Joe Hill (1879 - 1915) was a Swedish-born political activist and musician. He was active in the IWW, and traveled all over The US and took work where he could find it. In 1914, he was charged with murder (although, it is almost certain that he was innocent, and the authorities just wanted to get rid of him) and was eventually executed by a firing squad. His last word was “Fire!”, and thus he ordered his own death, demonstrating that the workers control their own lives..