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WHAT WE'RE READING: From Cell to Cell, Jailed Minnesota Unionists Sang of Freedom

Harold Phillips | Published on 6/18/2026
From Labor Notes:

"When I got to my cell after they took me, I did not know who else was targeted in the sweep. I saw one person I knew, and then was put into a cell alone.

"Not knowing what else to do to pass the time, I began singing “Fields of Athenry.” When I was done with that, I sang “The Ballad of Joe McDonnell,” “Bold Robert Emmet,” “Jim Jones in Botany Bay,” and “Our Lads in Crumlin Jail.”

"I was halfway through "The Town I Loved So Well," about to choke up thinking about Metro Surge and "with their tanks and their guns, oh my God what have they done, to the town I loved so well," when I heard a shout down the hallway:

"'Play ‘Dick Blizzard'!'

"A chorus of laughter followed, and voices of friends and loved ones. Suddenly, I wasn't alone anymore."

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