Mark Zuckerman - Composer

In kamf [In Struggle]

1994 SATB a cappella (CE) Get the Music Recording: Goldene Keyt Singers
(David Edelstadt) A fierce song about workers' struggles. Part of the ECS Mark Zuckerman Yiddish Choral Series.

Although not on the traditional Jewish calendar, May Day is celebrated here to honor the Jewish immigrants’ connection to the labor movement. Representing this holiday is one of the most popular Yiddish worker songs, In kamf (In Struggle), written in America in 1889 by labor poet Dovid Edelshtat (1866-1892).

We are driven, despised, tortured and persecuted because we cherish the poor and the weak. We are shot, hanged and robbed of our lives and our rights for we demand truth and freedom for downtrodden slaves. Cast us into iron chains, tear us apart like bloody beasts – you can kill only our bodies, not our spirit. Murder us, tyrants, but new fighters will come and we will fight on until the whole world is free.