking that ribbon of railway

I saw above me that endless skyway,

And saw below me that golden valley

This land was made for you and me.

(Verse 3)

I roamed and rambled and followed my footsteps

To the sparkling sands of our diamond deserts

And all around me, a voice was sounding:

This land was made for you and me.

*(Verse 4)*

There was a great high wall there that tried to stop me

And a great big sign there that read "Private Property"

But on the other side, it didn't say nothing

This land was made for you and me.

(Verse 5)

When the sun came shining, there I was strolling

In the wheat fields waving and dust clouds rolling

And a voice was chanting as the fog was lifting:

This land was made for you and me.

*(Verse 6)*

In the squares of the city, in the shadow of the steeple

By the welfare office, I saw my people

As they stood there hungry, I heard them singing:

This land was made for you and me.

(Verse 7)\*

The cross is bending, the night is passing

And joy is coming with the light of the morning.

We'll stand together, now and forever

We sing for solidarity!

*Italics -* censored in the former US

*\** - added in 1921