Florence Reece, 86; Wrote Songs With Social Message

Florence Reece, whose song “Which Side Are You On?” became both an anthem for the labor movement and a popular folk favorite when recorded by Pete Seeger, is dead of heart failure.

Mrs. Reece was 86 when she died at a hospital in Knoxville, Tenn., her hometown, last Sunday.

Borrowing from the melody of the hymn “Lay the Lily Low,” Mrs. Reece wrote the union song in the 1930s to describe the plight of mine workers in Harlan County, Ky., who were organizing what became a famous strike.

Her husband, Sam, who died in 1978, was one of those workers.

Seeger recorded the song in 1941 and it has become an international theme for groups espousing labor and social issues.

Mrs. Reece also wrote other labor songs and a book of poems and short stories, “Against the Current.” Her 1981 poem, “You Can’t Live on Jellybeans,” criticized President Reagan’s cuts in spending for social programs.

Mrs. Reece was born in Sharps Chapel, Tenn., and grew up in a coal mining camp in Fork Ridge. Her father was a coal miner and her mother taught school.