The Lingan Strike
© Maria Dunn, 2000

"In 1882, coal miners in the town of Lingan, Cape Breton, went on strike for the right to unionize. Within a few months, mine owners imported Scottish miners in an effort to break the strike. However, when the Scots arrived and realized the role they were meant to play, they refused to go to work. I first read about this incident in a book called Working People: An Illustrated History of Canadian Labour by D. Morton & T. Copp (1980). Thank you to Kate Currie, Archival Researcher at the Beaton Institute in Cape Breton for further assistance with research materials."

We're all the way from Lanarkshire, we’re thirty hardy men
And we've crossed the bold Atlantic to the shores of Cape Breton
They told us there'd be honest work, there's scarce of that at home
But today we lay our tools down as if that coal was stone
As if that coal was stone

For Lingan we were headed, boys, and thought we had it made
A rich seam lay in waiting for our skilled and eager trade
But just before we landed, well the story it came 'round
That a hundred solid local men would not go underground
Would not go underground

And here we are but poor men, three thousand miles we've gone
But we can see, as clear as day, the right man from the wrong
The right man from the wrong

The tale was too familiar-we'd been through the same at home
Where a man could labour years and still be cast out on his own
If ever he should fall sick or be injured in the mine
It's as if he'd never given of his breath or of his time
His breath or of his time

We'd rather make it empty-handed back across the sea
Than rob our Gaelic brothers in their fight for dignity
They say a hungry belly can cloud a man's resolve
But sharp as tacks, we saw our brothers' backs against the wall
Their backs against the wall

Yes, here we are but poor men, three thousand miles and oh
We can see, as clear as day, how close we are to home
How close we are to home

Maria Dunn lead vocal Con O’Brien harmony vocal
David Ward harmony vocal Shannon Johnson violin
Graham Burley lowland small pipes Andy Illig acoustic guitar
Dave Merriman acoustic guitar Solon McDade electric bass
Nathan McCavana bodhran