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For more than 150 years, May 1 has been an international day to celebrate and defend the rights of the working class. This year, with the Trump administration’s assault on virtually all fundamental labor, civil, economic, political, and social rights, May 1, 2017, could see one of the greatest explosions of outrage at the abuses of capital since the first mass May Day protest in the United States in 1886, when more than 300,000 workers nationwide walked off their jobs on behalf of an eight-hour work day. Ad Policy

In tribute to all those planning actions for May 1 (which my colleague Ariana Rosas Cárdenas well chronicles), here’s my stab at the impossible task of naming the best songs ever written about working people—a playlist for May Day.

1. Florence Reece, “Which Side Are You On?”

2. Tennessee Ernie Ford, “Sixteen Tons”

3. Billy Bragg, “There Is Power in a Union”

4. Dolly Parton, “Working 9 to 5”

5. Bruce Springsteen, “Youngstown”

6. Pete Seeger, “Solidarity Forever”

7. Hazel Dickens, “Fire in the Hole”

8. Loretta Lynn, “Coal Miner’s Daughter”

9. Gil Scott-Heron, “Three Miles Down”

10. The Clash, “Clampdown”

11. Woody Guthrie, “Union Burying Ground”

12. Paul Robeson, “Joe Hill”