It was my honour to give the keynote address for the Winnipeg Industrial Workers of the World’s first annual Red November/Black November! A celebration of working class culture and community. My talk was called “How to Remember the Dead.”

 
“Red November, black November,
Bleak November, black and red.
Hallowed month of labor’s martyrs,
Labor’s heroes, labor’s dead.

Labor’s wrath and hope and sorrow,
Red the promise, black the threat,
Who are we not to remember?
Who are we to dare forget?

Black and red the colors blended,
Black and red the pledge we made,
Red until the fight is ended,
Black until the debt is paid.”

— By Ralph Chaplin