Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead: a song to be sung on picket lines

The Wizard of Oz is a film about politics, celebrating liberation. It is a reworking for the 1930s of L Frank Baum's novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900. In Baum's children's book, the Tin Man represents the working class, the Scarecrow the small farmer, the Cowardly Lion the populist leader, William Jennings Bryan, the Wicked Witch is big business and the Wizard himself is the US government. In the novel, Dorothy has silver shoes, the populist panacea, but in the film, her shoes are red. One of the film's anthems, "Ding Dong, the Witch Is Dead", was to be sung on picket lines.

http://enpassant.com.au/2013/04/14/ding-dong-the-witch-is-dead-a-song-for-the-picket-lines/