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"Joe Hill was a labor activist, IWW member, and songwriter prominent in the early 1900s. He was convicted of murder and executed in 1915 in a controversial trial, with many arguing that he was wrongfully convicted and subject to an unfair trial due to his socialist politics.

Hill has been immortalized as a martyr for the labor movement, with a line he sent in a telegram before his death to fellow Wobbly Bill Haywood saying “Goodbye, Bill, I die like a true blue rebel. Don’t waste any time mourning. Organize!” being abridged into the common labor slogan “Don’t mourn, organize!”

Before being put to music in 1936 by Earl Robinson, the lyrics to this song were written as a tribute poem called “I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night” by Alfred Hayes in 1930."