WI: Joe Hill lived

Joe Hill was a leader of the IWW, a radical trade union which opposed the conciliatory attitude towards capitalism of the AFL, the main trade union in the US at the time, in the early 20th century, known for writing songs like The Preacher and the Slave, against religion. In 1915 he was arrested on a murder charge. Despite the pleas of President Woodrow Wilson, he was sentenced to death and became a martyr for the labor movement. After his death some have suspected foul play in his trial and conviction.

But what if he had lived? Would he have criticized the Soviet Union or would he have viewed it as a beacon of workers' rights? What would be his opinion of Communism in practice?
 
The Wobblys were a mixed bag when it came to the Soviet Union under Stalin but I doubt Hill would have ardently defended the regime either way although he might have ended up visiting and having his opinions shaped by it one way or another. He would have been an old man by the time of the Second Red Scare but I think he would have been accused of Soviet sympathies regardless of whether or not he had any.
 
Top